Attending a convention always sounds like a vacation to the uninitiated. Don’t get me wrong, any good convention should involve some social time, but it takes some discipline to balance both business and fun.

Here are my goals for the Mobile Beat conference, this week.

• Reconnect with attendees who I know, to establish new client relationships.
• Connect with people I don’t know, to begin new client relationships.
• Sell a specified number of books and wedding marketing discs (99 Wedding Marketing Tips) at the trade show.
• Have, not less than four private meetings with prospects/clients.
• Enhance my name recognition and reputation as: The Wedding Marketing Authority
• Expose more people to The Wedding Marketing Blog

Strategy and Tactics

• Stay at the host hotel – Riviera Las Vegas: As i mentioned in yesterday’s post, even though this conference is local, for me, to be fully available, make the most of my time, and see every opportunity, it is a huge advantage to stay in the hotel.
• Super Bowl Sunday: Don’t get caught up in it: Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge football fan, and will be watching the game. But I’m more likely to watch it, quietly, in my hotel room than find a rowdy party. Monday will be busy from 7am until who-knows-when. I plan to lay low, today.
• Andy as host: Monday morning, I’m co-hosting a group of 30 disc jockeys for some education, outside of the conference. As the morning facilitator, I will be setting a tone for that group, and re-establishing myself with them. They are my friends AND movers-and-shakers within the industry. A good impression on them, ripples throughout the rest of the week.
• Special Blogging Seminar: Monday afternoon, I’m presenting a 3-hour intensive blogging seminar. i expect a modest audience, 10-20 attendees who are paying a separate fee to attend. It’s my job to present a superior, customized session that will have attendees informed, motivated, and ready to put the information into play. A by-product of the session may be that a couple of people put me to work on their blogs. That’s not a specific goal, but a likely outcome if I do a great presentation.
• Tuesday and Thursday seminars: I’m presenting wedding marketing seminars on Bridal Shows and Print Advertising. These are bread and butter presentations that I give periodically. I am constantly refreshing the content, and making certain points that are DJ-specific, for this conference. From an attendee standpoint, I intend to provide strong reminders and new information that people can put to into play, immediately. As well, making strong presentations supports my credibility for trade show sales.
• Secure  local speaking engagements: This is not so much an active goal, as it is a by-product of giving seminars. Invariably, people approach me about speaking at regional conferences and local chapter meetings. It is important to respond to those requests and nail them down, immediately.
• Wednesday & Thursday trade show: Happily, there are no time conflicts between my seminars and the trade show time (Noon – 6pm, and Noon – 5pm, respectively. As well as the obvious task of selling books and wedding marketing discs, it is an opportunity to talk with people about their businesses, one-to-one. I do a fair amount of individual website and blog evaluation, and general marketing/business evaluation, too. This will be an opportunity to establish new clients who are looking for guidance in these areas.
• Meetups with individuals: There are already several people who I plan to spend time with; however, I can’t wait to get my hands on the attendee list to a full summary of who is attending and exhibiting. The roster will be a reminder of people I should seek out, and meet with… for coffee, for a meal, for a private meeting.
• Social Events: The days and nights are pretty full, but it’s important to attend, or at least make an appearance at social events. It is here, that casual conversation and connections, occur.

How will I measure success:

• Refreshed relationships
• New relationships
• Increased readership to The Wedding Marketing Blog
• Sales of Books & CDs
• Orders for website and blog consulting
• Requests for speaking engagements
• 1 or 2 random business proposals, deals that are completely out of the blue

What can go wrong

• Allowing myself to become over committed
• Fatigue – doing too much – staying out too late
• Not reviewing my agenda and goals throughout the conference

Final thoughts: I plan to have a great time and have business successes, too. There should be about 1500 attendees at the conference. Hopefully, every one of them will have an excellent conference experience at Mobile Beat Las Vegas.

And yes, I will be blogging throughout the conference.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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