UBM Tech surveyed several hundred IT professionals to better understand their thoughts about the effectiveness of executive events such as roundtables and forums. The survey revealed that such events are a potent marketing tool that can help you build relationships with new customers, and deepen long-term relationships with existing ones. It also provided valuable information on how to ensure success and get the most out of the executive events you sponsor as a way to stay close to your customers.

1. Four Pillars of Successful IT Events
How to Forge Long-Lasting Customer Relationships
By Brian Gillooly
VP and Editor In Chief of Events
2014 Executive Event Research Report
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UBM TechEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Last year, UBM Tech surveyed several hundred IT professionals to
better understand their thoughts about the effectiveness of executive
events that they’ve attended over the years. The survey revealed that
such events are a potent marketing tool that can help you build rela-
tionships with new customers, and deepen long-term relationships
with existing ones. It also provided valuable information on how to
ensure success and get the most out of the executive events you
sponsor as a way to stay close to your customers.
Following up on last year’s survey, we
conducted a similar research project early in
2014; this time, querying nearly twice as many
IT professionals—almost 600 in all. This white
paper shares some of that research, and also
provides valuable tips that will help you build
lasting relationships and achieve high-impact
customer conversations at executive events.
Following up on last year’s
survey, we conducted a
similar research project in
early 2014; this time querying
nearly twice as many IT
professionals—almost 600 in
all-to determine their views.
ABOUT BRIAN GILLOOLY
Brian has spent more than 25 years establishing a trusted and significant presence in the business technology
community. One of the most recognized personalities in IT media, he has built valuable relationships with the most
influential practitioners in the technology industry and counts among his closest contacts CIOs from Fortune 500
companies and small businesses alike. As the vice president and editor in chief of events for InformationWeek and
UBM Tech’s Create, Brian is responsible for developing a vision that provides both the audience and the client with
clarity and insight into today’s most challenging business technology issues.

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Before we dive into the results of our 2014 survey, a few words about the nature of our research are in order. We
conducted an online survey of 595 business technology professionals who attend IT industry face-to-face events.
Here’s a breakdown of their job responsibilities:
Other 2%
Line of Business Mgmt. 14%
Consultant 12%
18% C-level or VP
28% IT Director/Manager
26% IS/IT Staff
Slightly more than half of these respondents work in large companies with over a thousand employees; just under
a quarter are with firms that employ 100-999 people, and the remaining quarter work in small companies with less
than a hundred employees.
The survey revealed that most of these IT professionals attend only a few events each year, underscoring the
importance of building a proper event framework to capture their attention. Two-thirds of respondents said they
attend 1-3 events per year, while 20 percent said they attend 4-6 events. Only one in nine people surveyed—fewer
than 12 percent—attend more than six events annually. In light of these statistics, it’s important to make your
executive events count in order to maximize your return on investment.

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1. Content Is King
Executive event attendees are straightforward
about why they make time in their busy schedules
to attend marketing events. First and foremost,
learning about a focused subject matter that
pertains to their specific needs. Two-thirds of
respondents said that interest in the subject mat-
ter is why they attend IT industry events such as
roundtables or conferences, and well over half said
they attend to learn about specific technologies.
Given this, it’s clear that content is king. In partic-
ular, quality content is king, as it enables IT pro-
fessionals to educate themselves on a technology
and product category while also gaining additional
information about your solutions in an informal
setting. It pays to spend the time and resources
to provide compelling content that speaks to
the specific pain points your attendees face,
and then discuss potential solutions that solve
those challenges.
Equally important, you need to structure your
roundtable or forum in a way that seeks input
from your attendees and creates meaningful
conversations among all participants. We’ve
discovered that successful events are built
around great conversations—and not just
presentations. It’s these unscripted face-to-face
conversations that, more than anything else, build
long-lasting trust between technology buyers
and solution providers.
The insights respondents provided align with the results that UBM Tech has seen with our events over the years.
As such, we’ve learned the importance of building the right framework to ensure success, and we’d like to share
four key cornerstones that support those efforts:

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2. Attendees DO Listen To You
Conventional wisdom holds that people who
attend executive events are looking for objective
information—and just barely tolerate the
marketing messages from vendor sponsors. But
that’s simply not true. Almost two thirds of those
interviewed in our 2014 survey revealed that the
best kind of content was a combination of industry
trends followed by vendor-specific information.
Leading with objective industry analysis
establishes that you understand what’s going
on in technology—and, more important, that you
understand the pain points that your potential
customers are facing. Once done, a discussion
about how your products and services fit into
the industry framework that you’ve established
becomes much more palatable. Your attendees
will welcome your message if it educates them and
helps them stay on top of technological trends. On
the other hand, the overwhelming majority
of respondents in our survey—more than 80
percent—said that overt sales pitches often
prevent them from engaging with an event sponsor
afterwards. Clearly, a proper balance needs to be
achieved in order to attain best results.
In any case, industry analysis on the one hand
and client-specific content on the other are of
interest to event attendees; combined together
in the right mix, they make for a truly potent
marketing message.
3. Hot Topics: “SMAC” Rules The Roost
Another important factor in producing an
effective and well-attended live event is selecting
the right topics. When we queried our audience as
to what IT topics they would most like to see UBM
Tech feature at our events with vendor sponsors
in 2014, an acronym we call SMAC ruled the
roost—namely, Security (including cyber threats),
Mobility (including BYOD and device management),
Analytics/business intelligence, and Cloud comput-
ing/virtualization.

