How to make money on IT conferences: our findings and mistakes

We are doing a major international IT conference. The second.
Now, when much has already been done and it is possible to evaluate the first results, I decided to share our best practices, findings and errors in this ambiguous case.
If you are somehow connected with the organization of any event for an IT audience or are just considering doing something like this, the article will be useful for you. Perhaps she will convince you never to take it up.
I managed to bring 17 morals with pictures , examples and a specific description of the mistakes we made. Why aren't we afraid to talk about it openly? Because it will not weaken us, and next year the ideas will be new.
The theme of the conference in 2013 - Money and IT management. So I’ll tell you about the money and about the management features with which the conference turned out to be connected.
The ideas described in the article are the result of the work of the teams of the organizers of last year’s and current conference.

Where did the idea come from
IT Spring Conference as an idea was born in the head of one of the managers of the Belarusian IT company Oxagile. A year ago, he approached the leadership with something like this: “Our guys want to develop. They go to trainings and workshops and spend quite a lot of money on it. Let us make a conference for the employees and bring speakers who are interested in them. ”
This is how the IT Spring 2012 conference appeared in Minsk. In terms of numbers, it was relatively small - 300 guests and 22 speakers. The whole organization was engaged in the same employee, he was helped by another 1-2 employees of the company. He chose the name, identity and logo of the conference. The guys did a great job. Our studio was attracted then as expert advisors 2 weeks before the start. We advised, but did not strongly interfere in the work of the organizers. They helped more at the conference itself and fully assumed the assessment of the event and the processing of feedback.
Then we gave a lot of advice from outside, not all of which were carried out by the organizers. Now we are at the center of the organizing committee and are also quite skeptical of the advice from the outside.
During these 2 years we have something to say about mistakes and findings in the organization of IT conferences.
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When to take
In an amicable way, the conference should be started in the course of a year: from PR, creating contacts and contacts, gradually informing, and creating, checking and strengthening the team of the organizing committee.
With more crowded work - for six months. During this time, it is possible to seriously agree with good speakers, influence the formation of budgets for future sponsors, get into training plans for employees of relevant companies and start informing.
We undertook preparation 1.5 months before the date of the conference (considering that this was the second conference, although the team changed completely). This time is too short: there is simply no time left for the implementation of many good ideas.

Moral 1: Consider our mistake, take up the organization of the event no later than six months. Otherwise, reputable speakers and major sponsors simply will not take you seriously.

How to choose speakers
Last year, the speakers were chosen only according to the interests of the employees of the organizing company. As the feedback showed then, some speakers “laid down on the soul” only to a limited number of guests, while others turned out to be unconditional favorites of the entire audience.
This year, due to a significant expansion of the audience, we chose a different approach. They created a commission from organizers, sponsors and authoritative opinion leaders, and also launched a poll of last year’s conference guests.
Despite the limited time resources, we managed to attract 6 speakers from far abroad, 4 of them are well-known American investors and owners of IT companies. Probably, this could not have been done in such a time, if not the personal contacts and experience of working with these people of the organizing company.

So, what we came up with the speakers :
1. Focus on foreign stars of IT startups and well-known IT companies.
2. Invited speakers who are well-known in the field of finance and management, but rarely overlap with IT conferences. After all, our main subject is the development of young managers in IT, the introduction of "new blood" and new knowledge.
3. Gathered rare speakers, but having what to say, undeniable experts in the field of management and finance in IT.
4. To create a friendly homely atmosphere, we invited several obvious favorites and regulars of IT events and conferences in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Moral 2: Be attentive to the choice of speakers, try to bring more unique ones. It is easier to work with well-known and experienced ones, but you can listen to them at another conference - why go to you?

How to create a program
The formation of the program is a separate important work that always carries a threat. Is it possible, in principle, close to reality, to calculate the occupancy of audiences with 3 simultaneous streams of reports?
Last year at our conference there were cases when guests disagreed on reports unevenly. We had to substitute chairs, but especially there was no stalemate. At some conferences, I observed cases where the speaker was left without an audience at all, while at the second people sat on each other’s shoulders.
To avoid this, we initially decided to conduct a survey among all visitors about who they are going to listen to. But it immediately became clear that such a survey would not give us valid results. The decision about who to go to is made by comparison, in a choice of 3 (and also by who the friends go to). Therefore, the possible options for the demand study in this case are not the list assessment of the speakers, but the ranking, the choice of 3, as well as variable formulations like “I know this speaker and go,” “I do not know this speaker, but I want to go,” and so on. d.
All these methods of research of demand require a lot of work in processing and interpreting data, therefore in the formation of the program we went the other way. All reports were divided into 3 streams: “Finance”, “Startups” and “Management”. At the same time, non-conflicting in popularity subjects and figures with disjoint audiences of the audience (as far as it was possible to foresee) were linked.
Now we are remaking the program by this method. If necessary, we will launch a survey among the guests, but this survey will necessarily have to be built on a new program.

