Building Business Out of International Business Conference Opportunities
As noted above, international business conferences offer lucrative potential opportunities but represent a significant commitment in terms of money and time, valuable resources for any organization. Businesses must weigh the potential outcomes of the conference in terms of sales, partnership and contractual opportunities as well as publicity, information distribution and gathering, face time and networking with potential clients and high level officials with the opportunity cost of being away from headquarters. After twelve years of complete planning and organization for clients for international government to business and government to government conferences, a few basic measurements of success are clear and provide a perspective of the expectations and barometers of success for U.S. company representatives.
Expectations and Measurements of Success:
Company representatives naturally expect beneficial outcomes to come out of their attendance. While in many cases longer-term opportunities are 2-5 years down the line, the building blocks for these at a minimum must be realized. In addition, immediate opportunities in the form of contracts, sales, introductions to potential partners or other activities can present themselves. Key outcomes are networking opportunities – the chance to network with important decision makers, high level delegates and possible business partners. Company attendees need to know that the event they will attend will have ample intimate networking opportunities where they can come face to face for initial discussions or interesting conversations with the aforementioned key decision makers both in informal occasions such as coffee breaks and conference sessions but also in pre-arranged 1-1 meetings where their key points of interest can be discussed. The opportunity for close contact with a potential client or customer is a valuable benefit. Information gathering on key information that could lead to regional investment, collaboration, project planning, other business development opportunities and an overall better understanding of market opportunities and the business environment is another important outcome. Regional and Industry Recognition – by attending either as paying attendees or as sponsors, companies can gain both regional recognition as a key player in the region in which the conference is focusing on as well as industry recognition within the industry space. Similar to recognition in the region and industry, company attendees will participate as a form of Project and/or Product Support – support for or the introduction of a regional or industry project or new product that can stand to benefit by virtue of their participation. Information dissemination is a key action that can aide this effort. Lastly there are the Sales, Contracts and Joint Venture and Partnership Opportunities that can be an immediate and longer-term opportunities. These opportunities stem from networking, regional and industry recognition and project/product support and can provide the monetary and business development objectives to satisfy their objectives for attendance. International business conferences can feature project opportunities presented by foreign nations to U.S. companies in areas such as aviation, energy, telecommunications and information and communications technology with values in the hundred million dollar range.
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