TARP & Event Planning Industry

The March 6th webinar on the current state of the meetings and event industry,  hosted by One Smooth Stone,  did a great job of summing up the state of the live event industry.

But this webinar does more than just paint a dismal outlook – it suggests constructive actions that each of us can take to make the future of the event industry brighter.

Here’s what I took away from the webinar, from the perspective of event services vendors …

As my readers know by now, I’m a big believer in creating success by helping others succeed. Your client, the in-house event planner, is facing a myriad of problems because of the proposed restrictions for TARP recipients.

Non-TARP companies and even companies outside the financial services industry are canceling meetings and events. These companies believe that the downside risks to reputation outweigh the rewards of event marketing and meetings.  It is time for event professionals to speak up and show senior management that companies can garner significant rewards from well executed events with no negative PR .

Event planners need to see events through the eyes of others. Event professionals must understand the potential risks to reputation and how negative press impacts all stakeholders.  Only once you truly empathize with management’s perception of risk and reward are you in a position to effectively persuade.

Suppliers to the corporate event market, from event planners, event venues, caterers, etc., can find seeds of opportunity in the current environment.  Event people can exploit this disruption as an opportunity to distinguish themselves  and gain market share.

Now is not the time to feel sorry for yourself, it is time to take action:

• Knowledge is power. Get informed so you can communicate with your clients better.
• Help your corporate event clients measure the returns they get from investing in live events.
• Get involved. Reach out to your trade association’s political action committee. ISES, MICE, ICA, MPI
• Contact your representatives and tell them why they must not continue bad mouthing the event industry.

It is time for event planners to connect the value of events with the future growth of your company. Planners will need to develop skill at documenting ROI and communicating value. As an event vendor, now is the time to help your clients communicate the value of meetings and events. Be the local expert they rely on.

Resources:

Watch a replay by clicking here: http://ossunplugged.blogspot.com/2009/03/state-of-industry-resources.html

http://www.meetingindustrycrisiscenter.org/tarp.htm

How can the Special Events industry fight back against the media assault?

When the average worker reads about executives getting lavish parties, free golf outings and all-expenses paid travel to exotic resorts – they feel jealous and resentful, because the majority of people never get rewarded for their hard work with anything beyond a paycheck.  “If I can’t get it, that no one else should either,” goes the reasoning.

It’s easy and profitable for the media and politicians to exploit the public’s negative emotions.  They want blood. The easy and safe thing for politicians to do is to lead the lynch mob; it’s political suicide to anything but.

The media has always profited by appealing to fear, hate and mob rule.  So they “expose” company meetings as wasteful and arrogant acts.

A few years ago, illegal immigrants were suddenly to blame for crime, poverty, waste and a host of other ills. Politicians tapped into racism and xenophobia to get attention and followers. They exploited these obscene motives, but framed the argument as patriotic and fiscally responsible. And Americans ate it up.

Now the Special Event Industry is paying the price for our frustrations.

It’s much easier for politicians to mislabel every corporate function a boondoggle for fat-cat executives.  It’s easier to for the average voter to get angry at others for getting free golf-outings than to understand financial derivatives.  Taxpayers are angry, and it’s hard to get revenge on a CMO.

Misery Loves Company

The Special Event industry is fighting one of the most powerful forces known; human nature.  Jealousy, resentment of authority, schadenfreude, the need to scapegoat … these are powerful human emotions that derail logic. Logic does little good when taxpayers are hurt angry and scared.

As I continue to try to remember, you never win an argument. Sure, you may shut the other side up for a while – but they’ll resent you and your position even more, all the while never giving up clinging to their faulty logic.

I know and you know that special events did not cause the banks to lose billions – that special event can be very cost-effective investments that attract new clients and strengthen business relationships – that special events create jobs and support small business.  But logic won’t help us, only action will.

We need to send a very clear message to our politicians that bashing the corporate event industry will be very bad for their careers. Your politicians need to understand that maligning this industry will get them voted out of office. That’s all they understand or care about.

If the corporations continue to cancel events for fear of being attacked by Washington, we all lose.

Please, take a moment and visit the advocacy page for the International Special Events Society (ISES) . Take action. Write your representatives and let them know you expect them to protect the industry.  The ISES Advocacy Page makes it easy to find your representatives and draft a letter.  Please do it now.

FULL DISCLOSURE:  My company serves as marketing consultant to the live event industry. We help caterers, event planners, event venues and other live event services professionals market their services.