Long, long ago in an industry not too far from our own, I accepted a marketing position without the least clue of what I would be doing, except that I was assured it "wasn't sales" (the tone of which suggested I had been saved from a fate worse than death).
Before my first day on the job, I spent some time trying to figure out what was marketing was, if not sales, and read until something made sense to me. Yes, marketing is product, price, place, promotion, publicity, etc.—all those P's—but the thing that resonated was the statement that the purpose of marketing is to establish and maintain long-term, mutually beneficial business relationships through exchanges of value. This I could do. When things really click, this is what everyone in an organization does, and it holds true no matter what the industry or how many decades have passed. It has stuck in my mind ever since.
Why mention this when writing about conference season? Well, it was brought home again when a fellow exhibitor pointed out that everyone at a conference had something to sell/exchange, whether they had a booth or not. Oh sure, it might actually be true that there are too many conferences, and some are more successful than others for various reasons, but the conference as market works. There are countless exchanges of value made, the currency for which is shared knowledge and information, contact information, and someone who knows someone the next time you need something. This takes place between and among exhibitors, attendees, speakers, sponsors, and organizers alike.
No matter that some conferences might appear to be more family reunion or party central than anything else, we are all presumably there to improve the likelihood that our business will live long and prosper. The conference setting couldn't exist without a profit motive at every level, the nugget of information, the tip, the resulting decision...or software acquisition...that makes the time and expense worthwhile. But remember, too, that there are relationships at play, and these are an investment in the long term, the reason why, a couple of years from now, you pay attention when someone you meet/met at a conference drops a kernel of wisdom, or you decide to collaborate with competitor/colleague...or you stop by the Kilgray booth to look at memoQ, seeing as how we're still here after all these years :-)
memoQ
memoQ is among the world's leading translation management systems. The favorite productivity tool for translation professionals around the globe.
