On a recent trip to Orlando, FL, I had the opportunity to meet Carrie - an energetic and passionate event professional who is revolutionizing event media. She does some amazing things that I wanted to share with you. Please read her interview and connect with her on her blog and Twitter. She'd love to hear from you!
How do you conceptualize your role within the event-planning industry as a whole? Where do you think the industry is headed, and how does your LLC plan to fit those changing needs?
Convention News Television provides a visual, green service that expands the life and reach of an event. We believe that by partnering with CNTV to produce video content, our clients will:
- Increase attendance
- Deliver information
- Create new sponsorship opportunities
At CTNV, we can help meeting planners extend the reach of their show, and connect with attendees before, during and after events. I believe the industry is headed for more hybrid events, and social media will continue to play a growing role. Our team can help meeting planners incorporate video into their social media strategies.
We also believe that exhibitors will continue to look for alternatives to print advertising as the focus on “being green” grows. Video content offers organization an way to replace those advertising dollars. Exhibitors can expand the reach of their message exponentially by inserting a commercial into videos that will be distributed online, via email, and posted on the organization’s website.
You’ve observed a lot of events, exhibitions, and conventions. In your opinion, what “makes or breaks” this kind of event?
In my opinion, it’s all about relevance. People are so busy, they need information that pertains to their industry, and their daily work life. I believe that show organizers can connect with attendees by making sure the education is pertinent, concise and tangible. For example: Instead of having a speaker just talk about the importance of social media—how about a hands-on workshop to help attendees sign up for Twitter? That’s something tangible they can take home and immediately put into action.
What lessons did you bring from your years as a Producer at WESH-TV to the new Convention News Television, and what did you have to change about the way you do things?
Producing local news for fifteen years taught me how to tell compelling stories in a short amount of time. As you know, news stories are produced under deadline, often in just a few hours. It’s important to be able to get to the core of the story quickly, identify the key characters, and deliver the most important information. That’s what we apply to conventions. We can create content at an event in a matter of hours. We work with our clients to determine the message, and we find compelling ways to deliver that message to attendees, as well as to a global audience via social media.
The biggest change for me has been the angle from which the stories are told. At Convention News Television, we see ourselves as an extension of the association’s marketing team, and we work with the association to deliver their message. It’s closer to public relations than to investigative reporting. To be honest, it’s a refreshing change, and one that I have embraced during the past three years.
Convention News Television is all about finding new audiences for exhibitions and events and therefore increasing the revenue stream of your clients. What are the most creative or non-traditional ways you reach out to new audiences?
Our VP of Sales and Marketing, Bill Peeper, has decades of experience in the convention industry. Bill ran the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau for more than twenty years. He helped us realize that we needed to be involved in the meeting industry organizations. We have a partnership with PCMA to produce PCMA-TV and we will be covering IAEE’s Expo Expo. I am also on the Marketing and Communications committee for MPI in Orlando. Being involved in those organization has given us the opportunity to meet meeting planners from around the country, and to understand their needs more than anything else.
You’re very active on Twitter. What, to you, is Twitter’s biggest drawback? How do you attempt to overcome this limitation?
I think the biggest challenge with Twitter is the “fire hose affect”. It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed, and to be deluged with information. The goal is to stay involved, without spending hours online. I rely on hashtags heavily to sort through the tweets, and determine which content is pertinent to the meetings industry. I am a big fan of #eventprofs (where I met Liz!) and #assnchat, which focuses on associations. By using www.hootsuite.com, I can easily search those hashtags, and avoid trying to read hundreds, or thousands of tweets every day.
Connect with Carrie:
Carrie Ferenac, President
Convention News Television
(407) 259-9870
www.ConventionNewsTV.com
Follow me on Twitter: @carrieferenac
Read my blog: cferenac.blogspot.com
Sample Video
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Tags: #eventprofs, event planner, event planners, events
