ck writes—Event Marketing Strategy

Wide format portrait

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:33:14 +0000

mountains

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:37:11 +0000

ckwrites-id

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:09:31 +0000

sl-ck

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:34:17 +0000

sl-mountains

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:35:39 +0000

sl-ckseated

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:37:06 +0000

icon-facebook-hover

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:35:56 +0000

icon-googleplus-hover

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:35:57 +0000

icon-linkedin-hover

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:35:58 +0000

icon-twitter-hover

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:35:59 +0000

icon-facebook

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:35:59 +0000

icon-googleplus

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:36:00 +0000

icon-linkedin

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:36:01 +0000

icon-rss

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:36:02 +0000

icon-twitter

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 07:36:03 +0000

ck-ad-fpo

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 19:35:18 +0000

ck-favicon

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 16:53:43 +0000

Cisco-Shanghai-PDF-cover

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:19:15 +0000

bmw_roadster

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:43:49 +0000

audiencemetrix-sm

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:48:47 +0000

portfolio-boeing-777

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:50:26 +0000

unknown

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:55:58 +0000

portfolio-ford2

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 23:05:25 +0000

ckwrites-ID

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:22:02 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-BMW

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:22 +0000

Image of Cisco project for ck writes

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:23 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-Boeing

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:24 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-AudienceMetrix

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:25 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-Ford-F150

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:26 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-SAP-01

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:27 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-SAP-00

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:28 +0000

A TBD image

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:29 +0000

SAP-01-500px

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:50 +0000

SAP-00-500px

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:24:52 +0000

Adobe ReaderScreenSnapz003

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:25:02 +0000

Image of F-150 Ford Integrated Marketing Campaign by ck writes

ck-admin — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 20:15:24 +0000

icons-email

ck-admin — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 07:01:59 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-corpMktrs

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:55:05 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-eventagencies

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:55:06 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-writingSamples

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:55:07 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-SAP-03

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:55:08 +0000

portfolio-MAIN-Ford-F150-new

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:56:07 +0000

Corporate-icon

ck-admin — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 00:39:30 +0000

Event-Agency-Icon

ck-admin — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 00:39:31 +0000

writing-samples

ck-admin — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 00:39:33 +0000

iStock_000004319072Small-2

ck-admin — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 23:01:04 +0000

yankees

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:42:47 +0000

ojai-mountains

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:05 +0000

ojai-sunset

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:07 +0000

ojai-sky

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:09 +0000

yankees

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:11 +0000

icon-LinkedIn

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:12 +0000

icon-Twitter

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:15 +0000

footer-gray-email

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:17 +0000

footer-red-email

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:19 +0000

sidebar-email-signup

ck-admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:48:20 +0000

Portfolio-Slider-Image

ck-admin — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 01:39:36 +0000

Blog-Slider-Image

ck-admin — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 01:40:08 +0000

ojai-mountains2

ck-admin — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 01:46:16 +0000

icon-footer-form-name

ck-admin — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 07:39:40 +0000

icon-footer-form-email

ck-admin — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 07:39:41 +0000

icon-email-footer

ck-admin — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 23:29:50 +0000

footer-email

ck-admin — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 20:00:08 +0000

Einstein-Complimentary-Audit

ck-admin — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 02:30:54 +0000

FPO-Subscribe-to-Blog

ck-admin — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 02:30:55 +0000

Subscribe-to-Blog

ck-admin — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 02:30:56 +0000

Slider #1 _vista_800px-1671

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:45:20 +0000

Slider #1 ALT_vista_800px-2143

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:45:23 +0000

What Was That?

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:45:26 +0000

Slider #3_ half head_800px

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:45:28 +0000

CK-2

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:45:33 +0000

Chris Korody Writes

Slider #5_tree_800px-2152

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:45:36 +0000

ck-250px-FINAL

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:01:22 +0000

Photo by David Jean Schweitzer

4-Questions-Graphic

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:52:33 +0000

Doors-Work-With-Me-final

ck-admin — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:19:00 +0000

bkgd-Subscribe-to-Blog

ck-admin — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 07:07:11 +0000

subscribe-orang-btn

ck-admin — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 23:07:03 +0000

Slide1

ck-admin — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 05:34:31 +0000

Slide2

ck-admin — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 05:35:06 +0000

Slide3

ck-admin — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 05:35:14 +0000

Slide4

ck-admin — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 05:35:56 +0000

Slide5

ck-admin — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 05:36:20 +0000

Chris_K-1A

ck — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 20:23:59 +0000

BusinessWeek1984Cover

ck — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 15:33:21 +0000

Steve Jobs and John Sculley pose for the cover of BusinessWeek.

Apple // Forever

ck — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 16:13:18 +0000

Photo of the product reveal at the 1984 Apple // Forever product introduction.

The Experience Economy

ck — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 16:42:00 +0000

book cover

Get-Shot-Down-Poster

ck-admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:30:46 +0000

s1-find-out-about-ck

ck-admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 22:59:53 +0000

s1-find-out-about-ck

ck-admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 22:59:54 +0000

s1-bkgd

ck-admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 23:02:46 +0000

s4-sash

ck-admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 23:50:35 +0000

s3-sash

ck-admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 23:52:09 +0000

s2-read-the-test

ck-admin — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 23:54:51 +0000

newspaper boy on bike c189199_s

ck — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 20:03:55 +0000

Troops tearing up a railway

ck — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 20:04:00 +0000

maiden on track

ck — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 20:04:11 +0000

outstretched newspaper _400px_c189580_m

ck — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:57:40 +0000

slide-bkgd-2

ck-admin — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 05:45:57 +0000

slide-bkgd-3

ck-admin — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 05:46:27 +0000

slide-bkgd-4

ck-admin — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 05:46:46 +0000

slide-bkgd-5

ck-admin — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 05:50:49 +0000

slide-bkgd-1

ck-admin — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 05:51:08 +0000

new-ck-logo-tagline-curates_550

ck — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 18:59:43 +0000

SafariScreenSnapz050

ck — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:02:53 +0000

SafariScreenSnapz049

ck — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:03:08 +0000

SafariScreenSnapz048

ck — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:03:21 +0000

ck Curates

ck — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:06:34 +0000

CK 500px

ck — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:08:22 +0000

ck Curates sample page

ck — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:09:34 +0000

s5-sash

ck-admin — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 00:54:52 +0000

25, Rue des Blancs Manteaux (Café, rue des Blancs Manteaux)

ck — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 13:26:16 +0000

25, Rue des Blancs Manteaux (Café, rue des Blancs Manteaux); Eugène Atget, French, 1857 - 1927; Paris, France, Europe; 1900; Albumen silver print; Image: 21.9 x 17.8 cm (8 5/8 x 7 in.); 90.XM.45.2

new-ck-logo-curates_fresh_450px

ck — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 14:18:52 +0000

Google ChromeScreenSnapz051

ck — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 14:34:00 +0000

new-ck-logo-curates_tagline_e46425._450px

ck — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 20:26:31 +0000

Google ChromeScreenSnapz051

ck — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 20:29:39 +0000

9 on blue 73713

ck — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 16:26:35 +0000

High flying steel worker

ck — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 02:44:03 +0000

graphic

6 73736_crop

ck — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 18:40:31 +0000

joe-montana-san-francisco-49ers-arms-up-celebration_ck

ck — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 05:29:42 +0000

joe-montana-san-francisco-49ers-arms-up-celebration_ck

ck — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 05:31:01 +0000

About Christopher Korody

ck-admin — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 22:15:29 +0000

It takes a long time to make someone like me…

I started out as a photographer with a Masters degree, and ended up an event marketer and corporate storyteller. It was a terrific plan.

I excel as an individual contributor and shine as a team member and leader.
In Hollywood terms I am a triple hyphenate which means that I am a writer-director-producer.
In Web 2.0 terms I am a serial solopreneur.
My friends say I am a quick learner who is curious, passionate and a good teacher.
Somewhere in there we should probably stick strategist and synthesist.
And devoted Dog Dad.

Enough about me... what's in it for you?

Simple. Experience. Lots and lots of experience. We're talking 170+ clients on the list, 150 awards and hundreds of projects. Doing a thing for a long time makes you good at it. Six of my projects are in the Portfolio. They are representative of the calibre of event marketing work that I want to do with you. You know - amazing, award winning, breakthrough stuff. When you work with me, you get it all:

All of my experience.
All of my skills.
All of my resources.
All the latest thinking and newest ideas.
And my commitment to excellence.

I show up. We discuss what is needed. And I'm on it. Your projects will be better for it, and your budgets will be better for it too. And you? Yeah... definitely. I can't promise that you'll sleep better; but I am confident that you will rest easier because your project is getting the TLC it needs. Ask my clients. If you’re a corporate marketer, click here to learn how I can help you to make your event into a brand showcase, while we keep it on track. If you’re an event agency executive, click here to learn how I can help you to delight your customers and improve your batting average when you pitch. If you’re ready to experience what experience like mine can bring to your team, your project, or your pitch today then let's set up some time to talk. And please, you owe it to yourself to subscribe to the blog. Because you never know when you're going to be in it! Do it now OK... before you forget. Thanks!

Read ck's blog.

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:52:18 +0000

Check out ck's portfolio

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:52:18 +0000

More about ck

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:52:18 +0000

Curate

ck-admin — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 23:22:53 +0000

[rebelmouse site_name="ckwrites2" show_rebelnav=1]

ck-admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 05:00:08 +0000

ck-admin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Blog

ck-admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 05:02:02 +0000

Portfolio

ck-admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 05:02:02 +0000

About

ck-admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 05:02:02 +0000

ck-admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 06:05:59 +0000

My clients

ck-admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:38:21 +0000

For marketers

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:24:03 +0000

For agencies

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:24:03 +0000

ck-admin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 21:27:56 +0000

Contact

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 21:27:56 +0000

Style Sheet

ck-admin — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 02:50:46 +0000

This is where we test things out.

H1 Title in effect

H2 Title in effect

H3 Title in effect

H4 Title in effect

H5 Title in effect

H6 Title in effect

[divider_flat]

GET The ckwrites Blog & The Jolt!

ck — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 04:10:13 +0000

ck — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 14:27:55 +0000

Integrated Marketing Portfolio of Christopher Korody

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:22:39 +0000

This is a line of text from the Portfolio page setup.

ckwrites client list answers a lot of tough questions...

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:32:21 +0000

[twocol_one]

Agencies

Robert Abel and Associates, Chiat/Day*, Creative Wonder, Dailey & Associates, Doremus Porter Novelli*, Hill & Knowlton, Lowe Lintas, Maritz Communications, McCann Erickson, Medlin & Associates*, N.W. Ayer*, Pedersen Marketing Group, Studios of Robert Glenn Ketchum, Van Noy & Associates.

Event Agencies

Alliance, August Jackson, Ray Bloch Productions*, Campos Creative Works*, Champion, Creative Wonder, dick clark corporate productions*, E Events, Extraordinary Events, Fourth Estate Press, George P. Johnson Company*, Immersa, inVNT, Jack Morton Productions*, JNR, Kenwood Group, Korody Business Services, Maritz Communications, Media Design West, Pedersen Marketing Group, Productions Two*, Shout!, Synopticon, TBA, Tom Thomas Productions, Witlin & Waigand.

Aerospace

Boeing Commercial Aircraft Group, Clifton Precision Systems, Grumman Aerospace, Learjet, Litton Data Systems, McDonnell Douglas, NASA, US Air Force, Rockwell International: Space Systems Group, Rockwell International Marine Systems and Autonetics Group

Automotive

Acura Automobiles, American Motors, BMW, Datsun, Ford Motor Company, Honda, Lincoln Mercury, Mazda, Michelin Tires, Nissan, Porsche Cars North America, Volvo Trucks, Toyota, Yamaha Motorcycle, Yamaha Snowmobile, Yamaha Outboard Motors. [/twocol_one][twocol_one_last]

Consumer Electronics

Alpine/Luxman, The Good Guys!, JBL, Magnavox, RadioShack, RCA, Sony PlayStation, Yamaha Electronics, Yamaha International.

Entertainment

ABC Records, A&M Records, Casablanca Filmworks, CBS Affiliates, CBS Records, Neil Diamond, Diana Ross, EPCOT Center, Epic Records, EMI, Jeff Kutash and the Dancin' Machine, MCA Records, Motown, NBC, Paramount Studios, Polygram International, RSO Records, TBS/TNT, Univision, Up With People, Special Olympics.

