1. Identifying Stakeholders Michael R
Identifying Stakeholders Michael R. Seymour, CME Senior Vice President 3D Exhibits, Inc. © 2013, Michael R. Seymour, All rights reserved.
This program was developed specifically for E2MA and represents only my opinion of identifying stakeholders, and is not necessarily that of E2MA’s, or my company's. It is, very simply stated, Michael Seymour’s opinion.
But the term “stakeholder” has been added to more and more conversation specifically when it comes to measurement or return on investment from exhibits and events. This program has been developed to examine, identify as well recognize the stakeholders contribution to the success and effectiveness of face-to-face marketing.

2. Identifying Stakeholders
The Program Learning Objectives
Understanding internal and external stakeholders
Identifying other stakeholders
Creating “champions” from your stakeholders
Evolving with your stakeholders
Here is what I hope we can accomplish today with this program.
Who do we have in the audience? Exhibit & event managers? Industry suppliers? Other?
Is or does this meet your expectations with the program? What else would like to see me add (on the fly)?

3. Identifying Stakeholders
   stekhol dər / Show Spelled [steyk-hohl-der]
noun
1. the holder of the stakes of a wager.
2. a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest in something, as a business or industry.
3. Law . a person holding money or property to which two or more persons make rival claims.
Webster's definition of “stakeholder”.
Do we all agree with any one of these definitions?

4. Identifying Stakeholders
Definition: A person, group, or organization that has direct or indirect stake in an organization because it can affect or be affected by the organization's actions, objectives, and policies. Key stakeholders in a business organization include creditors, customers, directors, employees, government (and its agencies), owners (shareholders), suppliers, unions, and the community from which the business draws its resources.
This definition I felt is much more accurate to what we all do with F2F marketing. As you read this, it pretty much says EVERYBODY potentially is a stakeholder, and to some degree, its true. This definition really sets up the rest of the program today. Now lets talk about who and how to identify your stakeholders.
Anyone who has a goal or objective relating back to your program is a stakeholder.
Make sense?

5. Identifying Stakeholders
Internal Stakeholders
External Stakeholders
Other
Who are your stakeholders?
It seems to me there are essentially three types of stakeholders: Internal, who are made up of people and groups within your company. Then there are the external stakeholders from outside of the organization, and others. Other is a pretty far reaching group, and can include a lot of various people.
In a city like Chicago, all the businesses who rely on conventions are stakeholders for every show, every meeting. The restaurants, cab drivers, etc. all benefit from successful meetings here and draw resources from the meetings. They are all stakeholders, but in the broadest sense of the term.
If your customers come to your exhibit, and learn how to provide better services for their clients, here again the stakeholders web is thrown much farther, much broader and gathers far more people who benefit as a result of a companies F2F marketing efforts.
Would any of you like to share your thoughts on who your stakeholders may be besides the obvious one?

6. Identifying Stakeholders
Typical Key Internal Stakeholders
Upper management
Marketing
Sales
Product Managers
Your team
The company
These are all pretty obvious as stakeholders.
Upper management – CEO, CMO CFO, President
Marketing – Director of Marketing, VP Marketing, Marketing Manager
Sales – Director of Sales, VP Sales, Sales Manager
Why would we include product managers? Product Specialist? How about R & D? Do they all benefit from a “great show”
Your team, Exhibit manager, exhibit coordinator
Each and every employee
Your team?
The company?
Are we missing any? Why?

7. Identifying Stakeholders
Typical Key External Stakeholders
Customers
Shareholders
Prospects
Partners
Why would customers be stakeholders?
TO ANY ATTENDEE – What is your name and who are you with? Does your company exhibit at trade shows? Do you manage the program? What product/services do you market at your F2F meetings? Who is your ideal customer (s)
Prospects? If you can make them stakeholders, how far are they away from being customers? Can you provide them value based upon your organizations actions, objectives and policies (from definition)?
What is in it for your partners?
Who are we missing?
Comments?

