To: Laurie King
From: Jim Meil
Wanted to pass on a few bullets about a successful luncheon program that CABE, the Cleveland Association for Business Economics ran on June 1, 2004.
- We had 97 attendees, marking the program as the largest draw that CABE has had in years (perhaps ever). 35 were CABE members, 62 were non-members/guests.
- It started with an attractive program - a Steel Industry Roundtable. In the industrial heartland with a reviving steel industry and rising steel prices, it was certainly topical.
- We were able to get 3 great speakers - John Anton, Director of Steel Services at Global Insight (consultant); Bill Brake, VP and General Manager for the ISG Group's Cleveland operations (the concern that has consolidated the old Bethlehem Steel, LTV, etc into the largest steel maker in NAFTA, now larger than US Steel) to speak for suppliers, and Michael Siegal, Chairman & CEO of publicly traded Olympic Steel (NASDAQ:ZEUS) to speak for the distribution/customer channel.
- We marketed with the Cleveland Society of Security Analysts and the Purchasing Managers Association of Cleveland (local AIMR and ISM chapters respectively) who were kind enough to distribute the event announcement to their membership e-mail lists.
- We benefited from an aspect of the calendar which was a pleasant surprise - by end of May/start of June many group programs such as CSSA's and PMAC's have brought their year to a close. So we did not compete or conflict with CSSA or PMAC for their member's time, attention, or budget with the early June date.
- We used the opportunity to promote CABE to a broad audience. We signed up three new members, considerably increased the size of our email list for prospective future attendees/members/guests; we also circulated a 2 question mini-survey to help identify preferences for future program preferences, and I believe we got responses back from over half the attendees.
- We covered our costs and then some, giving us a bit more of a financial cushion which is always welcome.
- Best of all, we had an event that delivered considerable value to our members and for which we received many favorable comments from non-members.
We learned some things, too, about the difference between our typical 20 to 35 attendee meeting and an event that is 3 to 5 times bigger:
- Our speakers used video (Powerpoint) materials, but we now know we should have had handouts, since too many tables had poor sightlines.
- Our administrator pointed out that we would need two receptionist/administrators (almost overlooked!) instead of only one; this was especially important since we had so many guests who were not familiar with our procedures, meeting fees, etc.
- Our traditional meeting facility, a downtown athletic club, does our regular monthly meetings satisfactorily but in some respects dropped the ball on this one. Electronic amplification didn't work creating a burden for our speakers to talk over the clatter of lunchtime; and they didn't mark the table for speakers/board members as "reserved" creating some seating confusion. But we made it through that.
We couldn't do this every month, but we are thinking of instituting this kind of program as a perennial in the late May/early June time frame. And thanks go to Jack Kleinhenz for securing Bill Brake on the program, and Bruce Kratofil for helping with PR and photos of the event.
Regards,
Jim Meil
