What Do Marketers Want In A DM Conference?

Earlier this week the Direct Marketing Association canceled the Forum for Cross-Channel Merchants (formerly known as the National Conference on Operations & Fulfillment).

The cancellation marks the second time within a year the DMA has pulled the plug on a conference – the first being the All for One Integrated Marketing Summit, which last year took the place of Direct Marketing Days NY and this year ain't happening at all.

(Penton, the parent company of the Big Fat Marketing Blog, has in the past co-sponsored conferences with the DMA, including the NCOF event. And yes, Penton does produce conferences and webinars in a wide variety of fields itself.)

Organizations don't cancel conferences lightly. The DMA announced it was axing the Forum for Cross-Channel Merchants event less than a month from its May 7 opening date. That may means the DMA got hit with a fairly hefty fee: Meetings spaces often charge organizations cancelling conferences within 90 days of the event most – if not all – of the conference room revenue, and a good chunk of the contracted food and beverage service as well.

Granted, I have no knowledge of the DMA's contract with Gaylord Opryland. The organization may have had a full refund clause based on a longstanding relationship – the DMA has hosted a number of events with Gaylord Hotels.

There's little envy for anyone having to make a call about canceling a publicized event: At best it's an embarrassment. But hosting a poorly attended event, or one that doesn't attract a critical mass of exhibitors (and I don't know which conditions, if either, applied to these) is likely to cause exhibitors and attendees to consider holding off registering for events like DMA Annual, which are hopefully on more solid ground.

There's a larger question hanging over these two cancelations, however: Why? Is it that the rebranding – both share a "formerly known as" history – efforts made them harder sells? It's a lot easier to get corporate approval to attend a conference one has intended before: A new name and focus might mean making a new business case for sending people, and that places a hell of a burden on potential employees.

Is it that conference attendance and exhibits are generally down? There are ways around this, including doing a lot of recruiting within nearby university business programs, as well as local merchant and other business associations.

Is it the locations – midtown New York City and Nashville, TN – not having the same drawing power as, say, an Orlando? I've never bought into the argument that Florida works because it allows conference attendees to tack on family vacation time, but it's made often enough.

Is it that the marketing conference model itself is a dinosaur, heading for extinction? The preponderance of free online content (free to the viewers, although sponsors may have something to say in response) reduces the need to travel to educational forum, although networking opportunities are still valuable – provided there is new blood being brought in (see "attendance", above).

Or is it a problem with programming?

Good content – content that presents new information, or ideas that an attendee can immediately implement – is hard to find. And it must be very tempting for conference sponsors to lard up offerings with thinly disguised sales pitches masquerading as sessions, especially when those doing the sessions are also taking booth space, or underwriting the cost of attendee wifi connections, or what have you.

So a question for the members of the marketing community: When it comes to a marketing conference, what would make you attend?