MAJOR UPDATE (10/09/18): The entire CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Series has moved to CISOseries.com. This is the news site. I’m leaving this post here as is with links updated to that site, but you can find everything there.

The relationship between security vendors and CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) has become increasingly contentious, due in part to their co-dependency on each other:

• CISOs need security vendors’ products to improve their security posture.
• Security vendors need CISOs because they purchase security products.

Problem is that they sometimes drive each other crazy. The contention is evident  when reading  the flurry of industry posts on the subject on LinkedIn, and glancing at the rallying responses of security professionals and vendors alike.

I’ve reported on the security space for almost nine years and I see the frustration on both sides. My firm Spark Media Solutions works with both camps regularly, giving us unique vantage points.

I’ve decided to examine different aspects of the vendor/CISO relationship in a series for Forbes.  Below are descriptions of and links to the articles. Please join in the active discussions on LinkedIn. I’ll update this post with new installments as they are published.

The CISO/Security Vendor Relationship series on Forbes:

	VIDEO: Testimonials from fans of the CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Series At RSA, I ran into so many fans and contributors to the series. Here’s what they had to say about the articles, videos, and conversation.
	Do CISOs Fall for Obvious Sales Ploys? Should security vendors use the same fear tactic on a CISO that they use to scare my mom? (discussion on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: Best responses to the article “Do CISOs Fall for Obvious Sales Ploys?”
	The “15 Minutes of Your Time” Request The request of “15 minutes of your time” is seen as a gamble hoping that the CISO/CSO will be “nice to you.” Maybe that’s not the best tactic if what you’re selling is a solution to their security problems. (discussion on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: Best responses to the article “The ’15 Minutes of Your Time’ Request”
	Should You Market to the CISO’s Direct Reports? Who within an organization should a security firm select to pitch their product? Should they go to the top of the food chain, or start partway down? (discussion on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: Best responses to the article “Should You Market to the CISO’s Direct Reports?”
	How to Uncover Security Concerns When CISOs Won’t Tell You Most often a CISO won’t tell you their security concerns, but here are seven techniques you can use to figure out what they are. (discussion  on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: How to Uncover Security Concerns When CISOs Won’t Tell You
	15 Ways to Make ‘First Contact’ with a CISO CISOs universally agree that relationship selling is more effective than traditional marketing. How then do you form that initial relationship with a CISO? (discussion  on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: 15 Ways to Make ‘First Contact’ with a CISO
	How to Get a Prospect to Test Your Security Product Here’s what cybersecurity professionals say works to get them to be aware and ultimately test a security vendor’s product. (discussion on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: How to Get a Prospect to Test Your Security Product
	Is Traditional InfoSec Marketing Even Necessary? CISOs are repeatedly saying that they don’t respond to traditional marketing ploys. The way to get to them is through relationships. If that’s true, why even bother with traditional security marketing? (discussion on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: Is Traditional InfoSec Marketing Even Necessary?
	Hey Security, It’s Time We Had “The Talk” About PR Security vendors are eager, aggressive, and sometimes make requests of their PR firms that aren’t in line with community behavior in the security marketplace. Here is a list of eight behaviors security vendors have historically requested that they should avoid. (discussion on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: Hey Security, It’s Time We Had “The Talk” About PR
	9 Reasons Why Selling Fear Does Not Work on a CISO When InfoSec vendors sell FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) they’re causing far more problems than they’re aware of and it’s starting to hurt the industry as a whole. (discussion on LinkedIn)
	VIDEO: 9 Reasons Why Selling Fear Does Not Work on a CISO

Creative Commons photo credit to Flickr user davidd.

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AT&T’s ever-erratic pricing has forced me to cancel my service.

Every year I put a note in my calendar to contact AT&T to get on yet another plan to reduce my phone/TV/Internet bill. The provider always has deals that last a year. For five years I’ve called their customer loyalty department and they usually give me a good deal. Nobody wants their bill to increase, yet every year I have to to go through this pointless exercise that I know is a waste of my time and is surely wasting AT&T’s money. It doesn’t make me more loyal. In fact, this year it forced me to quit.

More than a year ago I switched my Internet service to a local option that offered the same price yet was four to five times faster than AT&T.

Once I made the switch I still used AT&T for TV and home phone.

