5 Tips: Get the most from your Conference Badges

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Cecil

Custom shapes, space for sponsor logos – our conference badges can be revenue drivers for your event!

Our conference badges are catching fire in the conference industry.

More than just a name, high quality badges transform event attendees into walking billboards and promote the event sponsors.

Our award-winning designs coupled with innovative marketing solutions (brand-specific shapes, QR codes, RFID technology) make for the perfect bridge between your event credential and a marketing campaign centerpiece.

5 TIPS to drive ROI using your badge:

1) SELL YOUR BADGE
Your badge is a sponsorship asset.

Some of our clients sell the back of their conference badges for upwards of $10k! Remember that your attendees are a rich, targeted market in front of which your sponsors want to gain exposure. Our classy, quality badges are kept long after the event and can become long-term impression generators for your sponsors.

2) SHAPE YOUR BADGE
A shaped badge allows you to accentuate your brand or your sponsor’s brand – to make it extremely authentic. A unique badge is more likely to be cherished, and is thus worth more to a sponsor.

Many of our clients accentuate their badge with add-ons like foil, UV ink, or cold lamination.

3) TRACK YOUR BADGE
Incorporate technology to allow on-site activation of your badge. Bar codes, redemption codes, and RFID all allow for your attendee badges to become the keys to unlocking highly-entertaining experiences at your conference (which means a greater return rate). Exchange contact info, tie into a photo retrieval system, and gamify your event – all while using the badge around the necks of your attendees.

4) CONNECT YOUR BADGE
NFC tags and QR codes allow your badges to be portals to exclusive mobile experiences. Give your attendees a post-event experience that will entice them to return.

5) COLLECT YOUR BADGE
Have your attendees bring their badges to your next event for exclusive access or special discounts. Encouraging attendees to keep the badge for next time will give benefit both to the attendees and the sponsors whose badges are being kept, expectantly!

Call us today to find out more about best uses of badges to drive revenue.

Ron Seaver, head of the National Sports Forum, said it most succinctly, “When it comes to putting on conferences, one of the most important things to us is making that great “first impression”. And for us, that first impression begins and ends with Access Pass & Design…simply put, they “get” it.”

Thanks Ron, and thanks to all our conference clients who use our badges to make that great first and last impression for their event!

Access Pass & Design
Our credentials. Your confidence.

5 Takeaways from Canadian Music Week (aka “How to survive Toronto in March”)

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Cecil

1. First and foremost – Canada has some great musicians!

Canadian Music Week (CMW) is much like SXSW. There are hundreds of bands and close to fifty different venues, and the music takes place over the course of four days. It’s hard to take it all in, especially if you’re there to work, so research who you want to see beforehand. Toronto is a big city and the venues aren’t necessarily close to each other. Also – it’s cold.

On the flip side. Kayla dragged me to see some “skater punk pop” (up until then I thought that was some kind of soda). Turned out I really liked it. So going with the flow is good too.

2. Attend the Digital Media Summit – you’re already in Toronto after all!

The Digital Media Summit takes place in the two days leading up to Canadian Music Week. Tons of great insights into the future of digital media in music.

Nicola Smith (@Nicola_smith22) of Engauge gave a great presentation on the future of connecting the physical to the digital. Exciting – physical to digital is very much in the spirit of what we’re doing connecting our passes to digital experiences.

There’s some cool new tech out there that allows for really creative uses of location, social sharing, and physical / digital media (like digital paper for example). So, come a few days early, attend the Digital Media Summit, and stay ahead of the game!

3. It’s amazing how many artists go around without business cards.

Management – keep your artists stocked up on marketing materials. They may not realize that they are, by default, the CMOs of their careers. But everyone else does.

Musicians need to be savvy business people or they will continually miss opportunities.

4. Conversely – some artists got really creative with their marketing.

Jordan McIntosh (upcoming country music singer) BOUGHT A BOOTH. In a room full of vendors, a booth full of young, handsome, country musicians playing acoustic sets really catches the eyes and ears.

Kind of the opposite of guerilla marketing – and it worked.

Billy (Wilhelmina) the Kid (songwriter) had the craziest guitar case we’d seen. Hard to forget – and thus so was she.

Additionally, lots of artists are using our VIP backstage passes as merch items! Change VIP to “FAN PASS” and sell it. Or hell – leave VIP on there. Even if you’re not at the stage where you need security credentials, your fans don’t care – they’ll want a backstage pass anyway.