Government

Federal Aviation Administration, Hawaii Visitors Bureau, United States Air Force, United States Mint, United States Postal Service

IT

Adobe Systems, Apple Computer*, AMD, Audible.com, BusinessLand*, Business Objects, Cisco Systems, ComputerLand, Control Data Corporation, Dell, Digital F/X, Electronic Arts, Hyperion, IBM, IBM Lotusphere, Intel, Intuit, JavaOne, Microsoft, Momenta*, Motorola, NetFRAME Systems*, NeXT Computer, Nomadic Systems, Okidata, Parametric Technology Corporation, PC Magazine, PeopleSoft, Plus Development, Red Hat, Salesforce.com, SAP, Silicon Graphics, StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, Systems Development Corporation, Vertical Networks, Xebec*, Xerox.

Non-Profits

America Harvest, Angel Harvest, Mountain Home Health Care

Telecommunications

AT&T, Network Equipment Technologies, Nextel, Northern Telecom, NorTel Networks, Pacific Bell*, US Sprint*, Virgin Mobile.

Other Industries

adidas, Amgen, AVCO Financial Services, Audio Visual Laboratories(AVL)*, Bunker Hill, California Plaza - Real Estate Development, Caruso Affiliated, Grupo Constructora General Del Norte*, IVAC, Levi Strauss, Lone Star Industries, Pacific Design Center, Powerine, Prilosec OTC, Staging Techniques*,Toro. [/twocol_one_last]

Site Map

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:33:07 +0000

ckwrites Blog

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:50:13 +0000

Welcome to ckwrites event marketing

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:50:39 +0000

[layerslider id="7"]

Hi. My name is Christopher Korody.

Also known as ck.

I help companies get the most out of their events. I am an event marketing strategist, creative director and writer. Let's make something great happen together!

BMW Z3 Integrated Marketing Campaign Agency: dick clark corporate productions

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:44:07 +0000

Location:

An integrated marketing campaign consisting of a series of consumer and press events across the United States.

Audience:

Consumers, business and automotive press, BMW dealers

Goal:

BMW asked dick clark corporate productions to develop a campaign that leveraged BMW’s sponsorship of the James Bond movie GoldenEye. They expected the car to sell well and saw the opportunity to use the launch to gain first-hand experience with a variety of non-traditional marketing tactics.

Project:

I was the creative director for the pitch team (4 rounds - it took Dick to win it), the account team and then coordinated the creative effort with a wide range of teams as well as the client.

Deliverables:

This was one of the first integrated marketing campaigns ever developed for an automotive launch. It is important (and odd) to remember that this predated the use of the Internet as a marketing platform. The creative challenge was to place the BMW Roadster squarely in the American landscape. Our strategy was to influence the influencers while at the same time putting the Roadster in places that prospects would see it. Principal program elements included:

A press “ride and drive” in Central Park tied to the GoldenEye premiere.
A national series of radio DJ promotions yielding extensive PR coverage.
Placement as the featured gift in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog that sold 100 vehicles in 48 hours and began a relationship that continues to this day.
A music video placement with Hootie and The Blowfish.
A film trailer for theatrical release that was the precursor for the BMW Film Series.
A complete “image program” including both stills and film footage used in all BMWNA launch initiatives.
An invitation for BMW’s Director of Design to speak at the Aspen Design Conference.
A co-promotion between BMW and Apple Computer.

The entire launch was the subject of a case study in the Harvard Business Review.

Awards:

The Super Reggie Award was presented to MGM and BMW by PMA (the Promotion Marketing Association). [hr] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG--hUV4Hqg[/youtube] The montage was developed from footage shot for the image campaign. GO:An American Road Story follows the car from Savannah, GA to Gold Beach, OR. The crew shot footage along the way placing the Roadster in the American Landscape. An 11 minute video was delivered to dealerships and used in a direct mail campaign. Footage was also used for autoshow presentations in the US

Audience Metrix Market Research Startup Agency: ckwrites.com

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:48:56 +0000

Location

Audience Metrix is a market research and consulting firm focusing on conducting primary research at proprietary customer events.

Audience

Corporate event sponsors and managers.

Goal

Introduce the concept of market research as a tool for demonstrating the impact of events against corporate goals and KPIs.

Project

I am one of the co-founders and the CMO/creative director and writer for the company. My partner and I had been doing corporate event research since 2000. We had a significant contract from SAP to do their SAPPHIRE NOW events in Orlando, Madrid and Beijing and decided to create a company to service this emerging market.

Deliverables

The challenge and the opportunity was to develop a web-driven awareness campaign. I wrote everything, concepted the website and oversaw its construction. I also worked with our art director to develop the identity and the white papers. The campaign included:

The web site.
White papers.
Blog posts.
A PR campaign.
A social media presence on LinkedIn.
A social media presence on Twitter.
SEO development.
PPC campaign.
Google Analytics.
The Event Measurement Best Practices Survey.

Audience Metrix is currently seeking funding to move to the next level.

EXCERPT

From the whitepaper 5 Things Your CMO Should Know About Your Event

The first thing a CMO wants to know is “What impact does the event have on brand perception?” What he or she is asking is, “is the event a good way to move the needle”?
The second thing that the CMO wants to know is “What impact does the event have on the pipeline?” This is always a very difficult question to answer since very often each sales and marketing group measures and spins the results from their own perspective. Depending how stovepiped the organization is, many times these multiple data sets are never integrated into a single report. But as a general rule, how you measure, track and report marketing generated opportunities and perhaps leads is critical to being able to put a dollar view on the events contribution to the business. Just don't limit yourself to this type of measurement, because it is not the only contribution events make to the business.
The third want-to-know is “How effective is the event at influencing the users and the teams that support them?” As we’ve already noted, there are an awful lot of events that don’t sell… Instead they teach and inform customers and prospects. This is a very powerful way to create demand, build brand loyalty and protect the business from competitors with an army of built-in evangelists at every customer site.
The fourth know is “What is being done to ensure that the event remains relevant to the target audience?” CMOs are painfully aware that the world is not static. What the CMO wants to know is that you have the data you need to ensure that the event is aligned with the needs and preferences of your attendees, partners and sponsors. Put another way, he is asking what you are doing to protect his investment in this valuable marketing tool.
The fifth know is “What is our data strategy?” What are we measuring today and what else do we need to be measuring to demonstrate the impact of the event on the business. This is a high value discussion, and it is exactly where you need senior management to engage. You need senior buy-in to develop the measurement plan; and their support to bring together all of the stakeholders to implement the plan. Since the CMO is responsible to the global spend, it is important that all of the events worldwide use the same terms and measurements so that the entire year can be rolled up and looked at as a whole through a single global lens. We have learned that the only way this happens is by evangelizing the benefits of a standardized approach. If you’re at a loss for words, the biggest benefit is this: only by implementing a standard set of metrics can the event team demonstrate their value to the organization.

Boeing Commercial Airplane Group 777 Roll Out Agency: dick clark corporate productions

ck-admin — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 22:50:34 +0000

Location

A one day event for 100,000 in the final assembly hangar at Everett Field, Washington.

Audience

Boeing employees, customers, press, suppliers, partners

Goal

There were two distinct goals. First of course to introduce a new airplane in a way that would garner worldwide attention. Secondly to confirm the collaborative mantra, “Working Together” to the extended and traditionally siloed Boeing community.

Project

I was the creative director for the pitch team, the account team and coordinated the creative effort with our team and multiple departments within Boeing and the local community.

Deliverables

This a complex experience design. At any point we had 7,000 people cueing, 7,000 people experiencing and 7,000 people exiting. The 10 minute experience program was designed in three parts. The Overture was presented using a three screen “pani” format on a 280 foot screen. The Motion Picture movement rolled on two projectors on the left and right side of the screen. The film was shot on the assembly line under my direction by the Boeing Movie team. I also conducted the interviews which I intercut with statements about the plane. The Theatrical Reveal began with entire screen flying out in a scrim reveal. After a choreographed lighting reveal of the airplane, uniformed ground crew appeared to “wave” the guests to the airplane.

Awards

Grand Prize New York Film and Television Festival [hr] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0kz9iS7iWs[/youtube] [hr] This video was assembled from a combination of the deliverable materials, documentary film footage shot during the event by the Boeing film team and interviews shot in Hi8 by Brad Hood and myself.

SCRIPT

I. OVERTURE Narrator (VO): Why does one idea succeed while another fails? VO: How do you define the future? VO: What is greatness? VO: Hard questions, with no easy answers. VO: A few years ago, we at Boeing asked ourselves how could we build an airplane that would set new standards in comfort, performance and efficiency. VO: After much soul searching we found our answer in a phrase that is as common sense simple as it is organizationally complex. VO: Working Together. VO: Because we realized that only by working together as a team with our customers, suppliers and each other could we build a truly great airplane. VO: Working Together. VO: To us it means pushing the limits, setting the standard, leading the way. VO: Working Together. VO: Because creating the future was not something any of us could do alone. But we could do it together. VO: Most important of all, we did. II. MOTION PICTURE MOVEMENT VO: The cabin redefines the term widebody. VO: Every Boeing division has contributed to the program. VO: Once they got the hang of it, they couldn’t stop talking about it. BEGIN INTERVIEW SOUND BITES: V1 Everyone knows what the plan is. V2 It means collective thinking. Sharing knowledge, ideas, concepts. V3 It means that you can work worldwide as a team. V4 Working together means everybody working together to produce the best possible airplane. VO: Our craftsmen are acclaimed around the world. VO: Our customers can choose from the three most powerful engines ever built. V5 Working Together means being able to really understand what our customers want, what they need. V6 There’s just no better substitute to taking things out to get the right stuff on the airplane. V7 I think the more information you share, the better the decision will be. V8 It’s so much more powerful then just one person. VO: The landing gear is the largest in commercial service. VO: Working Together has helped us build a better airplane. V9 Everybody takes ownership and contributes to attain the common goals. V10 The thing that I have enjoyed the most about the 777 project is the genuine commitment to build the best airplane possible. III. THEATRICAL REVEAL VO: This weekend, 100,000 people are taking part in our Working Together celebration. VO: We’d like to thank each of you for coming. VO: And to the men and women who’ve worked so hard to bring the Boeing 777 to life, a special thank you. VO: The Boeing 777. Over three million parts flying in tight formation. And they all work together just right. VO: Come on up and take a closer look at our new airplane. And see how well Working Together works.

SAPThe SAP Leadership Academy Agency: A leading agency

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 23:01:20 +0000

Location:

A destination suitable for a three day VIP experience for senior executives.

Audience:

The next generation of global leaders at SAP.

Goal:

This integrated marketing campaign proposal was developed at the request of SAP’s Human Resources department which recognized the need to develop a new training approach for SAP’s present and future leaders. They proposed an approach based on principles developed at the Stanford University d-School and the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking in Pottsdam, Germany. This event was intended to be the kick-off event. After attending a unique attendee experience, it was hoped that attendees would become ambassadors for the academy. Complicating the proposal was an unidentified content partner with whom we had no chance to coordinate.

Project:

I was the strategist, creative director and writer for the proposal team.

Deliverables:

Because the destination recommendation was an important part of the proposal, we created a “learning” framework then demonstrated how the program could be executed at three different destinations. Principal program elements included:

A unique organizing principle combining an immersive learning experience with a luxury conference base camp.
A Pre-Event program to prepare attendees.
An Event agenda combining learning and social events.
A Post-Event program to sustain momentum.
A measurement program to demonstrate success and drive improvement.
A complete VIP travel experience.

After two rounds of reviews, SAP decided to postpone the launch. The contract was never awarded.

EXCERPT FROM THE PROPOSAL

The Organizing Principle

To ensure that SAP’s future leaders are able to run faster than ever before, to ensure that the talent is there to continue to double the size of the company, a new place to learn new skills is being built, the SAP Leadership Academy. We have developed a simple but powerful Event Organizing Principle for the Academy that applies the humanist emphasis of Design Thinking to the Academy experience. We sum our approach up in the concept of “Linking Learning and Leading.” “Linking Learning and Leading” consists of three elements (or deliverables) we consider essential to a compelling leadership experience: The “Kinetic Environment” – a location that offers a dynamic, challenging laboratory in which to apply early phase Design Thinking skills. This phase is described by the d. school as Empathy and as Problem Definition in other models. Regardless of the label, research suggests that “real world” immersion is the necessary precursor to new thinking. The Kinetic environment provides that. The “Disruptive Influence” – helps to spark creativity. To help remove traditional barriers based on role and title, we are providing a “provocateur” with demonstrated expertise in executive training to create challenging and uncomfortable moments. The “Base Camp” – Base Camp is where we expect the Content Agency to do most of their teaching and later stage ideation, prototyping and testing. The Base Camp is a luxury accommodations where attendees will enjoy the highest level hospitality experience. The Principle has been applied to the development of the four Leadership Academy experiences presented in the following pages.

