In typical AIME-style, the vibrant sounds of live music welcomed over 1,000 attendees as they filled the expansive room at the MCEC for the first official day of AIME2024.
Sporting matching ‘AIME-blue’ sneakers, the AIME team received a rousing applause for their hard work in organising the biggest AIME in a decade. Planning an event for event organisers is no easy feat, and as fellow event organisers, we wholeheartedly believe they deserve praise for weeks and months to come.
Knowledge Program – 4Ps of Glocalisation
This year’s Knowledge Program uncovered the 4Ps of glocalisation (People, Planet, Purpose, and Profit). The program’s focus on event marketing resonated deeply as we all strive to boost delegate numbers. We were keen to soak up valuable insights to pass along to both our team and our clients.
Lisa Ronson – marketing exec’s tips
Familiar with the Dundee movie that never happened? The marketing exec behind the viral 2018 Super Bowl ad, Lisa Ronson (former CMO of Tourism Australia and Coles), taught us the importance of understanding our role in our customers’ lives – that is our clients, and delegates – to become smarter leaders. Amidst a treasure trove of leadership insights, which included her former Westpac boss’ 5Cs of leadership principles and a nod to McDonald’s as the brand that’s done glocalisation right, we noted down these marketing insights:
- It’s always better to over-communicate (chances are, people hear you differently)
- Clearly define your target audience (never ‘spray and pray’)
- Consider off-the-wall collaborations to widen your reach
- Being active on more channels with consistent messaging increases your strike rate.
Sebastian Terry – know thy value
We were too engrossed in Seb Terry’s keynote that we didn’t take any photos or have time to write down notes. Amongst the hilarious (ever married a stranger?) and heartwarming bucket list stories (Seb completed a half marathon pushing a quadriplegic person whose goal was to also complete a marathon), we found an important message for event organisers from the 100 Things founder: our role is invaluable as we listen to our clients’ and delegates’ needs, making them feel valued – which Seb says is a true embodiment of glocalisation.
“How AI can boost your event profit and purpose”
It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t clone ourselves to attend all breakout sessions. Nonetheless, we made sure to join the AI session, where we learned about some potentially game-changing AI tools for business events. Here are our highlights:
- Microsoft Copilot – turn word docs into PowerPoint presentations (speaker presentations?)
- Spark – repurpose content into blog posts
- AdCreative.ai – generate professional-looking, on-brand, shareable creatives (event banners and tiles?)
- Spark Takeaways – automatically generated summaries of sessions and produce takeaways for delegates post-event (capture 100s of roundtable discussions at the same time).
“Social Media ROI in 2024”
With an impressive track record in building viral brands, George Hawwa from Attention Experts generously ‘gave away his IP’ in this fascinating session on social media marketing – as he says we should all be doing to increase brand value (more on this later).
He attests that:
Increase in brand value (leads to) Increase in engagement (leads to) Increase in sales
The session was full of gold nuggets and ‘aha’ moments that we could talk endlessly about, however here are our three most significant takeaways:
- Give away value
Sales don’t just happen. We need to first provide value to our audience – and that is to give away valuable, relevant content. This comes back to George’s advice to share our IP to increase brand value.
- Content alone is not king
Content alone won’t get you the ROI you want – it’s the optimisation of the content and strategy that bring results. The success of your campaign will come down to satisfying the algorithms on your chosen platform, which may include posting up to five times a week, and showing a genuine interest in your audience through your content.
- It takes patience
Seeing ROI on your campaign takes time. George shared that it takes up to 20 to 25 touchpoints on average for your audience to buy from you. We need to have the patience to define and tell our story (think Apple and Nike’s founder-led stories as an example), establish ourselves as a thought leader, and consistently post content to build trust with your audience.
If you found our recap on AIME 2024 Knowledge Program helpful, you will enjoy our upcoming interview with Oliver Hawthorn, TAS’ Event Manager. He will be sharing his key takeaways from the AIME 2024 show floor. For more insights on business events and associations, subscribe to the TAS Monthly Newsletter.
About AIME
The Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) is the leading trade event for the meetings and event industry in the Asia Pacific region. AIME is where industry decision makers connect, create and do business. The event brings together international and local event planners and connect them with the best destinations, venues and event suppliers from around the world. AIME 2024 was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 19 – 21 February.