What's the best city to host a conference?

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How do you as a leader of a growing community, Truly make a

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conference or event that has impact, a gathering with purpose and an attendee

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experience that knocks their socks off.

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An event that leaves your audience in awe and wondering where you've been

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their whole life, Make It Kickass is the podcast that explores these questions

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by uncovering the strategies, tactics and tools that we use every day to

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bring our clients' conferences to life.

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I'm Isaac Watson, executive producer of Kickass Conferences, and we are

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here to help you make it kick ass.

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Hey everyone.

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Welcome back to another episode where myself, Isaac Watson, executive producer

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at Kickass Conferences and the illustrious Nessa Jimenez, our operations manager.

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Say hello, Nessa.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:01:05

Hi everybody,

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Where we talk about all things conferences and production and

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strategy and in this season we are spending each episode talking about

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one particular question that we tend to get asked quite regularly and digging a

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little deeper into what it really means.

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Maybe we should just call this conference therapy.

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Talking about-

Nessa Jimenez: 00:01:28

conference, FAQs,

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talking about what, what's coming up for people when

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they start asking us these questions.

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And what are some of the underlying sources of these questions and

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how can we better address those through strategy and solutions?

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And maybe better questions to ask instead of what people normally ask.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:01:45

Right, Because what people usually ask isn't usually

Nessa Jimenez: 00:01:49

what they're actually asking

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. Isaac Watson: Exactly.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:01:52

Which is the whole reason why we're doing this.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:01:54

So let's get into it.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:01:55

This episode's question is centered around location.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:01

And the question is, what city should I host my conference in?

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So we're gonna set aside virtual events, We're gonna set aside

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digital convenings and gatherings, and we're focused on, in person.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:11

What city should I host my conference in?

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We do get.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:14

This asked a lot.

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Less so in the last couple of years.

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But it's starting to come back as people are thinking about

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doing things in person again.

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So first and foremost, when people ask us this question, what do they really mean?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:26

What are they actually asking?

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Yeah, so location.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:31

They wanna know is a tourist attraction or a touristy location

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:36

gonna help me sell more tickets?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:38

If I build this thing in Miami and I put palm trees and a picture of the

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beach on my ads, is that gonna get people to to buy tickets and show up?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:47

How do I get people to come to this conference?

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Is.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:02:50

Is location, the big selling point, right?

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Stepping away from like just location, talking about how do

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I keep production costs down?

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What city can I host this, where I'm not paying more than I can afford

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just for a venue or just for catering?

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it's a diverse smattering of questions, right?

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It's about willingness to travel, it's about drawing people in,

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incentivizing them to come.

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But also how do we how do we afford to do this?

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Different metropolitan areas have wildly different, Production costs depending

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on how developed the urban core is.

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Are you doing it out in a suburb?

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Is it accessible?

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All these kinds of things can affect it.

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So the, these are some of the underlying questions that we hear or

, Isaac Watson: 00:03:35

that we, when people ask us that's what we hear is Oh, what you're really

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asking is how do I get people there?

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How do I keep production costs down?

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But what are some of the underlying problems that.

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causing these questions to bubble up.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:03:50

Yeah.

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So it's gimmicks.

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It's gimmicks over substance.

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It's like . What can I pull out of this hat to, I don't

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know, to dazzle you, right?

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, to confuse you to pull one over on you.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:04:03

That'll get you to this place that I want you to go.

Isaac Watson: 00:04:06

Yeah.

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And don't get me wrong.

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A good location helps contribute to the event experience.

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Absolutely.

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Location can play a role as a character in your conferences kind of personality

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and vibe and things like that, but it is not the sole contributing factor.

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In fact, it's a backseat.

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It's a, it is a supporting role.

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It is not the lead.

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is your programming and your content and what you are creating in that space.

Isaac Watson: 00:04:35

And the location supports supports that to some extent, but does not supplant it.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:04:41

Yeah.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:04:41

And when we say gimmick it's trying to use the location as

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a sort of marketing shortcut.

