Topic
Topic selection is the first step to value creation at IMAPAC. Over time you will develop this skill. For your initial projects you will be assigned topics from your General Manager.
Topics are selected on the basis of:
- Happening and dynamism
- Uniqueness
- Richness
- Scale
- Extension of successful IMAPAC brand
Topics come from:
- Reading and desk research – web, newspapers, trade magazines
- Sharing ideas and dialoguing with your colleagues
- Competitor intelligence
- Spin-offs from existing conferences
- Relationships with industry experts speakers and sponsors
Concept
Concept development is the next step along the value chain from topic selection and it is where we develop the customer proposition.
Concept is: Topic, Angle / USP and Attendee profile. This is the fundamental proposition of your assignment.
We always describe this in one sentence. Eg World Retirement Living China focuses on investment and partnership in China’s senior living industry and attendees will primarily be the China and world’s senior living, investment, aged care services community.
Vision and Scale
At the beginning of our journey we need to have a very strong idea of where we can take our concept in the short, medium and long term. Is our event?
- Start – Plus 80 delegates
- Big – Plus 150 delegates We need to balance realism with opportunism.
Certainly it is important to have the “right idea” as decisions about scale have very important financial, investment and risk management ramifications.
Business Plan
Business Plan is the fundamental business and knowledge management tool at IMAPAC. A well executed business plan creates value for all team members: General Manager, Conference Manager, Marketing Manager, Experience Manager, Finance Manager
- Executive summary
- Introduction
- Last year’s event
- Research, including competitor landscape
- Concept and positioning, including Delegate and
- Sponsor benefits
- Relationships
- Sales
- Marketing
- Conference
- Experience
- Venue
- Key resources
- Financials
Brainstorm and the Eight Big Headings
At IMAPAC, we start all conferences by bringing together all stakeholders in a 45-minute power brainstorm. Minimum stakeholders are General Manager, Conference Manager, Sponsorship Manager and Marketing Manager. Pre-storm research is compulsory.
What we get from this:
- Eight big headings
- Keynote suggestions
- Panelist suggestions
- Sponsor suggestions
- Great ideas in a very short time
- Simplification of complex concepts
- All players moving in the same direction
- Big time savings, especially when doing Greenfield topics
Profiles and the Agenda
- Sector / sub-sector
- Job Function – seniority
- Geography
At IMAPAC we look at Profile in terms of:
- Primary market – those sub-profiles that are the main players in this sector/discipline – the big guys
- Secondary markets
Our agenda must correlate with the profile. Our panels and big headings must match the key sub-profiles. Our speakers must match with the agenda and profile.
Sector v Discipline
Too often we misunderstand concepts in relation to the above.
Banking is an industry. Pharmaceuticals is an industry. Agriculture is an industry.
Sustainable sourcing management is a discipline. Drug formulation and delivery is a discipline. Senior care law is a discipline. These are not “industries” so when you describe them in your work, don’t ever refer to them as such. It is very ugly and immediately undermines our and your credibility.
Customers’ shoes
Whenever we start a project we need to reflect on the benefit that our delegates expect from IMAPAC conferences in general and in relation to your conference specifically.
- To get big new business ideas
- To explore new markets
- To find solutions to particular problems
- To better understand new ideas and trends
- To evaluate new methodologies / new technologies
- To seek new employment opportunities
- To create profile
- To network
- To have fun
The higher the quality of the agenda and the higher the quality of the presenters, the more value the delegate will get. Simple and true.
Inspiration
Problems cannot be solved with the same consciousness that created them. - Albert Einstein
Whenever Steven Spielberg commences a new movie project he always watches David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, one of the grandest and most beautifully filmed movies ever produced.
The most useful starting point for you is the conference that you most admire. Try and understand the underlying factors that make it great. You will be inspired.
