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Optimizing Your
Industry Event Investments
2014 UBM Tech Research: Industry Event Attendee Survey

Data: UBM Tech survey of 820 business technology professionals who attend industry events, March 2014
Discussion Guide – P.O.P.
• Maximizing your industry event investments
 Pre-Show
- Reasons why IT professionals attend industry
events like trade shows, conferences, expos
- What IT Pros do to prepare before attending
industry events and how you can get ahead of
the game
 On Site
- What makes attendees stop and visit exhibitors
- Types of content and speakers they want to see
and hear about
 Post-Show
- Things to avoid as a tech marketer: reasons
why IT professionals would/not engage with
exhibitors
- Types of follow-up attendees want from you

• UBM Tech survey of 820 business technology professionals who attend industry events;
fielded in March 2014
UBM Tech Industry Event Show Research
7%
32%
35%
18%
8%
Primary Job Function Company Size: Number of Employees
64%
26%
10%
CIO/CTO/CSO/VP IT
IT Director / Manager /
Architect
IT Staff / Developer /
Consultant
LOB
Other
1,000 or more
100 -999
Under 100

Top Reasons Why IT Pros Attend Industry Events
What are the reasons you attend IT tradeshows?
Looking for Vendors To Buy Business Technology Solutions From
To learn about specific products
or services that can
help me solve a business problem
To evaluate
technology
solutions
Networking To learn about a
specific tech vendor
and their offerings
General education,
regardless of my
area of expertise
To seek advice from peers about
a technology need or purchase
The event
subject matter
appealed to me
To hear the
keynote
speaker(s)
To meet with a
vendor we already
do business with
The timing or
location/venue
were optimum
56%
32%
61%
32% 26% 24% 24%
53% 39% 38%
A useful event is where
“There were
a lot of vendors
demonstrating products
and their features”

Pre-Event: Do Your Homework
Information Attendees Want You To Know About Them Prior to the Event
56%
43%
39%
27%
19%
17%
My industry
The specific business need I am looking to
solve with technology
My overall
top business
challenges
My existing technology environment
Whether or not we already do
business with this vendor
Budget 52%
schedule time to meet with vendors
before attending an industry event
Make sure you have content available
that address businesschallenges

What types of advance coverage or promotions from exhibitors or the show producer
would make you more likely to attend an industry event?
Pre-Event Marketing is Key to Your Show Investment
Your Integrated Media Strategy is Critical to Your End-to-End Event Marketing Plans
#1
White papers
#2
Webcasts
#3
Video
#4
Editorial coverage
on websites
#5
Ads on websites
Have a good mix of content assets to use for pre-event marketing

What makes you more likely to stop and visit a vendor's booth during an industry event?
Booth Traffic
What Gets You On IT Pros’ Agenda
Subject
matter
experts at
booth
75%
Vendor
communicated
with me prior
to the event
49% 47% 47% 36% 27%
Incentive
offered at
their booth
I read about
them on
business
tech sites
Vendor
speaking at
the event
I have seen
ads from
them
on business
tech sites
Pre-Show Exposure is Critical!
62%
are more likely to visit the booth of
an exhibitor they have
communicated with pre-event

If you visit a vendor's booth, what kinds of information or content do you find most valuable or would
make you likely to actively engage with the vendor?
Booth Do’s
Make It Worth Their While – Attendees Want Useful, Relevant Information
Tech demos 75%
Technology specs or other
"how to" materials
Business case information 39%
White papers 28%68%
Case studies or peer-perspective 44%
Industry-specific
information
52%

An Integrated Approach to the Event
If a vendor sponsored a smaller breakout event at an industry event, would you be likely to attend?
81%
would attend a smaller
hosted breakout event
at an industry event
if it adds value
Leverage Your Booth for Broad Reach, and Host Breakout Sessions Featuring Your
Subject Matter Experts and Customers For Deeper Dive Engagement

What would make you less likely to actively engage with a vendor at an industry event?
Booth Don'ts
Make It Easy For IT Pros To See Your Value; Make It Relevant
Too much marketing fluff
Only had product brochures available; content not robust enough
Content did not give clear indication of how tech could help the business
It was not obvious to me what the vendor's solution was
Lack of demos
Lack of industry specific information
Lack of case studies
No ROI and/or TCO information
I was not familiar with the vendor's brand
Content was not validated by third-party
I had never received anything from them in the past 5%
7%
14%
22%
23%
38%
47%
54%
54%
55%
65%

What type(s) of speaker provides the most useful information for you?
Choosing Your Speakers
Product Managers and Customers are Most Useful to IT Pros
Product
managers
Customers/
case studies
Executive
leadership
Marketing
executives
Sales
executives
73% 65%
32% 8% 7%