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If I rely on the place, then I don't have to talk about all the other

Nessa Jimenez: 00:04:53

things, or I don't have to put that much effort into all the other.

Isaac Watson: 00:04:58

I think a lot of that is drawn from larger

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corporate meeting planning.

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Where if you're, if you work in the pharmaceutical industry or you're

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a, an engineer or something and your trade association is hosting their

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annual conference, they're gonna pick a location that you want to go to because

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you don't really want to go the event.

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But those, these are like massive, These are like the trade shows and

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this, so they're like, we're doing it in Vegas where you can just like

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party every night and everything.

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That's the draw for those types of people.

Isaac Watson: 00:05:27

Yeah.

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But the clients that we work with and the people who are like doing

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true community leadership and who are actually building something of value.

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They shouldn't be thinking about that.

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In the same way they should be crafting an event that people want to go to

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regardless of where it's been being hosted or that the location that it's

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being hosted in is the icing on the cake.

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It's Oh I really want to go to this conference and it's in

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Austin and I love Austin, or I've always wanted to go to Austin.

Isaac Watson: 00:05:53

Like that should be the the reaction to that.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:05:55

And it comes.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:05:57

, as you well mentioned these big events, it's like the compare and contrast

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game that people always do, right?

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They open up social media or they search conference, and what they

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get is like these million dollar productions for Amazon or a lot of

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things were like doctors associations they do this a lot as well.

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Where they choose very tropical, like touristy locations, but we're not

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talking about those people, that like we cannot compare a community event,

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a small business event with what Amazon is trying to pull off in vegas,

Isaac Watson: 00:06:30

yeah.

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And I think another underlying problem with this line of questioning is,

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especially when it comes to keeping production costs down, is prioritizing

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budget over the attendee experience.

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Now I want to couch that.

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By saying that doesn't mean that you should be blowing a tons of money to

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deliver a great attendee experience, that the two aren't necessarily correlated.

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I think the key is not letting the financials of the event dictate how

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you deliver on an attendee experience, or not letting a budgetary decision.

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And result in a a worse attendee experience just because you couldn't

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afford to do it in somewhere that would deliver a better one.

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It's a very fine line to walk, but if you're approaching your

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geographical location, your site sourcing from a perspective of

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what's the cheapest place we can go?

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then you're gonna have a really hard time delivering on an attendee experience

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because that attendee experience is not just what you're doing at the conference,

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it's how they're getting there.

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Do they have to do two or three stops to get to this tiny

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little town that's really cheap?

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What kind of amenities are there?

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What what are you offering from a food and beverage experience?

Isaac Watson: 00:07:45

Like all that kind of stuff is influenced by that location decision.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:07:49

Yeah, focusing on that one line item is a mistake.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:07:52

And in our, after we do event lab and the strategy work, when we start to do the

Nessa Jimenez: 00:07:57

venue location research we look at that Okay this town might be cheaper, but.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:05

it's gonna take people three hours to get here from the airport.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:08

. That's rough.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:09

That's not an easy ask.

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And again, it depends on the details, right?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:13

If it's meant to be your retreat in the mountains or something

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:16

okay, that's something else.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:17

But yeah, focusing on that one line item because it looks cheap.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:22

On paper that can also bite you in the ass later cuz it'll affect

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:25

it, attend the experience, and then a whole bunch of other things

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turn out to be more expensive.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:30

Another a problem is just low confidence in doing something

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:36

virtual versus in person.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:38

And I know I we said we were gonna set aside the virtual, but the

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:42

reality is does it even make sense to do something in person, right?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:47

Depending on who your audience and the community is.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:08:50

Why are you making this in person versus virtual decision?

. Isaac Watson: 00:08:53

And I think it that also influences people's perception and their

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understanding of what the differences are.

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I think at this stage in where we are with Covid and where things are

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going, people know they know what they.

