Trade shows are terrible businesses
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2022
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My opinion about startup conferences has… shifted over the last few years.
And when you are paying hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars for a ticket, plus flights and hotels for you and your team… you just can’t ignore the question of ROI.
I am attending a bunch of conferences this quarter.
And the question is still there for me. Is this ticket worth the money?
I’ve been asking myself this for years, and we finally got down to find out why these tickets are so damn expensive. Who is keeping all this money?
Because for a bootstrapped startup founder that $1,000 ticket or that $5,000 booth on the ‘Startup Alley’ is a big decision.
And for them conferences tend to promise customers, investor intros, round tables, and meeting Lupita N’yongo for some reason, and if you’re looking for that- a conference might not be the place.
So I sat down with conference organizers who agreed to share numbers they hadn’t shared publicly before. We looked at dozens of industry insights, and the main thing we learned is that conferences are an extremely risky business.
Despite the expensive tickets and the super expensive sponsorships and booths, organizers barely make any money, and a fair share of them close at a loss.
So, let's talk about the actual numbers behind startup conferences in today’s Company Forensics.
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Conferences are just LinkedIn in the real world:
- The networking is largely shallow -Everything is basically a show for advertising to the biggest players in the space and you might get lucky to find the occasional gem in the periphery.
The ticket pie chart is creative.
Dang dude that table graphic at 0:43 is dope.
I think there's a lot of intangible and mindshare that takes place, that has different ROI depending on the objective of the person attending.
Demand Generation and Marketing use these as milestones as well as accountability to solidify accounts.
As a Founder, I know it pushed me out of my comfort zone and was helpful in considering different tools and ways to achieve outcomes.
But also, drinking with people is fun and if I can expense that...
GREAT VIDEO "KAYA" I REALLY ENJOYED IT!!!😁😁👍👍
A big waste of time. Some people are addicted to conferences and networking events. You should be busy building your project.
This is terrible advice
Esp in the tech space
@@gidd Literally my first thought. Good luck building a company on your own, son.
I do not believe the case was made: "we do it because"
It depends ! Some conferences/events make huge profits...
Let's be real, this well produced video aside, the reality for most of us can be summed up much more succinctly.It's the same same exact reason 9-5ers would never conceive of spending millions on a Constantin or a Bugatti: they're aware that luxuries are well beyond their reach and the coping mechanism is to designate anything beyond our pockets as frivolous, stupid, pointless and "wastes of money". It's why so many flash-flood-wealthy individuals suddenly splurge, and often go broke unless they snap back to reality.
Hence the phrase "money changes people".
Give a man 10mil, and suddenly "Oh yeah, these Ferraris.... they're not half bad ! Drives pretty good !".
Access to capital has the gargantuan potential to change one's perception of perceived value.
I kind of agree but you lost me in the end when you failed to connect your point to the video. Like dude how is this relevant to tech conferences?
@@kdme My bad, you know how it is sometimes when a concept is fleshed out mentally but doesn't translate to expression.
In this case the tech conference would be considered a "luxury" as opposed to a necessity.
As our finances increase and our perspectives change, we over time start to consider certain things not only attainable, but "necessary".
The first time I visited L.A. and saw how some of those people lived, it blew my mind. The're many things they consider to be absolutely mandatory that I'd never even consider.
For example, I have dogs at home, but I'd met a couple that actually based the purchase of their home, around their overpriced pooch's "comfort".
Wild.
Money doesn't change people.
It amplifies who you already are
@@gidd That's a common "go to" sentiment but my life experience has taught me otherwise, and I wholeheartedly disagree.
Not to mention, I'm arguing that it has the potential to, not that it's cut-and-dry, or that it does so in every case.
I DON'T THINK MONEY CHANGES PEOPLE,MONEY IS JUST A COMMODITY,PEOPLE DON'T CHANGE BUT THEY BRING OUT THEIR TRUE SELF!!
Thing is... You can't effectively network with 1000 people in a day. Why not go to a smaller - 50 person meetup where you'll be able to make just as many connections but won't break the bank?
Bigger event
Bigger names present.
It's not networking for the sake of it ,it's networking with people who matter
Funny. I just attended one yesterday and I felt the same.
The furniture in this video is crazy!!
What are some SaaS events to attend? Can anyone give a list?
The background music is quite loud for the speaking voice. But I like the topic.
10th comment! Great work. Always improving!
Wait, isn't taking a team to the convention exponentially more expensive?
lineary ;)
@@morkovija
:| That's on me for trying to sound smart.
Did I win office hours with caya
It feels like the vidoe was cut short, there was more on the subjects from the Poya, where can I get more from the interview?
Am I late for the “Con Ference”…
Before watching guess: Because these are targeted towards business, ROI can be huge and the organizers can charge huge prices
CAN YOU DO A VIDEO RELAXED ?
This was the silliest video ever. The argument that conferences are worthwhile because, they cost a lot of money? Really. That's your argument? Wow. Some circular reasoning right there. Was really hoping you'd actually answer the ROI question, not a hey we should fund some broke organizers just because they spent the money, instead of that other more worthwhile philanthropy.
First Comment ❤