"Mapping out the email content for the entire marketing campaign from the first to the last email enabled me to really put myself in the attendee's shoes and think, 'what is my customer's journey'?"

Define your ideal attendees. It can be through key target accounts, verticals, titles or roles. Then develop a thoughtful strategy around how you want to reach them, engage them, and, eventually, convert them.

On the current site for Access Intelligence's February 2019 3rd Annual Connected Plant Conference, there's a thrilling three-minute video showing highlights from the 2018 event. Industry panels impress, presentations pop, auditoriums are filled with engaged attendees, and the tradeshow floor hums with activity.

"Some tricks for us come from understanding what motivates our audiences within or beyond their industry pain points. For our Farm Progress Show, we have relied on social awareness and giving back to a community within the agricultural community via our Support our Farmers for Veterans campaign. What began as a data collection effort has turned into something bigger and more meaningful for the national and local farm community. It took on a life of its own and has helped leverage our relationship with our users."

When our events end, the inclination is to take a deep breath, relax for a few days and move on to the next big thing. But according to The 2018 State of B2B Event Marketing, a report from the event-automation firm Certain and Heinz Marketing, the post-event period can be equally as important as the event.

In a new survey of almost 9,000 business conference attendees, 78% of all generations report that destination factors into their decision, with 20-30% saying it's the deciding factor. Write-in comments ranged from destination appeal, to drivable distance, to airlift, to overall cost. Also mentioned was the importance of rotation and experiencing new places.

We probably don't talk enough about email design. But with all the email that people get, it matters. Sometimes, an email can have the best content, but it just may be too gray or paragraph-heavy.

This is the fifth of an ongoing series profiling the 2017 SIPAward winners.

Florence Torres, group show director, Penton, believes event marketing should be a team effort between departments. "One of our mistakes early on was to not listen more to editorial feedback. The historical knowledge of our audience and readership is important." Involve the staff that deals with your audience on a weekly basis—sales, customer service, writers. And listen.

Traditional publishing was likened to a three-legged stool: editorial, audience and advertising all fed into and off each other. Today a new (potentially higher margin) trifecta is starting to emerge with events, media and market intelligence driving customers across a publisher’s portfolio.