Where can I find ideas for new events?
By John Failla, CEO, Tesoro
Reprinted with permission from min's b2b - January 07, 2008

Now that you've made a legitimate commitment to the events business, where will you find ideas for new events?

In speaking with publishers about tradeshow opportunities, I often hear how the existence of an established annual trade show in their market prevents them from entering the business. If tradeshow organizers thought the same way, there would be a lot fewer trade shows in operation today. In fact, many savvy show organizers believe that the larger the established annual show, the greater the opportunities to enter the market. These organizers have confidence in their ability to deliver and create value by finding opportunities to launch events that will serve a segment of the market more effectively.

These organizers typically rely on three core skills to identify opportunities to develop and launch shows in markets where well established events already exist.

1. Segment the market to reveal key audience segments. Where B2B publishers generally rely on delivering a large audience of readers to generate meaningful advertising volume, show organizers know that they can produce a profitable and successful trade show by serving a key audience segment more effectively than a large national event does. Using market segmentation to think about B2B markets in a classic package goods marketing framework is a core skill to identifying new event launch opportunities.



2. Identify unmet needs. Developing meaningful audience insight of current unmet needs in almost any key audience segment is a central skill required to identify potential new event opportunities. As markets are constantly changing, the ability to identify and understand current and emerging audience needs is a critical core competence of successful show organizers.



3. Match the right event model to meet a market need. Once a key audience segment is defined and meaningful unmet needs are identified, an organizer must have the ability to develop the appropriate event business model to meet the market need - profitably. Understanding the range of event business models available and having a sound understanding of which model is best suited to meet a particular audience need is at the heart of this skill.

Here are three of many real world examples of how these skills can be leveraged to launch targeted events in a market where a well established annual show already exists.

1. Target an important buyer group. Depending on the dynamics of your respective market, a well executed audience segmentation analysis will identify segments distinguished by a number of factors. Segmenting a market based on purchasing volume, product category or the quality / price point of products purchased are just three examples of segmentation methods that can be used effectively to identify new event opportunities. In many markets, these three criteria alone have been utilized to create new events that both deliver meaningful value to an audience segment and create value for the show organizer.



2. Develop a regional extension to an existing event. While many trade shows are positioned as international or national events, most show organizers recognize that they are reaching a fraction of their true potential audience with their existing event. Regional extensions of existing events can often be developed to gain deeper audience penetration and to serve different stages of the buying cycle.



3. Carve out an emerging market segment. In virtually every market, both supplier product categories and channels of distribution travel along life cycles. Deep audience insight can be leveraged to identify new event opportunities tied to either emerging product categories or audience segments that are about to enter or are already in the rapid growth phase of their life cycle.

These three scenarios illustrate how publishers can utilize the skills detailed above to develop trade shows and events to profitably serve markets in a more targeted and granular manner than they can with their traditional print products. A publisher's ability to intelligently segment a market, uncover unmet audience needs and build the appropriate event model are the keys to developing a robust list of potential new event opportunities.

John Failla is CEO of events consulting business, Tesoro Events (www.tesoroevents.com); he can be reached by email at john@tesoroevents.com.