Just recently I received a $177 bill from AT&T. I didn’t remember what my monthly bill was, but I thought that was extraordinarily high. I had made a one-year deal with them but forgot for how much (Turns out it was for a little more than $100 a month). I looked at my bill history and noticed that my one-year fixed contract had been gradually creeping up month after month. I’ve never paid for any additional services ever. It should stay the same, but it hasn’t. AT&T has gradually increased my bill.

After seeing that $177 bill I called up AT&T’s customer loyalty department to see what they could do to lower it. They could get it down to $140 plus taxes but also offered to completely switch me to DirecTV for $100 a month plus taxes. I didn’t want DirecTV. I asked them if they could lower my bill anymore as I wanted it back to the original pricing, not 75 percent more. They said they couldn’t go any lower than $140. I asked if $140 the final amount and they said that there would be taxes and fees but they couldn’t quote me that amount over over the phone. The next day I received a quote via email which was for $183! So, they “lowered my bill” by raising it yet another $6. I shouldn’t have ever called.

It’s now time to leave AT&T

I had enough of having my chain yanked and I was tired of making these yearly calls and tracking my ever increasing bill and paying for hundreds of stations I never watch.

First step is to see how I’m going to replace the services I have with AT&T, which includes home phone, general cable channels (with sports), and HBO.

I currently pay $65/month for my Internet service through a local provider. I can add local phone to that package for an additional $34/month.

YouTube TV is available in my market and that costs only $35/month

I can purchase HBO à la carte through HBO Now for $15.

Now to compare the two TV and phone packages:

• AT&T: $183
• My package: $84

That’s a savings of $99/month or $1188 a year!

Wait! I can’t leave yet

I went to my local provider to make the switch away from AT&T for my home phone. I wanted to keep my phone number.

I signed up for YouTube TV and then called AT&T to cancel my TV service. Turns out that because my phone is going to be ported in two weeks my account is locked. They can’t make any changes to it even though the TV is a completely different service. I was forced to keep AT&T for another two weeks. I asked what I could do. They said I should contact the phone provider about moving up my date (not possible) or releasing the port.

I called the local provider and told them my story about my locked account and they said they had never heard of this before. Releasing the port is not an option as it would make the number I want to keep available to anyone. I asked AT&T if they can put a cancellation request for the switch over date in two weeks. They said they can’t do that and I have to call back again and make the request.

I’m of course aggravated, but none of this would have happened if they hadn’t been so sneaky about increasing the pricing of my never-changing service. But I’m happy that they did it because now I’m going to save more than $100 a month. AT&T and their competitors are up against competition that’s both lower and consistent. It’s only a matter of time before everyone wises up. Their days are numbered.

Creative Commons photo attribution to smswigart.

The post AT&T’s Sneaky Pricing Practices Pushed Me to Cut the Cord appeared first on Spark Minute.

You don’t have to be doing anything illegal, criminal, or something you’re ashamed of to be concerned about your online privacy. Yes, criminals and unscrupulous people can take advantage, but even if you lead the most humdrum mundane life, well-meaning people, businesses, and government agencies can use your personal data against you.

For example, in aggregate, your data could be used to:

• Impersonate you
• Fool you into a gauntlet of trust
• Let others pass judgement for personal behavior expressed online

This type of behavior happens all the time in social media. If you haven’t yet had that “creeped out” moment online, it’s just a matter a time. Sadly, each of us has a treasure trove of online data that others could use to extort us or take our past history out of context.

At the Security BSides conference in San Francisco, while reporting for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, I approached attendees and asked them when they realized the importance of online privacy. I was fishing for personal stories, and I got a ton of them. Definitely watch this video to hear these eye-opening moments. And after you’re done watching the video, please tell your tale. You can post it anywhere, just add the hashtag #privacystory. A HUGE thanks to the people at Remediant for their financial support of this video.

Since the current state of technology can reveal, trade, and store our data forever, the ONLY protection we have are laws. With the Trump administration’s interest in deregulation, it’s a free-for-all with your personal data.

Creative Commons photo attribution to hyku.

The post Why Online Privacy Matters Even if You’ve Got Nothing to Hide #privacystory appeared first on Spark Minute.

You think you know what it takes to get kicked out of an event?

You don’t really know it until you actually do it, or you simply ASK.

That was my goal at the 2017 PCMA Convening Leaders conference in Austin, Texas where I asked attendees, “What would I have to do to get kicked out of your event?” Here are their true and hilarious responses.

The post How to Get Kicked Out of An Event appeared first on Spark Minute.