5. Exciting developments in the use of Location Based Services (LBS).

Like artists writing albums that are only available while the listener is physically within a certain location. Imagine walking through New York’s Central Park, listening to your favorite band’s music. The song changes as you move from the ice skating rink to the zoo. Crazy cool! Talk about a visceral way to connect fans to the minds of the artists!

That’s it!

But wait, as an encore (we heard you chanting it – don’t lie) here are some of the cool bands we stumbled upon at Canadian Music Week.

Ben Cardilli
BOY (Cecil really liked this one – go figure)
The Boom Booms (Kayla really liked them)
Madison Krebs
Savanah
The Treasures
Rachel Sermanni
Jordan McIntosh
Billy the Kid

Then there was this other band – The Pretty Unknown – all the way from Reno, NV. We couldn’t seem to get away from them

~ Cecil

p.s. many thanks to Heart for the tickets – fantastic show ladies!!!!

Access Pass & Design
Our credentials. Your confidence.

Inspirations On The Open Road – The Path To The National Sports Forum

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Kyle

We are extremely proud of Danny for taking the next step in his public speaking career. Read on for the story of how he presented at the National Sports Forum this year, in what was his 9th year in attendance. 10-year jersey coming in less than 365 days Danny! We’ll be there for you!

Over the summer of 2012 I received an e-mail from the National Sports Forum in the middle of the week with a request for speaker applications for the 2013 Forum in Orlando. As a would-be 9 year alum I became excited for the opportunity and began to ponder what I might share at the sports industry’s marquee networking event.

I had plans for a 60 mile training ride the following weekend and decided to sort my thoughts out then. As I began the ride on a Starbucks buzz, I began to think of some of the winning attributes that earned me the business of the biggest names in sports including Nike, Boston Bruins, Red Bull, OKC Thunder, Texas Longhorns and the New York Yankees.

Words like perseverance, persistence, passion, and presence came to mind. By the time I finished the ride I had seven and coincidentally they all started with the letter “p”.

I sent an e-mail to my friend Dave Mullins at GMR Marketing the following Monday, who replied, “I love it. Here are three more”. The end result was the “10 Principles of Success” and we agreed it was a winner. I was selected to speak at the 2013 National Sports Forum in Orlando, Florida for an exhibitor breakout session on Monday, January 28.

To spice up the presentation I used a few first-hand success stories that landed me deals with some of the biggest teams and brands in the land. In addition, other seasoned NSF vets such as Dan Migala, Bonner Paddock, and Brian Gainor have inspired me with their stories and insights to think differently for different results. I shared tidbits of their methodologies in my presentation.

To keep the audience engaged I broke my presentation into 3 parts – Pre-Game, Half Time, and Post-Game. At each break I offered a book to anyone who answered first, and correctly to simple sports trivia questions. That was a big hit!

After my presentation several people lined up to say thanks, which was great. When other folks asked how it went later in the day I could only tell them how it went based on the feedback from those who attended. It was all positive. And thank you to those who replied to my follow up e-mail, post-Forum…

Special thanks to my trustee counterparts of Access Pass & Design, Kayla Guseman and Cecil McCumber, for rocking the RFID booth demo and overall enthusiasm for getting involved with the Forum. Thank you Brian Byrnes of the OKC Thunder for my breakout session intro, Ron Seaver for your friendship and support, and all the inspirational sports marketing influencers.

~Danny Heinsohn

Below are some of the testimonials Danny received. Awesome feedback from a great group of attendees!

Of all 5 breakouts I attended, I got the most out of yours. You were concise and to the point. Your content was applicable with good real life examples from your personal experience. Well done!

- Max Lebovitz, Pogoseat.com

The thing that I thought you did a really good job of, was being able to relay your past experiences with your clients in a way that any person, regardless of what they sold, could learn from.

- Marc Simone, Coyote Promotions

Of the four breakout sessions that I attended, yours was the most impactful.

- Mac Yates, Inflatable Images

I was honored to be in your breakout. Thank you again for giving your time, to help the rest of us in the industry to get just that much more out of everyday.

- Ed Prescott, Infinity Vip/ Infinity Pro Sports

I truly enjoyed your presentation.

- Dr. Susan B. Foster, Professor, Sport Business – Saint Leo University

I enjoyed your 10 P’s of Selling, and I thought the handout was excellent with room for notes on the back. I’m passing that on to our sales team.