8. Identifying Stakeholders
What do your stakeholders mean to your marketing/trade show programs? Stakeholders will determine and evaluate your success, your value to your organization, and ability to meet the expectations established for your program.
So how significant are stakeholders to your program? You must have the means, the processes in place to attract, educate, and inform the targeted audience in the most memorable and engaging means, and provide appreciate deliverable to the targeted audience to meet stakeholders expectations .
The stakeholders determine your success, value and results.

9. Identifying Stakeholders
Why are stakeholders important to your marketing/trade show programs? They impact your reputation, income, ability to develop professionally and defines your position within the company.
Think about it. Stakeholders, on so many levels, directly impact all your success, your organizations success, even their success. As you better understand each of the various types of stakeholders

10. Identifying Stakeholders
Determining Stakeholders Expectations
Internal
1) Upper management expectations
2) Direct supervisor expectations
3) Sales/Marketing expectations
4) Others
This can be a slippery slope with internal stakeholders. Largely because many exhibit/event managers do not have access to upper management, and as a result, at times, things get lost in the translation. If you are a veteran, you may have established the techniques to “qualify/confirm” goals and expectations as they are delivered usually by your immediate supervisors.
Perhaps you are fortunate enough to be empowered where upper management gets more involved with the process. Frankly, the money some company's spend on their programs it sure seems they should be involved. And if they were, your life should get a lot simpler.
Exhibit programs need to attract the right audience (they should have identified who they are) and then you need to engage them in the most appropriate manner (your experience from past shows, including sales feedback) and finally record the contact, the agreed to action as a result of the interaction, and establish the value of hat contact. Upper management will want to know if you are doing those three things, so if you spend $250,000 to attend a show, you are walking always with more than $1M in opportunity.
Your direct supervisor wants you to look good, so they look good, and you want everybody involved to look good. They usually want you to hit the mark on all goals and objectives at the agreed to price, which continues to look good. If you are able to improve results while managing, or better yet, cutting costs, your supervisor will think you are after their job. Careful.
Sales and marketing should be perfectly aligned. Many times they are not. Work towards that alignment. Sales wants to know what marketing is doing and why. They would usually prefer not to pull booth duty, unless it is with one of their current customers.
Others – What and why is this important?
iI heard a story about a sink company who surveyed their audience discovered an area of interest they never realized before (thickness or gauge of the aluminum in their sinks) and changed the info available to attendees. How do you think the customers (think Champions) who suggested that feel when they come back? Are they becoming product specialists? Just some thoughts about these points and the interaction.

11. Identifying Stakeholders
How are you receiving the information
from stakeholders?
Direct access to C level, as well as middle management.
They participate in planning, implementations, etc.
Documents, memo’s handed down
All of the above
Lets talk about your programs, your company, your goals and objectives. How is the information handed down to you?
Are you ale to ask questions? Are some goals/objectives unrealistic? Do you think about or consider how you are going to measure these?
Are the key/ most significant stakeholders involved with your planning form the initial meetings? Do they help shape and formulate the plans?
Do thy take the time to participate? Are there concerns clearly defines early on?
How are the goals / objectives delivered to you and your team? Do you have the opportunity to questions? Clarify? Confirm?
How familiar with the realities of F2F marketing are they? Do they get it?
How are you receiving this information? How does this impact your abilities to meet expectations?

12. Identifying Stakeholders
Determining Stakeholder Expectations
External
1) Customer survey, focus groups
2) Shareholder feedback through C level reporting?
3) Industry research on product needs and desires
External customers are more challenging, but the results can be far more beneficial for you. These are some of the things to think about with these stakeholders.
How are you learning their top-of-mind concerns about the interests? Their challenges? What they want to learn, to experience, how they want to be engaged? What do they want to come away from an experience with your company? What are you going to do for them?
How is upper management and key stakeholders reporting or informing you? Is it passed through another party? How accurate (the history) of their ability to provides the right details to clarify any situations for you?
What can you learn from other resources? What have you read or heard about challenges for a larger group, which you can scale back to meet your very specified targeted audiences needs?

