evm_september-2023 - 30

BEST PRACTICES
In " The Forum " space at IBM Think, attendees are able to
digest what they've learned from speakers by participating
in immersive activations.
TOUR DE FORCE
IBM Think kicks off a new chapter with an agile, personalized flagship experience
By Rachel Boucher
LIKE MANY of the industry's mega b-to-b
shows, IBM Think has evolved to reflect
the current business environment, one
that is driven by speed and personalization.
The flagship experience, launched in
2018 as part of a portfolio consolidation,
marked a new chapter in May as a smaller,
targeted in-person conference and global
tour designed to serve up content and
networking experiences " that matter most
to you. " Emphasis on the you.
IBM Think hosted several thousand
invited senior-level attendees within a targeted
client and partner base, May 9-11,
at Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal
Orlando, and it served as a kickoff to this
year's Think on Tour series, which will
have touched down in 11 cities across the
globe by the end of October.
" People are coming back face-to-face,
but they're doing it differently, and we
had to adapt to that, " Colleen Bisconti,
vp-global conferences and events at IBM,
described ahead of IBM Think 2023. " A
major part of the shift for us was no longer
30
EVENT MARKETER FALL 2023
can we be all things to all people. "
The team analyzed the flagship show's
value proposition, attendee demographics,
how content is structured and how IBM
could better position itself as a " powerful "
thought leader through Think. What was
once an event for 30,000 attendees, this
year was focused on driving conversations
with key customers and partners, and
creating an efficient environment for personalization
at the individual level.
Bisconti describes it as a " huge strategic
differentiation " on what Think will be
moving forward-a highly targeted flagship
conference experience, with multiple
extensions of the corporate story being
told via Think on Tour, digital content and
community engagement.
CURATED EXPERIENCES
IBM is placing a greater emphasis on
understanding why attendees are coming
to its events. For Think, the team focused
on designing the event experience first,
and then determined the target audience
for it and who would get the most value
out of it.
" No longer is it about how many people
can we get or what's our target in terms
of registration, " Bisconti says. " It's about
how do we get the right people, because
we have crafted this experience that we
think meets these needs. That's a huge
difference from where we were in 2019. "
For a new generation of selective
attendees, event marketers have a " responsibility "
to understand why people are
coming and help make sure they have
personalized experiences across every element
on offer. This year, the IBM team
saw more attendees add sessions from
the event catalogue to their calendars, set
up meetings and begin networking with
each other through the event app, targeted
communications and connections with
sales representatives, than ever before.
will drive
" The new normal is that attendees
their own experience, and
what IBM always does best is they are
eventmarketer.com
IMAGE CREDIT: IBM
http://www.eventmarketer.com
evm_september-2023

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