For the eighth year in a row Spark Media Solutions attended the RSA Conference in San Francisco to ask the scariest or the most inappropriate question about security. In the past, we’ve asked attendees for their password or tips on how to break into their network. This year, while reporting for Cylance, I asked conference attendees “What’s the worst malware you’ve ever seen?”

Watch the video to see why I affectionately call RSA the “Scare the Crap Out of Me” festival. And stick until the end as that last story truly is the worst malware story I’ve ever heard, and probably the worst you’ve ever heard as well.

The post The Worst of the Worst Malware – RSA 2017 appeared first on Spark Minute.

Hey all, I co-hosted This Week in Tech’s “Tech News Today” with Jason Howell (@jasonhowell) just this last Friday, summing up the entire week at the 2017 RSA Conference. It’s all about security. We also talk about a very creepy doll that’s been banned in Germany because of security implications.

Watch the video.

The post Highlights from RSA 2017 on TWiT’s Tech News Today appeared first on Spark Minute.

Are trade shows headed for a Tomorrowland future or are they about to fall apart because nobody wants to pay for a trade show booth anymore? At the IAEE Expo! Expo!, the trade show for trade shows, I asked attendees, what they thought the future of the trade shows was going to be. Some didn’t think it was going to change at all, some were fearful that the show floor was going to collapse, and others reimagined the entire show floor experience.

I showed this video at the PCMA Convening Leaders conference in Austin in the beginning of 2017. I gave a presentation with John Federico, host of the EventTech podcast, about the future of trade shows. You can see that entire presentation here.

Watch and please subscribe to the YouTube channel for more content marketing tips.

The post It’s Either “The Jetsons” or “Mad Max” for the Future of Trade Shows – Content Marketing Tips appeared first on Spark Minute.

This month marks a major milestone for my B2B content marketing firm, Spark Media Solutions.

We’re TEN YEARS OLD!

Except for maintaining a full functioning circulatory system, there’s very little in my life I’ve been doing consistently for ten years straight. Though to tell you the truth, the business has hardly remained consistent over the past ten years. In order to survive the business has been forced to evolve many times. What follows is a look back at why I started the business, the dips we’ve had (we’ve had plenty), how we’ve overcome them, the current issues we’re dealing with, and what we’re looking forward to in the future.

Read on, especially if you’re looking to start a content marketing agency yourself. It would have been awesome if I had read someone else’s 10-year journey.

STEP 1: Frustration

Eleven years ago, I was working at the now defunct ad agency, Publicis Dialog. It was one of those good news/bad news stories. I got to work at a cool San Francisco ad agency, but their main service was direct mail. Outside of supermarket circulars, it was probably the least glamorous form of advertising.

Luckily, I got a cool job. I launched the firm’s new media division. Unfortunately though, since direct mail was always the primary sell, any “new” media offering was sold only as an “add on.” It seemed an unwise sales strategy given that direct mail was dying and digital was growing dramatically. While the agency kept pushing direct mail solutions, I witnessed the rise of corporate blogging, podcasting, and video. Any attempt I made to sell these digital services ended up in a very long sales cycle. Our clients kept talking about wanting to be “innovative,” yet kept dragging their heals unless they could first see validation, often in the Wall Street Journal, of another company being successful with our strategy. For example, in the time it took for a hole in the ground in my neighborhood to turn into a three-story building (one year), we negotiated, debated, and eventually convinced Sprint to let us produce and publish their first podcast, which was abandoned after less than a dozen episodes.

What I learned: If no one’s listening, you’re not going to win with “I told you so.” Just get out.

STEP 2: Why pitch when you can tell your own story?

Independent of my work at the ad agency, I was also moonlighting as a tech journalist, writing case study stories for eWEEK magazine. I received a steady stream of pitches from PR firms. Many were great stories I would have been happy to write, but I only could take on one or two assignments a month. I remember thinking, “Why do they keep pitching me? Why don’t they just tell their own story?”

For most, that wasn’t even a consideration. Pitching journalists is just not how things were done. There is a chain of command: Company X hires PR firm Y, who harasses hundreds of journalists Z until one or more agrees to mention Company X. It was a massive gamble, and it took a lot of effort often to get little or no results. With the rise of online publishing, I felt there was a better alternative that didn’t require playing games of chance. Let the source tell the story.

What I learned: There’s a market in helping others be their own media.

STEP 3: Seeing the moment your business is about to take off

In 2006, I quit Publicis Dialog (the company folded shortly after) and started Spark Media Solutions the following year as an alternative to the traditional PR solution of begging for press. Simply be your own media and tell your own stories. Years later, PR firms would come around and offer the same service.

