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The IAEE Art of the Show Competition’s Show Daily category evaluates any communication (print or digital) updating attendees about the show and distributed on show site each day of the event. Judging criteria includes: overall presentation, visual appeal and creativity; content usefulness and appeal to the audience (what makes the information in the show daily interesting to participants of this particular show); how the show daily contributed to the overall show experience for participants; and effectiveness of distribution and access to the show daily throughout the show.
In today’s IAEE Art of the Show Competition Winners Circle, we highlight the winners of last year’s Show Daily category:
Under 75,000 nsf
American Payroll Association
35th Annual Congress
The American Payroll Association’s (APA) Annual Congress and Expo is the premier educational event for payroll and accounts payable professionals. The annual event attracts 1,500-2,500 attendees to network with industry leaders, find solutions to their biggest challenges, and receive the latest information to keep their company in compliance with local, state, and federal laws. The conference offers more than 200 workshops over 4.5 days, 26.5 recertification credits (1/4 of the entire total needed to recertify) and the world’s largest payroll, accounts payable, and finance expo hall featuring more than 100 exhibitors.
Congress Today provides highlights, photos and previews of important Annual Congress events for its attendees, association members and exhibitors. New in 2017, readers saw the rollout of a reformatted printed Congress Today paired with a new daily electronic blog. This two-prong approach allowed APA to reach a new target audience – non-attendees – thus expanding its overall potential reach.
In prior years, the printed show daily only reached attendees of the show, which was about 10% of APA’s membership. Last year, having both a printed show daily married with an electronic blog show daily gave APA the potential to reach a target audience well beyond those who simply attended the show. With approximately 20,300 members, APA hoped this new approach would reach every member, whether they attended the Annual Congress or not.
The 2017 printed editions of Congress Today changed from a newspaper to a magazine layout and featured one 24-page issue, one 20-page issue, and one 16-page issue. The printed magazine was offered Wednesday through Friday (the height of the show), giving conference attendees valuable information during the event plus a lot more photos to help mark their memorable experience.
Attendees were also offered electronic means as an additional medium for viewing their Congress Today on the Annual Congress app as well as www.APACongress.org. These additional postings not only offered attendees a different format to view their show daily, but also reached non-attendees who were still interested in the daily events happening at the Annual Congress but were not able to attend. These additional platforms for viewing Congress Today increased its overall circulation from about 3,000 readers onsite to approximately 123,000 views per issue.
The Congress Today blog highlighted each day’s activities with articles. The blog went live ahead of the event to help ramp up excitement for the conference, and stays up year-round to continue to promote the event and drive higher registration numbers into the following year. Members also received daily notifications of the new online blog that showcased each day’s activities. This new format allowed APA to also offer video and social media components (embedded Twitter feeds) that created a true multi-media platform.
The new approach of having both a printed show daily and an electronic show daily blog was met with much success. The Congress Today blog had 20,321 subscribers. Daily emails performed well with close to a 20% open rate. The blog featured 74 articles in the six days it was live, which garnered more than 8,000 views during the week of the show and 8,634 views the following month.
Since then, an additional 2,000 more views have occurred, reflecting that the blog is engaging with members and potential future attendees well after the event. In addition, evaluation results show that 92% of respondents liked the new format of Congress Today as a combination printed magazine and online blog.
“That’s what’s exciting about the new Congress Today format,” noted Christine L. Avery, Director, Membership Publications. “It enables us to engage with members before, during and well after our annual event; PLUS, it reaches a much larger audience than the printed onsite show daily could. We not only met our goals and objectives, we surpassed them.”
Over 200,001 nsf
Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™
CES 2017
CES is the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. It has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies for 50+ years – the global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace. As the largest hands-on event of its kind, CES features all aspects of the industry. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), it attracts the world’s business leaders and pioneering thinkers.
CES welcomes attendees, media personnel, and exhibitors from all aspects of the consumer technology industry and all corners of the world. CES 2017 brought 184,279 in total attendance from 158 countries. There were 4015 exhibiting companies, including 600 startups, spanning 24 product categories. Esteemed speakers tout disruptive technology and envision new trends and markets through the CES conference program every year. As a platform for industry leaders and creative minds to build their brands, CES is the launch pad for innovation that changes the world.
The CES Daily is published each day of the show, for a total of four (4) issues per show. For CES 2017, some prominent marketplaces and product categories highlighted in the CES Daily included Health & Wellness, Robotics, Eureka Park (CES Startup Park), Wearables, Self-driving technologies, 3D Printing, and more.
“The CES Show Daily provides highlights of each day of CES as well as showcasing different aspects of the show floor and key exhibits and speakers at the show,” said Cindy Stevens, CTA’s Senior Director of Publications. “Representing all corners of the consumer technology industry, the CES Show Daily gave 2018 attendees an insider’s perspective on influential people and significant events at the show to help them maximize their business and networking opportunities. Attendees use the CES Show Daily to guide their agendas, as well as provide an overview of the show once they return to their offices.”
The 2018 IAEE Art of the Show Competition is now underway – you have until 14 September 2018 to submit your entries! Check out all the winners from the 2017 competition.