Ford F-150 Integrated Marketing Campaign Agency: Campos Creative Works

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 23:05:46 +0000

Location:

A summer-long marketing campaign touching a wide range of American venues.

Audience:

Prospects, Ford pick-up aficionados, general press, dealers.

Goal:

This proposal for an integrated marketing communications campaign was developed at the request of the Ford F-150 product team. This was a “brand-new” F-150 and they wanted a launch that would break all previous sales records while at the same time introduce the truck to new buyers. Because pick-up truck owners are brand loyalists, we felt that new buyers would primarily come from the ranks of SUV buyers who needed the added utility of a bed. To appeal to these buyers we came up with the tag line "What's In Your Bed?".

Project:

I was the creative director for the pitch team and led the creative effort.

Deliverables:

This was among the first integrated marketing communication campaigns to combine the Internet with local events. The agency, JWT was expected to handle all other media. The TIME “Machine Of The Year” theme was developed to demonstrate the impact of the campaign. By using the well-known format to frame our proposal then used sections to showcase each tactic independently. Principal program elements included:

A concept to influence the influencers using Ford’s NASCAR website.
A family appeal through dealer involvement with local Susan G Komen Foundation events.
A fully signed mobile convoy carrying the experience across the United States.
A series of concerts at state fairs including VIP events and video loops on the main stage sponsored by “your local Ford store”.
A PR tie-in to leverage the sponsorships and drive local dealer traffic.
An approach to program measurement.
Media value equivalents were integrated into the presentation.

Our competitor for the business was the agency, JWT… This was new ground and new thinking and we gave them a hell of a run. When the dust settled they incorporated a few of our better ideas.

EXCERPT FROM THE PROPOSAL

It has been more than twenty years since we first honored a Machine as the "Man of the Year."

The first “Machine” was the PC, which began redefining our lives the day it appeared and has yet to stop. In 2003, the Ford F-150 has emerged as a symbol of the renaissance of the American spirit and the vitality of American business. It is a shiny, powerful machine that speaks volumes about our future, and what is great about America. It is no secret that the past few years have been tough for Ford. A series of large and small disasters battered earnings and weakened relations with their powerful dealers. New competitors entered the market with more sophisticated products and began taking share. Investor confidence was at an all time low. The F-150 turned out to be the ideal product to reinvent the brand; a near-perfect blend of a great vehicle and insightful marketing. The engineers demonstrated a sure sense of what customers wanted, while the marketers showed that they knew exactly how to communicate its benefits, systematically creating a buzz that criss-crossed America capturing both traditional buyers as well as new cross-over buyers critical to their future. Tremendous care was taken not to alienate the current 24/7/365 owners. The team realized that the toughness these men valued was, in fact, fueled by the responsibility they felt as the go-to people in their community. People relied on them to deliver – and in turn they chose products they could count on – a theme that Ford built on to move its advertising away from corrals and construction sites into the mainstream. By repositioning the F-150 as the “truck you can count on,” they found the key to enlisting the current owners to help them reach out to a new generation of buyers – Gen X’ers, couples, young families, Hispanics, and most of all, women. People who relied on these men and listened to what they had to say. In many ways, the first-time F-150 customers we interviewed are much like the old. They are people who care, and care about each other. People who have the courage of their convictions and the will to see things through. They are active, involved purposeful people.

They are not easy for marketers to influence.
They decide things for themselves.
They are picky about their friends.

Ford succeeded by going into the community with an honest, innovative grassroots program that let people discover for themselves just how well the new Ford F-150 fit their go-to lifestyles. In the F-150, customers found a truck that will last a lifetime, in which they can have the time of their lives. The groundswell the campaign created has redefined buzz marketing, and restored the luster to the blue oval. And earned this cover for the men and women who built and marketed the “Machine of the Year.” An achievement made all the more remarkable by the fact that they did all this while once again making the F-150 the number one selling truck in America for an unprecedented twenty-six years in a row. WOW!

Cisco Shanghai Pavilion Smart+Connected Life PavilionAgency: George P Johnson

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 23:18:12 +0000

Location:

A 10,000 square foot Pavilion at The Shanghai 2010 World Expo.

Audience:

Government officials, private developers, various service providers, CXOs and Cisco employees.

Goal:

70 million people came to explore the Expo theme Better City, Better Life. Cisco's China team used the opportunity to conduct an integrated marketing campaign showcasing the company's vision for sustainable cities.

Project:

I was the creative director and writer for the Pavilion content. With no formal program or messaging in place, I conducted 45 interviews with Cisco employees and partners around the world in order to develop a cohesive narrative. It’s worth noting that the GPJ team included the build team on location in Shanghai, the account team in Singapore, the media team in Australia and the print team in Northern California.

Deliverables:

The first thing I wrote was internal version of The Smart+Connected Life Guide. I then leveraged the research and the Guide to write:

Video scripts.
Interpretive signage.
Invitations targeted to multiple audience segments.
10, 20 and 60 minute presentations.
The PR “Bible” used by multiple agencies.
Copy for the Pavilion website.

After the event, Cisco developed pages on their website using many of the same materials.

Awards:

Cisco Chairman's Choice Award [hr] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXo-mHGTM6s[/youtube] [hr] This being China, people cue (that’s British for stand in line) for absolutely everything. This very simple video was the first thing they saw as they waited to come in to the Pavilion. It sets the stage and introduces the themes that are explored inside. The stormy ending foreshadows a film the guests see later.

Excerpt From The Guide

Urbanization and Technology

The population of Planet Earth is fast approaching 7 billion people. 7,000,000,000.

400 cities have populations over 1 million.
19 cities in the world have populations of 20 million or more.
500 million people will be urbanized in the next 5 years.

Somewhere between 100 and 500 new cities — each with a population of at least 1 million — will be built and inhabited by 2030. Trillions of dollars will be spent. Tens of millions of people will be employed. By 2050 more people will live in cities than live on all of Planet Earth today. It is an enormously complex undertaking. The numbers are so vast, the timetable so abrupt, that our traditional models and practices can no longer scale to solve the problem. Technology is an essential part of the solution. It can provide tools to manage the challenge, and it can deliver services on a vast scale with unprecedented efficiency. As it happens, we are entering the third web age, The Internet of Everything, supported by the Internet Protocol for Smart Objects (IPSO). This evolution has two defining characteristics. Any “thing” can be connected to an IP network. Every “thing” that is connected will speak to each other. The convergence of all kinds of data across a unified IP network will make it possible to develop a wide range of new services. And to deliver these services to anyone, anywhere, anytime. It is this combination of services and delivery that defines a Smart+Connected Community.

Testimonials

ck-admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 06:04:09 +0000

[woothemes_testimonials limit="100" size="100" order="ASC"] For the complete client list, please click here.

4 Challenges Facing Event Agencies

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:21:01 +0000

An agency has to win more than they lose.

To win consistently, you have to get three questions right:

Is the business qualified? Is the pitch on target? Did you positively influence the client's perception of your agency? (i.e. will you at least get invited back?) Get one wrong and it's not a pretty picture... So, if you're not getting the answers right as often as you'd like... or if you're like me and just hate losing, you've probably said "There must be a better way." Boom. There is a way better way. My complimentary post-mortem audit will up your pitch ratio. You know, your ROI. "They" are not the only ones who need one! I am passionate about new business development and pitching. I've trained teams, successfully managed many pursuits and read voraciously on the subject. What do I know? I know that for you to maximize the return on your business development budget, you need a coach. We all do.

Beyond winning enough to pay for the swings and the misses, (at least) three things play a part in your long-term success.

1/ You are only as good as your last show.

Problem is, not every one can be a hit.
People and teams burn-out.
And clients get bored.

Add me to a creative team to provide new ideas, energy and focus. Look at my portfolio to see what I can bring to the party. 2/ You must continuously differentiate your offering from your competition.

Virtual teams, global networks and many other factors make it harder and harder to build and deliver a proprietary offering.
Conversely, integrating far-flung specialists into a cohesive team requires clear goals, together with an increased emphasis on communication.

Engage me when you need an actionable strategy that the entire team can follow.

I am that rare left brain-right brain individual who understands the client's objectives,
can wrap their head around the content,
and gets that it's the schedule and budget that determine your success.

3/ You must continuously demonstrate the value of your contribution to the client's bottom line (whether they call it that or not).

If you don't think that metrics are coming to events, think again.(It's a good reason to subscribe to the blog!)
I don't mean to get all dramatic here, but your not too distant future is going to depend on providing your clients with the tools and data they need to demonstrate the impact of their investment in you.
Being able to do that isn't exactly going to make them look bad either. It's one of those win-win things.

I’ll develop the metrics to demonstrate your value to whomever is doing the asking. I've been doing corporate research and measurement since 2000. I'm willing to bet, that you don't have anybody like that in your Rolodex or your vendor file. You may depend on me when:

You need a strategy for an RFP.
You need your team to qualify the RFP and do additional discovery.
You need a concept based on the discovery.
You need creative and integrated tactics for the concept.
You need to present the campaign in a winning pitch.
You need to support the pitch with a program to demonstrate the impact of the investment.

I have proven that I can do a lot of things well. But what I really enjoy is doing amazing things with great teams. [button link="http://ckwrites.com/cks-testimonials/" size="large" bg_color="#912617"]Ask anyone![/button] If you've read this far, why not contact me to set up a meeting? We really should get to know each other.

4 Challenges Of Corporate Marketing

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:21:43 +0000

Why is any project successful?

Because someone covered the bases.

After all these years, I have a good idea where to find them.

Strategy - I get down to the nitty gritty of who you are and where you want to go.

I learn as much as I can about your customers, your industry and your business.
I've learned how a lot of different kinds of industries work. How they innovate, go-to-market and manage their channels. I know what I need to know.
With that done, I can bring the research, validation, and “yeah, this is why we’re recommending doing it this way” justification to the table to get the buy-in we need to move forward.

Creative - Good creative starts with understanding the offering and it's competitive position.

Then comes the hard part: understanding why customer's think that your offering solves their problems.
Because you need to speak their language to make the good stuff happen.

Some call it being "market-driven" as opposed to "marketing-driven." OK. I know. You've got a job. My job is to engage, captivate and otherwise enthrall you audience.

I am curious and I have a nose for stories that bring the value to life. I speak "C-suite", “geek” and "customer". I can translate the most complicated concepts into Plain English.
I get the big picture and the small details. The magic happens when you put them together.

If you're wondering about my range, please take a look at the case studies in the Portfolio.

Making It Happen. I have an old school work ethic.

I came up in a world where the show went on, or you went out of business. i.e. Your job will always come before my dinner party.
I have learned that the most important thing that I can do is get the project off to a fast start. My goal is always the same: first draft approval.
Because this isn't my first rodeo, I know where the booby traps, snake pits and ant hills are likely to be located. I'll let you know in time to do something about it.

You may depend on me when:

You need a strategy.
You need an integrated tactical approach to the strategy.
You need a concept based on the tactics.
You need creative for the concept.
You need to demonstrate the impact of the strategy.

I bring a lot to the party. [button link="http://ckwrites.com/cks-testimonials/" size="large" color="red" bg_color="#912617"]Ask anyone![/button] If you've read this far, why not contact me to set up a meeting? We should get to know each other.

Our Deal

ck-admin — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 22:22:24 +0000

I have two goals.

My first goal is to make my clients look like rock stars by delivering exceptional results. My second goal, which is almost entirely dependent on the first, is to build long lasting business relationships. My business practices are designed to create a positive, fair environment that protects both of us. Please click on any topic for details. [qa cat=ck-faqs]

Contact ck

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 02:01:24 +0000

ck knows you're out there...

and he wants to hear from you.

Tel: 575-758-7836

OR

Ping him to say hey, set up a call, ask a trick question or ask him to start on a project that needs to be done yesterday. He thinks that's fun... really!

Oh - if you haven't already, sign up for the blog at the bottom of the page... he loves to send his friends cool stuff.

Christopher Korody PO Box 1702 El Prado NM 87529

GMT -7

[hr]

Ping ck - it's easy:

[gravityform id="3" name="Ping ck" title="false" description="false" ajax="true"]

101 Great Reasons To Work With ckwrites

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 21:26:10 +0000

OK - just kidding - no one has time to read 101 reasons no matter how amazing...