To build our firm’s name I had to prove that the “content marketing” formula had value. Unlike today, most organizations weren’t on board with content marketing and were sold more on the value of online advertising. I had to prove the content marketing model and be my own media. That meant doing a lot of work for free or low cost, just to “get the stories.” This technique I learned from the former CEO of Publicis Dialog, Chris Peterson, who went on to start and sell another ad agency.

I desperately tried to build my brand. I blogged, guest blogged, had a regular radio spot (“Spark Minute” a daily tech news segment on ClearChannel news stations), appeared on podcasts, TV, and made many public speaking appearances. All of that work didn’t generate a dime. But it turned out to be some fantastic publicity. Colleagues started describing my “yet to take off” business as being very successful. At the time, “floundering” would have been a better description. It didn’t matter. That perception of success was enough for others to feel comfortable hiring us.

What I learned: If people start talking about you being successful, even if you’re not, don’t stop them. Get ready. Business is about to take off.

STEP 4: Spark Media Solutions becomes a family business

Four years in, business was booming and my wife Joy and I had the birth of our first son. After maternity leave my wife went back to work only to discover her employer had cut her hours and her salary dramatically. Instead of fighting what was a potentially illegal labor practice, I encouraged her to quit and join my business. Joy is incredibly professional. She corrects all of my mistakes (a job in itself) and has complimentary talents I don’t have, most notably she’s a designer and a web developer.

What WE learned: If couples are going to go into business together, set ground rules. We agreed early on that if it didn’t work out she would just quit. Our marriage and family were far more important. For more, read “What My Wife and I Lost and Gained Running a Business Together.”

STEP 5: Lots and lots of education about “content marketing”

In our first six years, the term “content marketing” had yet to become pervasive. Most organizations didn’t know what it was, didn’t understand the value, and were skittish about investing any money that didn’t deliver a guaranteed audience like advertising. Honestly, I never liked  the term as it gave the sense that you were pulling a fast one over your audience.

“Here’s some content you’ll like, but without you realizing it, I’m marketing to you.”

I believe all content is a form of content marketing. You read a novel. You like it, therefore you’re inclined to purchase another book by the same author. I always preferred to use the term “custom publishing,” which has been around for decades, or “brand journalism” as it clearly defines what we do. But “content marketing” is a term everyone now understands so that’s what we use, and people get it immediately. But that wasn’t always the case.

What we learned: In our first six years, education on the value of content marketing was a critical part of the sales cycle. Back in the day, I would often cite AAA’s paper maps and tour books as great examples of custom publishing. Today, we still educate, but only on specific solutions, not the grand value of content marketing.

STEP 6: Companies finally understand the value of content marketing, and that’s a problem

At the end of 2012 my business had a real shake up. Revenue dipped dramatically. It came as a surprise, but when I paused for a moment to look at what had happened, I saw that all throughout the year my current and past clients had begun hiring content marketing directors and internal content marketing teams. It was awesome that they finally understood the value of content and wanted to invest money in it, but I now had a new problem. They were bringing content marketing efforts and their content marketing budget, in house.

What we learned: Get ahead of industry shifts. If it’s easy to start bringing a needed service in house, that’s exactly what will happen.

STEP 7: The critical shift from content services to content products

To compete with the in-house staff and other agencies, we started to productize, which meant we were no longer selling generic content services, but rather specific content products. Our clients could actually point to a product and say, “I want that,” rather than having this amorphous conversation about blog posts, images, and video. That greatly helped our competitive differentiation and dramatically facilitated the sales cycle.

What we learned: Even when it comes to selling content, people like to see and touch the product. Tangibility greatly eases the sales cycle.

STEP 8: Be the “content marketing” guinea pig

Content products have lots of nuances. To learn what they are, and to avoid them in the future, you need to experiment…a lot.

Experimentation requires turning ourselves into the proverbial guinea pig. It can be scary and uncomfortable, but it is far scarier if that content product’s maiden voyage is with a client.

What we learned: When you experiment on yourself, you can take far more chances and happily make mistakes where there is little to no risk.

STEP 9: Confidently show both success and failure

Once we put a content product through the ringer, we presented it to our clients, explaining the benefits and the potential pitfalls. While we can show how to succeed in search, social visibility, thought leadership, influencer relations, and lead generation, we’re not a black box where you put money in and a perfect solution comes out. Successful content marketing requires cooperation between the creator of the content, the one hosting the content (usually the client), the audience, and the participants in the content. Nurturing those relationships, especially with your audience and the content participants, is critical.

