Media

Bigger isn't Necessarily Better

When Nancy Splaine and Kim Haulk founded Connecting Point Marketing Group in 2004, they did so with one aim: to create a new kind of trade Event. Throwing aside the “bigger is better” mantra of many event planners, they resolved to develop niche events for the retail industry. Their inaugural Event, StorePoint, had a singular focus: innovations in the in-store environment.

Rather than cast their nets wide and bring in thousands of participants, Connecting Point opted to focus on a select group of retail executives. Instead of staging their events on airplane-hangar-sized show floors, they planned small, intimate meetings that brought together retail industry decision-makers with key suppliers. And instead of the significant expense required from a traditional trade show, with the costs of shipping freight and designing splashy booths, StorePoint required a much more nominal investment from attendees.

The result was little short of magic, as far as participants were concerned. As Splaine recalls, “our retailers were telling us it was the most productive Event they’d ever attended. And they wanted more.”

Since Connecting Point was founded with the intent to inspire and drive innovation in the retail sector, a focus for a complementary event was clear: in-store customer technology. “No other event focuses solely on in-store customer technology,” says Splaine. “but so much is happening right now, from a product-development standpoint, that we see an annual Event to be a necessity.”

For the inaugural TechPoint, which will take place in October, 2007, Splaine and her colleagues at Connecting Point are planning an event that adheres closely to the formula that proved so successful at StorePoint. 
First, the numbers are low: approximately two hundred participants, all of them from senior levels of management. The Connecting Point team prides itself on the quality of their research, which allows them to bring participating retailers up to speed on key suppliers and new technologies. “The retailers rely on us to do the market research,” says Splaine, “and to deliver to them innovations for their consideration.”

Second: the format is almost entirely business-oriented. Speakers and seminars are kept to a minimum, all the better to maximize face-to-face meeting time between participants. Two-thirds of each day is spent in the boardroom, with suppliers making short presentations, typically about twenty minutes long, to small groups of retail executives. The remainder of the day is taken up by one-on-one meetings, which represent an invaluable opportunity for suppliers to sit down privately with key executives, take the broader message they delivered in the boardroom and tailor it to a one-on-one setting. That allows them, says Splaine, “to talk about the practicality of beta testing, timing issues, projected cost of investment, ROI – the kind of detail it’s difficult to get into with a group setting.”

Splaine stresses that she and her team have not forgotten about social events – they, too, are a key part of the agenda, and she sees them as a further opportunity for participants to make key connections. “It’s all designed, as a whole, to maximize business interactions. Above all, we want our participants to walk away from this event with the feeling that they have done business.”

To ensure TechPoint is as relevant and useful as possible to participants, Splaine and her colleagues have asked a number of industry leaders to sit on its Advisory Board, people whom she sees as having a central role in driving technology forward in the retail sector. “For example, one of our advisory board members is Sylvain Perrier    , Vice President of Technology at Springboard Networks. I believe Sylvain is truly an innovator, as well as a genius at marketing technology concepts.” With the input of the Board  members, she says, “we can be certain that the content of TechPoint is something that participants will find meaningful.”

Sylvain Perrier    , for his part, is delighted to be a part of TechPoint. “I’ve attended other Connecting Point events,” he says, “and I believe Nancy and her team have developed a format that really works.” It’s an opinion shared by a number of industry executives, among them Tom Kallio, Vice President of Store Planning for BJ’s Wholesale Club. “You don’t need to attend any other conference if you are looking for a highly fruitful and productive event.”

TechPoint 2007 will take place from October 20-24, 2007 at the Naples Grande Resort and Club in Naples, Florida. For further information, please visit the Connecting Point Marketing Group website at www.connectingpointgroup.com.