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They know what they're comfortable with and it's a matter of navigating

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and helping them understand why they would want to attend in

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person versus doing it virtually.

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And I think that's the other key is that people know that there's

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a difference between a virtual experience and an in person one.

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We have spent years now trying to maintain social and professional

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relationships virtually only, and.

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It's obvious as in person conferences start happening again.

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I hear time and time again whether I'm attending them or running them.

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Ugh.

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It's so nice to be face to face with people again.

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It is so nice to be in a room of people.

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I missed this.

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It's different.

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It's not the same.

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As virtual, and we can deliver some incredible virtual experiences, don't

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get me wrong, But there are certain things that you cannot replicate or

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recreate in a virtual environment.

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And so you need to have confidence in your choice to do it in person, knowing

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that people are going to understand why that's a good thing for them or

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if that's not their thing, right?

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And then delivering.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:23

Yeah.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:23

And to your point about you can't replicate the experience but there's

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:27

just some people that they don't want the digital experience anymore, right?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:32

Versus other people who love the digital experience and have told us many times

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:37

that they don't plan on ever going to an in person conference again because

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:41

they much prefer to attend things online and they're more comfortable.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:46

I, I think, especially, People who are more introverted It's just they

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:51

much rather communicate and connect with other people through an online

Nessa Jimenez: 00:10:55

experience versus an in person one.

Isaac Watson: 00:10:57

And I think there's this natural awkward right now too

Isaac Watson: 00:11:00

where people, I've heard comments like this before Oh, I forgot how to

Isaac Watson: 00:11:04

people yeah, I forgot what it's like.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:06

I knew I wanted this, but I.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:08

It, it requires energy.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:10

It's a whole different like social construct and, all these things.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:13

And that's a learning curve we're going through.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:15

And I think that will pass.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:16

But that decision to do it in person versus doing it

Isaac Watson: 00:11:19

virtually, you should have.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:21

Have made that earlier in the process, and then you need to embrace

Isaac Watson: 00:11:25

and run with that as opposed to questioning it the entire time.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:11:29

Yes, we are absolutely in a relearning stage of how to socialize in

Nessa Jimenez: 00:11:33

person and how to be together in person after so long of just being online.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:11:39

Yeah, so speaking of connecting, Audience, and other people.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:11:44

, let's talk about how do we solve this problem?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:11:46

How do we answer this question of what city do I choose?

Isaac Watson: 00:11:49

And you've started off with the location.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:51

And I'm gonna end with audience.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:53

This is like the only solution.

Isaac Watson: 00:11:56

In my mind is to know who your audience is, to deeply understand

Isaac Watson: 00:12:01

who they are, what their makeup is, where are they geographically,

Isaac Watson: 00:12:06

What do they need and want?

Isaac Watson: 00:12:07

Is this an audience that wants to gather in person?

Isaac Watson: 00:12:11

If so, what are their priorities?

Isaac Watson: 00:12:14

What are you delivering?

Isaac Watson: 00:12:16

And then you can start to identify, okay, where.

Isaac Watson: 00:12:19

Where on this earth can we host this, that will help us deliver that, right?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:25

Yes.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:25

And we can, And obviously of course you start with that.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:28

Do people wanna be in person or do they wanna be online?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:30

And once you've made that realization okay, maybe they do wanna be in

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:34

person look at your audience.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:35

If you're, for example, you're based in Portland, but the vast majority of your

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:39

audience is based on the East coast.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:43

It does not make sense for you to try to make everybody come to Portland . Yeah.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:49

If they would much rather stay in the east coast.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:51

And their exceptions and every situation is different.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:54

But that's something to think about, right?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:56

If everybody's on the East coast and I'm on the west, then I should probably

Nessa Jimenez: 00:12:59

think about hosting it in the East Coast that's closer to them and it'll get.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:13:04

They're more likely to jump in a car or on a plane and get there.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:09

And to me that's the importance of context

Isaac Watson: 00:13:11

of where decision making.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:13

, right?

