Conferences, workshops, and networking events are great ways to stay in touch with your customer base and competition, gain insight and see what’s new in your industry. They can also be costly and sometimes a waste of money and time to attend.
It is important for your Middle Market organization to attend certain events, but without ways to evaluate the ROI of attendance, you might be spending money foolishly.
What Are The Objectives And Goals?
When you receive invites to events, do you know why your company would want to attend? Do you have a good understanding of what you stand to gain or lose based on your attendance?
In some instances, you might feel obligated to go just to have a presence and represent your Middle Market firm. While these are important reasons, they aren’t always the best reason. Evaluate each show or conference individually before you make your decision.
Try to identify a handful of main and secondary objectives you’d like to obtain through your attendance.
Who Should Attend
When you have decided on your goals for the conference, you’ll next want to think about who should attend. For instance, if the conference is focused on Technology, it makes sense someone from your Technology group should be included, but should they be the only one? Don’t make the mistake of always thinking your C-Suite, Sales or Marketing teams are the best choices to be included.
Send the people or person that makes the most sense – whoever from your Middle Market teams that will be able to take in the most beneficial information, provide the best feedback or will have the biggest impact.
Sometimes it makes sense to send a few people, but make sure to get the most from your group. Send people from different areas of your business when possible. Have them each attend different sessions and have individual goals or objectives.
How To Prepare
While events may be a time for reconnecting with friends and peers or even to get away to a nice location and enjoy some sightseeing, it’s imperative to have a solid plan of attack, goals and measurable objectives for your participants.
Once you’ve identified who is going and what they should be focused on, have individual and group meetings to prepare in advance. You want people to enjoy their experience so don’t make everything so rigid, but also make sure they know your Middle Market organization has expectations and goals for attendance.
Talk about how they can prepare in advance and if they should make connections with key individuals ahead of time and what they need to accomplish.
Spending a bit of time researching, preparing and setting goals for conference attendance will pay off in the long run. By focusing on results and making sure the right people attend, each with specific plans of attack, you can ensure the cost is worth it for your Middle Market firm.
So what’s in the Mighty Middle Market for me? — get it right now at www.Go4ROI.com.