fred boyle said:
and which trade association are a board member of Bob?
Change comes from within,
you;re either part of the solution or part of the problem
There is no way Mikefest is going to surpass Connections , before that happened Connections would learn from the event and implement the necessary changes
You have been an integral part in the success of Mikefest focus on making that a better event
If what you are hearing is accurate about future improvements to Connections and they are happening quietly, then allow that change to happen and lend a hand if you are inclined.
Connections ball busting from the Chair woman of a competing event is silly :mrgreen:
I agree with you Fred that
Mikeyfest will never surpass Connections in scope, because the vendors - who are the most important piece of this puzzle (because they PAY for the event being run) - would never shift all of that money to an event comprised of free attendees at a mostly social gathering, with a level of organization and coordination that is pretty much maxed out at the number of attendees you had there this year. Your volunteers would need to hire a coordinator to work it, and spend the entire year promoting and filling - and need to charge something so that you know FOR SURE how many are coming.
Having events is a BIG project.
Also Fred - Connections and Piranha do not compete. Our event is for our members - a market who has issues with paying a few hundred to Connections is NOT going to be the target market for a $1,495 event.
The reason I added a trade show last year was because Connections is getting too large to serve the exhibitors in a way that makes them any big money from the event itself, they collect the names and that's about it. So, with the slower economy I wanted our core Buyers Group partners to have an event where we would help them maximize sales. Even the trade association (CFI) we had in our show sold more memberships in our half day show than they did in 3 full days at Connections... and you know how hard it is to sell associations.
The core problem is - when you have volunteers who have trouble growing their own businesses, how can you expect them to know how to grow the business of an association, an event, or even
IICRC for that matter? Plus being a volunteer, that work tends to be fit into free time instead of focused time.
Having a professional manager is smart - you can hold them accountable. I just think the prior one has not been held accountable, he's being treated as a volunteer... as if they owe him that position.
Let me be clear... I support Connections, I promote it to our list, and I will have a booth to bring members to it this year. I'm just sharing my own opinion on how to make it better. We've been filling our show for over 15 years, so they could learn a few things from us.
And honestly, sometimes change does not happen until you start ball busting...
Lisa