Though there are a couple that I would like you to remember.

Reason 001 - Experience. If you're going to have to turn and burn to meet your deadline, getting off to a fast start is essential. Whether I do the strategy, the creative or the writing I will get you to buy-in and approval faster, leaving more time for everything else that has to happen. Reason 002 - Passion. Do you love creating and delivering insanely great things? Cool. Because I love busting my butt for clients like you! When you have a minute, take a look at my 170+ company client list. You'll be in excellent company! If you are a corporate marketer: I can help you to ensure that your programs achieve their goals.

I come with the t-shirts from countless product launches, dealer meetings, press conferences and tradeshows.
I live for the thrills and spills of bringing the new silver bullet to market, and I'm always on a first-name basis with all of the departments that need to be involved.
I have won a ton of awards. Lee Clow thinks that they count, and so do I. Full Disclosure: Your CMO wants at least one in the lobby.

I have worked on far-flung global teams on fast-moving projects like the Cisco Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. We did the entire project in 6 months starting from zero. Read about it here. I have done market research at corporate events for 12 years. That's something you don't find everyday. Research is pretty fascinating - not only is it essential if you want to demonstrate impact - it's the only way to improve your offering. Read about my company, Audience Metrix here. My clients appreciate that I am a very quick study. I sweat the details so that they can tend to more pressing matters. They love that I am always looking a couple of steps ahead. I don't have their backs so much as I have their future. Ask them. If you are an event agency: I can help you to grow your business and demonstrate your inestimable value to your clients. I have walked many miles in your shoes, sneakers and boots - but never in your heels.

I have founded and managed three agencies and worked with many of the "big" names.
Like you, I have won and lost my share of pitches.
I have the ability to turn the most complex problem into perfect sense.

You can see an example of a fully integrated launch proposal for Ford here and the groundbreaking 1995 BMW Z3 launch here. All good, but what really matters is that I know that a solution that can not be delivered on-time and on-budget is not a solution... no matter how much everyone in the room loves it. Because I've chased down more then my share of rabbit holes and barked up plenty of wrong trees, it doesn't take me long to figure it out. I developed a technique called chunk budgeting. You're going to like the way it works on your proposals. It saves my clients time, money and do-overs. Ask them! Still not convinced? Keep reading. Cick here if you are a corporate marketer, or here if you work at an event agency. And please, you've got to subscribe to the blog...

About ckwrites Free Post Mortem Audit

ck — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 15:01:36 +0000

C’mon. Let’s do this. No strings attached. It’s com·pli·men·ta·ry!

OK... I can hear you thinking “If it’s free, can it be any good?”

Heck ya!

Dude, you just gave away the whole enchilada and that was pretty darn good...

A bad thing happened and you don't want it to happen again.

So riddle me this…

What are you going to do to make sure that you win the next one?

How are you going to make a better go/no go decision?
How will you coach your team to win?

Here's the deal with the free post-mortem.

I will assess your strategy, the pitch and the creative.
I'll tell you what I think - this ain't no disco, and I will not be blowing smoke.

After that, if it makes sense for us to continue our dialogue, lets. If not, I hope to have been of service to you. I know I will have learned something. I allocate a limited amount of time to do this every month... So if you're feeling the sting please don't delay. Because as a good friend of mine once said, "hope is not a strategy." [gravityform id="2" name="I'd like to schedule a complimentary audit"] PS No guarantees, no promises, no warranty express or implied... I'll give it my best shot, I trust that you will too.

How To Be A Great Client

ck — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 22:39:47 +0000

The first thing I do every morning is read Seth Godin's blog.

When I read this post, I knew that I had to share with everyone I work with; and everyone who might want to work with me.

So I asked Seth for permission to reproduce it and he said of course. Just put a link to my blog…

Here's what Seth wrote:

As a client, your job isn’t to be innovative. Your job is to foster innovation. Big difference. Fostering innovation is a discipline, a profession in fact. It involves making difficult choices and causing important things to get shipped out the door. Here are a few thoughts to get you started.

Before engaging with the innovator, foster discipline among yourself and your team. Be honest about what success looks like and what your resources actually are.

If you can’t write down clear ground rules about which rules are firm and which can be broken on the path to a creative solution, how can you expect the innovator to figure it out?  Simplify the problem relentlessly, and be prepared to accept an elegant solution that satisfies the simplest problem you can describe.

After you write down the ground rules, revise them to eliminate constraints that are only on the list because they’ve always been on the list.

Hire the right person. Don’t ask a mason to paint your house. Part of your job is to find someone who is already in the sweet spot you’re looking for, or someone who is eager and able to get there.

Demand thrashing early in the process. Force innovations and decisions to be made near the beginning of the project, not in a crazy charrette at the end.

Be honest about resources. While false resource constraints may help you once or twice, the people you’re working with demand your respect, which includes telling them the truth.

Pay as much as you need to solve the problem, which might be more than you want to. If you pay less than that, you’ll end up wasting all your money. Why would a great innovator work cheap?

Cede all issues of irrelevant personal taste to the innovator. I don’t care if you hate the curves on the new logo. Just because you write the check doesn’t mean your personal aesthetic sense is relevant.

Run interference. While innovation sometimes never arrives, more often it’s there but someone in your office killed it.

Raise the bar. Over and over again, raise the bar. Impossible a week ago is not good enough. You want stuff that is impossible today, because as they say at Yoyodyne, the future begins tomorrow.

When you find a faux innovator, run. Don’t stick with someone who doesn’t deserve the hard work you’re doing to clear a path.

Celebrate the innovator. Sure, you deserve a ton of credit. But you’ll attract more innovators and do even better work next time if innovators understand how much they benefit from working with you.

Here's my promise. If you do this for me, I will move mountains for you.

Thanks for signing up!

ck-admin — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 03:20:26 +0000

Thanks for signing up

Please check your In Box (and your Spam folder) for the email confirmation required to activate your subscription. Sorry but no joy - or posts - until you take care of that detail.

Then: Look for ck Curates "jolt of fresh" to get you over Hump Day every Wednesday... and the ckwrites blog on Saturday morning to start your weekend.

paster-Cisco Shanghai Pavilion

ck-admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 05:22:48 +0000

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXo-mHGTM6s[/youtube] Location: A 10,000 square foot pavilion at The Shanghai 2010 World Expo Audience: government officials, private developers, service providers and CXOs Goal: A permanent exhibit demonstrating Cisco’s vision for sustainable cities. Project: I was the creative director and writer for the Pavilion content. I conducted 45 interviews with Cisco employees and partners around the world. This was the first time that the Cisco vision had been codified and multiple local initiatives integrated into a cohesive marketing narrative consistent with their global strategy. It’s worth noting that the GPJ team included the build team on location in Shanghai, the account team in Singapore, the film team in Australia and the print team in Northern California. Deliverables: The primary deliverable was the Smart+Connected Life Guide used by Cisco Pavilion personnel to brief visitors. In addition I wrote:

video scripts
descriptive signage
invitations targeted to multiple audience segments
10, 20 and 60 minute presenter scripts
the PR “Bible” used by multiple agencies
Copy for the website

After the Expo closed I wrote a promotional website including several videos and audio interviews with the team. http://www.gpjscc.com U: gpjscc P: expo2010 Cisco also developed a website using many of the same materials. http://www.cisco.com/web/CN/expo/en/index.html Event Agency: George P Johnson Awards: Cisco President’s Award

BIDS

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 22:54:34 +0000

My preference is to provide you with a fixed bid. You may expect me to honor that bid unless the scope or schedule significantly changes… something that is generally quite apparent. If the project is still a bit murky around the edges when we start, I will provide a not-to-exceed estimate. This lets me manage my time on your behalf. It is more cost effective then a flat hourly rate. Where the scope is indefinable, or there will be a great deal of interaction with other agencies which will impact my hours in unpredictable ways, an hourly rate is the most equitable solution.

SCHEDULE

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:06:07 +0000

No matter how tight the schedule, there are some things that must be in place so that we get off on the right foot.

A complete Purchase Order.
Sign-off from the stakeholders on the focus and content of the deliverables.
Time for input and research.
Time for your internal approval process.

DELIVERABLES

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:06:43 +0000

Deliverables vary with the assignment. The easiest to define are writing assignments which almost always include the following deliverables:

A Treatment. This is a brief summary of the agreed upon strategy, content and tone of the piece. It may also identify missing content areas and additional responsibilities which emerged during the process.
A First Draft. This is the proposed copy in an appropriate format for the delivery medium. (e.g. a video script will be formatted and annotated differently then a website or a SEO piece.)
The Draft is reviewed for accuracy and completeness as well as style, tone and positioning.
The Polish reflects all notes, input and feedback. For all intents and purposes this is the finished product.
If the deliverable is copy, then the Polish goes to Legal for review.
The Second Polish incorporates any notes or changes from Legal.
The Second Polish is the deliverable. This is the document that goes to production.

AGREEMENT

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:07:02 +0000

A complete Agreement between us consists of:

A Deal Memo (sometimes called a SOW or LOA) specifying the deliverables, fee and schedule.
The Deal Memo identifies any anticipated additional costs or expenses.
A Purchase Order in the agreed upon amount from your Company.
If necessary, an NDA or any other legal documents required by your Company.

OVERAGES AND EXPENSES

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:07:26 +0000

If you want to control project costs, you must ensure that the people with final approval (your internal customers) have input from at the beginning.

If there is going to be an Overage because of a change in scope, you will approve it before I proceed with the additional work.
To confirm the details of our discussion, I will issue a PCN (Project Change Notice).

Any expenses that are to be rebilled must be approved in advance. The most common types of expenses are those for transcriptions, surveys and travel.

CANCELLATION

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:07:55 +0000

Because my time is a perishable commodity and I turn down other assignments to take yours, there is a “kill fee”.

If the project is cancelled before the first draft has been submitted, the “kill fee” is 50% of the agreed upon total.
If the project is cancelled after the first draft is submitted, the “kill fee” is 90% of the agreed upon fee.

3 Trends Transforming Event Marketing

ck — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 05:21:35 +0000

Event Marketing is going from marketing-driven to market-driven.

Jeff Bezos, with a little help from Amazon, just bought the Washington Post. [caption id="attachment_1298" align="alignleft" width="150"] Extra, extra... forget all about it.[/caption] So much for the folks that brought you "Deep Throat." Forget about "all the news that's fit to print." Now folks in DC are going to get what they've always dreamed of: "just the news you want to deal with."

The Shift To Market-Driven Events

Every day our audiences are making more choices about what they will - and won't - pay attention to in every aspect of their lives. One result is that sponsors and agencies alike are increasingly caught between achieving event objectives and giving the audience a reason to come back. That in a nutshell is the old world of 'marketing-driven' where in theory the sponsor is in charge, and the new audience fueled world of 'market-driven' events. Say what you will, but there is no doubt that the room is getting tougher to work. Let's examine 3 of the trends driving this transformation.

Trend 1: Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is changing the way that events are promoted, designed and extended online. I apologize for being obvious, but there are some larger points to be made. Here are 3 examples among many. Sharing, posting and tweeting enables audience acquisition teams to effectively target smaller niches.

It is possible to build a buzz for your event - if the content resonates with the audience.
Consider the food truck phenomenon. This has huge implications for experiential programs where real success depends on delivering an authentic experience to a narrowly defined audience.
Another example is the spread of TedX events. There are clear parallels to user group "no fluff" events; homegrown affairs which sprung from the desire for high quality content.

The sponsor's ability to manage the guest experience is being changed by on-site tweeting and blogging.

The technology has enabled a dialog that the event owners can not control.

The disgruntled have a louder voice. There is a growing body of research that suggests that the unhappiest attendees are the ones most likely to tweet, post and otherwise pin the sponsor to the wall.

Consider the recent Samsung 4 launch at Radio City Music Hall launch; and the tremendous amount of negative commentary it prompted even before the event was over.
Here is one headline from among many: "Samsung weird: how a phone launch went from Broadway glitz to sexist mess."

Events may be proprietary, but they are no longer private. What happens on-site, no longer stays on-site.

Trend 2: Networking Is Replacing Learning

This might also be titled: Virtual Content Is Killin' Ya... Not glamorous, (whoever loved sessions?), but for decades the primary reason to attend an event has been to acquire skills, knowledge and otherwise useful information one can apply to their work.

