(Editor’s Note: We have been reflecting on the recent CTIA Wireless show since we built a presence for a variety of clients at the event earlier this month.  Today, we have a two part post on the conference providing two sets of perspective on the event itself and how to maximize industry events in today’s world of communications.)

I recently had the opportunity to attend the CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans. Events like CTIA Wireless and RSA Conference are like Mecca– you have to go at least once if you are truly serious about the industry. I have been to half a dozen RSA Conferences in my life (disclosure: McGrath/Power represented the RSA Conference for several years) and never attended a one where I didn’t come away fired up about the security market. I was hoping to come away from CTIA Wireless equally energized. But after spending three days at CTIA Wireless helping out in client’s booths, managing interviews and talking with more than 50 people as part of an informal survey I was conducting, I came away feeling, well, a little bummed and a lot tired. There was so much negativity that I really wondered why people were even there. After reflecting on what I had heard, and reading the coverage from the show, it became clear to me why I felt this way. I had the wrong expectations for the show, as did a majority of the people with whom I spoke.  So to make sure you don’t set the wrong expectations about CTIA Wireless, or any show in the future, here’s my perspective (and the industry’s) on what CTIA is and isn’t and why this should matter to you.

CTIA Wireless is about big issues, not big booths.  I said not big booths! Though I can tell you, there were plenty of exhibitors that clearly thought taking a booth approach that resembled COMDEX circa 1996 was the right way to go. But I digress. Tara Seals of Vision2Mobile hit the nail on the head when she wrote  “there’s no doubt that CTIA remains an important, dare I say critical event when it comes to North American policy and carrier strategy…it was a successful event from the point of view of advancing the industry conversation around a few key themes: spectrum policy; small cells and heterogeneous networks (HetNets); the value of wireless to economic development; T-Mobile’s future plans; carriers’ relationship to subscribers in a post-smartphone world; and mobile payments.” As a highly regulated industry, it makes sense that there would be a large focus on government’s plans for the wireless industry and the issues impacting the major carriers from a policy and business perspective.

At CTIA Wireless, the real value was in the sessions that took place in the mornings and evenings, not the activity on the show floor. What you didn’t see at the show was a vibrant, business-driven show floor, at least from what I experienced and the conversations I had with people in attendance. Seals also noted “Some industry-watchers have opined that CTIA is simply ‘one trade show too many’ after the hugeness that CES and Mobile World Congress bring to the event schedule, and the foot traffic did seem a little light.” Let me weigh in here Tara. I would say extremely light, especially if you were there after 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday (show ended Thursday at 2:30 p.m.)  There seemed to be more people approaching vendors on the show floor to pitch their own services and events than there were people looking for actual new solutions to evaluate or purchase. I had one conversation with a vendor who told me that he did not have a single good conversation with a prospect. Ouch. The resounding sentiment from everyone I spoke with on the show floor was that they really didn’t feel like much was getting accomplished, that there wasn’t much buzz on the floor, and that most companies were seemingly just going through the motions of “yet another tradeshow.”

So what does this all mean to your company?  For starters, when planning your communications activities around a tradeshow, you have to take into account factors beyond the size of a show’s brand, the number of attendees and the names on a media and press list. You must align your communications objectives to what is actually achievable at an event. If it’s a show where the only meaningful result is gathering new content that can be used as part of future PR activities, then make that the goal and execute as creatively as possible.  It’s also critical that you define metrics for success that go way far simple deliverables like the number of briefings you secure at a show. At McGrath/Power we believe that briefings at a show that have no chance of netting tangible results (coverage, future media or blogging opportunities, stronger 3rd party endorsement) are a waste of time for the company and not fair to the influencers.

To close on CTIA, if you read the industry coverage, you get a sense that the show served its purpose.  If you talk with people that were walking the show floor, you get the sense that the show was more or less a fail. So it appears one group clearly had a set of expectations, and those were met, while the other group had the wrong expectations, so they could never be met.
For a great take on the winners and losers from the show, I recommend this analysis from the editorial team at FierceWireless.