Closer to the launch of the conference, more speakers wanted to take part in it than the time of 2 days allowed. The speakers are interesting, some of them are not at all known to the regulars of conferences and seminars - they did not want to miss them. And we decided to use the American version of round tables with the simultaneous presence and discussion of several speakers on stage.
So, added to the conference program:
- Round tables with the simultaneous presence of several speakers.
- StartupMixer (meeting of startups with investors, free of charge and only for conference participants).
- Trainings and master classes (we specifically provided for big discounts for conference participants).

Moral 3: Pay attention to the study of the demand for speakers and the distribution of guest flows in parallel reports. Use alternative forms of reports with the simultaneous participation and activity of guests: workshops, open-space, master classes, debates, round tables. Make the speakers maintain the format, give more activity to the guests and do not proceed to the lecture.

What are the main expenses?
In our case, the main money pulled:
1. Hall rental. We wanted many guests in the very center of the city and rented the restored halls of the Palace of Trade Unions (a few meters from the zero kilometer, in the very center of Minsk).
We are also planning an event for 700–800 people: space is needed for such an amount.
So, the rent was 4 times more expensive than last year (then it was a hall in a good hotel on the outskirts for 300 people + a couple of conference rooms).
2. Road, accommodation and escort of foreign speakers.
3. Coffee breaks. Strange as it may sound, coffee and cookies are, indeed, quite expensive.
4. Typographical and promotional products. These are the most pleasant gifts that you can bring to children from the conference. They pull on quite a large part of the finances.

The last two points - coffee pauses and typographical products - we partially decided at the expense of sponsors. About this - below.
All these expenses, plus smaller ones, but mandatory, are not ultimately covered by the cost of tickets we have announced.

Moral 4: Do not expect tickets to pay back costs. In a competitive environment, IT conferences are almost impossible. The profitability of conferences largely depends on the contribution of sponsors and partners.

How to calculate the price of a ticket
Of course, payback was taken into account, but to balance the supply-demand balance was more important.
Therefore, they relied on the experience of attending such conferences and on our Central Asian views on how much a ticket to a 2-day conference with such a program could cost. We compared the prices from free webinars to $ 2,000. for the same time.
We agreed on the price of 99 dollars.
And what an interesting thing they faced. Potential attendees of the conference are wealthy people and, on average, spending good money on their education and development. And the opinions of these people about the price were divided: the part with the bowed head said: “Well, you turned down the price ...”, the rest exclaimed in surprise “What is so cheap ?!”. Of course, there was a third of people who said: “If I bother the bosses, let them pay.” The most benevolent third.
How to work with objections for the price - below.

Moral 5: Pricing in IT-events is most easily explained by the law "From the Ceiling". To keep the low price of the ticket, you need to spin well with the sponsors. To justify the high price, you have to invest heavily in advertising and wait for a longer payback period.

Discounts
Discounts needed. They give pleasant trifles to guests and help regulate the purchase of tickets. If you are told that people are tired of discounts - do not believe it.
There is only one important rule: do not change the conditions of discounts in the course of selling tickets. If you have started selling tickets at the basic price - it is already impossible to return to discounts. But there are many other options to increase sales:
1. Special price for visitors last year’s conference
2. Discount for early purchase of tickets (we made for 25 days)
3. Discount for group purchase of tickets (we made from 3 tickets)
4. Discount for teachers and HR: a growing discount for one ticket when buying from 3 tickets on the recommendation of this person.

Moral 6: Use discounts, but do not change the conditions when the sale began.

Gifts and Pranks
All the jokes we hold on Facebook. Perhaps this is our omission, since the audience that we have attracted through contests and daily useful news cannot be considered large.
What we used:
1. Drawing a ticket to the conference among those who put a “like” page of the conference. One of the most unfortunate of our rallies, as its conditions did not contribute to the dissemination of information about the conference and did not help us to expand the audience.
After the draw, a video was shot with the winner. They turned out to be an interesting guy, guest of the last conference. So an interview with him corrected the situation a bit.
2. Draw 2 tickets in the competition "Comics on the speakers." This contest brought good feedback: we not only attracted the audience, but everyone was well entertained: more than a dozen funny variants of comics about Pankratov and Orlov were sent, and the intrigue with the vote forced us to do the second stage and play the comic with Dorofeev. Involved in this action, of course, were the heroes of the comics themselves.



One of the heroes, Maxim Dorofeev, responded with a nice trolling of the conference. He made and hung up on the conference page in FB image:


3. Drawing (among those who bought the ticket) 2 copies of the book about how to buy and sell offshore outsourcing of the American conference speaker Steve Mezak with an autograph and author's contacts. This competition received an unexpected twist.
The book is really cool. It is especially useful for development companies in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, as it contains a detailed description of why Americans should or should not work with our countries.
But here's what's strange. Good coverage of the news (7,000 people who saw it in 4 days) and a large number of cross posts, while there are very few people who have left their ticket numbers for the raffle. In order to increase the awareness of our guests that it is possible to receive such a book personally from the author, we will additionally inform them in other ways (for example, by email mailings).



The author of the book specifically shot a video message for conference guests:

4. Drawing (among those who bought a ticket) a free individual (or steam room) photo shoot of a famous brutal photographer, a photo partner of the conference. This photographer was chosen specifically for an unusual style. So our conference will have an unusual stylish photo report. The photo session decided to launch a drawing specifically for March 8.



5. The drawing (among those who bought the ticket) of an expensive gift from the Anniversary partner. The gift will be delicious, once in 8 more than the cost of the ticket price, so we are holding this competition to the very start of the conference.
6. Drawings of prizes and competitions from partners during the conference.
7. Discounts for dinners for conference participants in nearby cafes and restaurants.

Moral 7: More gifts and pranks. Sit down and invent. Each of them should give joy, bring new users and be an independent information guide.

How to work with the objections of participants
Objections are always found, even when attending free events. And it is very expensive to plant a uniquely experienced seller for telephone calls and direct sales to all potential customers (when planning 600-700 seats). Honestly, such a talented seller still needs to be found.
Therefore, we decided to find out the main objections and work with them using more accurate positioning.
Clarified objections in personal conversations with opinion leaders and typical representatives of Central Asia, as well as by calling guests at last year’s conference.

There were not so many objections:

1 . “I have already attended such conferences 100. Why do I need this?”
Such objections are found mainly among experienced middle-aged managers.
For such objections, we began to focus more on 2 features:
- We invited unique experts to the conference who never spoke at our conferences, and they have a lot of experience in managing IT companies and teams.
- the conference is designed for young IT professionals who just want to take up management or have already begun to manage and are faced with problems. Here they have the opportunity to ask their personal questions to experts and colleagues.

As the positioning of the conference was refined, the picture with the subject changed: from more complex formulations aimed at experienced managers, to simpler ones - for beginners.

First option:



A modified version (much more specific and selling, but too verbose):



The final version (less informative, but concise):



2. "Expensive".
This objection will always be, no matter what price you put. Contrary to logic, it often appears in parallel with “Why so cheap for so many speakers? What's the catch?"
For such objections, we compared the average price of an ordinary 2-day training or master class of an “average hand” guru with the price of our ticket and created a talking picture. This picture was placed in social networks, press releases and newsletters. She also laid the basis for printed flyers.



3. “Was at the last conference. Not exactly what I need . ”
Indeed, despite the fact that the previous conference was rated as “very emotional”, part of the audience of last year’s conference was left with an impression that can be expressed by tweeting one of the guests: “I would like more IT in IT Spring”.
The objectives and positioning of last year’s and current conference are different, so for the guests of the last conference they formulated and sketched 10 main differences between the two conferences.



4. “I will then watch the video and presentation of reports. Why pay?
We met such an objection least of all. Usually, people very clearly separate distance and face-to-face activities. At the conference and seminars go for personal communication, contacts and personal consultations.
Therefore, in information materials and press releases, we began to focus on the fact that we deliberately think over the program and coffee breaks so that participants have more opportunity to contact the speaker directly with a personal question, meet old friends and make acquaintances with new ones.
In addition, we organized round tables, master classes and - a very important event for young guests - StartupMixer: a meeting with investors.

Pictures in development
Closer to the conference, we will launch a few more pictures to work with the remaining objections (if advertising is still needed):
1. Comparison of the price of a ticket for a 2-day conference and the price of one beer evening with friends.
2. Comparison of pictures with video files on the desktop of the computer and live communication in the coffee break with the speakers.
3. (My favorite) A colorful picture with a terrible weather forecast for March 16-17 and the text: “How to spend the weekend?” - “In warm communication with friends and colleagues.”

Moral 8: Learn about customer objections as early as possible and prepare the entire team to work with them. Write managers scripts and create images. Think up some objections. And break them to pieces.

How to search for sponsors
At last year’s conference there were only 2 types of sponsors: IT companies and IT recruitment agencies (cash sponsors, from “general” to “silver”) and information partners. All information about sponsors appeared on the website and in the conference program. The most important logo was placed on badges. The remaining methods of promotion were regulated by sponsorship packages.
The main motivation of IT companies to participate in the conference is headhunting and the development of the HR brand. Motivation information partners - a good free public relations.

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Moral 16:
The project is very dependent on the people involved in its preparation. People break and fail when they meet sponsors ’refusals, guest critics, speakers’ vagaries and weak sales. Therefore, it is worth taking the conference only if you are confident in these people.

Moral 17:
The annual IT conference is a project with a short payback period, but a longer period for obtaining sustainable financial returns.