Do you sense much resistance from small businesses to using social media?
For a small business, how would you recommend breaking down responsibilities for PR and social media?
How can a small business determine which social network is the most appropriate to focus its messaging on?
What can be learned from checking out what one’s competitors are doing on social networks?
PR News, is the publisher of the new Small Business PR Report, provides PR professionals with the latest industry best practices in its executive-level premium weekly publication. PR News programs must-attend professional conferences throughout the year, including the Facebook Conference, PR Measurement Conference, Taste of Tech, Social Media Summit, Digital PR Summit and the Media Relations Conference. PR News also programs monthly webinars for PR practitioners; presents the Platinum PR Awards, PR People Awards and CSR Awards, among other awards programs; and publishes annual guidebooks, including the Digital PR, Crisis Management and Media Training Guidebooks, among others.
It’s pretty obvious that I like to talk. I credit Steve with the skills to take our conversation and turn it into such a helpful post.
It’s great to know that the world’s largest technology tradeshow, (and one of my favorites) has been named North America’s Greenest Show by Trade Show Executive Magazine.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, owner and producer of the International CES, significantly expanded its recycling and repurposing efforts at the 2012 International CES in Las Vegas, January 10-13, by recycling 75 percent of show materials. This year, CEA collected a record amount of materials to recycle and repurpose:
More than 35,700 square feet, equivalent to 20,000 pounds, of magnetic banners;
28,600 square feet of vinyl banners;
16,000 square feet of other show signs and materials; and
For the first time, almost 50,000 pounds of show publications.
“Every year, we work tirelessly to make the International CES even more environmentally sustainable than the year before,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, events and conferences, CEA. “This year, we exceeded years past, increasing the overall reuse and recycle rate to 75 percent of all CES materials.”
By repurposing used vinyl banners from the 2011 International CES, CEA commissioned the creation of 190,000 badge holders for the 2012 show, an unprecedented effort to reuse show materials. Following the 2012 CES, CEA collected 11,000 of those recycled badge holders and will repurpose them for a third life at the 2013 International CES next January.
In addition to the continued greening of the International CES, CEA also supports green nonprofits near the site of the show in Las Vegas. This year, CEA donated the following:
$50,000 to Green Chips, a local Las Vegas charity supporting sustainable initiatives including solar panel installations. The donated funds will go toward new solar panels at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, which serves those in need in Southern Nevada by providing food, clothing, shelter, and ongoing services and programs. As Las Vegas has more than 300 days of sunshine a year, these new solar panels are incredibly efficient in reducing the Rescue Mission’s energy bills while using and promoting clean energy.
$25,000 to Repurpose America, which will take signs and other materials from the 2012 CES to repurpose as new sun shade structures at two local community centers in Las Vegas.
For more information on the sustainability practices of the 2012 International CES, please go to CESweb.org/green.
Now, Let’s talk. I know you’re saying. “Cheryl, that’s all great for the world’s largest tradeshow, but what about my events? I can’t afford to do all of that.” I agree, but what can you do?
I do think many event and conference organizers get caught up in what they can’t do rather than focus on what we can do.
My advice? Get inspired by these steps and scale them for your events.
Bring your attendees along in your journey: Share your desire to create less waste with your attendees. They may even have helpful suggestions and resources.
Go Mobile: Most of your attendees are walking in with smartphones and tablets. Try a few pre-conference training sessions to get your audience up to speed.
Try something new each year/event: During the 2012 #SMTulsa conference, I ordered recycled name badge holders and inserts from Rebinder and we had QRcodes made by Kalvin Kleen mobile marketing to direct people to the agenda.
I’d love to hear what you’re doing to create less waste with your events and conferences.
I see a lot of posts and conversation these days about getting attendees to respond to post event surveys. I’ve seen people give away prizes to get people to respond, I’ve seen drawings for gift certificates and even an ipod for taking a post event survey.
What if there was a way for people to tell you how they felt about your event with out having to answer a survey?
Have I made my point yet? Educating your audience on the use of Twitter hashtags and encouraging them to Tweet during your conference can help you learn a lot about your guest’s experiences. Good and Bad. Between the social media activity , both what’s there and what’s not, and the post event photography, I’m learning things that I did well, and a few things that I want to change before the next event.
Maybe taking the written survey and applying it to the web isn’t all that appealing to people used to graphics, colors, and awesome user experiences. Maybe that’s why today, Google announced; Google Consumer Survey. I see a lot of promise with this new tool and can’t wait to test it out. I’ll be teaching a market research class I’ll see what cool ideas my students come up with.
