Let’s face it. There is a new convention every day. Much like we see a new phone, tablet, or laptop every day, we also see a new convention or conference. Many get lost amongst the sea of larger scale conferences such as CES, iWorld, E3, and BlizzCon. It is hard to compete with such heavy hitters in the convention world when they are the ones offering the newest and most current on such a large scale. With that being said though, there ways that the large conventions are maintaining their attendance numbers. Smaller conventions can also benefit from these 5 different aspects to help increase their numbers and join the ranks of the larger conventions.
Sustainability
- Maintaining something “fresh” at each meeting.
- Changes in venue, transportation, food, and entertainment
- Regionalization will result in more local suppliers for the event.
- More local suppliers will add to more local attendance and support due to promotion from local suppliers.
Being able to sustain a “new” experience for each event will help tremendously for future conventions
Mobility
- Getting all of the attendees and conference goers around quickly and efficiently
- Keeping all of the transportation as “green” as possible
- Picking venues for conventions could greatly impact how “green” the event could be
- Monitoring the way tickets are produced and sold.
- Fuel and paper use reductions to maintain the “green” standard.
The outlook to a convention will be much more positive when viewed as a green event. Anything that helps the environment will be looked at as a positive when it comes to the convention, and thus word will spread about it. Free marketing.
Globalization and Internationalization
- Opening doors to new cultures and peoples
- Becoming more aware of preferences from other cultures
- Expanding the market for which the convention can grow
- Allows for a much larger audience by not limiting the convention to one specific area
The ability to put a specific convention in front of different people and cultures can only help. Larger attendance and better accessibility through the use of breaking language barriers.
Demographic Change
- Becoming more aware of different cultural holidays
- Observing these holidays and different cultural customs
- Monitoring the average age of the attendees that go to your convention
- Finding ways to increase the amount of attendees by catering to different age markets.
By becoming more alert to age and culture, a convention can begin to make any adjustment they may need to in order to keep relevant.
Technology
- Better way to transfer knowledge and information
- Easier ways to “attend” conventions without actually attending
- Offering more efficient ways to keep up with what is going on at the convention
- Concern towards new technology at the conventin show that a convention has an urgency to remain relevant
People have short attention spans nowadays. It is just a fact. Technology will help you get the information that you need to get across, get across faster and easier.
By looking into these 5 different “principles” for conventions, we’ve seen the bigger conventions remain relevant and on top. The smaller conventions could see bigger increases and an overall better event by utilizing these ideals. At least, that is what the German Convention Bureau thinks, and quite honestly, it makes total sense.
