MWC Wrap Up
By now, a week post-event, the adrenaline rush, energy consumption, long days and late nights of MWC will hopefully be starting to be replaced by a feeling of relief that ‘normal’ life in the marketing team can resume.
Feedback from clients both past and present who attend the often budget-busting, all-consuming, show each year is that it’s at least a three day recovery period, if not more.
As the dust begins to settle it’s a good time to reflect on the results and impact from all that hard work, particularly as your PR agency support before and during events is often a considerable chunk of budget. It’s also likely that MWC activities will have filled the ‘news release’ and ‘press briefings’ section of many February PR plans, so they need to have made an impression.
Many businesses fall into the trap of congratulating themselves on PR success as the show winds down. At Jargon we always say let’s review in seven days time. Being jubilant that your execs have met some journalists and analysts is one thing, questioning the results of that briefing success and most importantly its impact on your business post-event is even more valuable. We often find the real success comes from follow up activities and the diligent press office processes we put in place in the two weeks following the show itself.
So, to avoid that obvious ‘didn’t we do well’ pitfall, here’s our four-point guide to questions you should ask yourself (and your PR team) seven days on from Barcelona
Planning:
Did we learn anything through the pre-show planning period that we can feed into next year?
Did we start early enough, did we have a strong enough story, or did a last minute rush impact our success?
Briefings and meetings:
Did we reach our target for press and analyst briefings at the show? If not, why not. Are there any that didn’t happen and need to be rearranged post-show? Who has responsibility for that?
What about the quality of those meetings – did our execs tell a strong story? Did they get the message across effectively? What about notes and feedback from each session, how are they being fed back into your organisation?
Outcomes:
Have all press briefings been followed up and converted to coverage? If not, what went wrong? What can we learn for next time?
Wrap up:
How and to whom will you be reporting success, feedback and learnings from the show into the business? Were their expectations met? Are your sales team aware of the results assuming they were positive?
The answers to the above should leave you with a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction that you and your agency team did everything you could before, during and after the event to make the show as effective as possible. If the answers leave you feeling more exhausted than you did immediately after the show, perhaps it’s time to start planning a new approach for next year…
For more information or if you’re interested in meeting please get in touch at hello@jargonpr.com