Now thinking about after you return from the event, what would make you more likely to
engage with an exhibitor post-event?
Building Relationships After the Event
Why IT Pros Would Continue to Engage
They demonstrated how the technology could
help with my business
The vendor demonstrated that they understood
my specific business challenges
The vendor was knowledgeable about my industry
and industry-related challenges
Networking with a fellow attendee of the trade
show piqued my interest/curiosity in the vendor
The vendor provided information to show ROI
of their solution
The vendor supplied valuable marketing materials
The vendor spoke at the event 13%
33%
34%
37%
53%
63%
72%

What would make you less likely to engage with a sponsor after the event?
Building Relationships After the Event
Why IT Pros Would NOT Continue to Engage
17%
35%
47%
53%
53%
55%
56%
60%Did not demonstrate how the technology
could help with my business
They gave too much of a sales pitch
Vendor did not demonstrate a comprehensive
understanding of my specific business challenges
Representatives at their booth were
not knowledgeable
Not knowledgeable about my industry
Vendor's marketing materials didn't
demonstrate the value of their solution
Could not show the ROI of their solution
Information they sent me was not customized to what I
spoke to them about at the event

What kinds of follow-up do you want after you return from an industry event?
Post-Event Communication
Relevant Information Tailored To Their Needs; Nurture The Relationship
Email with
additional research
or information
52% 45% 37% 33% 29%
Email with a link to a
website for more
information
Email from a tech
vendor sales person
Info following up on
specific event
content or
discussions
I prefer to physically
take info away with
me from the event
An invitation to
another event
19% 18% 15% 7%
Invitation to join an
online community
related to the show
Call from a tech
vendor sales person
Call or email from a
product manager

Optimizing Your Industry Event Investments
Key Takeaways
Centering Your Marketing Strategy Around Active
Technology Communities
• Technology decision makers want to learn and hear about
new technology trends, solutions and products, and do so
at face-to-face event communities as well as online
communities
• The convergence of paid, owned and earned media is a
reality you need to consider to increase the effectiveness
of your marketing investments – an end-to-end marketing
strategy sets you apart
• Relevant Content – whether it be in the form of live
subject matter experts at your booth or event breakout
session, or in the shape of white papers, research reports
and case studies – is key to not only attracting the interest
of technology decision makers, but keeping them engaged

Industry Event Optimizers
Pre-At-Post Event Marketing Solutions
From UBM Tech

Pre-Event
Awareness and Branding
Get front and center with IT buyers through
communities like InformationWeek, Dark
Reading, Network Computing and Wall
Street & Technology
 Web Advertising
 Digital Issues
 E-Newsletters
Lead Generation
Educate IT buyers while feeding your
sales pipeline
 Webinars
 Content Syndication
 Topic Alignment Program
 Tech Digests
 Reports

Pre-Event
Content Marketing
Educate potential your target prospects with relevant, thought-leadership content
created explicitly for your company
 3 Months Prior: Arm your sales team with the most up to date intelligence with a
Pre-Event Pulse Survey (5-7 Questions): Find out who will be at the event; What
are their expectations? What problems are they trying to solve.
 2 Months Prior: Launch a survey to study important challenges and opportunities
in your solution space. Our research and content teams will assist with creating a
10-12 question survey and field it to technology decision makers in our database.
Research results can be used as discussion points for event speakers and in booth
discussions. An infographic will be designed to highlight key results, and an in-
depth, analytical report based on the survey results will be created for you to share
with attendees and other prospects.
 At-Show: A 20” x 30” poster size of the infographic can be created and displayed in
your booth.

At-Event
Traffic Drivers / Audience Extension
Stay front and center with attendees and
other IT buyers
 Show Daily E-Newsletters
 Web Advertising / Show Coverage
 Live Simulcasts
Content Generation
Leverage our onsite video crew for
content generation
 Show floor video interviews
(2-3 minutes each) with up to three
subject-matter experts, company
executives, customers, etc.
Our on-site video team will record
and edit the video and we’ll present
you with the files for posting on
YouTube, your company website or
within other marketing content.

Post-Event
Content Marketing
Nurture relationships started at the event with an ongoing content marketing campaign
 Immediately After the Event: Cut through the noise with a custom Business Case Builder
that can help your prospects justify an investment in your product/solution category.
Content can be “verticalized” for specific industries.
 2 Weeks After the Event: A Tech Brief about your solution and a Q-A with a company
executive will be sent to prospects. Ideally, the Q-A would focus on customer success
stories.
 3 Weeks After the Event: Invite prospects to a 30-60 minute webinar to follow up on
event discussions/demos. This is an ideal time for attendees to connect with SMEs and
ask questions.

Post-Event
Relationship Building Events
Continue conversations started at the event while also
extending your connections to new prospects in key cities
 Two-city roadshow
Two-hour breakfast events in the cities that had the highest
check-in scans at your booth; we’ll invite local IT pros, and
attendees that checked in at your booth15 to 20 attendees
per city.

