What is the current state of our industry?

To all my freelance friends and associates,

My name is Meg Reeves and I'm a freelance event producer.  I specialize in meetings, tours and press events. My core business is in the automotive, tech and finance sectors.

I thought it would be useful to catch up with many of you whom I've worked with over the years and get feedback on how the current state of the industry is affecting your business.

I'm hoping to make this a forum for freelancers by communicating with one another and getting feedback on the state of business from the production companies we work with.

I'll be honest, I've been slow since October - especially the last couple of months.  Nothing is happening - no calls, no emails, nada.  The news from other freelancers I know is equally grim.   I'm trying to stay positive and not take it personally.  I'm trying to do all those things I never have time to do when I'm working.  Free things, that is!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  JUMP IN TO THE DISCUSSION - Positive or Negative

1. Are you in the same position as me?  
   
2. What is your freelance position?
   
3. If you are currently working, do you feel confident that you'll get another project as soon as your current project ends?
4. Are you considering another line of work? 

Feel Free to take the survey to the right or comment.  We want to hear from you.

Meeting Update

EventView Report Confirms Events Play

Increasingly Crucial Role in the Marketing Mix

Data shows decision-makers are turning to event marketing to drive purchase behavior and deepen engagement in the face of an intensifying worldwide financial crisis 

“This first report of the 2009 series shows that CMOs and senior marketers believe events are the
most effective medium to engage customers and move them to purchasing behavior,” said Bruce
MacMillan, president and CEO of MPI. “While we’ve seen event marketing mature as an effective
marketing channel for several years, the benefits become heightened in an uncertain economy.
Marketing decision-makers have clearly taken notice.”

Key findings in EventView 2009: North America include:
• 53 percent of respondents chose event marketing as the discipline that best accelerates
and deepens relationships with target audiences

• 26 percent of respondents chose event marketing as the marketing discipline that drives
the greatest ROI, a four percent increase from the 2008 results

• 29 percent of respondents say they will transition from event marketing to experience
marketing (integrated live and online experiences that drive deep brand interaction
through highly-relevant storytelling and brand immersion) in the next 12 months – 33
percent say they have already transitioned

• Among North American respondents, companies that integrate measurement into their
programs and track results are more than twice as likely to receive increases in their
marketing budget than those that do not measure

• 66 percent of respondents plan on implementing or have already implemented green
initiatives within the event function – a 32 percent increase from the 2008 results. Of that
66 percent, 44 percent are doing so as a result of a corporate responsibility mandate and
report that green accounts for 13 percent of their event budget.

“ EventView 2009: North America indicates that more than 60 percent of respondents have
already transitioned or are transitioning from event marketing to experience marketing in the next
12 months,” said Robert G. Vallee Jr., CEO of GPJ. “This is a pivotal trend, and it shows that in
the current downturn, senior-level marketers want the immediate and measurable business
impact that experience marketing delivers. CPM is no longer the measure of success. It’s about
engagement and follow through… what experience marketing does better than any other
discipline.”

Thanks to all who signed the meeting petition to support our industry.  If you haven't signed yet, it's not too late. http://www.keepamericameeting.org/

Meeting industry

Do not let congress ban companies from hosting events and conferences. Take action! 

Sen. Kerry has introduced legislation that would ban all 421 firms including the nation's largest banks that received money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) from hosting, sponsoring or paying for conferences, holiday parties and entertainment events.    If passed, I don't need to tell you the profound impact on the business travel industry and the nation's economy it would have. This legislation would not only impact the affected companies it would have a chilling, immediate impact on all companies. This hurts travel managers, hotels, airlines, rental cars, EVERYONE!  It is estimated that without the jobs generated by meetings and conventions unemployment would jump from 7.6% to 8.2!    You, as the expert in business travel must educate Congress on the importance of managed travel and the benefits it brings. NBTA has issued a set of guidelines to the U.S. Treasury for effective managed travel based on your practices. You have made travel for meetings and events a cost effective tool that help businesses grow. We need to give these real world practices time to work. We can't afford negative news stories to drive Congress to manage travel. You have to make sure our government knows that. Take action at http://tinyurl.com/bc2n75 Amy Richards, stage manager, writes a timely letter to the NY Times on this topic in response to Maureen Dowd's op-ed from last Wed. Go Amy! To the Editor: I don't care if you publish this but please forward it to Maureen Dowd: RE: I Ponied Up for Sheryl Crow? Thanks, Ms. Dowd.  Thanks a lot for yet another kick at the wounded body of the meetings industry. Every time you and your ilk write an op-ed like this, another CEO decides to cancel a meeting that has been planned for months, not because they don't have the money, not because they don't have the business need, but because they don't want to become a poster child for "wasteful" spending. When these meetings are canceled because of the optics, the savings are not so great, as contracts have been signed and most of the money has already been spent. Northern Trust had no doubt been planning the event for at least a year, long before they got the TARP funds. The people who really get hurt are all the folks working in and around the hotels  - the maids, security guards, taxi drivers, food and beverage workers.  And then there's folks like me - one of the small army of freelance stagehands, designers, producers and stage managers who are  responsible for the "shows" in the ballrooms.  None of us are eligible for unemployment. Few of us are working these days.   Yes, it's fun to jump on the clueless fat cats, but you should know that your columns are helping to make jobs disappear for thousands and thousands of workers.  And there's no bailout in sight for us. Sincerely, Amy Richards

Should you continue to market and advertise in a recession?

This is an excerpt from an LA Times article regarding advertising during a recession - specifically the Superbowl.  Although it doesn't directly apply to our business, it does make a strong case for continuing to market your business (or yourself) during hard times.  Bottom line: YES YOU SHOULD!

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-superbowl27-2009jan27,0,7885040.story

Some studies have shown that companies that increase their marketing budgets in a recession do much better in the long run. Businesses that advertised aggressively during the 1981-82 recession had sales twice as high from 1981 to 1985 as those that didn't, according to a 1986 McGraw-Hill Research report.

To get a leg up on the competition was the reason tire maker Bridgestone Americas Inc. decided to continue sponsoring the halftime show this year.
"We're definitely being cost-conscious on an overall basis, but we don't want to cut things like the Super Bowl spots," he said.

Hyundai Motor America has made eight separate Super Bowl commercials and plans to run two during the game. 
"It's a terrible time for the economy but a wonderful opportunity for us to build market share and enhance our brand," said Joel Ewanick, vice president of marketing at Hyundai Motor America.

Next year's Super Bowl may be a different story. Many advertisers bought ad time for this year's game in the spring or summer, before the severity of the economic meltdown had been revealed. As the financial crisis drags on, advertisers may decide that the 2010 Super Bowl isn't worth the money.

Then again, companies such as Audi, which locked in its 30-second spot in mid-November after the stock market crashed, say the state of the economy motivated them to advertise rather than pass.