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BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS

Appointment Events: the Next Big b2b Thing?
Friday, March 13, 2009
Steve Smith

Trade shows may be taking a hit this year, but one kind of events programming could prove resilient, even robust, in a recessionary environment—“appointment events.” As practiced by companies like Questex-owned McLean Events, these custom gatherings host up to 100 buyers in a given industry (all paid for by sponsoring suppliers) who “speed date” with the suppliers and conduct prearranged appointments. “Appointment-based events are to trade shows as digital is to print,” says Kerry Gumas, president and CEO, Questex Media Group, which purchased McLean in early 2007. “There is a clear, measurable return on investment when you are guaranteed appointments with 20 buyers.”

A typical appointment event occurs at a luxury venue away from the typical trade show and exhibit atmosphere. Buyer and seller profiles are posted weeks before the event and specific appointments are arranged at the venue with the companies the buyers choose. In the McLean model, the second day of the event includes a speed-dating session where buyers can meet suppliers who were not on their meeting docket.

Gumas says that appointment events is one of the fastest-growing parts of his company, which publishes a range of titles in the hotel and spa verticals as well as the newly acquired FierceMarkets line of e-newsletters. As the sponsorship of trade events softens, interest in this model seems to increase, he says. “They are doing extremely well. It is purely back to ROI and performance. Compared to a large-scale trade show exhibit, a marketer can take a smaller budget and get guaranteed appointments. It is a very efficient business mode, we have found.”

“[When we purchased McLean Events two years ago,] we saw it as an event format that would do well in a down economy,” says Gumas. This is proving true, and so Questex plans to roll out the model across its portfolio of vertical publishing markets in 2009.

Questex was among the few b2b publishing companies to show overall growth in ad pages across titles in 2008, according to IMS. For more of our interview with Gumas and Questex’s recession strategy, see next week's issue of min's b2b.

If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com

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