Historically, networking was a little discussed added bonus.
Especially in talent driven categories, everybody was happy to poach, but no one wanted to be poached.

Content drove attendance, valuable content increased attendance year over year.

Recent survey data suggests that this is changing for non-technical events.
For many people, "getting content" onsite is no longer a reason to attend.
Why travel and spend big bucks to get what is available (free) online?
Oh, and why go all that way to get hyped, when you can sit at home and hit Delete?

That's why I think that a growing percentage of people are attending events specifically to network with their peers.

I believe that this is a direct extension of customers taking control of the product research process.
If sharing information on a blog or in a forum is good, then it is likely that meeting with your peers face-to-face is even better, especially for complex technical products, which often require a great deal of support from the manufacturer.
"So how has the support from XYZ on the new jibber wacker been?"

One consequence may be that the attendee who is focused on networking will spend less time doing other things - going to sessions, meeting with their reps, talking with partners on the show floor.

Does space allocation need to change to provide more space for people to talk?
Do the sessions need to deliver "more stuff, less fluff?"
What can you deliver on-site that they can't get (or you won't give them) online?

Do you actually know why people are attending your events, and what they are doing while they are there? If not, how will you adjust the event to better meet their interests and ensure their continued attendance?

Trend 3: Performance Measurement Metrics

Given my interests, this might be the most fascinating trend of all. [caption id="attachment_1240" align="alignright" width="250"] Measurement is coming atcha![/caption] I feel as though I am standing in a tunnel watching the headlight coming towards me. There is no way to get off the track... It's not 'if', but 'when.' So what exactly is going on, and why? In a massive global survey, IBM found that CMO's were under increasing pressure to demonstrate the return on marketing programs.

How events have dodged this litmus test that is all too familiar to advertising, direct marketing and social media, is somewhat of a mystery.
The answer differs by the company and their goals.
Based on a lot of studies, it is clear that almost all marketing departments struggle with capturing, integrating and analyzing event data.
Add sales data to calculate ROI, and we're talking MI, Mission Impossible...

Still, the event budget is almost always the biggest single line item in the marketing budget. That is what will drive the CFO to insist that the CMO:

define outcomes,
measure them and
provide data that can be integrated with other business metrics.

This goes well beyond justifying the spend and comparing the effectiveness of event marketing to other tactics. The goal is to manage the expenditure to provide the greatest possible return on each event component. As my client Mike Trovalli, the Vice President, Global Events for SAP, reminded me recently, this kind of insight has been the "Holy Grail" for a long time. With the advent of the big data and predictive analytics, the Grail is one step closer. The more sophisticated the client or company is, the sooner they will begin to try and figure it out. The good news is that knowing more about our audiences will enable us to create an event that delivers a more valuable experience. Think of it as growing attendance numbers and job security. If there is a downside, it is that our recommendations as event professionals will be set aside in favor of the numbers. And another era will come to an end. I'd like to ask you for your feedback:

In what ways has social media changed your events?
Has virtual content impacted attendance?
Are you seeing evidence of the networking trend at your events?
And where are your clients and your company on implementing performance measurement metrics?

I'll see you next week.

PS If you haven't yet, please take a minute to subscribe. Your subscription includes ck Curates - an e-zine that complements the blog.

Defining The Differences Between Event Marketing and Experiential Marketing

ck — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 03:26:07 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1117" align="alignleft" width="244"] Shot at the 1983 Apple Sales Meeting when the sales team previewed the Macintosh.[/caption] One of the challenges that our industry faces is explaining the nuances of the wonderful tactics that we can deploy for our clients. I recently read a post on LinkedIn lamenting the fact that the poster's prospects didn't seem to grasp what Experiential Marketing was. From the 60+ responses, it was pretty clear that it is a poorly understood tactic. So I thought I would add my two cents to the confusion, and perhaps stir up some discussion, by offering up a working definition of Experiential Marketing that we can use going forward in the Blog. As it is always easier to position against something, let me start with my definition of Event Marketing because it comes with a good story. The Back Story I first heard the term "event marketing" used by John Sculley to describe an event we created to launch the Apple //c at Moscone Center in April, 1984. It's easy to forget that at the time, the Apple // product line was paying all of the bills... but because of all of the Mac hoopla it wasn't getting much respect. This event was in part intended to restore the balance. (The political infighting is well documented by the books covering the era.) The audience consisted of the entire Apple US dealer network - some two thousand people - a large contingent of press, a handful of analysts and hundreds of enthusiastic Apple employees who got the day off to drive up from Cupertino for the biggest event in Apple's history. [caption id="attachment_1122" align="aligncenter" width="734"] 500+ employees simultaneously revealed the Apple //c.[/caption] It was the most amazing event in the history of the personal computer, and one of those magic days that makes this business so fun.

Softalk described it as ”part revival meeting, part sermon, part roundtable discussion, part pagan rite, and part county fair.”
To paraphrase Time, "the show had all the flash and trash of a Detroit automobile dealer meeting."

So what is event marketing? Apple // Forever is prototypical event marketing because the event was designed to provide a focal point for a wide range of sales and marketing activities that extended beyond the four walls of the venue. In this case Apple // Forever:

Energized the dealer body - every dealer received a beautifully boxed Apple //c that they carried home through just about every airport in America.
Engaged the press - garnering coverage for both the Macintosh and the Apple // family.
Galvanized the company - the vast majority of who worked on the Apple // and had been alienated by the incessant focus on the Mac.
Bumped the stock price - the analysts loved the idea that John Sculley had magically brought the two product lines together.

If you fast forward to recent Apple World Wide Developer Conferences, you can see how this strategy has evolved. Today social media journos tweet and blog live alongside representatives from the traditional press and analyst communities. SO - Where Did Experiential Marketing Come From? An attention getting gag meets many people's definition of an experience. For those folks, Apple // Forever could be defined as experiential marketing. The confusion comes because Apple // Forever is clearly event marketing. So is one always the other? Are they synonymous? IMO NO [caption id="attachment_1125" align="alignleft" width="183"] Pine and Gilmore defined the concept behind Experiential Marketing.[/caption] The Experience Economy is the book which is credited for providing the intellectual underpinnings for experiential marketing. What Pine and Gilmore posited in 1998 is that consumers would pay for a new class of "product" that offered an evolutionary step forward from goods, no matter how unique; or services no matter how personal. They called it "an experience". The value proposition was kind of earth-shattering: businesses would form to orchestrate memorable events and the individual's memory of their experience would be the deliverable. Paying to remember is the essence of selling air, and the race to leap on the bandwagon was underway... What Is Experiential Marketing and Where Does It Fit? Experiential marketing has always relied on creating or leveraging an event to attract the individuals to whom the experience will be offered. A sporting event, a concert, a charity event or an exclusive invitation-only shindig all fulfill the same function as a corporate event. They provide the bodies for the experience makers. Note that the agendas of the event sponsor and the experience agency are not necessarily aligned - sponsorship being a prime example of an experience agency leveraging an otherwise unrelated event for their own purposes. I am going to offer up the following definition - I'd love to hear from you on how you would amend it...

Experiential marketing creates a unique, real-time individual experience of a good or service.
The experience is designed to be compelling, memorable and positive.
The participant's memory of the experience should result in them being more favorably inclined towards the sponsor.
The favorable impression can manifest as a preference, a purchase or another behavior that the sponsor has decided will provide a return on their investment.

Social media has advanced experiential marketing in important ways:

The individual can share their memory in an immediate, highly personal way.
The assumption is that more often than not an individual will share with people who are psychographically and demographically like them - i.e. people who are also likely to be interested in what the sponsor is offering.
This highly targeted reach is more efficient than traditional media, more credible and less expensive.
Measuring social media activity provides more precise metrics then were historically available.
To date this depends on measuring success in terms like likes and tweets, but inevitably this will expand to capture more of the dimensions that the sponsor hopes to influence.

Summary Event marketing is a one-to-many experience.

The audience is invited because they have common elements in their profile.
They experience the event as a group, simultaneously.
The event, which is much more about the content then the gag, continues to influence over time.
Typically an important component of the event is press coverage which provides reach.
Increasingly individual audience members share their experiences with peers, partners and prospects further extending the reach of the event.

Experiential marketing is a one-to-one experience.

Each person has an individual experience.
Because the experience only exists in the moment, it must be continuously recreated.
The memory of the experience is amplified by sharing with like-minded individuals.

If this sounds a bit like sampling, test drives and tastings, I think that may be because it often is. The desire to be all things complicates defining experiential marketing and often makes it more difficult to present a clear value proposition to a prospect. I'll leave the final word to Jonathan Edwards, the Strategy Director at Sledge, a UK experiential marketing agency.

"Advertising tries to persuade me - but a good experience also gives me a reason to persuade other people."

An answer like that would no doubt delight a lot of prospects! I'll see you next week. Please let me know what you think. What did I miss? What did I leave out? What do you agree or more likely disagree with? How can we tighten this up?

PS If you haven't, please take a minute to subscribe. Your subscription includes the blog on Saturday and The Weekly Jolt which highlights 5 of the top stories from ck Curates on Wednesday.

Hello World Again... A New Blog

ck — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 00:05:16 +0000

Welcome back to the ckwrites blog

I know, who knew. And since that worked so well then, why try again now - or at all? [caption id="attachment_784" align="alignright" width="250"] looking forward to hearing from you![/caption] Because I am fascinated by the changes taking place in face-to-face marketing. Event marketing, experiential marketing, integrated marketing... all are being transformed. • By new audiences with changing expectations. • By new program goals, strategies and expectations. • By new technologies, enabling new possibilities. Dramatic? Yes. Attention getting? I hope so. Real? Most definitely. This is one flock of genies that will never see the inside of a bottle again. But it's not a bad thing. In fact, I think it's a good thing. Back when I was a pup (1974) I got a Masters Degree in Instructional Design from the University of Southern California. Instructional design is a program designed for teachers and librarians. I was neither, but I was fascinated by media production and it turned out to be a pretty good choice. Instructional Design poses the question "what is the best way to teach or influence someone?" (If you immediately said "it depends", you've obviously done half the course work.)

At its core were the concepts of audiences and objectives.
The third leg of the stool was what kind of information each type of media was best suited to present. (HINT: Think about watching a movie and an interactive learning program on the same topic. Which would you present first?)
And then, being both sincere and academic, "how do we know if it worked?"

40 years later and the assignment hasn't changed.

How do we define and design a campaign?
How we choose from all of the tactics and technologies that are now available?
How do we continuously make it more effective?

That is what this blog is going to be all about. A nice mix of the thoughtful, the pragmatic and the awesome all seasoned with a pinch of snark to keep things moving along. There is of course a small catch. I need you!

Please subscribe to the blog. I need your permission to share.
Please comment on posts. Let me know where I missed and what you want more of.
Please tell others. Engaging our fellow travelers is good. It makes this community better. Whether you forward, link, quote, tweet or d) all of the above, it's all good and it all helps.

See you next week. PS Please take a minute to subscribe. Your subscription includes ck Curates - a weekly jolt of fresh thinking that I hand pick to complement the blog.

ck Curates - the e-zine for crazy busy event people

ck — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:08:40 +0000

Information the way you want it... fast, graphic, scannable, linked, updatable, interactive. Yumm!

When my web developer, Bert Mahoney (berchman.com), first showed me the Rebel Mouse web-based e-zine tool I fell hard for it. When we redesigned the site I knew that I had to use Rebel Mouse to curate an e-zine for you. (Turns out that the Rebel Mice are swell folks who will keep making good better. Nice!) As the tagline suggests, ck Curates has one purpose which is to give you a jolt.

An insight or aha or a wake-up call.

So, what is curation? I spend a ton of time reading. Now instead of clipping, forwarding and losing everything; I edit an e-zine.

The process of sifting, selecting and publishing is called curation.Think of it as Pinterest with articles from any and everywhere.

ck Curates is organized by 6 navigation tabs. Home - has everything. It's the big lollapalooza. The 5 tabs get you where you want to go faster.

Pitches - is all about the business of business development.
Content - deals with how to best meet the needs of content creation. In the past few years, this has emerged as a huge on-going initiative for many clients. Curation is one tactic to meet this demand.
The Big Aha - is intended to inspire with stories about great creatives and the creative process. It's the tab for a spark.
Metrics & ROI - brings the latest thinking on event measurement and marketing ROI. This looks beyond the event business, but there is a surprising amount of content focused on our little corner of the world.
Marketing 501 - big ideas, new concepts, trends and that great piece of background information you need for tomorrow's prezo.

