Steaming ahead

Magazine:
12th Dec, 2017
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As part of PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association)’s newly formed Advisory Board to help develop its presence in the European market, two Belgium-based board members share their thoughts on their new roles and more.

Davi Kaur, Head of Communications at EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) and former Head of Congress Unit at The European Cancer Organisation

Davi KaurWelcome aboard. What would you like to contribute to PCMA?

DK: First of all, I would like to say how honoured I am to serve on the PCMA Advisory Board. For me, this is the first time I meet an association that talks about business and strategy.

Being on the board of an association for executives, I realised how diverse associations are, from having a very professional approach to a very basic small setup. I would like to bring PCMA to the European associations as I see that there is need for association executives to be educated on how to be more business orientated, understand the importance of market intelligence, adopt an effective communication and marketing strategy and really understand how to develop a financial strategy of a conference.

I have worked on large congresses and I fully understand that strategic development of a conference is key to its success and these meetings can be an effective part of a business strategy of the whole organisation.

What initiatives have you planned in the coming months?

DK: I am promoting the activities of PCMA through my association contacts and feeding back any comments and ideas to PCMA, so that it addresses the actual needs of European associations. As well as its own Convening Leaders flagship event in the USA, PCMA already holds Business Schools at key events in Europe aimed at meeting organisers and it will be taking part in key European association meetings as well.

I recommend for association executives to participate in these meetings and be part of the PCMA senior level knowledge sharing and education. The idea is that you take back what you have learnt and implement it in your daily working life, you will be surprised of the outcome!

What are the challenges for organisations these days, and how do you address them at your own organisation (EORTC)?

DK: One of the issues that organisations face is how to attract young professionals. To remain relevant and capture the ever-changing landscape, the input of young professionals is very important. In the healthcare world, the young professionals are too busy while they focus on their careers and do not have time to invest in organisations and societies.

European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is a not-for-profit clinical research organisation conducting clinical trials in cancer. It already has a one-year training fellow programme, which allows young professionals such as clinicians and statisticians to learn how to conduct clinical trials. However, EORTC realised that, in order to stay at the forefront of clinical cancer research, it needs to invest in young healthcare professionals to become future leaders of its organisation.

Therefore, in partnership with McKinsey and Company, EORTC has compiled a two-year course, called the Early Career Investigator’s Leadership Programme, which endeavours to develop selected young professionals in becoming effective leaders. EORTC believes that investing in future industry leaders will engage them to develop the organisation in the years to come. Investing the future now ensures ongoing sustainability.

Gerd De BruyckerGerd De Bruycker, Marketing Director at Cisco Systems

How does PCMA help associations plan their event marketing strategies?

GDB:  Learning from industry peers and engaging with business events strategists can help a lot in deciding which events are best for which target audience. That is where associations like PCMA can play an important role and help associations. They are providing senior level education and business networking for the business events sector.

What are the common errors committed by associations when it comes to event marketing?

GDB: In our current world dominated by digital channels, the opportunities in approaches for event marketing are endless. I think both corporations and associations are not making enough use of data analysis and the invaluable insights available to define their event strategy and event design. Data can tell us so much. We only need to use it and interpret it much more to better set up personalised, targeted and real-time marketing and communications strategies, in reaching and engaging with the right audiences.

In deciding which events to attend, at Cisco, we try to match our priority personas (target audiences) with the attendee profiles of interesting events. Further, we will pro-actively reach out to our potential customers based on sales opportunities we know about or by interpreting their digital activity on our websites, for example.

What are the cost-effective ways for associations to measure the ROI of events?

GDB: I personally like the methodology of the ROI institute of Elling Hamso and Ilka Dzeik. It gives you a framework of how to approach event ROI and at the same time – when you turn it upside down – it gives you a planning framework. One should never organise an event for the sake of it. Any association and corporation should first think about the objectives they want to achieve and which target audience they want to reach, as well as be clear how to measure the objectives set, preferably with quantitative qualitative measures. On one hand, you have quantitative measures like the increase in sales opportunities, the value increase of the sales pipeline, the number of attendees, the number of client touchpoints etc. The qualitative measures include brand awareness results, increased mind share and enhanced perceptions.

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