A day out at Confex
February 24 2010 Yesterday I went for my first
experience. I went to the event along with my MD Martin Corck who was doing a presentation, 'Who cares wins: Using the recession to strengthen business through our people', in the Business Skills and Personal Development Theatre.We arrived at Earls Court with time for a coffee in Pascucci Coffee Shop around the corner (which I highly recommend) before heading into the venue at 10 to set up for Martin's presentation at 10.30.
A quick sound check with the helpful staff at the event and then it was time for people to start coming in and taking their seats. The seminar theatres were temporary erections made of open walls and no ceilings and were therefore quite noisy but the design of having of them meant you could see people walking past in the arena outside of them, added to the atmosphere and was quite nice.
After the presentation I wanted to get down to see Alan Steven's 'Becoming a marketing superstar' in the theatre next door, the presentation was informative and well presented and I was disappointed not to come away with a copy of Alan's new book, 'Ping' but did come away with lots of scribbled notes which I know I will be implementing in to our marketing strategy at Creating Excellence; very exciting!!!
Alan gave great examples of the power of the media and social media etc, just type in 'no kissing sign Warrington station' into your Google search bar and see how many results you get, Warrington Station spent just £50 on that sign!!!
I also had a pass to get into Earls Court 2 for the TFM&A event that was happening at the same time as Confex in Earls Court 1.
I went to a couple of seminars around the power of social media and how to optimize your website and unfortunately had to miss the one I really wanted to see about keeping your audience engaged through e-mails and social media because of high demand and there being no more spaces available, which was a shame but good to see everyone getting into their social media, definitely the key aspect in most peoples minds at the event! - If you or anyone you know went to that seminar please, please let me know how it was!
I took a wander around the events and the stands that were there, there was such a wide variety of companies and people, it was great to see everyone making the effort to get out there especially in these difficult times!
I will be going back for more Confex and TFM&A action next year, I wonder what the new trend in business and events will be then, who knows?
Please share you Confex and TFM&A experiences with us!
Sophie
Comments
Thanks ever so much for drawing my attention to your blog. I too found the exhibition really exciting; informative and thought provoking. I didn’t attend any of the seminars: I was really pushed for time, but I did engage with some of the businesses exhibiting.
I found it particularly interesting how the businesses presented themselves and how effective they were at engaging me. The most buzzy stand was the Visit Birmingham one, where there were live cookery demonstrations and the representatives were chatting to everyone. They were so welcoming. I found they were wanting to welcome people to the stand, not ‘sell’. Other organisations that were particularly effective in welcoming and engaging my interest were the Gaddesden Estate, The Lane End Conference Centre, The Concept Centre, Hollywood Tower Conference Centre, Imperial College, Sadlers Wells, The Westminster Collection, A Day in the Country, Grovefield House and Andrea Fowkes. There were other wonderful people as well: too many to mention.
Of those that didn’t engage, or they couldn’t be bothered to chat: they included those that were seated at 45 degrees to passing trade, and who pointed at the display for any information, and a venue that thought they were TOO grand for any interaction. Please note, Jade Goody using your venue to get married isn’t a recommendation.
The exhibition really energised me and gave me a boost. You do have to go out there and grab any opportunity and I really admire the businesses that did this AND actually talked to people!
By Susan Wright on March 04 2010