Appendix

Keep Conversations Alive
• Again: content is your biggest attraction; keep
attendees interested and engaged with relevant,
targeted content
• Attendees go to industry events to find solutions:
52% want exhibitors to send them a post-event email
with additional research or information
• Consider sponsoring /participating in a post-event
online community
• Nurture relationships with localized events with
attendees that stopped by your booth
Post-Event

The Participatory Age
We Join. We Share. We Collaborate.
Launched in 2003.
277 million members in
its network, in more than
200 countries.
There are 2.1 million
LinkedIn groups.
Over 1.23 billion users,
with 757 million daily
users and 945 million
monthly mobile users.
4.75 billion pieces of
content are shared daily.
Over 6.45 million
registered users,
58 million tweets sent
daily. Over 9,100 tweets
sent every second.
4.25 billion hours of video
watched daily. 65 hours of
video uploaded every minute.

We’re Forming Around Engaged Communities
Shared Interests
Professional audiences congregate
in communities based on:
current interests and functions
so they can interact with peers and
experts, gain and share insight
More Valuable
Communities
foster interaction, drive
engagement, and nurture
customer-client relationships
Trusted
Communities treat members
as real people – not buying
machines – they are
more personal, more social,
more responsive, more
effective, and more trusted
Shared Interest + Trust = VALUE

UBM Tech Communities
Bringing the World’s Technology Communities Together

What type of information do you need to return from an industry event with in order to justify your expenditure?
Building The Case To Attend
Are Your Materials Meeting These Requirements?
Technical
information
Content that
focuses on my
business pain
points
Content that
focuses on my
job function
or role
Case
studies/peer
experiences
Industry-
specific
content
Summaries of
keynote
speeches
Anything, as
long as it's
more than just
business cards
62% 44% 43% 39% 34% 26% 14%

Community Strategy In Action
Connecting Tech Decision Makers Online and Face to Face
INFORMATIONWEEK
Relaunched November 2013
• Monthly page views: Up 19%
• Monthly average visits: Up 22%
• Monthly unique visitors: Up 26%
• Comments: Up 233%
UBM Tech Enterprise IT Communities
1: Omniture, March to April 2014; 2: Omniture, March to May 2014
INTEROP
• + 54% in shared visitors across
both sites year over year
• + 144% in InformationWeek
registrants for Interop Las Vegas
year over year
INFORMATIONWEEK’S INTEROP Las Vegas coverage
100+ articles pre-at-post event
More event attendees are engaging with UBM Tech
online communities before, during and after the event …
and vice versa!

Why Your Pre-Event Strategy Matters…A Lot
What do you do to
prepare for an
industry event before
you attend?
Research the
exhibitors I have
identified
59%
49%
46%
33%
15%
Prepare a list of sponsors
I would like to visit
Review the
floor plan
Get advance
access to
contentCommunicate
with an exhibitor
PRE-EVENT
Have a comprehensive
air cover strategy
to help IT pros
properly prepare

Expose Your Brand and its Solutions to Business
Technology Decision Makers
• Be “present” in the minds of IT professionals consistently
• Review your paid, owned and earned media plan to ensure
that your brand and products are getting exposure across all
platforms
• Have a strong content marketing plan in place – no matter
the platform, relevant content is your brand’s biggest
attraction
• Make sure you have ample, up-to-date content that
addresses different information needs; do a content audit
• Syndicate your content
• Remember: 62% of tech professionals are more likely to
visit the booth of an exhibitor they have communicated
with before the event
Pre-Event

It’s Not Just About You
• Sales pitches always fail; do less talking, listen and be more
consultative to their issues and challenges
• Have knowledgeable speakers and subject matter experts at
your booth
• Attendees want to hear from you! Consider hosting a smaller
breakout session in addition to your booth at an industry event
– 81% said they’d attend if it added more value to their
experience
• Ensure you have the right materials at your booth, including
white papers, customer testimonials, business case builders
• Attendees want to see your solution at work; have demos to
share and make your discussion as hands-on as possible
At-Event

The Attributes Of The Most Useful / Successful Industry
Events Attended – Verbatim Comments!
“A wealth of demos and
practical information”
“Ability to explain my challenge and
having some follow-up from vendors
who thought they could help solve the
problem - not just a cold call situation”
“Came back with information
regarding solutions to problems
I was having.”
“Exposure to new
technology that would
help my business.”
“Connecting with vendors and peers, and
gaining insight I didn't have prior regarding
solutions and options applicable to current
issues and future projects”
“Deep subject matter expertise in the
area of interest, broad range of
customer interactions - peer to peer
networking” “Lots of educational content. Not
just selling me a product, but
teaching me something I can take
back to work with me, whether I
buy their product or not”“The vendor sessions clearly stated what a common problem was,
how this problem could be solved and why you wanted their product
to solve the problem because it saved time and effort.”
“Ability to see a large numbers of
vendors who collectively provide
solutions I'd be interested in”
“High quality speakers,
knowledgeable staff at
booths, no marketing fluff”

UBM Tech Research_Optimizing Your Trade Show Investment_Blackhat

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