Most of all realize that the rapidly rising
gas prices have an impact on many areas of our lives. Obviously, it impacts
what it costs for us to use our cars, as well as impacting shipping costs which
causes the price of almost every item we buy to increase. Although the official
government figures indicates a far lower inflation rate, casual observation
indicates that gas prices are making everything far more expensive. How could
it not when gas prices have increased more than 25%. This economic "ripple
effect" is adversely impacting most events, exhibitions, conferences and
conventions, etc., for a number of reasons.
1. Obviously, it costs attendees and/ or
exhibitors more to get to the event. Whether someone travels by car or by
airplane, the costs have escalated dramatically. Many exhibitors look at their
increased costs, including having their representatives get to the event,
increased costs of shipping, and add that to the normally high cost of
exhibiting, combined with many projections of lower anticipated attendance, and
many exhibitors are being very selective in choosing which attends to have a
presence in. Those attendees that were still considering attending observe that
fewer of the exhibitors they may have wanted to see will not be there, and attendees
also are being more selective as to which event to go to.
2. Rising prices has made it far more
expensive for venues to put on an event. Those event organizers who have not
previously locked in food and other pricing will see the venue pass along their
additional costs in the form of higher prices. Those that have negotiated
certain aspects have locked in those areas, but should not be surprised if the
venue tries to "cut corners," either through reducing personnel or in
some other manner that was not contracted. In addition, since most event
planners overlook something, those areas will probably be far more costly, and
a decision will have to be made to either pay the extra price, or for the event
to "cut corners" also to reduce its costs. As you can see, this is a
vicious cycle.
3. Companies who reimburse employees on a per
diem and/ or transportation basis will have to raise that allowance to attract
qualified representatives to participate. This entire cycle may make for a
dramatically different type of event, and perhaps not what attendees
anticipated, expected or thought they were paying for.
4. Because of this cycle, both attendees and
exhibitors/ vendors, will be far more selective in deciding which events to
attend, and which to overlook. Already, in many industries, vendors have
created a ranking system for events, and are prioritizing what they consider
Tier One (or larger, better attended) events, obviously at the expense of the
smaller events. If this trend continues, or if exhibitors and vendors realize
that there are less expensive alternatives to attending these exhibitions,
etc., it could spell the long term elimination of many of the non Tier One
programs.
Obviously, the economy
impacts many aspects of our lives, and events are not considered by most to be
the highest priority, and thus are one of the first items cut from many
budgets. The longer term economic aspects, as well as the way we are used to
doing business will be dramatically affected. In addition, the impact from
Virtual Events has already had a somewhat dramatic impact on live events, and
the projection is the event world will change considerably in the near future.
Obviously, there will be a cascading impact on the incomes of many
representatives, etc., which then continues the spiral downward in many
economic circles.
Richard Brody has over 30 years consultative sales,
marketing, training, managerial, and operations experience. He has trained
sales and marketing people in numerous industries, given hundreds of seminars,
appeared as a company spokesperson on over 200 radio and television programs,
and regularly blogs on real estate, politics, economics, management,
leadership, negotiations, conferences and conventions, etc. Richard has
negotiated, arranged and/ or organized hundreds of conferences and conventions.
Richard is a Senior Consultant with RGB Consultation Services, an Ecobroker, a
Licensed Buyers Agent (LBA) and Licensed Salesperson in NYS, in real estate.
Richard Brody has owned businesses, been a Chief Operating
Officer, a Chief Executive Officer, and a Director of Development, as well as a
consultant. Richard has a Consulting Website (http://tinyurl.com/rgbcons); a blog (http://tinyurl.com/rgbstake); and can be
followed on Twitter.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6178774
No comments:
Post a Comment