What we learned: Get the client on board early on what it takes to be successful. In the contract, make the client’s responsibilities clear. While we spell this out, and warn them appropriately, they don’t always follow through, and that can reflect negatively on our work.

STEP 10: Build industry relations

Much of our work requires us to seek out and interview industry thought leaders. We reach out to experts in IT, information security, web and mobile development, cloud technology, and startups. Similar to how a PR firm may have relations in a specific industry, we must cultivate relations with industry experts as well. This nurturing requires a steady process of following up with everyone, especially when we asked them to participate in a content project and yet don’t include them in the final piece. That’s happens a lot and it’s just the nature of creating content. Especially when we don’t include them, we make it very clear that we greatly appreciate them participating and that we will reach out to them again. A few people get upset, but overwhelmingly most understand.

What we learned: Respect and appreciation of all participants is critical if you ever want that person to participate again in the future.

STEP 11: Produce for multiple channels at once

One philosophy we latched onto early was the concept of “single effort, multiple units of content.” The effort of getting a key interview or attending a specific event is often the biggest hurdle to getting the content you want. Now that we’ve achieved this specific goal, how can we capitalize on it? How much can we create and how can we modify it for different platforms?

If it’s a high profile event we’ll create dozens of videos, associated images, blog posts, a summary “highlight” video, pull-quotes, meme images, tweets, and then we’ll post all that content across multiple social networks making sure that we’ve formatted the content appropriately for each platform.

What we’ve learned: Never create just one content unit. Unless you’re throwing a ton of ad dollars at it, the chances of it taking off is slim. It’s far too risky. Amortize cost and increase the potential for success by creating multiple content units from a single effort/event. Media entities don’t become famous from one piece of content, they become famous for ongoing content.

CONCLUSION: Evolve or die

If we were still doing the same thing we were doing five years ago we wouldn’t be in business today. We have no choice but to always up our game in both product quality and content. While the work we did five years ago may have looked spectacular at the time, by today’s standards it looks amateurish. If we’re going to keep repeating our success, we must evolve. That means we need to do more experimenting with different content formats and reach out to even more influencers.

The post 10 Years in. How We Started, Evolved, Survived, and Succeeded Running a Content Marketing Business appeared first on Spark Minute.

Trade shows are miniature cities of compressed space and time that have very little variability. Producer or participant, we’ve all come to an acceptance, whether we like them or not, of the standard building blocks of a conference.

In the blog post, “A Letter to the Board,” Don Neal noted that association events haven’t changed since their inception, often 50+ years ago. Incremental improvements are made on what is a redundant format, or as Neal explained, “better sameness.”

“We get a little better every year, but still, we offer almost the identical educational format, trade show, keynote speakers and the handful of networking opportunities as we have for the past 30 years,” said Neal.

Trade shows don’t necessarily have to fall into that format. We can eliminate certain elements. Here’s where I suggest we start.

1: The default one-hour session

Just because our day is cleanly divided into one-hour increments, that doesn’t necessarily mean all presentations deserve the same amount of time to disseminate necessary information. Speakers often find themselves creating filler material to stretch 20-minutes of content into a one-hour presentation.

New solution: While it’s going to triple your editorial and booking effort, aim for much shorter 20, or even 17 or 18 minute sessions. By providing a unique and short time frame you’re communicating to the speakers to not half-ass their presentations. Get it down, and get it done on time. Most people don’t script a 60-minute presentation. Limit the time frame below 20 minutes, and all of a sudden there’s more editing and rehearsing, which results ina better presentations.

2: The unproduced self-indulgent panel session

Far too many panelists arrive with zero plan, no inside stories, and think the audience is eager to hear the sound of their voice. If each conference panelist knew they could easily be replaced with almost anyone in the audience, they might not act like such a pompous ass.

Sadly, the production part of most panel sessions ends after booking the moderator and panelists. Don’t count on a great performance if your production plan is to just show up and hope for the best.

New solution: Like anything else you’d expect to see on stage, produce the performance. At bare minimum get all the panelists on a 30-minute call before the event to discuss the topics, what needs to be assumed, and what you expect to deliver to the audience.

