A couple of weeks ago I tweeted a link to a survey I created about conferences.  This was by no means scientific in nature...more of a way to get a gut check on what our community thinks about conferences.

Here are the results and my subjective commentary.

Of the 140 people who responded to my survey questions, 89% are bloggers, 9% are PR.

66% have attended a social media, blogging, or technology conference in the past year.

When asked which conferences the respondents plan to attend this year the top three conferences were Blogher with 61%, Blissdom with 43%, and Type-A Mom Conference with 36%.   I think this directly correlates to the demographics of my blog readership and community, which is comprised of a significant number of women.

I asked the respondents to complete the following statement:  "When it comes to swag, I think..."  56% said "moderation is key".  15% admitted that they end up throwing too many swag items away, 13% said "the more swag the better" (!), and the remaining 16% were split evenly between swag being opt-in or virtual and indicating there are better ways to connect with consumers.

My thoughts on this?  I think opt-in or virtual swag is a super smart idea.  At the Social Luxe Lounge Party at Blogher, Land's End had one of their fall sweaters on display, and any party attendee could get one as swag...however, they were asked to provide their mailing addresses so it could be shipped to them after the conference.  Getting the gift wrapped sweater in the mail a few weeks later made it special (at least to me).

Considering 13% said "the more swag the better", I found it interesting that when asked what the most important reason for attending a conference would be, 0% said it was the free stuff.  The number one reason?  Networking opportunities.   Also, respondents were also asked about their likeliness of purchasing a product based on receiving a sample as swag based on scale with 1 being not at all likely and 5 likely to go out of their way to make the purchase.  6% indicated they would go out of their way, while 6% chose the other end of the spectrum and would not purchase based on the sample, and the rest fell somewhere in between (9% chose 2, 44% chose 3, and 34% chose 4).

There was one question that garnered the most comments and that was the one asking the number one reason for not attending conferences.  Many commented that I should have included cost.  While I acknowledge that is a huge deciding factor, I knew that if I included money it would be hard to identify some of the less logistical reasons for not going.  I thought it was important to find out what experience one had at a conference might influence their decision to return...indeed, I should have added that caveat to the question, because obviously, for so many that want to go, the cost and the logistics associated are the largest obstacles.

So, cost aside, 33% said that overscheduling would be their number one reason.  I think this is in line with the number one reason for given for  going to conferences being networking.  18% said it would be the feeling of being overwhelmed, followed by 14% saying egos, another 14% saying drama, and 9% indicating that the conference being more about the swag and "stuff" would make them not want to attend.

Now let's get back to the cost of conferences conversation.  It probably comes as no surprise that respondents said when it comes to brands, they'd prefer to see more of them sponsoring attendees (56%) vs. sponsoring the conferences (41%).    I noticed more brands sponsored attendees at Blogher than at conferences I've attended in the past.  However, being part of some of the back channel conversations, it sounds like the best possible scenario is a brand sponsoring an attendee AND outlining what they want them to do at the conference for them.

Conference season is in full swing with Blogalicious, IzeaFest, BlogWorldExpo, Type-A Mom Conference, and M2Moms all coming up within the next couple of months.

I'll be speaking at Type-A Mom Conference and M2Moms so if you're going to be at either, let's make sure we get to say hi and connect in person!

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