Large Work Comp Conference and Dinosaurs - Opinion

Sunday, September 11, 2005 | 0

Well it's that time of year again when the large workers' compensation conferences are coming up and I have to decide how I want to spend my marketing dollars. I am not sure I want to continue to participate as a vendor in these conferences; the return on investment simply isn't there. Even some of my staff has bought into the argument that if we don't have a booth at these events we will lose visibility in the marketplace. What they are really saying is if we don't spend $50K plus for a booth, people will think we have gone out of business. I don't believe that is so, if my sales people are doing their job the other 360 days a year.

I have been selling in the workers' compensation marketplace for over thirty years, and there were many years when my company didn't attend any conferences at all. These were the most successful sales years our company experienced. Of course the market has changed and instead of being the only vendor with an automated bill review application trying to convince payers they needed it, we are now selling our products based on value compared to our competitors.

We all remember Comdex which was held in Las Vegas every year. Well two years ago it disappeared, no longer exists. I believe this was a result of greed and letting the vendors take control of the conference. I see the same happening with the large workers' compensation conferences as attendance and the number of participating vendors has declined over the last few years. To compensate for the loss of participation, the conference planner have gotten greedy, the conferences have become very expensive; and the planners have become dependent on vendors dollars to keep the conference alive. They have even created ways to recognize the really big contributors identifying them a Sliver or Gold sponsors who get special treatment and perks.

So one has to ask what is the purpose of these conferences - education, and opportunities for professional interactions? Why do people attend? Well there appears to be two purposes, one is the conference educational content which includes the speakers and presentations; the other is to provide opportunities for vendors to promote their wares and participants to learn what's new. What appears to have happened is that as attendance has shrunk, the vendor agenda has increasingly dominated the purpose of these conferences. Many of the so called conference "presentations" have become nothing more than opportunities for selected vendors to blatantly promote their products. Much of what was once professional interactions has given way to social events that consist of vendor sponsored large parties with loud music and drinking. So why would a potential client spend thousands of dollars to send staff to these conferences which have become mostly social and vendor sales events? Many companies are deciding not to. The world of technology has also impacted the value of conference attendance. Most companies today have web sites and the capability to participate in web demos and other media meetings that don't require the time and expense of a conference to get your products in front of clients.

Marketing budgets are tight, and companies are focusing on the ROI for their investment in marketing efforts. So where will I invest my marketing budget in the upcoming year? As I have questioned my participation in the large national conferences I have noticed that small regional conferences that have few or no vendors appear to be better investments for my marketing dollars. They are inexpensive to participate in, usually registration is $200 or less, and the focus is on relevant content such as changing market challenges. I can send one person who has the opportunity to develop discussions with the other attendees about their business needs to identify potential opportunities. My company also gets value in terms of knowledge of changes in the market place that impact my products. So I am seriously considering eliminating my booth and only sending a couple of sales staff to the national conferences in the future. Let them walk the vendor hall and gather information on potential strategic partners, what our competitors are up to, and even potential clients who are vendors as well. When was the last time your clients bought a competitors product simply because they sponsored the cold drinks and cookies at the break?

Jack Zahm
Senior VP Sales & Marketing
Medata, Inc.

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