3: Letting panelists introduce themselves in a panel session

There’s no better way to kick off a giant panel snoozefest than to let the panelists first introduce themselves “for a few minutes.” It’s unnecessary and a giant waste of time. Everyone in the audience can read the program or they could jump onto LinkedIn and read the panelists’ bios there.

New solution: Introduce the panelists by announcing their names, titles, and companies, and then immediately jump into the most important question, which is the title of the session.. That’s why everyone is in the room. No need to survey the audience. For more, download and read “More Schmooze, Less Snooze: How to Deliver the ‘Most Talked About’ Panel Session.”

4: Requiring presenters to submit their presentation three weeks before the conference starts

Since everyone updates their presentation up to the last minute, this is the most inane requirement that is purely a waste of everyone’s time. If you want to save some time in production, start here. Think about the hours that are wasted by the coordinator who has to hound presenters to “get their presentation in on time” to the poor schlub who has to copy and paste the file onto the computer knowing full well it’s going to be replaced just minutes before the presentation.

New solution: Dramatically cut down on production time and money by letting everyone be an adult, trusting they’ll have their presentation with them.

5: The awards ceremony

What better way to reward people who paid to come to your event to learn, gather leads, and network than to create an event that prevents attendees from doing any of that. An awards ceremony is the reading of a list of names, a parade of people walking on stage, grabbing an object, and then posing for a picture. The only people who enjoy this are the people receiving the award. For everyone else, it can’t possibly be anything else but complete torture. Why irritate 95 percent of your audience?

New solution: Never ever ever hold another awards ceremony. Simply replace that time with some entertainment, networking, or event programming.

6: Disengaged booth staffers

The people working the booth, not the booth signage, are both the greatest attractors and detractors of attendees. If an exhibitor is staring at their phone, working on their computer, chatting with their fellow coworkers, or appearing to be bored, no one is going to stop in their booth. This yin and yang of exhibitor ineffectiveness is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’re bored because no one is visiting your booth. No one is visiting your booth because you look bored.

New solution: Engage with that person who is walking by your booth right now. If you don’t know how to do that pick up a copy of my book “Three Feet from Seven Figures: One-on-One Engagement Techniques to Qualify More Leads at Trade Shows” available at ThreeFeetBook.com.  And if you want to really kick ass and blow away your competition, contact us for exhibitor training.

7: Googleable presentations

I learned this rule from Surj Patel, who used to produce many of the GigaOm events. His litmus test for rejecting a presentation was “If I can Google it, then it’s not worth presenting.” If I can read or watch this presentation online then why should anyone show up at my event?

New solution: Rewrite your submission guidelines to say that all presentation content must be original and provide insight that can’t be found anywhere else online.

8: Enforcing the use of an event-specific PowerPoint template

Why? Why? Why?

Requiring presenters to use the event’s PowerPoint template is a completely unnecessary exercise. Enforcing conformity is the worst idea for an event that’s supposed to be about sharing and spreading new ideas.

New solution: If the goal is to present a sponsor logo alongside the speaker’s presentation, put up signage or create a slide that goes before every speaker’s presentation, and let the speaker create their presentation any way they’d like.

9: Self-indulgent sizzle reels

For trade shows and conferences, I want these to die a horrible hot death. Traditionally, a conference sizzle reel is a promotional video that is shot at the current event to sell next year’s event. Every event producer thinks they need to produce one for promotional reasons, and yet every single one looks exactly the same because they all follow the exact same formula and provide no unique information.

Here’s the format:

• Music ramp up.
• Generic shots of the city where the event is being held.
• Time lapse video of stage being built.
• People entering the building.
• People at the registration desk receiving their badge.
• Beauty shots of presenters on stage (no words heard).
• Sweeping shots of people sitting in seats.
• Keynote speaker on stage saying it’s great that they’re here or thanking the audience for making the event/company number one.
• Exhibitor signage.
• People talking to each other, shaking hands, laughing.
• Interviews with people telling you how important the event is, that there’s great conversation, valuable insight, and great people that will actually talk with you.

All sizzle reels follow this self-indulgent informationless pattern. Watch this video and you’ll see.

Here’s all the insight you get out of that video.

• Hear and meet wonderful speakers
• Opportunity to focus on your business
• Lots of information at the roundtables
• Lessons learned for the organization
• It’s great to bring your team
• Information is so useful
• You’re going to learn something
• Ideas pay off in the long term

Does that sound like EVERY SINGLE EVENT YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO?

