One Quick Revenue Solution That Got Me Through the Last Recession
It was during the post-dot-com bust at Chemical Week and we were, literally, working under the shadow of 9/11. No one wanted to travel and everything was on hold. We were heading into the fiscal year with a shortfall of several hundred thousand dollars. It was not a time to plan a big new launch. We needed quick money.
Luckily, Mario Di Ubaldi, my VP at the time, brought experience from his previous position that gave us a crutch to hobble on. We got three major sponsors to go in on a CEO Roundtable. It was, essentially, 10 industry CEO’s sitting around a table participating in directed discussion followed by a dinner. Conversation was recorded and transcribed for an editorial piece. Sponsors got a seat at the table. A couple of other neat tricks made it successful.
It was hard work, but cheap to produce and it netted a quick $50k. Then we did a CFO Roundtable. Then we did one in Europe, then we did one in Asia, and another one and another one. We finished the year almost on budget.
I’ve done several permutations since, including a webcast roundtables. Pros: defined financial upside, low risk. Cons: Events start from scratch, huge time investment. The Lesson: Talk to your largest exhibitors/advertisers, see if they’d be willing to pay for exclusive access to a highly targeted audience. Could be a roundtable, webcast, lunch, parasite event, whatever. Then invest the hours of work that it takes to find the bodies and make it happen.
I agree. These are a great idea. I have worked on a dozen or more of these types of events for different clients as a webcast producer. There are many options in terms of production that can help reduce cost and increase profit.
I agree, the time investment can be huge. Finding sponsors and marketing the event is an enormous undertaking and then you have to pull off a live webcast! This happens to be my specialty. So, if anyone is thinking of undertaking a project like this, let me know. Like I said, I have done many of these events and have learned a few things along the way. I also have contacts for broadcast studios, a/v houses and webcasting providers all over the US, Canada and the E.U.
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language ;)
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo