All entries tagged with “networking”
Testimonials Stream In From the Education Facilities Management Forum in Dallas, Texas
The Education Facilities Management Forum took place in Dallas, Texas on April 25 & 26, 2016. Feedback is streaming in from attendees already! Here's what they have to say about their Forum Experience: "Forum did a great job! Positively was beyond my expectation! Love the layout, the best one I have been to yet!" "This was my first time at an event like this format and it was great. I loved time with the companies without any pressure or sales pitch. All of them even said to just call and ask questions about anything. Great job by the Forum Events staff before, during, and after the event. Thanks!" "The Forum was a great experience in allowing direct one-on-one contact with potential vendors. Having the opportunity to meet with several in a day with specific time frames made it much easier to get to the point and look at specific opportunities." "The one-on-one meetings with vendors allowed me to ask questions that pertained to my particular facility without interrupting or listening to others who had different needs than my own. The time allowed for these meetings was just right, enough to demonstrate the need for the product without it really being a sales pitch." "Very nice! Enjoyed the event. Well organized and the Forum staff were very helpful. Thanks for the invite!" "The ability to pre-select vendors prior to the event made my experience and met my organization's needs. Liked the schedule and format. Employees were friendly and helpful. As my district prepares for a new bond program, the contacts here were great. I also like it when companies bring demos of some of their latest products, as I need to see it and touch it to understand its capabilities." 
[Event Recap]: Education Facilities Management Forum - April 2016
The Education Facilities Management Forum hosted approximately 532 one-on-one meetings at the Sheraton Dallas on April 25th and 26th,2016. Executives from companies including Burleson ISD, Cedar Valley College, Criswell College, El Paso ISD, Memphis University, Louisiana Community and Technical College System, The University of Tennessee, Westlake Academy and the University of Arkansas connected for informative meetings with solution providers, seminars and networking opportunities. Face-to-face meetings kicked off promptly on Monday morning and ran throughout the next day and a half, separated by meals and seminars. "The one-on-one meetings with vendors allowed me to ask questions that pertained to my particular facility without interrupting or listening to others who had different needs than my own. The time allowed for these meetings was just right, enough to demonstrate the need for the product without it really being a sales pitch," explained an attendee from Hendriz College. Speakers including Tim Grosse, George Belich and Dominick Armato led discussions on energy management, capital forecasting and operational efficiency. Prime networking continued into the evening with a gala dinner and casino games overlooking the stunning Dallas skyline. After a fun evening, attendees reconnected on Tuesday morning for more face-to-face meetings and additional seminars, ending with a closing lunch. For more information, or to attend future events, contact VP of Operations Rob Muise here.
The Education Facilities Management Forum Releases 2016 Seminar Program
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The Education Facilities Management Forum
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Is Your Organization Celebrating Customer Service Week 2015?
How do you plan to grow your business? With sales? Advertising?
You may be missing the one key factor that all thriving businesses are focusing on. Customer experience is becoming the most effective form of modern marketing with benefits including positive reputation, branding, credibility and inevitably, a healthy bottom line.
As part of this year's Customer Service Week, we asked our team members to reflect and share their most valuable tips for successful customer service. The Forum Events' Team offered some quality insight. "Always follow the Golden Rule," advises Kester Van Fleet, the Event Manager for the Facilities Management Summit, "treat customers and potential customers as you would like to be treated. Listen intently and respond politely." Event Coordinator Xavier Chance also adds, "The best tip I can give for the best customer service is to be yourself and be open to a myriad of personalities."
We're celebrating our organization's achievements this week, here's why you should be recognizing Customer Service Week 2015 too:
A typical company hears from 4% of it's dissatisfied customers.
Source: "Understanding Customers" by Ruby Newell-Legner
78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor customer experience.
Source: American Express Survey, 2011
On average, loyal customers are worth up to ten times as much as their first purchase.
Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs
5-20 % = Probability of selling to a new prospect.
60-70 % = Probability of selling to an existing customer.
It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience.
Source: "Understanding Customers" by Ruby Newell-Legner
News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.
Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs
It's 6-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one.
Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs
For every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent.
Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs
3 in 5 Americans (59%) would try a new brand or company for a better service experience.
Source: American Express Survey, 2011
This blog is part of Forum Events' recognition of Customer Service Week 2015. We recognize the excellent work of our employees and the importance of their everyday successes and dedication to customer service as part of the Forum Experience.
Customer Service Week is an annual weeklong recognition of customer service designed to boost morale, motivation and teamwork, reward frontline reps, raise companywide awareness of the importance of customer service, thank other departments for their support and remind customers of your commitment to customer satisfaction.
Be sure to thank your customer service peers this week as we celebrate Customer Service Week 2015 from October 5 - 9.
Marketing Your Biggest Asset: YOU!
Every day you are critiqued on your presentation. Your presence on LinkedIn, your Facebook profile picture, the posts that you ‘like’ and the links that you share. While you’re busy marketing to the masses on social media, in email communication and through your website, you could be missing one very key platform: Yourself.
A key component of networking is in-person communication, and while the focus is often on online outreach, your face-to-face persona and presentation are often your biggest asset. Simon Sinek explains the importance of this in his TED talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” He suggests that people don’t buy into a product, they buy into the leader. With software for improving your post outreach, ads to boost your followers and engagement analytics, there's no specific tool to help you, as a person, improve – how can you upgrade your most human asset? Here are a few tips to help you market yourself:
1. Become Magnetic.
Professionals should aspire to attain magnetic qualities to attract the attention of valuable colleagues, employees and customers. Traits of a magnetic person include authenticity, confidence, eloquence, energy, motivation, an active listener, well-versed, optimism, imagination, and a sense of humor. As a magnetic person, you are a role model and someone that others enjoy being around – people turn to you for assistance and advice because they respect and trust you.
2. Identify your expertise and then project it into the world.
Know your value and be willing to express it. Find an area that you excel in and then become an authority on the subject within your circle. For example, if you are an e-marketing guru, let your friends and coworkers know by offering to help or by making suggestions. Before you know it, people will come to you for advice and you will truly build your value among your peers and within your organization. By identifying and expressing your value, you will have more of a presence and will become highly respected and easy to remember.
3. Be the best version of yourself.
In-person communication is very reliant on presentation and a first-impression is made in fractions of a second – like many top selling products, your “package” is often your most valuable asset. Have you invested in your professional image? Are you healthy and positive? Are you well-versed on current events? Can you hold a strong conversation? To attract others, you must be the best version of yourself. If you are constantly aspiring to improve, you will inspire and attract others.
4. Know who you are.
Not to be confused with knowing your value, knowing who you are helps you build strong talking points and create a stand point on most topics. Self-awareness requires you to understand the factors that positively inspire you to achieve something substantive and relevant every day. Your thoughts, beliefs, work ethic and attitude become your personal brand and are increasingly important as you connect with other professionals.
Seven Tips for Appointment-Based Events
Appointment-based events challenge a traditional trade show in the sense that your presence matters. While sitting across from a potential client or solution provider, your interactions are vital to build a working relationship that will benefit you both. Event organizers work diligently to make meaningful introductions with the potential to build future business relations – we make the connection, the rest is up to you. Here are just a few tips to make your networking at these events a success:
1. Attend Your Meetings!
You wouldn't sign up for speed dating, and then stand up your date, so attend your business meetings as though your love life depends on it. Standing up a potential client or solution provider is not only rude, but it’s also a bad representation of your company. At an appointment-based event, you are meeting face-to-face with elite business professionals – a quality meeting like this is rare and deserves attention.
2. Ditch the Sales Pitch
Appointment-based events are a ‘no-hard sell’ zone. Networking at these events is primarily about building relationships rather than immediate sales. People do business with people they like – get to know the person you could potentially work with and their company, then pursue a working relationship.
3. Ask Questions
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is key when meeting new people, especially in a business setting where you are learning about their company. The more you ask, the clearer vision you will have, and even more importantly – the better conversation you will have! The more you learn, the better advice and solutions you can give and as Joshua Krane, the CEO at Ciplex says, “If someone likes them [your ideas], chances are they will hire you to execute them.”
4. Listen!
“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” Listening on both sides of the table is effective in identifying needs and finding solutions. As Megan Duckett of Sew What, Inc.? said, “Not every communication is an opportunity to blow your own business trumpet. Sometimes you may find yourself sharing information about another company or service that you have heard of.” Listen, learn and find solutions.
5. Relax & Enjoy the Experience
An appointment-based event is a less stressful environment. You are not overwhelmed by booths and numerous representatives, it is an intimate and luxurious experience designed so that business executives can have productive and quality meetings. These events are also jam-packed with other networking activities, all of which take place in a beautiful venue. Enjoy it – because a month down the line, when you reconnect with your new contacts, you will have a shared experience to build the foundation of a fruitful business relationship.
6. Smile!
The energy at these events is electric – a positive attitude and approachable demeanor is vital! Again, people do business with people they like – so be likable, polite and have meaningful meetings – whether you think there’s a business relationship to be had or not, a positive representation goes a long way!
7. Follow Up If You Say You Will
If you tell someone you’re going to email them, email them. If you say you’ll reach out to them via phone, call them. From beginning to end, leave a lasting impression – make your attendance work for you and follow up with your new business connections promptly.
So You're Attending Your First Forum...
Think of the last trade show you attended. Now subtract the huge exhibition hall, the miles of walking, the petty expenses, the numerous, useless introductions and the free pens. At an appointment-based forum, we cut through the you-know-what and give executives the most productive and efficient format for connecting and learning about solutions they are currently sourcing.
Attendees of an appointment-based forum are stationed comfortably at their own table. They are given a personal itinerary of meetings with solution providers they have chosen in advance and seminars they have opted for. Throw in a high quality pool of personally-invited executives and luxury networking opportunities, and you’ve got the most productive day-and-a-half of the year.
Sounds interesting, right? Here are some tips to optimize on your first appointment-based experience:
Attend Your Meetings!
Scheduling is the foundation of any appointment-based event. Should one attendee fail to show, major behind-the-scenes matchmaking has to take place. This is why we value our attendees highly and do everything possible to ensure the day runs smoothly. Attending your meetings is key to a successful event and leverages your networking opportunity. We understand that life happens – which is why we can work with you to build a flexible schedule around your professional needs (conference calls, late arrivals etc.).
Ditch the Sales Pitch
Appointment-based events are a ‘no hard sell’ zone. Networking at these events is primarily about building relationships rather than immediate sales. People do business with people they like – get to know the person you would potentially work with and their company, then pursue a working relationship.
Ask Questions
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. In an appointment-based setting you are allotted a 30-minute meeting with solution providers on your schedule. For high quality meetings, we advise you to ask questions about available solutions. Should you need more time to discuss the product or service, you may connect with the solution provider during free time.
Listen! Listen! Listen!
Listening on both sides of the table is effective for identifying needs and finding solutions. As Megan Duckett of Sew What, Inc.? said, “Not every communication is an opportunity to blow your own business trumpet. Sometimes you may find yourself sharing information about another company or service that you have heard of.” There are numerous opportunities to share your knowledge and to learn from others at a forum – including seminars. These are conducted in an open-discussion format, where attending executives are able to share what they know to innovate and find solutions to common industry problems.
Relax & Enjoy the Experience
An appointment-based event is a less stressful experience for networking. There are no overwhelming booths or hounding representatives – just intimate, one-on-one meetings for executives seeking new solutions. Taking place in an intimate and luxurious setting, these events are packed with networking activities including meetings, seminars, after-hour activities, meals and receptions.
Do Your Research
In any networking environment, it always helps to research beforehand. Whether this means skimming through the LinkedIn group to see who’s attending, or reading up on some industry news – you will definitely reap the benefits. The best way to make a great first impression is to know your stuff and break the ice by acknowledging your peer’s successes (we advise looking over press releases or following a company on social media).
The Art of the Follow Up
After making connections at the Forum – it does no harm to follow up. Stay true to your word, should you have asked a provider to give you a call, take that call when they make it! Remember that this event’s main purpose is to develop lasting business relationships and follow up is key. In your event program, you will receive the contact information of every attendee and solution provider– it does no harm to reach out to the connections you feel are beneficial.
For more information on Forum Events and the industries we are in, visit www.forumevents.com and register online for an event in your industry.
Kicking Off 2015 With A Successful Summit!
The first Training & Development Summit of 2015 is marked as another great success. Testimonials continue to pour in following the summit which took place in Los Angeles, California last month with more than 70 registered delegates including Activision Blizzard, Inc., ArcelorMittal, Kimpton Hotels, MGM Resorts International, Panasonic Avionics Corporation, Panda Restaurant Group, Technicolor, The Walt Disney Company and Wells Fargo in attendance.
Extracurricular networking activities were also a fun, productive way for attendees to network and connect! During the evening gala dinner and casino night, both sponsors and delegates met over meals and again at roulette tables for a more laidback experience.Following registration on day one, the main ballroom where one-on-one meetings were held was thriving, with Child Development, Inc. saying “[It’s] nice to have one-on-one conversations about the products/services and our needs.” While each attendee was given a personalized itinerary, their meetings were separated by industry seminars and networking break outs. During the time between meetings, attendees also browsed a sponsor lounge which is designed for sponsors to showcase their services, “Having exposure and having the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what is not there [in my current practices] is very helpful,” said one director of The Walt Disney Company.
The Training & Development Summit seminar program was packed with industry hot topics, including a seminar led by author of Just Listen, Mark Goulston, MD and CEO of The Goulston Group and Goulston Group Productions. An interactive favorite led by Alan Fine, a renowned trainer, speaker and performance expert, was “You Already Know How to be Great,” which emphasized the power of focus in numerous partner activities. Entire classrooms left each seminar with a greater understanding of their field and how to improve.
“I found the event staff to be fabulous and accommodating. The location was also a great choice and the event structure, simply genius!” said Kimpton Hotels. The Summit took place at the Pacific Palms Resort, a recognized two-championship golf resort which was the perfect blend of luxury and outdoors aesthetics!
Attendees left the Summit enlightened, refreshed and prepared to tackle upcoming goals!
“This event was amazing and I am grateful we had the opportunity to participate!” - National CORE.
Short & Sweet: Effective Team Building in Seconds
Team building is a proven method to boost morale and develop better communication in the workplace, however a 2012 study revealed that some team building activities may actually be counterproductive because they inflict peer embarrassment or test employee comfort levels. While growing franchises like Dunkin’ Donuts, Anytime Fitness and Subway are heavily spending on team building activities, you don’t have to break the budget to build morale. We have composed a list of activities that can easily be incorporated into a weekly business meeting or regular regroup.
No. 1: Back-to-Back Drawing
Have a problem with communication? Need to explain the importance of better directions? This is the game for you! Pair off your team and have each person in the pair sit back-to-back. One person will receive a picture of a shape, the other will receive a pen and paper. The person with the picture of the shape must describe the shape without actually saying what it is while the other person draws it. When finished, each pair should compare their drawing and consider how they worked together and where they could’ve communicated better.
No. 2: A Truth & a Lie
This is the perfect activity should you have newcomers or if you want your team to welcome a new employee. Go around the room, introduce yourself and say one fact about yourself and one lie. The group then has to identify which is the truth and which is the lie. This is a great ice breaker and encourages group communication and creativity.
No. 3: Opposites Attract
This game is perfect for a team that’s just getting used to one another and is effective in just two to three minutes. The group is given a list of characteristics, and then instructed to find people that have different characteristics to them. For example, different gender, different height, different marital status, etc. This is an informal way to break down perceived barriers and encourages easy conversation.
No. 4: Tooting My Horn
Have you had a bad day? Is your team going through a tough patch? Has a team member just been let go? This is a great way to remind your team that they are valued and a vital part of an organization. The group is separated into pairs and then each player has 15 seconds to tell their partner ten things they do well. Each person then has to make two lists: one should be a list of ten things they do well professionally, and one list of things they do well personally. The goal of the game is that they should put these lists in a common place where they can re-read the lists and remember just how worthy they are! According to a study, after 21 days of reading the lists each day, the person will have a greater sense of confidence and pride.
No. 5: Have a Ball!
This is a fun game for a sales environment and can boost energy levels in an office. Use a ball, and agree upon a particular event, maybe a sale or a common question. Each time someone makes a sale, they throw the ball to another team member as a signal of success. This generates team acknowledgement of a particular event and connects team members.
As you can see – just a few moments can generate an upbeat and changed atmosphere. Team building exercises, while they sometimes have a negative connotation can be short, sweet and equally effective – all while not breaking the bank.
Surviving an Appointment-Based Event Alone
“Even high achieving, apparently extrovert people find it difficult to get into the habit of initiating face-to-face encounters, often using time poverty as an avoidant excuse.”
The thought of attending a conference alone can be daunting. When you add up the pressure of making introductions, hearing pitches, walking through thousands of busy booths and collecting business cards, these events can be exhausting. The need to network is a vital part of business though, yet one in four professionals say they do not network at all, even worse 40 percent of professionals say they would like to network more often, but just don’t have the time. Attending an appointment-based event is the perfect solution to concisely meeting with relevant providers, concentrating up to 30-meetings in just a-day-and-a-half – better yet, there’s no hard sell and no awkward introductions.
Attending an appointment-based event by yourself is simple. Unlike a typical trade show, you are given a pre-arranged itinerary of meetings. Everyone has a reason to be at the event and to meet with you, making all of your appointments relevant and meaningful. Here are some tips to survive attending an appointment-based event alone
1. Be honest when completing your profile
The most crucial step to organizing a Forum is the matching process. In order to ensure everyone has a productive event, the matching process takes into account any upcoming projects or needed-services. This information is used to connect you with solution providers who can actually assist you in meeting your company’s goals. An honest profile means more beneficial meetings and better expert advice.
2. Manners Cost Nothing
At an appointment-based event, you don’t have to worry about the anxiety that surrounds making an introduction. Everyone has a place to be at a Forum, and so each person’s time is valuable – it’s as simple as meeting with someone in your scheduled time and having a conversation. Remember to be polite and courteous, have a real conversation and make a valuable connection.
3. Be Open When Meeting Your Peers
Part of the fun with appointment-based events is the networking activities that separate the full days of meetings. During the networking breakfasts, lunches, the Gala dinner and casino evening, you will casually meet peers from your industry. Be open to hearing about their company and their suggestions. Every piece of knowledge is up for grabs at an appointment-based event and a connection could turn into an opportunity down the road.
4. Navigate the Room
Throughout the two days, you will meet hundreds of attendees. To make the most of an appointment-based event, challenge yourself by separating from your typical group and meet with new professionals. A good example is sitting at a dinner table where you know no one and initiating a conversation, or adding to a topic at a seminar. Be friendly, be open and be approachable.
5. The Staff are Your Best Friends
Every member of the Forum Events team is dedicated to making the attendees feel at home. If you ever feel you are out of your comfort zone, or want to make a connection that you are not scheduled for – don’t hesitate to let a staff member know. Throughout the networking activities, staff will be seated and mingling also, so if you have any questions – be sure to ask.
By scheduling up to 30 appointments over a-day-and-a-half, we eliminate the adversity to time excuse for not networking. The concentrated appointment-based strategy for connecting professionals provides opportunity for expanded knowledge, new business and potential career advancement, all in an intimate and informal setting, perfect for a lone ranger to attend.
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7 Tips for Appointment-Based Networking
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