How to Plan an Event Selling to Technologists

Giving yourself enough time to plan is key to any successful event. A poorly organized event will reflect badly on your company and you and will be noted by the attendees. Know your target audience. For a technology event this is usually engineers and computer geeks, referred to here as technologists.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Make your event short, sweet and to the point. Monday and Friday are not good days for employees to miss work. Never plan near a holiday and avoid the end-of-month and end-of-year. Early meetings or late afternoon typically work best.
2. Keep to the point and use visual aids, as technology folks are bored easily. If your event is to introduce a new technology, showcase it. For example, if you have a new phone system, present it at the event for demonstration. This audience is hands-on.
3. Make your event seminar-style. Present yourself, your company and most importantly, your product. Technologists are concerned with how they can sell it up the chain of command and how it will make their life easier. Give an overview of the product features and benefits but make sure you have someone on your staff present to deliver an overview of the technical requirements. This staff member will also be able to answer any technical questions that are sure to arise.
4. Select an event location that will help drive attendance. Technologists like to get out of the office but they are more inclined if the event promises to be educational and fun. Consider several venues such as a gaming center, go-kart race track, sports arena (before the game) or bowling alley. If this isn’t feasible, consider give-a-ways such as tickets to these venues, movie tickets, or tickets to a local sporting event.
5. Serve food. If this is a morning event, have plenty of coffee, donuts and juice. For an afternoon event, provide sodas and cookies. If you plan a lunch event, pizza or a boxed lunches go over well.
6. Come prepared with marketing materials about your product and your company--never let them leave empty-handed. Most importantly, if you can’t provide marketing swag, have a drawing for one of your products or the latest tech gizmo, or consider a gift certificate to the local electronics store.

Tips & Warnings

• This may seem like an expensive way to make a sale but there are several things to consider about technologists. Ironically, they are relationship people and tend to stay with the same product vendors. It is a small community and they do share experiences with their counterparts in other companies. Lastly, they are a mobile workforce, meaning they move to different jobs and companies quickly. If you are in their network, this will afford you an opportunity to get into other companies and make a new sale.