One of the most rewarding design experiences I’ve had was watching Rave’s brand, which I built from the ground up, grow from the humble startup days when we could barely afford one humble retractable banner to the present day, when we can buy all the glitz we want.

Trade Shows

On the surface, at least, the trade show floor is where you can see a company’s growth the most in my opinion. It always brought a smile to my face when customers said they knew instantly that Rave was in the house when they saw the blue and orange cube up in the rafters.

Virtual Events

All businesses saw a jolt like never before in virtual events during the Covid pandemic, and though the trend has cooled a little, the rise of remote work, digital transformation, and most importantly, the enormous cost savings that companies realized during the pandemic years mean virtual events are here to stay and thrive into the future.

I had the pleasure of running the Rave Summit when it turned virtual after the pandemic. We went from having 100 attendees at live summits that cost us well into the six figures to host every year to near 2000 attendees in the first three pandemic years.

It is important to note, however, that though virtual events cost 85% less in my experience, the lead quality is not the same. You get more registrants and attendees to follow up with, but the overall engagement is far more casual than the good, old fashioned handshake.

So for the present day, in the post-pandemic world, it’s critical for marketers to consider the appropriate mix for a given organization based on a number of different factors such as budget, networking importance, convenience, flexibility, and of course, lead quality comparison and cost per lead.