About the newsletter aka The Jolt! I thought this was a pretty good plan and of course it made perfect sense to me... until the RedHeaded Woman in my life, Erika Napoletano (erikanapoletano.com) said "Cool...but you can't expect everyone to wade through all that (fascinating, she could have said fascinating) stuff. Why don't you pick a few things and summarize them in a weekly email for crazy busy people?" And so out of collaboration and two views of what you might want, has come something that gives you lots to choose from, plus a handful of choices I make for you in The Jolt. So what do you have to do? Nothing! It's easy. You get the weekly summary email, The Jolt, for ck Curates when you sign up for the ckwrites Blog here. Think of it as the tip of the iceberg. One click does it all.

Every Wednesday you get an email with 5 new jolts. Quick and consumable.
Skim it, then decide if you want to read the entire article, comment, whatever.
Every Saturday you get an email with the new blog post. A bit more to chew on.

Whether you subscribe or not, ck Curates is always there 24/7/365 for you to browse whenever you're stuck in a terminal, waiting for a meeting to start (or end) or otherwise want to make good use of your time in a strange hotel room. Or you just need a jolt of fresh. I bookmarked it! PS If you really can't decide whether or not to subscribe - check out ck Curates first - no strings, links or cookies attached. Naturally you can unsubscribe whenever you want to, but I am going to be working hard to make sure you can't afford to. PPS Thanks to Jill Konrath (jillkonrath.com) for "crazy busy people". We all are, but she wrote it down first.

Fantasy: 101 Ways A Writer Plays Quarterback

ck — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 04:25:23 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1791" align="alignleft" width="243"] Joe Montana puts another one in @ SuperBowl 19[/caption]

Hooray.

All aboard for the 2013 fantasy football season. Faith is over the hill, but Carrie is dying to make us admit that we're ready for some football. Safe to say that her debut has been much more eagerly anticipated than the new Yahoo! logo (hint - last Wednesday.) Once again, it's the season for half glass optimism... fueled by deeply held opinions floating skyward on the fumes of millions of tailgate BBQs.

Will AP make his number?
Can Johnny possibly live up to the hype and stem the 'Tide?
Will Rex survive the season?
Is this Peyton's year?

Me? I am indulging my deepest fantasies about the things that writers and quarterbacks have in common. Yep - this post is really about that. The ineffable, intangible thrill of playing for a team. Besides, no one writes a tighter script than the NFL. Let's do what Al and Chris do, and start with the starting line-ups. Quarterbacks corral a herd of gladiators in skin-tight uniforms up and down the field. Grades (almost any), an up-to-date rap sheet and a uncontrollable desire to play hurt are the price of entry - as is the willingness to live life under the tweet 'scope. Which, except for the bigger bling, is not so different from a writer's fantasy of herding a group of over-amped road ninjas, dressed in shades of black, up and down the pitch without getting a scratch on their Crackberrys. There are of course insignificant differences. Football teams are named for fearsome animals and colorful sub-cultures - while event writers play for teams known only by two or three letters. (NSA?) No one is quite certain how this happened, but it certainly speaks to the difference between the "through thick-and-thin" commitment of diehard fans; and the ever-so-fleeting infatuation of corporate clients. Good thing that everybody loves a winner. The love of the win is why I annually celebrate the unsuspected similarities between writers and our Sunday heroes. Here you go... Both the writer and the quarterback are specialists at winging it.

Quarterbacks begin their careers drawing up plays on the sidewalk. "Left by the old Plymouth, then juke hard at the garbage can..."
Writers continually risk their careers by usurping someone else's whiteboard to draw up their Hail Mary's. "Oh I'm sorry, was that stuff important???"

Both writers and quarterbacks are keen students of the game.

A quarterback, after weeks of coaching and breaking down film, knows how to read the defense to avoid being sacked.
A writer must overcome writers block to avoid being whacked by his own team.

Both work tirelessly to turn the smallest opening into a competitive advantage.

Quarterbacks rely on their wits to move the chains and keep the drive alive.
Writers rely on their intuition to score the approval that keeps the train on the track.

Both the veteran quarterback and the seasoned writer know that their job is to set the pace.

The champion quarterback rallies his team in the locker room by telling his 52 teammates that if they will just be who their mama's told them they are, they can win.
Meanwhile, the grizzled writer charms the team in the barroom, convincing them that somewhere between the lines of their befuddled group-think sparkles a winning idea.

After years apprenticing, writers and QBs hope that their careers will be measured in seasons.

A quarterback's near mystical ability to manage a press conference keeps him in the line-up.
Whilst a writers celebrated ability to instill confidence in the C-suite ensures his place on the distribution list.

But the greatest similarity of all, the thing that every writer shares with every quarterback taking the field this Fall, is that we all look forward to a championship run with our team. Enjoy the season!

The Weekly Jolt! 08.21.13

ck — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 20:57:17 +0000

Welcome to The Jolt! – the e-zine that gives you a jolt of fresh thinking on HumpDay.

When you go to the e-zine, ck Curates, you will see that it is organized in 6 tabs. The Home tab has all of the posts. The next 5 tabs break down the content by specific themes. i will usually feature one article from each of the tabs. (I need a little leeway.)

Pitches

There’s only one place to start and that’s with Hubspot’s tribute to Zig Ziglar, one of the great corporate speakers and trainers of our time. This article has a nice collection of quotes – kind of a mash-up of Yoda and Yogi.

"Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust."

http://ckwrites.info/13zkRyX

Content

I found something very cool Monday. The Getty Museum has just made 4,600 images available under a new Open Content Program.

“We’ve launched the Open Content Program to share, freely and without restriction, as many of the Getty’s digital resources as possible.”

Some wonderful old photography from Atget, Stieglitz, Jackson and others. Also some great painting and decorative art. Nothing like a collection of Ming vases to spice up a slide deck. The great news is that Getty is providing extremely high quality scans and a nice front end to search the catalog. http://ckwrites.info/19tsqXd

The Big Aha

There are two things that I want to draw your attention to. First on YouTube is an excerpt from a John Cleese presentation on creativity. It’s not Cleese being clever, it’s Cleese on how to put yourself in the space to be clever (he calls it "open") which is much more useful. This is a highly actionable process you can follow. Lots here about play, the value of humor and (love this) how waiting until the last possible moment usually enhances the creative product. Good stuff. http://ckwrites.info/17Egb82 The second is a brilliant article in Fast Company Create entitled How to Be Prolific: Guidelines for Getting It Done From Joss Whedon. Whedon is a Hollywood wunderkind whose new series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will make its hotly awaited debut September 24 on ABC. This interview is not about the show. Rather it’s about Joss’ approach to breaking down big problems into little pieces. It’s just the thing for taming an over-sized proposal, as is his concept for rewarding yourself early and often. And I particularly like his advice to:

“Step outside your viewing zone, your reading zone. It’s all fodder but if you only take from one thing, then it’ll show.”

http://ckwrites.info/1eEycpv

Metrics & ROI

One week in, the battle lines are being drawn. Talk about pushback. Well it’s a good thing and I don’t mind a bit. This is the dialogue that is going to move the industry to the next place. Having worked inside client organizations, it is pretty clear that most companies have a long way to go before they can routinely use Big Data – especially in a marketing program. For many events it is still very much between fuhgeddaboutit and OMG do what?… Beltway subscriber Lisa Stevens pointed me to this recent story in The Washington Post entitled “Five Myths About Big Data.” This is very solid stuff from a wonk (i.e. no passion) that paints a clear picture of the challenges of implementation. Luddites, cynics and skeptics will all take comfort from the author’s comment that:

“Generally, though, (Big Data) is likely to have a modest and gradual impact on our lives.”

http://ckwrites.info/18FYIgx

Marketing 501

One of the early voices to publish in the event industry is Julius Solaris who founded The Event Manager Blog. Julius is from the UK and I must say that the most forward thinking in events and particularly experiential is coming from that side of the pond. This article adds some nice dimension to my first blog post, Hello World Again. The New Decision Making Process Towards Attending Events presents a useful model of how the calculus by which people decide to attend events is changing.

“We are faced with new opportunities and fresh risks. Our awareness of where our attendees hang out, what their social and tech preferences are will turn most threats into competitive advantages.”

Keep it to refer to when you start planning your next audience acquisition program. http://ckwrites.info/1cUkQK7

ck Curates

What might need clarifying is that there is a great deal more content under each of the tabs that you can browse when you are so inclined. I am sure that is clear as mud but once you try it, I think you'll find it to be straightforward. I expect to refine the tabs a bit based on your interest and feedback. Can't wait? Need more? Want to drink from the firehose? Click on ck Curates and get everything you want, whenever you want it - dare I say it, 24/7/365. No subscription is required to access the e-zine. Feel free to drop by whenever, I update throughout the week. Shares are greatly appreciated. I do this because it's fun. I also want it to be very useful to you.

Please let me know how to make it better, more valuable, more interesting... more of anything you need to get you over the Hump.
BTW If you want to read more about the idea and where it came from, here is a blog post on the subject.

See you next week. best, ck

The Weekly Jolt! 08.28.2013

ck — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:25:23 +0000

Welcome to your weekly Jolt!. Thank you all for a great first week. I really appreciate your interest and all of the very positive feedback. Here we go with Week 2 of the Jolt! taken from the pages of ck Curates. PITCHES 11 Ways To Structure A Knockout Presentation is by Bruna Martinuzzi writing for the American Express OPEN Forum - a consistently excellent SMB resource. It is written for a consultant or manager making a presentation to senior managers which gives the article a different focus then we have in the event business. It provides good techniques and along the way it gores at least one sacred cow: “…don't waste too much time focusing on how you arrived at your conclusions.” If your pitch is running long, this is a surefire way to shorten it. (The authors advice is to share your insights if asked during Q&A.) Another interesting recommendation is how to present pricing – high to low or low to high? The recommendation is interesting and not necessarily intuitive, but it works: “The initial higher price serves as an anchor or reference point that makes the other prices appear more reasonable.” Have you used this approach? http://amex.co/14y4III CONTENT 6 Styles You Can Use For Content Creation comes from Curata who make software for, you guessed it, content curation. This article touches on a few of the issues you need to consider if you are contemplating doing curation for your company or agency.

SEO – how not to run afoul of Google which (who?) is looking for duplicate content. This gets in to the whole discussion of how you add value:

“…by keeping your excerpts to a minimal level, and adding value-added commentary, Google will recognize your curation effort as an original content.”

Fair Use – if you do more then copy and paste and also provide attribution (acknowledge the source), you avoid this issue and at the same time improve your SEO.

As the title suggests, the bulk of the article is devoted to 6 different curation techniques. You’ll see that I combine, Summarizing, Retitling and Quoting to create your Jolts! A “lite” version of the model is applied to everything I post on ck Curates. http://bit.ly/18fRnCi THE BIG AHA Where To Focus Event Innovation? Your Audience Has The Answer. A knockout post by Jez Paxman, the Creative and Strategy Director at event agency Live Union in the UK. No surprise that I found it in the Event Manager Blog. Jez proposes a framework of 6 "Areas of Delegate Value." It is a new take on our traditional ideas about why people attend events. His premise is succinct: Just as the way people consume TV, newspapers and social media is in flux, so too is their relationship with live events. Jez then defines what he calls “Six Areas Of Delegate Value.” These are succinct, unambiguous concepts that belong on the table when an event is being planned - especially if your audience is social media savvy and/or includes Millenials. It's a new model for creating value for an engaged, connected audience who is bringing their online expectations and behaviors to the convention center. Having identified where the delegate value – or the potential value – lies for a particular event, we can then focus where we innovate. http://bit.ly/14yaqKM METRICS & ROI Measurement 3.0 – Insights on Insights. A MUST READ if you are in the least bit interested in event measurement. Scott Schenker is the real deal. He transformed Sun, JavaOne and SAP's events and is now charged with advancing the state-of-events at MSFT. In Scott's view, Measurement 3.0 will retain: …the triple focus of efficiency (diagnosing how we did), effectiveness (what were the results) and value (return on objective or investment). But these focuses will move beyond the lint in the belly-button to… align to the corporate objectives in financial as well as satisfaction terms. There are three key elements to the new model:

Actionable Measurement – measuring things that can actually be changed by an event team at a future event (e.g. time allocation) as opposed to what I call “historical” data (e.g. how was the food) which by definition can’t be changed.

Context – a number by itself is just a number. How the number did against a target, in comparison to others in its category, compared to previous year(s), or by audience segment puts data in context. It tells you whether the result is important or normal.

