Q: Why did you decide to start holding your own workshop?
The main benefit of organizing our own event is that there is a 100 % focus on Prague as a destination. All the 25 workshop attendees from the supplier side were representing purely the Prague meetings industry and all the invited hosted buyers came to Prague because of their serious interest in Prague. When hosting your own event you have the full control over the selection and evaluation of the hosted buyers and thus we could ensure we brought only those who are considering the city for organizing one of their future events.
Besides the workshop with local suppliers, we presented Prague through various site visits, social and incentive programmes with the goal to deliver the InSpiring experience to buyers which will hopefully be transferred into the future events organised in Prague. Even though the planning and organization itself were challenging for the Prague Convention Bureau team, thanks to all the positive feedback, we are confident that it paid off.
“Meeting people in person, seeing the offer live and experiencing the city is still something that cannot be fully replaced by other means of communication.”
Q: How efficient are such events, compared to other marketing strategies?
Meeting people in person, seeing the offer live and experiencing the city is still something that cannot be fully replaced by other means of communication or by digitalization. For us, forums, workshops and meetings still hold a firm spot in our marketing strategy.
What’s more, our own events are targeted very precisely, so we are able to bring in those interested, show them the offer they need to see for their business and include partners that are able to deliver the services requested. Thanks to this, the efficiency of such events is very high.
“Personal touch, together with a personalised approach, live experience and memories from the event and delivering a tailored-made programme are the most valuable advantages of our events.”
Q: What are the advantages of events of this sort?
As mentioned previously, the personal touch together with a personalised approach, live experience and memories from the event, delivering a tailored-made programme and precise targeting are the most valuable advantages of such events.
Q: How do you measure the results and long-term effects of such events?
Firstly, the impressions right after the event are very important for us. We reach back to our clients as well as providers with detailed surveys focusing on various parts of the event and their benefit for both sides. It is also valuable feedback for us for what to do better next time.
We are, of course, tracking the number of received and confirmed RFPs during and after the event, and keep the long-term communication with the buyers who came to Prague. As for other marketing activities, measuring the impact of such events from the long-term perspective may become difficult. The decision-making process consists of many smaller steps and such events impact the decision in varying degrees in the end.
Q: Do you believe such events are the future, or will we stick to large B2B fairs and why?
Both formats have their own pros and cons. They help to spread the news, increase the visibility of the destination, and provide the opportunity to meet new people as well as long-term business partners. For the Prague Convention Bureau, both are inseparable parts of the communication and business strategy. Our plans include participation at the large world trade shows, middle third-party forums, and workshops as well as organizing our own smaller formats of events and fam trips.
