My 16-year career in the meetings industry has centered around print. As an assistant publisher with CustomNEWS, I’ve produced show dailies for more than 100 events. But the role that print plays at conferences is changing, in part due to the strides that event technology companies such as CadmiumCD have made.
A few months ago, I attended CadmiumCD’s user group conference, CadCon. During last year’s conference, I learned about the company’s many products and far-reaching capabilities. As I listened to this year’s presentations, I was looking for ways to tie together print and digital offerings. Here are a few of my take-aways:
- Digital advertising: Offer packages that include mobile app and email advertising.
- Social media screens: Show dailies can be used to remind attendees about hashtags and recognize top tweets. If there’s a sponsor for the screens, that company can be recognized in the show daily.
- News feeds: Mobile apps are more than just schedules and session descriptions. Having a news feed to showcase conference news and meeting photos is a must.
- Mobile app adoption rates: Not every attendee arrives at your conference with your mobile app already on their phone or tablet. Some weren’t aware there was an app, maybe a few others ran into difficulty downloading. Including information on the mobile app in the first issue of the show daily will help attendees realize why they need the app. Or if you eliminate your onsite program book, your show daily can include the daily schedule and then direct attendees to the mobile app for session and company descriptions.
Advancements in Event technology have led to questions about the future of onsite print publications. Is it necessary to continue to print the same information that attendees can access through apps and planners?
Printing less could mean replacing your onsite program with a show daily. Our clients who made the decision to eliminate their onsite program saw a surge in show daily advertising revenue. Show dailies will not only deliver the latest versions of schedules and exhibitor lists, but also showcase a wide range of content to your onsite and remote audiences.