This has real cost and staffing implications. Gathering, organizing, manipulating and presenting data goes well beyond the abilities of the associates who are typically tasked with typing questions into Survey Monkey and emailing the results.

Strategic Value – Here is where I believe the big evolution must take place.

…understanding the strategic value of the experience – the unemotional, non-job protecting, objective driven, and audience-centric value that the experience should offer. As is generally advised, I will leave Scott the last word: …the experience must be viewed first and foremost as a business event – aligned (and measureable against) corporate and/or customer objectives. http://bit.ly/13TyrgR MARKETING 501 The Purple Agency: Creative and Marketing Wisdom. So what if you put together a Pinterest board filled with pithy little soundbites, goodies and johos about marketing? Well if you were The Purple Agency, an integrated marketing agency from the UK, you would do it because it is a totally on-brand thing to do. They cast a broad net – the bites range from Abraham Lincoln to Andy Warhol, by way of Bed, Bath and Beyond. It is curation and good art direction together and a very interesting use of Pinterest. If you haven't been to the utlimate in adult show and tell, this is a fine time for your first visit. The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. – Michelangelo via The Purple Agency. http://bit.ly/1djQ4uq This next one takes us from the poetic to the useful. Social Media & Events Report 2012. A free download from Amiando, a German event software developer. This is a valuable report for event planners interested in benchmarking their use of social media. The study is based on a sample of 1,000 event organizers, that's a big, very projectable sample. Even though the sample is heavily weighted to the EU, my guess is that it is generalizable to the US market. Call it +/-10% if you want to be on the conservative side.

78% of the respondents indicated that they planned to increase their use of social media for their next event.

70% reported that their primary goals were to increase both brand and event awareness (tied)

Only 39% are monitoring the results (Ed Note - an essential best practice in our opinion)

What makes this report a must have is the handy dandy checklist with recommendations as to how to best use different social media channels during each stage of a project. http://bit.ly/16LDga4 That's it for the week. It's your e-zine - please let me know how to make it more interesting or useful. Meanwhile, please subscribe to the Blog and the Jolt!.

Auto Draft

Mon, 26 Aug 2013 22:19:53 +0000

6 TIPS FOR MANAGING EVENT PERFORMANCE KPIs

ck — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 10:00:23 +0000

This post will familiarize you with the concept of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). The 6 TIPs will help you to manage KPIs if and when your client defines one or more of them for an event you are producing. TIP 1 It is not the role of the event agency to develop KPIs or any other corporate metrics.

After you read this post, you will understand why most metrics proposed by agencies are not relevant to the success of the business and so are never embraced by senior managers.

So. Why Are We Talking About This? Because, unless you are lucky enough to live in the Land O' Nod, you know that almost every CMO is under pressure to demonstrate that their investments (i.e. programs) are contributing to the bottom line.

As we keep pointing out, event marketing budgets are usually the largest line item in most marketing budgets.

But there is another grand theme that is changing our business, and that is social media.

Advice Interactive Group released an infographic showing that 24% of the total ad spend would go to social media by 2015.
Forbes forecasts that social media will garner up to 15% of the advertising budget by 2018... this despite the fact that 85% of the CMOs surveyed cannot demonstrate the impact of their investment.

Pick either number or split the difference, then think about this.

Because social media campaigns are ongoing, social media agencies have a "seat at the table."
To keep their seat, they are bringing all kinds of metrics to the table with them. (Like KPIs...)

Not only does that make for pretty charts, it provides much-needed air cover.

TIP 2 The data-driven approach that marketers are being exposed to will have a significant impact on event marketing. Expectations are changing.

Event results will soon be compared to programs developed using classic direct marketing techniques like segmentation, A/B split testing etc., many of which have been adapted to social media.

Note that while KPIs are the most important metrics there are also KRIs - key results indicators, RIs - results indicators and PIs - performance indicators. Net, net - keep an eye out for the introduction of any client metrics, whatever they are called. Things You Need To Know About KPIs Let's start by defining the role of KPIs in the enterprise. Put simply, it is a way to focus an organization on what matters most to its success.

A KPI is based on a variable that has been identifed as having a significant impact on the bottom line.
A KPI defines a measurable goal that is a prerequisite to success. e.g. To achieve 'y' goal, 'x' conversions have to take place.

Every department understands what their role is in accomplishing the goal, and and how their contribution will be measured.

TIP 3 To get a sense of the marketing metrics that can be used for KPIs, consider the impact of the event on these kinds of issues:

Customer retention
NPS score
Market share
Cost per lead or acquisition (typically reduce)
Conversion rate
Pipeline movement (where the event is one in a series of touch points)

Note that there are thousands of KPIs. Each (in theory) exists because someone in the organization identified a variable that was deemed critical to the success of the business that implemented it as a management metric. TIP 4 If you don’t know what the KPIs are for your event, or if as is more likely KPIs have not been established; chances are that no one knows exactly how the event impacts the business, or which aspects to measure.

Go back to the opening statement about CMOs needing to demonstrate impact, and you may conclude that this is not good news.

Let's be very clear that determining which aspects of an event might significantly impact the bottom line is much tougher to do then it might seem.

This is an area where marketers are hoping to apply predictive analytics to learn more about their customers. (I am planning a post on predictive analytics, so please let me know if you have any specific questions.)

Especially in online marketing, KPIs are being related to the sales funnel.

Client interest in designing specific experiences at events to map to the funnel can't be far behind.

TIP 5 By paying attention to KPIs, an event agency can build their pitch around the things that will support achieving the KPI.

This is not unlike studying for the test - when you did, you aced it... next question.

What About ROI and KPIs? ROI can be and is used as a KPI. But ROI is not a particularly useful way to measure events. ROI is not diagnostic.

ROI tells you if the event exceeded, succeeded or fell short of the goal.
But it does not tell the event team anything about what needs to be improved.

ROI is not timely.

The pace of corporate events demands that data be available to inform planning for the next event.
For a SVP or CMO who wants good news right after the event, ROI is not a viable choice. It simply takes too long to calculate.

Which leads me to my last point. KPIs are one of many kinds of measurement. TIP 6 Developing measurements that will provide additional insight into KPI’s is smart.

The more you know about attendee behavior and attitudes, the better use you can make of KPI data.

To wrap it all up:

Social media is exposing marketers to new kinds of metrics.
KPIs are metrics that are deemed central to the success of the enterprise.
By aligning their proposals with KPIs, agencies can increase the value of their contribution.

Do any of your events have metrics yet?

Be sure to visit ck Curates where there is a whole section devoted to Metrics.

Have A Wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

ck — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 03:15:27 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1717" align="alignleft" width="342"] Woot... we're having some fun now![/caption] Hi All - Wishing each of you an icy cold pitcher, a hot smoky Q and a nice, lazy time with family and friends. Here in Taos we'll be torching some green chiles, lamb and the local corn. With a rosé from just down the hill to wash it all down. Of course you're invited! Not sure where it's coming from, but I'm getting that reading the Blog is not going to be your top priority this weekend... and I'm OK with that, really. But if you're jonesing for a little ck, or if you've been meaning to see what it's all about (hint), here are few posts to enjoy along with said icy pitcher: Hello World Again - will give you a sense of why I'm writing and what I'm thinking about. 3 Trends Transforming Event Marketing - has sparked a lot of discussion. Get in on it! ck Curates - browse the e-zine - it's eye candy. Perfect for the long layover. The Weekly Jolt! - here is the most recent issue. I'll be back on Wednesday with a fresh Jolt! Have a great weekend. And thanks again for your support!

The Weekly Jolt! 09.04.2013

ck — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 09:58:05 +0000

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend – I know, hard to even remember and that was two days ago. Yikes! Clearly you need The Jolt! Oh. If you're new to The Jolt!, welcome. This is my list of top articles from the pages of ck Curates, the e-zine for crazy, busy event people. PITCHES The Top 10 Principles of Highly Persuasive Messaging is from Michael Cannon of the Silver Bullet Group in the Bay Area (I love the name!). It’s a little on the dry side but it offers any number of usable ideas. As for why read it, consider this little nugget that Michael offers up: “In the IDG Connect Report (2011): “86% of buyers say content is neither useful, relevant, nor aligned with needs of people in the buying decision.” http://ckwrites.info/14ne8TV CONTENT Wireframe Tools For Event Web Design appeared in Website Magazine. As I have mentioned previously, there is a lot of great 'how-to, tools and tips' information out there and it seems to make sense to aggregate it under the ck Curates Content tab. Please let me know if you agree. Wireframes offer a powerful way to focus your thinking and develop your ideas quickly, at low cost. Many wireframe tools are designed for online collaboration so the whole team can play - no matter their time zone. I used Mockingbird when I redesigned ck Writes. The advantage Mockingbird provided over OmniGraffle (my standard) is that I could program all of the links to navigate the site and see what a visitor would see. And it's a great tool for client presentation. One good list, one good article too. “…you'll find some of the top wire framing tools in the digital market today.” http://ckwrites.info/15v9xp5 THE BIG AHA Corporate Storytelling Lessons from Kevin Spacey. What a treat! This is excerpted from a speech Kevin made to a group of television executives in the UK. It's a fascinating look into the Netflix hit series, House of Cards. In the accompanying article, Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute applies Kevin's points to corporate storytelling. A few bites from Kevin that I jotted down to pique your interest:

The device is irrelevant
The labels are useless
It's all about content, it's all just stories
All we have to do is give it to them
... And they will engage with a passion

http://ckwrites.info/1agl6C6 METRICS & ROI 8 Tips for Making An Effective Event Survey. Sounds dry but it’s a fascinating interview with yours truly, Christopher Korody (!!!) written by Mitra Sorrells for BizBash. I know that it’s not like you don’t have to wade through enough of my stuff as it is – but this is actually interesting which demonstrates the contribution that an accomplished editor like Mitra can make. We talked about the unique opportunity that events present for a company to interact with its customers, and I shared my thoughts on how to design a survey that would provide event marketing teams with the insights they need to ensure that their event remains relevant to their target audience. “…the value of creating the event is to have dialogue with the customer. It’s not to serve good food.” http://ckwrites.info/17BCpb3 MARKETING 501 10 Social Media Facts, Figures and Statistics You Need to Know. There are very few bloggers as prolific as Jeff Bullas; none that I am aware of match him in providing endless amounts of useful content. This is exactly what it says it is, a site-by-site rundown with information about users, growth and sometimes revenue. Many have a link to more data… Here’s one that boggled my mind. It is predicted that in 2014, Twitter will reach $1 billion in advertising income. You knew that right? Good thing you read The Jolt! http://ckwrites.info/17wOBvM Have a great week. While you're out and about, check out ck Curates, the e-zine for crazy, busy event people. And if you haven’t yet, please subscribe to the ckwrites Blog and get The Jolt! free.

The Weekly Jolt! 09.11.2013

ck — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 00:28:59 +0000

It is starting to feel like fall is in full swing. Going to miss those lazy, crazy days of summer but it’s good to be busy. Here’s your Weekly Jolt! PITCHES Get The Fee You Deserve This audio interview offers up some very solid business advice from Ori Weiner, a UK based consultant who specializes in profitability management for professional services firms. It’s good, subtle stuff that comes from being an effective, well-prepared negotiator. Ori touches on:

Pitching (and when it’s a lost cause).
Scope Creep (and when you have to deal with it).
Pricing.
When service trumps the technical aspects of the deliverable (usually).
The virtues of saying no (so you can do something more profitable).

Here's the kind of advice you'll find.

The truth is that when the client says it’s about price, actually it rarely is. And therefore it's so important to understand what the other criteria are that clients value because if you understand those you can negotiate some form of premium.

What do you think? File it under stuff you knew but forgot? http://ckwrites.info/1ezUA61 CONTENT 14 Best Practices For Advanced Mind Maps I don't love all of the mind-mapping software I've tried, but I really value the process. I’ve done it with groups on a whiteboard (which sounds positively Neanderthal); leading an online group; and of course alone on a computer or dare I say it - a pad of tree fiber. This article looks at all the things you can do to finish, embellish or otherwise gussy up your mind map once you’ve got your ideas down. Chuck Frey, aka Mr. Mind-Map, has put together a very helpful infographic demonstrating best practices for showcasing your thinking to your extended team and clients. For more about any and all things mind map, Chuck's blog is the place. http://ckwrites.info/14IAbVq THE BIG AHA Emotional Advertising Must Start With An Emotional Brief Obviously this article is written from an agency perspective (where they actually do creative briefs.) There are some tricks here that can be useful to anyone struggling to come up with a heart wrenching or inspiring or manic video, speech, skit or dare I say it, song. In particular, I like the handy, dandy graphic the author prepared which maps out our emotional zones. It’s a useful tool to help zero in on the most relevant emotion for a client specific emotional appeal. See if this sounds familiar...

