SPBT re-cap

It’s Friday morning, and I had no intention of writing a blog post or putting out a Friday Collection newsletter this week. Usually, at the end of a conference, I am so physically and emotionally drained that I turn into a zombie for a day or so.

Strangely, however, after a few days of the most intensive (and enjoyable) networking that I’ve ever done, I am thoroughly energized and ready to roll. So, while it’s all still fresh, here are my impressions…

I did a prior post on Monday night about first impressions of the hotel, and the opening networking event. Suffice it to say, by way of summary, that I thought the location was a great choice. Although, on that particular “strip” of Route A1A in Hollywood, FL, there is not much to “walk” to – the surrounding area is a bunch of hotels and not much else. My wife and I did bump into a few enterprising souls from the Takeda training team who ran on up to the boardwalk area, however, and who caught us in a little cafe having cheap pizza and beer, which we were in the mood for – well, the pizza and beer part, anyway. The cheap part was not so great…

Keynotes – Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics, was very interesting. A good choice overall, and an effective speaker/storyteller from the more intellectual side of the tracks. His self-deprecating account of how he became an economist, and his bizarre story about the economic deliberations of a high-end prostitute, kept the audience engaged. I missed Marshall Goldsmith’s talk, but I heard someone later on talk about how he was weird, so I expect that it was probably entertaining and thought-provoking. Charlotte Roberts was, overall, a fairly effective speaker, and had good things to say, but I think (and others I spoke to agreed) that her talk was mis-aimed – it was geared toward a corporate strata where most of the audience does not live and breathe. On the last day of a conference, as one my colleagues put it, you need to be entertaining or highly practical. Theory about vision and mission isn’t the right stuff for this crowd, esp. on Thursday morning.

Logistics – there seemed to be some problems on this front. The conference “backpacks” came in late. There were other cases where booth materials seem to show up at the last minute. And folks coming from Philadelphia had severe problems on Monday getting flights in – some didn’t make it until Tuesday. We had our own issues trying to get out of Newark Monday morning – Mr. Experienced Traveler thought that it would be a breeze waltzing through Newark Airport at 5:00 am for a 6:15 flight. The place was an absolute zoo when we got there – it took seemingly forever to get checked in and to shuffle through the maze leading into the security area, and then we had to sprint to our gate (located at the far end of the terminal, course) to make our flight. Nothing a few hours by the pool couldn’t cure, however…

Workshops – I was only able to make it to a handful, of course, and the ones I attended were pretty well done. The most helpful one for me was a workshop on Partnering with Vendors (Carl Hyman from Drury Design Dynamics, Jennifer Zinn from Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Steven Just from Pedagogue, Nick Recchioni from Endo Pharmaceuticals). In particular, Jennifer’s perspectives on developing a true partnering relationship were incredibly valuable. Anecdotally, I heard from others what I have heard every year – some of the workshops were very helpful, and others seemed to inspire an irrepressible urge to fake a sudden cell phone call so that you could appear to have an excuse to walk out.

Business Development – I was there to spend valuable face time with both vendors and clients, introducing my services as a consultant and as a recommendation agent – helping clients find ideal vendor partners for their immediate and long-term needs. I view the exhibit hall as one big speed-dating session, whereas I try to serve as more of a living, thinking matchmaker – facilitating ideal matches by helping clients define their needs (applying my own brand of analysis and creativity to that process), and then utilizing my extensive knowledge of the vendor community to create winning business relationships. The current models in use – either just throwing work to a handful of “known” vendors who may or may not be ideal for the purpose, or inviting a bunch of suppliers in for “Dating Game” capabilities presentations and then hoping to pick a good one based on subjective impressions – can lead to a risk of failure, or less-than-optimal outcomes.

Because this is a new business model, I have found that I need about 1-2 minutes of face time or phone time to help both clients and vendors initially “get” how I bring value, and so I was really looking forward to this conference as a great format for explaining the value I bring. Since launching the business last July, I’ve been able to make some great “matches,” and deepen solid and productive relationships with both proven vendor/partners and some clients, but I’ve been a bit discouraged trying to help my client audience of sales training professionals understand that this recommendation service (which is free to the client) can save quite a bit of time and trouble in selecting optimal vendors and creating win-win partnerships.

In that respect, the show was a great success. And some folks really have grasped what I do – for example, I shut up and let Mani explain Impactiviti to a few others on the shuttle bus back to the airport, and he did an admirable job. And I should not neglect to thank one of my valued partners, Informa Training Partners, who helped with the logistics of registering for and attending the conference. They’re a great group to work with (and that is an unabashed plug!).

Finally, it was great to see old friends on both sides of the aisle: Mark, John, Mitch, Susan, Sean, Jim, Pete, Arlene, Eileen, Jill, Rick, Pam, Gary, Sarah, Joyce, Cheri, Jim, Michelle, Sharon, Wendy, Tom, Patrick, Eric, Sheri, Fred, Steven, Becca, Joe, Bruce, David, Kelly, Tim, the Informa team, Philip, Jim, Sue, Vicki, Mani, Suzy, Steve, Mack, Matt, Pam, Abby, John (actually, there’s a few of them!), George, Howard, Jennifer, Rebecca, Stuart, Shabnam, Bill, Linda (great news for year-end!!), Pete, Jim, Catherine, Vera, Frank, Andy, Nick, Don, Kim, Mark, Charlie, Robert, Michael, Matt, Jeff, Kimberly, Carol, David, Jim, Bob, Brian, Laura, Carl…and I think I just hit memory overload. There were plenty more!

And, it was great to meet a bunch of new folks: Angela, Bob, Jerry, Mark, Ann, Erin, Greg, Lisa, Scott, Steve, Freddy, Paul, David, Stan, Stephanie, Ron, Tim, Sam, Glen, Sue, Erin, Robyn, Michelle, Nathan, David, Ruth, Philip, and a bunch of others met quickly in passing in workshops or on the exhibit floor. Thanks for making it a great networking time!

As always, kudos to the SPBT management team, and Premier Resources, for pulling the whole event together. And John Constantine continues to do a fine job leading the organization as President.

And congratulations to Greg Sapnar (BMS) for being named Member of the Year! If you want to know about Metrics and Measurements, Greg is your guy…

So, what inspired you? What did you find helpful, or in need of improvement? Feel free to share in the Comments…