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Event planners are experimenting with people-friendly designs to improve the productivity of medical meetings, as my recent article in CONVENE illustrates.
Planners' efforts to reinvent the "soft side" of these gatherings makes sense in light of hard data we have from neuroscience.
According to Cornell University’s just-published white paper, The Future of Meetings, the value of medical meetings derives in large part from the “emotional contagion” they feed.
“In a nutshell, people tend to express and feel emotions that are similar to and influenced by the emotions of others,” according to coauthors Christine Duffy and Mary Beth McEuen. “Research has confirmed that emotions, attitudes, and moods do, in fact, ripple out from individuals and, in the process, influence not only other individuals’ emotions, thoughts, attitudes and behaviors, but also the dynamics of the entire group.”
By humanizing the meeting space, planners can create a positive “emotional contagion,” instead of a negative one. And if positive emotions rule, the whole medical meeting becomes significantly more productive.
Disclosure: FutureShow, the event design firm profiled in CONVENE, is a client of mine.
Wall Street Journal columnist Sarah Needleman suggests publishing may be the key to acquiring more customers.
She profiles a Richmond, VA-based dentist who's published five books recently, including This Won't Hurt a Bit.
The books have brought the dentist 450 new patients, at an acquistion cost of only $90 each.
Most entrepreneurs-turned-authors seek not only to capture new customers, but to generate "invisible income," writes Needleman.
The latter comes from consulting, media appearances and speeches.
"The trend wouldn't have been possible without the emergence of print-on-demand publishers," she notes.
Thanks to firms like iUniverse.com and Lulu.com, authors can publish for little or no cost, in exchange for a percentage of sales.
I've been researching a hot technology lately. My efforts have included reading the Websites of 40 firms in the "space."
In doing so, I've encountered statements like these on every, single site:
"We are committed to continually driving innovation within the industry."
"Innovation is the backbone to everything that we collaborate, develop and deliver."
"Our passion for developing innovative software solutions is surpassed only by our commitment to our clients‘ success."
"Our team ranks among the best in the industry."
"Our goal is to empower your organization with the revenue it needs to advance its mission."
Not persuasive.
You might advise the firms to ditch such drivel as, "Our team ranks among the best in the industry." That would help a lot.
But what else could they do to improve their Websites?
- Tell me why the technology matters to me. Who cares if the firm is "continually driving innovation within the industry?" What's in it for me?
- Deep-six the fuzzy words. Don't require me to think so hard. Words like "collaborate" and "empower" are way too vague.
- Paint me a picture. Use language the way it should be used. "Show, don't tell." And employ clear, colorful words. As Winston Churchill (pictured above) once said, "Short words are the best, and the old words when short are best of all."
How do you define your business?
I hope your definition, whatever it is, features the word marketing.
As Regis McKenna once said, "Marketing is everything and everything is marketing."
On that note, editor extraordinaire Alan Webber offers a "Book Store Parable" on his blog this week.
Recounting a visit to San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore, Webber writes:
"Once I walked into the book store it was clear to me—obvious beyond any need to state it, actually—that I was going to buy a book. At least one. I didn't know which one. But I kind of knew I'd buy at least one. Which made the following proposition clear: The task of a book store isn't to sell books. It's to get people to walk in the front door. Selling books: easy. Getting people to walk in the front door: hard."
In other words, your business is marketing; it's hard; and it's all.
In August, producers of the incentive travel-industry show IMEX asked 1,000 B-to-B buyers to share their views on social media.
The responses offer a good glimpse into buyers' current preferences.
LinkedIn is the networking site of choice. It's used by 64% of B-to-B buyers. Facebook is used by 60%; Twitter, by 27%; and YouTube, by 23%.
Blackberry is the smartphone of choice. Blackberries are used by 57% of buyers; iPhones, by 31%.
Nearly half the respondents (46%) also said they've increased their use of social media for networking in the past six months.
How beefy is your LinkedIn profile? How mobile-friendly is your Web site?