13. Identifying Stakeholders
Every stakeholders goal / objective needs to be identified, confirmed they are quantifiable and included as part of your overall plan.
Listen to the stakeholder, confirm their expectations, identify them within the overall action plan of call to action. The biggest challenge may be ranking the various stakeholders opinions, they are not going to accept their goal isn’t most significant. The farther you come down the corporate ladder, the more genuine the conversation you will have, or should have.
One thought is to identify the various groups and have everyone agree with the internal weighting system you may create which will detail what group is first, second, etc. and established.
Then make sure you recognize and align all the various goals and objectives so EVERYONE knows you have every stakeholders interest covered. And by that you understand the interest, and have the tools in place to measure results.

14. Identifying Stakeholders
“ Stopping at your exhibit today provided me superior product knowledge. I was able to learn new techniques, talk to my peers, and discover what new products coming in the future from staff. Now my business and I can better serve our customers today, and prepare them for an even better tomorrow.” Potential quote from your Champion
I drafted this statement as an example of things I have heard from stakeholders who have been “reached” by a F2F experience.
Wouldn’t you love to have a statement something like this one from a stakeholder? It isn’t a product testimonial. It is a “thank you” for enhancing their experience, for providing valuable information, for educating this attendee and enabling them to be better at what they do. To better use your products. This is the beginning of establishing a “champion”. Nothing better in my opinion.

15. Identifying Stakeholders
Creating and Supporting Your Champions
Internal Champions
External Champions
They all want to be identified as experts,
seek peer recognition and an elevated
respect in their fields. Make them your
greatest assets.
Since champions are derived from your stakeholders, the internal and external champions are going to have different goals, objectives and expected results. What are some of the things you and your company can do to establish “champions”?
How you establish the type of champion, how you reach their goals and objectives, how you enable them to elevate themselves and improve themselves is critical to their success. There is value attached to this additional education.
Then what you do recognize them. How can you influence their colleagues, their supervisors? Consider the most business like, appropriate means to raise their hands, and help the light shine on them. Provide the recognition and respect, and more than anything, let them know you appreciate and value their contributions to your company.

16. Identifying Stakeholders
When you inform, teach, provide current and significant product and industry information validating their interest, they will be there to support you. External Champions - Product specialists, Key Opinion Leaders (KOL), your customers, the industry.
What can you do to provide the recognition and respect? Here are some examples, thoughts. Let’s discuss:
Customer loyalty programs – Recognizing sales, support, longevity, diligence to your company
Product knowledge certification – They did a class, or attended a re-education or a product upgrade.
Educational achievement – they attended workshop, very specialized,
Leadership recognition – They have spoken at sales meeting, or done testimonials.
Most Improved whatever – recognition for increasing the business – key word, RECOGNITION
We all want it, dream of it, some a bit more reluctantly than others.
I always feel so special when I go to a store or movie and they remember me, my sandwich or drink, bartenders have built nice livings out of personalizing the service and done well for themselves. Build upon the same principal for your company, your team, your program.

17. Identifying Stakeholders
When you validate their goals with measured success, improved value and consistent reporting, they will be there to support you. Everyone wins! Internal Champions – C Level , Marketing, Sales, Your supervisor, Product managers, the company.
With the establishment of program identifying external champions, the results naturally or organically feeds the internal stakeholders. Seeing, hearing and experiencing your customers carrying your message, your products, your goals to like minded others is wonderful. Research states the most resounding means to influence someone new isn’t from a booth demeo, it is from a peer-to-peer exchange, a recommendation, all of which you should integrate into your over all tradeshow experience,
All you internal champions are impacted by the external champion taking the lead on the program for the cause,

18. Identifying Stakeholders
Keeping Your Program Relevant – Evolve
You must continue to learn what is working, and what is not. Make changes.
You must continue to learn what is needed next by your stakeholders. Change again.
You must continue to measure and report the changes and results.

19. Identifying Stakeholders
What you provide for your stakeholders?
Information/education.
Product knowledge – today/tomorrow.
Acknowledgement /recognition.
Value

20. Identifying Stakeholders
What you should receive from stakeholders?
Business opportunities/ financial support.
Commitment / involvement.
Communication
Validation
Value

21. Identifying Stakeholders
Questions and Answers

22. Thank you for Attending!