Highlights of ECEF 2023: Data Got the Keynote Treatment

The 2023 version of ECEF did not disappoint!  Each year, this event brings together event organizers from around the world to learn, network, and collaborate. Boasting a record crowd, the 2023 event featured a variety of educational sessions, constant networking, and we were excited to participate in the tech demo area.

However, it was this year’s keynote speaker, Fernando Fischer, (President of the Americas for RX)that left the crowd wanting more.

Fernando shared the deep analytics and insights that the RX team employed to move from a “old school” dialing for dollars sales mentality to one focused on “return on expectation”.

But before we get into that, Fernando had to convince the crowd of experienced sales and event professionals at ECEF that there’s a deep link between an exhibitor’s expectation and their lifetime value.  Ensuring that anyone who cares deeply about their customer’s lifetime value to consider why RX’s new approach to sales, isa true paradigm shift. 

He kicked off by making the case that there are certain expectations that you can readily measure your impact on and ultimately success on, and then he goes into the softer expectations that require a critical focus on experience.

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Very quickly the discussion moved from the conceptual to the real-world application on how the RX team is surfacing these objectives as actual measurable outcomes, and assembled an event tech stack designed to measure that return on expectation.

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The team has a host of KPIs designed to be empathetic datapoints to measure their customers experience and in turn – how well their events meet their expectations.   

Of course, none of this is possible without the team buying into the strategy, the new sales philosophy, and the new north star being return on expectation.  Here are a few of my takeaways from this session:

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1. Be comfortable being uncomfortable.  Changing behaviors is hard, especially when you’re a salesperson and the legacy playbook is thrown out the window –especially when you stop allowing exhibitors to rebook onsite.  The emphasis on owning your customers outcomes was a result of vision, research, testing and took commitment from top to bottom.  
2. Measurement is front and center.  Many talk a good data game, but this session walked through the role that data played in confirming assumptions, disproving historical decision-making, and helping shape the new approach.  Without the extensive measurement and benchmarking, the RX team would not have confirmed the formula that led to such impressive revenue growth.  
3. Put pricing second.  Yes, you read that right.  Fernando laid out the case for understanding expectations and desired outcomes before assembling any kind of space or sponsorship package.  The results were incredible – increased sales volume, but it was margin expansion that had everyone in the room at ECEF drooling. Proving that by putting the customer first, willingness to pay increased, and I’m sure the data will show in the coming years – lifetime value increased.

This may be one of the industry’s more pronounced pushes to own the return on experience with their exhibitor and sponsor customers.  Kudos to the RX team for pushing the envelope on the comfortable and the uncomfortable and sharing their findings with other industry leaders at ECEF.  It was a boldtake that garnered more questions than time allotted for, and Fernando did an awesome job walking us through the narrative.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s ECEF!

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