To do great emotional advertising that is on strategy with the brand, there must be a brief that starts with how the consumer feels now (consumer insights) and defines how we want the consumer to feel after they experience advertising (an emotional desired response).

http://ckwrites.info/19E4dwW METRICS & ROI The CMO Interview: Wharton’s Dr. David Reibstein I filed this one under Metrics because the good Doctor has some real insight into how to communicate the value of marketing activities.

Marketers may be able to talk about awareness, trial, or loyalty, but they are generally unable to connect these metrics to financial statements. I believe that marketers’ inability to do this has cost them their seat {at the table}.

Think about this in the context of why and what to measure:

One of the biggest assets that a company has is its customer base. And who largely manages the activities that determine if the firm is acquiring new customers, increasing loyalty among current customers, and preventing defections? Marketers largely drive this. And, yet, nowhere on the balance sheet is a valuation for a critically important firm asset, its customer base.

Most CMOs are the “keeper of the brand.” Yet “brand value” doesn’t show up anywhere on the balance sheet. Again, this is fairly surprising given the data suggesting that brands are contributing more and more to overall firm value. Ironically, when a company is sold, the acquiring company can list the brand value on their balance sheet as an asset.

And for me, this last comment cuts right to the chase...

Some seem to be afraid of what the data will show... this shouldn’t be something to be feared as the first time you measure it you are creating a baseline. The goal is simply to be able to figure out how to improve the valuation over time.

http://ckwrites.info/17NWc9o MARKETING 501 15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Online Video Advertising Like social media, this is a category that is garnering more and more of the ad budget. We've all made videos forever, we should be in the hunt to keep a slice of this fast growing pie.

According to comScore, 187 million consumers watch 48 billion online videos in July.

The equivalent of 100 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube each minute. That works out to 144,000 hours a day - 16 years worth of must see viewing DAILY!!!

Consumers are 27 times more likely to click-through online video ads than standard banners.

And here is the one that should get you to schedule a business development meeting:

U.S. digital video ad spending will nearly double in only four years, climbing from $4.14 billion this year to $8.04 billion in 2016.

http://ckwrites.info/17nCVup For more on these topics, surf ck Curates. It’s the perfect place to go when you’re stuck in a terminal, waiting for a meeting to start or end, or in a strange hotel room. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to the ckwrites Blog and get The Jolt! too. Now that you've read it, you know that you need it. Have a great week.

WHY EMBRACING EVENT KPIs WILL BE THE KEY TO LONG TERM PROFITABILITY

ck — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 08:23:57 +0000

This post will familiarize you with the concept of event KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). The 6 TIPs will help you to make KPIs work for you, if and when your client introduces them at your event. TIP 1 It is not the role of the event agency to develop event KPIs or any other corporate metrics. After you read this post, you will understand why most success metrics proposed by agencies are not relevant to the success of the business and so are never embraced by senior managers. So. Why Are We Talking About This? Because, unless you are lucky enough to live in the Land O' Nod, you know that almost every CMO is under pressure to demonstrate that their investments (i.e. programs) are contributing to the bottom line.

As we keep pointing out, event marketing budgets are often the largest line item in marketing budgets.

But there is another grand theme that is changing our business, and that is social media.

Advice Interactive Group released an infographic showing that 24% of the total ad spend would go to social media by 2015.
Forbes forecasts that social media will garner up to 15% of the advertising budget by 2018... this despite the fact that 85% of the CMOs surveyed cannot demonstrate the impact of their investment.

Pick either number or split the difference, then think about this.

Because social media campaigns are ongoing, social media agencies have a "seat at the table."
To keep their seat, they are bringing all kinds of metrics to the table with them. (Like KPIs...)

Not only does that make for pretty charts, it provides much-needed air cover.

Expectations are changing. In my opinion, the data-driven approach that marketers are being exposed to will have a significant impact on event marketing strategies.

Note that while KPIs are the most important metrics there are also KRIs - key results indicators, RIs - results indicators and PIs - performance indicators.

TIP 2 Keep an eye out for the introduction of any event success metrics, whatever they are called. Such an introduction provides a golden opportunity to move the discussion from expense control to profit contribution. Things You Need To Know About KPIs KPIs are used to focus an organization on what matters most to its success.

A KPI is based on a variable that has been identifed as having a significant impact on the bottom line.
A KPI defines a measurable goal that is a prerequisite to success. e.g. To achieve 'y' goal, 'x' conversions have to take place.

Every department understands what their role is in accomplishing the goal, and and how their contribution will be measured.
Note that there are thousands of KPIs. Including new specialized ones for social media and content marketing.

Consider the impact of your event on these traditional KPIs:

Customer retention
NPS score
Market share
Cost per lead or acquisition
Conversion rate
Pipeline movement (where the event is one in a series of touch points)

TIP 3 Inherent in a KPI, is an insight into what your client values.

Demonstrating how your recommendations help to achieve the client's goals is a great strategy.
This is not unlike studying for the test - when you did, you aced it... next question.

What would it be worth to your business if you could relate your contribution to these kinds of event success metrics? TIP 4 If you don’t know what the KPIs are for your event, or if as is more likely KPIs have not been established; chances are that no one knows exactly how the event impacts the business, or which aspects of the event to measure.

This is an area where marketers are hoping to apply predictive analytics to learn more about their customers. (I am planning a post on predictive analytics, so please let me know if you have any specific questions.)
IMO, this is the lull before the storm. Use the time to begin to look at existing event measurement practices and to tighten down the data set.

TIP 5 Success will require demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of the audience and the ability to develop unique content "paths".

Especially in online marketing, KPIs are being related to the sales funnel.

Given this exposure, clients are likely to be increasingly receptive to designing specific experiences that map to the sales funnel, especially if the agency can address how they will segment the audience. What About ROI and KPIs? ROI can be and is used as a KPI. But ROI is not a particularly useful event KPI. ROI is not diagnostic.

ROI tells you if the event exceeded, succeeded or fell short of the goal.
But ROI does not provide any insight into what's working and what needs to be improved.

ROI is not timely.

The pace of corporate events demands that data be available to inform planning for the next event.
For a SVP or CMO who wants good news right after the event, ROI is not a viable choice. It simply takes too long to calculate.

TIP 6 Which leads me to my last point. Event KPIs are one of many possible kinds of event measurements.

Developing measurements that provide additional insight into KPI’s is smart.

This is one of those more-is-more kinds of equations. The more kinds of data you can integrate, the more you will know about attendee behavior and attitudes. The more you know, the better positioned you will be to help your client to achieve their KPIs. To wrap it all up:

Social media is exposing marketers to new kinds of metrics including KPIs.
KPIs are important because senior managers have identified them as central to the success of the enterprise.
Event KPIs provide an unprecedented opportunity for event agencies to demonstrate the value of their contribution to client success.

Do any of your events have metrics yet?

Be sure to visit ck Curates where there is a whole section devoted to Metrics.

Meet ck

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:38:28 +0000

It takes a long time to make someone like me. [button link="http://ckwrites.com/about-ck/" color="#8f240a"]Read ck's story[/button]

What’s relevant?

ck-admin — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:39:33 +0000

[button link="http://ckwrites.com/cks-blog/" color="#8f240a"]Checkout the blog[/button]

See the work

ck-admin — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:54:07 +0000

[button link="http://ckwrites.com/ck-portfolio/" color="#8f240a"]Here’s my portfolio[/button]

Robert Laney

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 00:48:48 +0000

He is terrific at cutting through the extraneous stuff and finding core issues and solutions. He has a keen eye and ear for what works and what doesn't.

Christopher Venhaus

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 00:49:39 +0000

His wealth of experience, meticulous attention to detail, and outside-the-box creativity are a rare combination of qualities to find in a single individual. Mr. Korody gets my highest recommendation for business research, strategy development/articulation, and copywriting.

Diane Bevan

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 15:40:40 +0000

Chris is a talented creative marketing/communications professional who brings a wealth of business experience, creative ideas and a collaborative working style that resonates with senior executives. We worked together at Jack Morton to develop key account plans to drive deeper client relationships and deliver better, on target work. Chris was also instrumental in developing overall business development skills for account directors at Jack Morton.

Frank Andrews

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:48:35 +0000

Chris is goofy smart. His ability to pull in all that is important, discard the distractions, and germinate the exact right idea is his defining attribute. I love working with him…

Christine Johnson

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:50:07 +0000

Chris' vision is sharp and he is able to quickly translate that vision into clear objectives and a workable plan. He takes a balanced approach to projects, and leads a team well. His creativity motivates others to do out-of-the-box thinking, which drives solutions which are owned by the entire team. This results in a high-quality product delivered on time and on budget.

Helen verDuin Palit

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:50:43 +0000

Chris is terrific to collaborate with. Listening, reading your information, then researching for the larger picture then brainstorming to explore all of the opportunities. He really 'gets' your business and who you are right away. Understanding your overall vision while subtly interjecting your values and goals; all very strategic and classy.

Scott Schenker

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:51:39 +0000

Chris is one of those rare individuals who can merge the strategy and the creative into one seamless experience. He can bring the big idea to life - presenting the marvelous simplicity of the idea in such a way that everyone wonders why it was not obvious before, and then walk you through the garden of details - pointing out beautiful roses, and cautioning on paths to be avoided. Chris is one of my most trusted "go to" guys...

Brad Hood

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:52:24 +0000

One of my great pleasures on a project is the opportunity to brainstorm and develop with Christopher. But stopping there would sell short his ability to deliver the goods. Christopher posseses a depth of knowledge and creative vision that makes him a valued asset. I recommend him highly.

Liz Bigham

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:54:04 +0000

Chris is able to synthesize and articulate key insights in a way that helps businesses understand where, how and why to act. He's smart, a terrific writer and has a great sense of humor... precious qualities for any business and greatly appreciated by me as a former colleague.

Bob Geib

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:54:49 +0000

Chris was the key "brain" behind creating a whole company event to introduce the new CEO of PeopleSoft to the company. This was a time of major transition. Chris drove the process to win agreement on the message platform, and most importantly built a vehicle to communicate the approach to the CxO level participants that they used to shape their presentations. It was one of the most successful events I have ever had the privilege of helping to create.

James Ferris

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:55:25 +0000

Chris was an integral player in developing the Apple image into the icon so familiar today. From strategy through implementation, he was in the mix and part of the team, including mixing it up with Steve when necessary ;-) Product launches, sales meetings, shareholder events...when Steve made it clear that only "insanely great" was good enough, I could always count on Chris to create magic for the audience.

Jeff Salmon

ck-admin — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:56:07 +0000

Chris just gets it. He is quick to understand and assess a client's brand and it's potential customers. As a Senior Creative Director at dick clark, he provided us with strategic creative solutions for our most demanding clients...Boeing, BMW, Nissan, Mazda, Intel and others. With Chris, the more challenging the program, the greater his response.

Graham Emonson

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:56:47 +0000

Chris is a true big-picture guy - his ability to explore, analyze and understand a client's needs is the key to his remarkable ability to build powerful solutions.

Lisa Van Rosendale

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:24:00 +0000

Chris is a master at research. I would highly recommend him to anyone who needs a great partner to gather just the right information with a quick turnaround.

Steve Sanborn

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:25:33 +0000

Chris was my teacher and coach in the sophisticated art and science ofconsultative selling. I recommend Chris both as a trainer and a coach, and especially as a colleague.

Lisa Stevens

ck — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:37:22 +0000

When I work with Chris, I find myself asking his opinion on everything. When he's the strategist, I ask him to look at the writing. When he's the writer, I get his feedback on the strategy. Creative? Design? Technology? Team? I want his opinion there too. He's like a communications chimera: an implausibly effective blend of the essential skills we bring to bear on the work we do for our clients.

BILLING

ck-admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 23:08:12 +0000

Terms are 50% in advance prior to beginning work. Of course I will work with you but it is important to define how it should work. Generally, the balance of 50% is due upon delivery of the approved document. In cases where the project is lengthy or complex, there may be a 30% payment at an agreed upon midpoint, with the remaining 20% due on completion. I am paid as an independent contractor. Your company issues a 1099. Expenses are billed monthly.

Anthony Elvey