–Roger Fortier

As my colleague Roger Fortier discussed in his blog post today on CTIA Wireless, industry tradeshows have changed significantly over the last five years. This means companies need to evaluate each show on a variety of factors, beyond just size, if they are to get any real value out of spend associated with these events.  Answering the followings questions correctly can yield tremendous benefit for your company’s communications program, while answering them incorrectly could mean a significant waste of budget and missed expectations

Here are some things to take into consideration before you plan your next show:

> Is It News If Nobody Is Listening?  While many companies love to drop news during show week, the volume of noise at most events make this a waste of time.  Very few companies or announcements can cut through the noise effectively and very few influencers will take the time to truly listen at a company’s booth for a middle of the road news discussion.  Look internally with a critical eye when discussing whether to announce a new technology or other company initiative during a tradeshow. Often, it is more effective to announce the news a couple of weeks prior to the event and then use the tradeshow to further amplify the announcement via demonstrations of the new technology or influencer meetings.
>Connecting Or Expecting?  Many companies look at conferences as a venue to meet with industry influencers.  While the concept makes sense – they are all at the same location, after all – it is important to look at the desired end result prior to attempting to make appointments.  Are you simply looking to connect with a hand full of key influencers and provide a casual company update or are you seeking a news generating, full court press on a broad swath of media and/or analysts?  If you have the brand gravitas or associated news to attract attention during a crowded event, then expecting a big return on the time investment may be warranted. Otherwise, keep expectations realistic, undertake short and simple discussions, and re-connect after the show to cover broader subject matter.
>Is The Event A Conference Generation Opportunity? At McGrath/Power, we Content and Context are King and Queen of communications today. Tradeshows are the perfect opportunity to gather and develop content that can be broadcast live from the event used as part of your communications program.  Video from the show floor of product demos or customer testimonials, live Tweeting, and surveys of attendees are all examples of simple and effective content generation opportunities.  We recently collaborated with our client LiveOps to deliver a “Social Tradeshow,” communicating perspective and point of view live from a major industry event. The LiveOps Social Trade Show included pre-show communications to drive awareness of speaking sessions; at-show attendee video interviews, live Tweeting from keynotes and sessions, daily recap blog posts (that were SEO optimized); and post-show analysis.  We also used social channels to monitor show sentiment and trending topics so LiveOps stayed on top of the social discussions when meeting with analysts and media.

Do you still see value in tradeshows? What PR tactics do you find to yield the highest return-on-investment?

–Derek James

(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part discussion on Pinterest.  Earlier this week, Katie Peterson discussed why “Pinning Is Winning.”  Today, colleague Marta Weissenborn gives her point of view.)

Call me crazy, but I have no interest to go on Pinterest. Honestly, I don’t get what the excitement is all about. For those of you who don’t know, Pinterest is a content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects to a virtual pinboard. Don’t get me completely wrong, I think Pinterest is an intriguing idea, but before I jump on the Pinterest bandwagon, there are two aspects to this new social medium that bother me.

Take a look at some of your friends Pinterest pinboards – you’ll learn a lot about them. In fact looking at a friend’s recent pins, I was able to predict she is expecting, before she was ready to announce it to friends. This is a perfect example of my main plight with Pinterest: Why can’t pinboards be set to private? I get that the whole concept is about sharing content and ideas, but some things you may want to keep private. Really ladies, do you want your boyfriend to know you secretively scope out wedding ideas on Pinterest?  I mean I don’t want him to know that our hypothetical wedding is virtually planned from bridesmaid’s dresses down to the cake flavor.

My other big pet peeve with Pinterest is there is no context as to why someone pinned something. Sure there is a caption at the bottom of the picture that usually says something like “WANT!,” or “Cute idea!” but that really doesn’t tell me why you pinned it. Sure it is cute, but what about it caught your eye? What made this of interest to you? What about it warranted a pin? Every picture has a story behind it. Pinterest gives you 500 characters to describe the context in which you like the photo. Even though what you are pinning is not your original content, you can still give it personalized context as to why it was pin worthy.

Even though I may not be a fan of pinning, you probably are. Here are some signs you or your brands pins are just empty holes.

> Web site not found: It’s as silly as a typo, but linking to a dead link is counterintuitive to why you are pinning in the first place.

>Enough about me, let’s talk more about me: Self-promoting on Pinterest is like being that annoying, Debbie-downer poster on Facebook. You know who I am talking about, the one who posts all the horrible things that happen to them. It’s annoying and usually leads to blocking from news feeds. You don’t want to be “that guy.”

>I speak no Americano: If the 500 character descriptor is misleading or has wrong information, this can lead to misconceptions. Brands need to be especially aware of this as it can spread misinformation like wildfire.

While I am still trying to find my interest in Pinterest, I do see some benefits and specific use cases for the site such as event ideas, interior decorating and recipes. Heck, I have even been known to waste my lunch break on Pinterest. I am just not what I would call a full-fledged pinner. If you, on the other hand are an avid pinner and don’t want empty pin holes, take a look at these 8 Rules of Pinterest Etiquette. How do you feel about Pinterest? Has is sparked your interest? Share your thoughts with us.

–Marta Weissenborn