Isaac Watson: 00:13:13

Knowing the context of like our current state, navigating the pandemic, right?

Isaac Watson: 00:13:19

Yes.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:19

People want to travel maybe, travels back up at almost at pre pandemic levels.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:24

Yet, flights are more expensive because of the rising fuel costs and inflation.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:29

So budget is more of a concern.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:31

There are certain areas that people are willing to travel over others.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:34

. There is, a certain.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:36

Maybe they're less inclined to go through multiple stops.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:39

They want a nonstop thing.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:41

All of that context is important to be aware of as you're making

Isaac Watson: 00:13:44

these decisions and making them intelligently with your audience in mind.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:49

And if you're doing that, then you can go into your your marketing

Isaac Watson: 00:13:52

strategy and marketing process and speak to that and say, We know.

Isaac Watson: 00:13:57

Essentially we know you and we've crafted this for you because we

Isaac Watson: 00:14:02

understand what your priorities are and what you're looking for.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:04

And so we've created an experience in this particular location

Isaac Watson: 00:14:08

that is gonna serve that.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:09

Yeah.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:10

And politically as well, that's the reality.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:12

You have to look at your audience and with this whole thing that's happening

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:16

with women's rights, for example, and I'm gonna go ahead and bring it up.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:19

If your audience is mostly women, like I, I'm not sure they

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:22

wanna go to Texas right now.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:24

Yeah.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:24

You know what I mean?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:24

Like that's also something to be aware of.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:27

Even if, if you think you're not political as spoiler, everybody's political, right?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:31

, every community has their leanings.

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:35

It's also another factor that'll help you decide like where should I take this?

Nessa Jimenez: 00:14:39

Where are people comfortable being right now?

Isaac Watson: 00:14:41

And it's about reading the room.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:43

And then if you're gonna read the room you need to know who's in the room.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:45

And if you don't know that, then you can't make those intelligent decisions.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:49

And that's going to, that's just audience.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:51

I don't know how many times I can say that.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:54

Yeah.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:54

But that to me, Everything.

Isaac Watson: 00:14:56

If you don't know your people then you can't make an informed decision that's

Isaac Watson: 00:14:59

gonna fit their needs and your goals.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:02

, Nessa Jimenez: knowing your audience

Isaac Watson: 00:15:05

, you wanna know?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:05

Yeah.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:06

So what let's wrap this up for today then.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:08

All right.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:08

So the question that we get asked often is, what city

Isaac Watson: 00:15:11

should I host my conference in?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:13

And when we get asked that question, we know that what they're really asking is

Isaac Watson: 00:15:16

either how do I get people to actually.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:18

And it does the city that I choose play a significant role in that decision process?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:23

And also how do I keep my production costs down?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:26

Those are the two main underlying issues.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:29

And to that, we respond by working with our clients and figuring out who.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:35

Who are we wanting to actually attend?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:38

Understanding who they are.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:39

What is their context?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:40

What do they prioritize?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:41

What do they value?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:42

How far are they willing to travel?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:44

What is their financial capacity to travel?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:47

And how?

Isaac Watson: 00:15:49

How can they commit their investment in your conference with the confidence that

Isaac Watson: 00:15:55

they're gonna get a great experience.

Isaac Watson: 00:15:57

And if you understand your audience, you are 70% of the way toward

Isaac Watson: 00:16:02

delivering a stellar conference.

Isaac Watson: 00:16:09

Thanks for listening to make it kick ass.

Isaac Watson: 00:16:11

Now stop worrying about tourist traps and.

Isaac Watson: 00:16:13

And start working out what your audience actually wants

Isaac Watson: 00:16:16

from you and from your event.

Isaac Watson: 00:16:18

Head on over to geteventlab.com and we'll send over a free copy

Isaac Watson: 00:16:22

of the tool that we use with our clients to help them line that out.

Isaac Watson: 00:16:25

That's geteventlab.com and I will see you in the next episode.