Tech Charging Dealer Conferences

In traditional Marketing, dealer conferences remain an essential motivation tool. You start off as a marketing officer and cut your teeth with your first real challenge in mobilising such a conference. Over the years, as your role changes you move away from the nitty-gritty, only to approve the program flow and budgets. In between you carry a host of poignant to hilarious memories. The ritual is to sit, with the team, after such a conference and bring out the raconteur within ourselves.

My very first assignment as a management trainee was to mobilise 300 dealers from across the country to Nepal. In the mid-eighties this was "foreign   tour" for an auto component manufacturer ( though these days for dealers across industries it can be nothing short of Alaska or the World Cup in Brazil). The format was fairly simple with a half day conference session, some sight seeing, the essential Corporate film and putting together the Bosses' presentations. You worked directly with your advertising agency, the hotel and travel agent and practically camped in office for a full month before the event. No formula event managers making a pitch with show reels of what they have done for your competitors and other FMCG or Telecom giants

The dealer confirmations were the first challenge. In the days of circular dial phones and poor telephonic connectivity, countless hours were spent trying to connect on STD and making sense of long telexes. I would end the day with an aching finger from dialling and tired feet running up one floor to check the nth revisions to dealer lists pouring in from 18 odd branch offices on the teleprinter 

The Corporate film and senior's presentations had its own set of challenges. You would sit around drinking several cups of coffee with your agency, only to be called past eight in the evening and having the slide matter or the script changed. So what's the big deal, our new age marketing officer would ask. Well, both presentation and film would be put together on 35 mm slides and each slide had a little over a 24 hour turn around window. As the conference deadline grew closer, you finally had your agency take the last edit call but not before you the poor officer had lost some hair and shouted yourself hoarse. Bosses over the years have not changed in their finicky attention to detail on such matters, thankfully the technology has changed to handle on-line edits! 

A 35 mm slide projector could be like a bad dream remembered for many years. This is one space I found Murphy work overtime. Invariably, that one senior who had the longest presentation would also be the most finicky in the lot. In our case it was our R&D Chief. His technical slides, always carefully numbered would see a sequencing change and or additions after each presentation round. You would stay up late putting it in place and then have to walk him through the lot just before breakfast. After all this, the carousel would jam or for some odd reason (maybe for luck) there would be one important slide upside down.

In retrospect, I believe, our seniors in those days had some misguided understanding that dealers participated in such events to stand educated on the company and its products. I have learnt, over the years that some dealers still do - a small minority.

Thankfully, things began to change in the early nineties. Probably agencies realised the phenomenal time involvement and moved to a facilitator role between the emerging event management companies and the client. It was as recent as 2015 when we had a reputed Travel Agent also bring in their event management arm (outsourced) and provide an end- to- end experience

Change has defined everything we do at these events now and competition within the professional event management companies are charging up the show with innovations. 3-D invites are passé, move over for that micro video invite on WhatsApp. Corporate story is now beamed on laser or giant LED screens. Your airlines could welcome your dealers on board with a personalised branded cup cake. Lamp lighting is virtual and not a struggle on stage with soggy cotton bits that refuse to light. No heavy podium and microphones - you now have practically invisible microphones that make you feel like Shah Rukh at a film event. Finally,  accept that your dealer only comes for the entertainment and give him that heavy duty Bollywood. A Salman or Katrina - budgets permitting or a dance troupe in Bangkok or Colombo dancing to Baby Doll or closer home the Beat Busters - content remaining the same.

The singular thing I miss in all this change is the after-party with your Agency team. That time, when you sat together, and laughed over the previous month's tension and congratulated yourselves on those narrow misses. It forged a bonding and more importantly a deep understanding about the company, products, production processes, network, business results, strategy. In short, everything that remained crucial to continuous ideation and not each campaign being a discrete event that needs to start with a written brief.