For many of AH’s client partners, their annual conference is a focal point for several initiatives. Conferences are a vital member benefit, provide educational value, entice new members to join, and are a large source of revenue for associations. But what do you do when your conference attendance slowly dwindles, attracting fewer people every year? This was the case with the Computer Measurement Group’s (CMG) annual conference. So they came to Red Chair Communications (RCC) for some insight into what could be done to get their once vibrant conference back to its former glory.
Step 1: Evaluate the current situation.
Research should always be the first step to any new initiative, the last thing you want is to invest time and money into something you think will work, only to see disappointing results. In this particular instance, RCC conducted surveys and in-person interviews with attendees of CMG’s 2015 conference. We wanted to find out what was being done well and what they thought was the reason people had slowly stopped coming to the event.
We found that the conference had become associated with outdated technology. In a world where technology is evolving at lightning speed, being viewed as outdated is detrimental. The funny thing is, people at the 2015 conference said that the content of the conference was great and touched on all the new technology that they were interested in.
So it was not the content of the conference that was outdated, but rather the way the conference was being presented. Their brand was what needed attention.
Step 2: Develop your plan.
Once you complete your research and pinpoint a problem, it is time to develop your plan. We determined that rebranding CMG’s conference was the best course of action. This entailed a new name and a fresh look. CMG needed something that would encompass all of the new technology that was being discussed at the event, while not losing sight of what the conference was founded on.
We gathered a team from RCC to generate ideas for some new names and left our brainstorming session with three solid ideas. Then it was up to our design guru, Jenelle Kleiman, to work her magic.
Once we had the three fresh looks to accompany our three new names, we presented them all to CMG. After some deliberation and editing, we found our winner: CMG imPACt 2016. This new name encompassed all of the technology the conference focused on while also providing a bit more edge that the event needed to appeal to a younger audience.
“Because CMG's imPACt event is targeted to attract a younger audience, the logo and branding was developed with the latest design trends in mind. For example, we solidified the color scheme into a dynamic and functional color palette, in which each color can relate to a certain aspect of the event (Mobile, Cloud, Performance & Capacity, etc).” Jenelle Kleiman
Step 3: Implementation.
Step three was the most important one of all: implementation. CMG now has a shiny new logo and a fun new name, but none of that matters if it is not presented well.
To make the biggest impact with this new brand, we needed to first introduce it to CMG members. We wanted to explain why we changed the name and what they could expect from the 2016 conference, we did this through a targeted email campaign. The initial email we sent to introduce the new brand had an almost 10 percent higher click through rate than the CMG average. People were excited and interested in the new and improved CMG conference:
“If this had looked like just the same old [CMG] thing, I probably wouldn’t have opened it.” -CMG member
In the competitive world of conferences, it is important to evolve, and the best way to do that is to listen to your members. Conduct surveys and interviews to find out what is great about your event and what could be changed. You may not need something as drastic as a rebrand, but you are sure to find out valuable information.