Still don’t believe me? Then watch all these videos and you’ll see they follow the EXACT SAME FORMULA!

• Sponsors at SaaStr Annual 2016
• TEAMS Conference & Expo
• Meetings Quest Bloomington
• 2014 Red Hat Summit: Recap
• Tech Crunch Atlanta – Event Recap Video – Crisp Video

You could cut and paste any element from one video to the next and it wouldn’t change one thing.

New Solution: First, stop making such self-indulgent sizzle reels that are all about you, the event producer, and not the attendees. If there’s so much amazing content coming out of your event, then show it, don’t tell.

Two alternatives that  capture the buzz of an event are fun “man on the street” style videos and “end of show” report videos. Bothformats showcase the attendees and speakers, and  their wisdom. For more, read my article, 21 Tips for Producing Funny “Man on the Street’ Videos.

10: “Can I scan you?” as an opening line

After you create a rapport with someone, it’s perfectly normal to ask for their phone number or email address. But how bizarre would it be if that was the introduction?

When a booth staffer opens with “Can I scan you?” what they’re really saying is “Can I have your email address and phone number?” If only a socially inappropriate boar would say something like that, why would any exhibitor instruct their staffers to make “a scan” an opening request?

New solution: Sure, you can ask for a scan, just don’t make it the opening line. If you’re offering something in exchange for the information, then explain the benefit (e.g., giveaway, prize) before you ask for the scan.

11: Measuring event success only by number of scans

Most often when you talk to people about trade show success the only metric they’ll cite will be the scans, which are actually leads that are inevitably fed into some type of CRM or marketing automation system.

If leads are all you want, there are far cheaper ways to acquire them than by attending a trade show.

New solution: Look at other variables beyond leads, such as qualified leads, relationship building, education, and content creation so as to amortize your cost plus see a much faster return on investment.

12: Not following up

Why are you collecting business cards if you have no intention of following up? Do you have a craft project you’re working on? Maybe you need some additional bookmarks? Or maybe, like that diet that you keep trying to start, you said to yourself that this is the conference where you’re going to follow up with everyone, and yet you never do.

New solution: If you’re going to collect a business card make it clear that you’re going to follow up, why you’re going to follow up, what you’re going to follow up with, and then actually do it.

13: Not responding to follow up

I’m blown away with how people will voluntarily hand over their business card, which is a request for communication, and then ignore that communication when it’s offered.

New solution: Respond.

14: Accepting a LinkedIn connection request and still refusing to follow up

Emails and phone calls go unanswered, but you’re willing to accept the LinkedIn request? This is effectively saying, “Yes, I want to connect with you professionally, just don’t actually use that as a means to communicate with me.”

I get it. You’re busy. Accepting a LinkedIn request only requires a single click. You may think you’re connecting with that person by accepting that request, but clicking a button does not constitute a relationship. If you don’t want that relationship, and you don’t want to talk to that person, then don’t accept their LinkedIn request.

New solution: See above solution.

15: Presenters who do not test their presentation

We’ve all been in one of those conference sessions where something goes haywire with a presentation. It’s usually a video not playing, audio not working, or there’s a missing slide.

New solution: Be professional. Test your presentation before it’s your turn to speak.

16: Exhibiting without purpose

Almost all organizations that exhibit at a trade show spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the message and the new story they’re going to tell. For the rest, they just do the same booth they had last year, staff it with a few people who can answer questions, and then show off absolutely nothing new. They’re there just to be there. If they weren’t there, their competition could define their situation for them. Those exhibitors are at the event not to win, but to not lose.

New solution: Have more respect for yourself, your company, and the audience. Even if you don’t have a new product announcement offer up some new tutorials, research, or another fun way to engage with attendees.

17: Non-millennial speakers who think they’ve got millennials figured out

There’s nothing more pandering than hearing someone who is not a millennial offer up some hackneyed explanation of the entire group. With a wave of their hand they’ll define an entire age group as being buried in their phone, highly demanding, or they have a three-second attention span. It’s a bogus perception that makes the non-millennial look like they’re out of touch.

New solution: I suggest the non-millennial have a conversation with the millennial for more than three seconds.

18: Landfill schwag

Nobody needs another ugly t-shirt, mug, stress ball, or cheap water bottle. Still, event exhibitors ship boxes of schwag across the country so it can end up in the garbage cans of hotel rooms that surround the convention center.. If you’re giving away a non-functional item such as a blinking light bracelet or pin, expect to see them piled up in the garbage bins when the trade show floor hours are over.