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It’s also clear from our experience that the four
are merging. While UBM Tech produces numer-
ous events that focus on one of the big four SMAC
topics, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to talk
about one without touching on the others. For
example, it’s difficult to focus on mobility without
also talking about the cloud—or, for that matter,
security and analytics.
This means that, regardless of what your
place in the IT universe might be, or what the
specifics related to your products and technology
are, couching your message within the context of
SMAC ensures that your audience will be
interested, engaged and in attendance.
4. Stickiness Leads To Success
The final cornerstone for ensuring the success of
executive event marketing is what we call the
“stickiness” factor—namely, having attendees
take something away from the experience that
helps forge ongoing relationships. It’s not just
about creating and maintaining relationships with
individuals; it’s also about forging relationships
with companies. It’s important to note that two-
thirds of survey respondents said they attended
events with colleagues. That, along with the
opportunity to network with other peers in the
industry, presents a real opportunity for you to
engage in interactive conversations that sustain
existing relationships and promote new ones
moving forward.
In addition, many respondents said that the best
events are the ones where they have “takeaways”–
action items they can incorporate at work right
away (or immediately). Deliverables such as white
papers or product collateral that attendees can
take with them are great ways to continue the
dialogue and deepen your relationships with pros-
pects. What’s more, close to half of those surveyed
said that they like to engage with post-event online
communities that enable them to exchange ideas
with fellow attendees. In light of that interest, UBM
Tech has been very active over the last few years in
creating and fostering these communities.

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How UBM Tech Can Help
Perhaps the most important finding of our 2014
survey revealed that 62 percent of respondents said
that their perception of a sponsor changed in a
positive way after attending an event. By contrast,
only a mere four percent said that their perceptions
became more negative following the experience. This
speaks loudly to the efficacy of a well-designed and
well-promoted event.
Every year UBM Tech promotes hundreds of events
that draw in many thousands of registrants. While
conferences and summits are a significant part
of what we help produce, forums and executive round-
tables (usually featuring 20-50 participants in
an interactive, conversation-friendly environment),
represent the core of the events we promote for
our clients. Content—aligned with editorial brands
and credible, trusted expert voices—is at the center
of our strategy. More than anything else, it draws
quality attendees to our events. We acquire those
attendees by leveraging our extensive database of
technology decision makers, as well as drawing on
our relationships with the specific kinds of prospects
you want to engage. Our staff knows how to stage all
manner of events—large and small—to provide
turnkey delivery, consultation and development
expertise. This all translates into a way to engage your
prospects and turn them into valued customers, now
and in the future.
For more information on how UBM Tech can help your
company host quality events for technology execu-
tives, please contact us at create@ubm.com or visit
us at createmarketingservices.com

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VALUE OF EXECUTIVE EVENTS
Education and Peer-Based Networking are Key in Attracting Your Audience
What are the reason you attend IT industry face-to-face events like roundtables or conferences?
Desired
location
/ venue
Vendor
offerings
Interest
in subject
matter
66%
Learn about
specific
technology
56%
Peer networking
or seek
peer advice
51%
Learn about
new products,
services or
technologies
51%
Interest in the
speaker(s)35%
Learn about
general IT
issues and
friends
32%
General
education,
regardless
of my area of
expertise
31%
31% 28%

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CONTENT FORMATS THAT WORK BEST
Hands-On Sessions Coupled with Peer-Bases Sharing Tops List
Which event formats do you find provide the best experience?
68%
67%
65%
64%
56%
55%
53%
50%
41%
41%
40%
27%
Workshop
Product training sessions
Roundtables with peer-to-peer discussion
Tech demo/teardown
Networking events with a few vendor sessions
Product roadmaps/future technology direction
One-on-ones
Destination event (e.g. a multi day event at a resort)
Informal dinner
Event that includes networking activities (e.g. wine tasting, gold outing, etc)
Product launches
Simulcast “watch parties”
%Good / Very Good

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ESTABLISHING STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS
Build Time Into Your Agenda for One-on-One Meetings
What event format do you find to be the most conductive to establish a relationship with a solution provider?
One-on-Ones
Product training
sessions
Roundtables with
peer-to-peer
discussion
Networking events
with a few vendor
sessions
Workshop
Tech demo/
teardown
Informal
dinner
Event that includes
networking activities
(e.g. wine tasting,
golf outing, etc.)
Bad Event:
“I walked out with just SWAG and nothing else.”
Great Event:
“I learned valuable information.”

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Storage
30%
Internet of Things
(IoT)
30%
Predictive
Analytics
27%
Data Center
Consolidation
19%
Outsourcing
11%
Compliance
28%
HOT TOPICS
Security, Cloud And Mobility Top List
What IT topics would you like to see UBM Tech cover at events in 2014?
Security, including
cyber threats
56%
Cloud Computing/
Virtualization
56%
Mobility, BYOD and
device management
43%
Business
Intelligence
38%
Big Data
36%