Mike May
President, Spear One
Mike May and his company facilitate “road show” meetings for product launches, lead generation and sales channel enablement, working with numerous Fortune 1000 clients .
What kinds of strategies or lures do you use to boost event attendance?
Many event planners turn to gimmicks or giveaways, such as another iPad door prize. In today’s fast paced economy, we should think content—speaker—venue. Valuable content is the #1 draw. But not marketing content; attendees will show up for technical expertise, education, market research, and true best practices. They will partly assess the content quality from the speaker’s title and bio. Lastly, a unique venue, new hotel, or high-quality meal could be a draw. As the saying goes, content is still king.
Do you have any budget tips for a planner organizing a drive-to function?
With drive-to meetings, planners should anticipate a higher no-show percentage. Thirty to 50 percent are common no-show rates. Planners should lower their guarantees to save on food and beverage costs.
How do you handle the parking element?
In high-cost, metropolitan cities, parking costs can discourage attendance. We recommend negotiating free valet parking in the venue contract, or next best, is to pay for attendee’s parking—and promote the parking arrangements.
Have you noticed certain locations/venues being particularly appealing to attendees?
New hotels are popular. A cool new restaurant or unique venue can be a huge draw. We’ve seen success with a private lunch at the hottest restaurant in town, or the new museum that intrigues people but they have not visited yet on their personal time, or a behind-the-scene stadium tour. Two of our most successful events recently were at the gargantuan AT&T Stadium—home of the Dallas Cowboys, where attendees stood on the big star at mid-field—and the world-famous Yankee Stadium.