New solution: If the schwag item didn’t have your company name on it, would you keep it? If so, then it’s ok to buy and giveaway.

19: Attendees who have zero respect for their own time and their company’s time and money

Attending a trade show is a costly prospect for the individual and the company. There’s the expense of the event, the air travel, the hotel, plus your time not being at the office working. It’s a cost that inevitably hits multiple thousands of dollars.

Yet even with all that knowledge, attendees are chronically hoodwinked into standing in lines for hours to get t-shirts, a chance to win an iPad they don’t need, or to get a photo with a celebrity.

New solution: Stop collecting practically worthless trinkets. Have some friggin’ respect for yourself and your company and use your time to learn and network.

20: Everyone taking the same notes at the same time

This is yet another exercise in futility. A speaker stands on stage, talks, and then 100+ people in the room write down the same notes.

New solution: Use an online document for communal notetaking. Give everyone access to the document and let them participate. If one person types in a note, nobody else has to repeat it. But the extra advantage is you have the hive knowledge of the room to add context to what the speaker is saying. Here are four tools you could use (Note: Typewith.me is no longer operational, but piratepad.net is a good alternative.)

CONCLUSION: Time to end the trend of “better sameness”

Many aspects of trade shows and conferences are valuable and necessary. People do have to meet, network, and learn from each other. But all formats, education, and execution can be altered and explored.

Always ask yourself, “Does it have to be done this way? What purpose does it serve beyond ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it?’”

Always be exploring new avenues of connecting and educating.

Creative Commons photo credit to billypalooza, Sean MacEntee, NHS Confederation, Steven Lilley, CeBIT Australia, Ciera Hozenthal, Esther Vargas, Reno Tahoe, Ellen Fitzsimons, and Andreas Klinke Johannsen.

The post 20 Horrific Conference and Trade Show Staples That Need to End appeared first on Spark Minute.

Uggh, the trust issue. How do we get potential buyers to trust us? We’re good people. We’ve got a good product. If they would just try our product/watch a demo/listen to our pitch/read our white paper.

This is the most common frustration IT and especially security vendors face. This is why they spend fortunes on trade shows, advertising, and content marketing efforts to connect with their audience. In all these efforts, some of the core no-nonsense issues are often missed, and that’s mostly around relationships, and how critical they are in selling B2B technology products.

I had a conversation today with Tim Crawford (@tcrawford), a consultant with AVOA, about how IT and security vendors can do a better job building trust with potential buyers. Below is the full ten minute conversation and the highlights.

Security is not seen as an underpinning element that sits across the entire strata of your organization: For those of you in security this sounds insane, but for others security or even IT are seen as just verticals. It’s still something that another department does rather than something that envelops the whole organization.

Differentiate yourself from the noise: When I go to RSA or Black Hat, one of the comments I hear over and over again is that everyone is offering “threat prevention/protection.” If everybody is using that term, then it has no meaning for anybody. It’s incredibly confusing for a consumer to be able to tell the difference between products in the same category.

Buyers still don’t trust vendors: It’s something I heard seven years ago and Crawford believes that lack of trust holds today, not just for security vendors, but for any IT vendor.

Relationship, relationship, relationship: Vendor has to understand the buyer. Buyer has to understand the vendor. Where this fails, said Crawford, “I think a lot of vendors are not truly interested in understanding me as the customer other than ‘how do I find a weakness that I can then use to exploit and sell my product?’…Most vendors are focused on the transaction than they are the relationship.”

The relationship matters more than the company message: It’s less about the vendor than it is the relationship you’re able to build with the individual and seeing that your objectives align. The trust really lies with the individual and not the company. As the individual goes from job to jo
b, the trust maintains because what has not been lost is the relationship.

Transactional selling won’t build a relationship: If you’re just looking for the transaction, then you need to have to be at the right place at the right time with the right message and with the right product. In such a case, a “spray and pray” model might be very effective. But that will only allow for that specific transaction, it won’t help you build a relationship.

In building a relationship, go beyond just business, technology, and transactions: Learn about the family and personal interests.

Trust is based on your understanding of the problem: When you do stop and engage about the product and the technology how much do you truly understand the problem before you start going on and on about your solution? When companies spout out their solutions before understanding the problems consumers lose confidence in the company and their ability to understand the spectrum of the problem.

The post A No-Nonsense Approach to Building Trust for Security Vendors appeared first on Spark Minute.