- Connie Barry, BIG INK Display Graphics

To view Danny’s presentation:

http://www.slideshare.net/DHeinz7/2013-national-sports-forum-breakout

Danny’s 10 Principles to Success

1. PASSION

Be enthusiastic, be authentic and sell yourself.

2. PRESENCE

You gotta pay to play! There is no substitute for face time.

3. PERCEPTION

Create memorable impressions.

4. POSITION

Know the score. Among the rest of the market, how do you rank?

5. PERMISSION

You don’t get what you don’t ask for.

6. PERSISTENCE

Persistence PAY$!

7. PERSONALIZATION

Clear, CONCISE, refined.

8. PERFORMANCE

It’s all about execution. Go above and beyond expectations.

9. PARTNERSHIP

A partnership mentality will lead to organic growth.

10. PERKS

Get involved!

Access Pass & Design
Our credentials. Your confidence.

NFC magic at the National Sports Forum

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Cecil

NFC-Powered Experiences
Access Pass & Design added a new dynamic to our presence at the 2013 National Sports Forum, held in sunny Orlando, Florida. In our 9th consecutive year in attendance (and our 9th year of a fantastic partnership with the National Sports Forum) we showcased our NFC-powered brand activation event credentials.

NFC what? Brand Activation Event Credentials? What does that mean?

Booth visitors were incentivized to “Tap That Pass” – which means simply they placed one of our tech-embedded badges next to an NFC-enabled device (Sony phones, Samsung tablets, RIM handhelds, etc).

In an experience that some described as “magical”, booth attendees were presented with exclusive online content and the chance to win Skullcandy^tm headphones!

By tapping a pass to automatically generate exclusive content on their mobile device, visitors were exposed to a whole new range of sponsorship opportunities that exist through the connection of an event badge or VIP pass to the digital world.

Danny’s Breakout
This year’s National Sports Forum was also a big year for our sports marketing guru, Danny Heinsohn. He developed and presented his first NSF breakout session, entitled “It’s Not What You Sell, But HOW You Sell”. Team Access was very proud of his achievement and we’re looking forward to more speaking engagements to come – congrats Danny!

Be on the lookout for a follow up blog on his presentation.

Danny (@dannyheinsohn) tweeted his top take-aways from his experience as well as some of the other breakout sessions. They are as follows:

1. Great ideas always get funded.
2. Non-traditional ideas sometimes require non-traditional sponsors.
3. Be proactive, understand the brand, and develop good ideas.
4. Use buzzwords, do your homework, meet criteria. Most importantly – fit the brand
5. Remember to turn your mic on at a breakout presentation

What were your take-aways? Comment below!

See you next year at the National Sports Forum 2014.

Access Pass & Design
Our credentials. Your confidence.

Tour Link 2013 and Pollstar Live! 2013

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Cecil

TourLink

When it rains it pours, and in Scottsdale, Arizona that’s just what it did!

While the ground was soaking up the moisture outside, inside of the Talking Stick Resort, Tour Link attendees were soaking up the latest industry info from veterans of the industry, including Henry Bordeaux, Mike Savas, Jim Digby, our very own Seth Sheck, and many others.

Tour Link 2013, a three day music conference from January 24-26, showcased many panel sessions addressing pressing industry issues, with topics ranging from Event Safety and Enhancing the Fan Experience to You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up, where tour dogs talked about being on the road over the years and some of the more colorful stories that ensued.

The evenings at the resort were highlighted by cocktails, conversations & lots of face time with our valued clients, partners, and new friends. The conference was capped off by the awards show where the industry professionals themselves nominate their favorite vendors, tour managers & hotels.

In the end, Access Pass & Design was honored to receive the their first Tour Link 2013 Top Dog Award for top pass/itinerary company. We are very proud of this award and of our team – thanks to everyone who helped us get there!

Pollstar

From Scottsdale to LA…

Pollstar Live! and Event Live take place concurrently at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles. The two events have proven to be highlights in the Entertainment industry. Occurring from February 5th-7th, entertainment professionals (booking agents, artist managers, hoteliers & many others) come together to share ideas and solve problems. Pollstar Live! conference is a great way to meet newcomers as well as shake hands with old friends & colleagues.

Event Live is consistently one of the best trade shows in the industry, showcasing every aspect of putting on professional live events.

We promise to give a full recap of both Pollstar Live and Event Live soon.

Access Pass & Design
Our credentials. Your confidence.