July 6, 2010
Networking
Get stuffed up
Originally published in NZ Marketing March-April 2010, page 8
As Mother always said, making mistakes is the best way to learn. But it’s much easier—and, in business, much less expensive—to hear about other people’s mistakes instead. And this is the rationale for ‘The Stuff-Up Room’, a new addition to the 2010 Bizzone Expo where some of New Zealand’s top businesspeople will detail their biggest shamozzles.
Sarah Trotman, managing director of the Bizzone Expo, hopes that by giving these stuff-ups—and the main protagonists responsible for them—some air time, expo goers will gain the confidence required to weather their own financial storms.
Recent research by Forrester Consulting Services showed 61 percent of marketers considered face-to-face events as the best means to effectively build brand image and generate qualified leads, and Trotman says business and networking events are consistently a top three choice for advertising spend. Of course, many businesses were forced to batten down the hatches in 2009, and had little time (or money) for networking (or socialising), but with a noticeable rise in business and consumer confidence of late, she expects that to change and hopes to lure up to 13,000 attendees across the three events, with one each in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
For more information and to exhibit see www.bizzone.com