01. Copperberg Podcast
Episode 06
Work the Room: Boosting Engagement and ROI at In-Person Industry Events
Running a smart and agile manufacturing operation
This episode offers actionable advice and expert insights to help you rethink the role of in-person events in your business strategy.
02. CONTENT
In-person industry events are more than just networking opportunities; they’re powerful engines for business growth, especially in hard-to-reach sectors like manufacturing.
Key Topics Covered in This Episode
- Success Stories: Real-world examples of how companies have leveraged in-person events to secure deals, forge lasting relationships, and inspire new product innovations.
- Navigating Industry Peculiarities: Why manufacturing and service leaders find unique value in face-to-face interactions and how events overcome challenges that traditional outreach methods can’t address.
- Data and Technology in Event Success: The growing importance of data-driven insights and event tech in tracking ROI, nurturing relationships, and creating post-event impact.
- Maximizing Value from Event Participation: Practical advice for companies on how to make the most of their presence at events, from engaging senior leaders to repurposing knowledge gained for strategic wins.
- Evolving Sponsor Expectations: How sponsors are moving beyond traditional visibility to prioritize engagement, customization, and quality connections with the right audience.
In this episode of Copperberg Conversations on Manufacturing Matters, Åsa Karphammar, Commercial Director at Copperberg, and Amjy Hussain, Senior Business Development Manager for Europe and North America at Copperberg, share their expertise on how to maximize the value of these events.
03. Speakers
Copperberg Conversations on Manufacturing Matters is your go-to podcast for candid discussions with the industry’s top thinkers and innovators.
04. Listen now
Work the Room: Boosting Engagement and ROI at In-Person Industry Events
From building lasting relationships to aligning event participation with strategic goals, Åsa and Amjy provide a practical framework for success. At its core, their discussion underscores a vital takeaway: while technology enhances event impact, the real power of events lies in fostering genuine human connections and meaningful engagement.
05. Transcript
Nina Roper Yearwood (00:30)
Hello and welcome to a new episode of Copperberg Conversations on Manufacturing Matters. I’m your host, Nina Roper Yearwood from Copperberg saying “Hallo” and “Guten Tag” from Germany. And good morning, good afternoon, good evening to you wherever you’re tuning in from.
Today we’re going to take a look at in-person on-site events, not just as gathering spaces, but as key strategic touch points for companies, especially in industries where breaking through to decision makers can be notoriously tough. To unpack this topic of boosting engagement and ROI at in-person industry events, we have Åsa Karphammar and Amjy Hussain with us today.
Hello, Åsa. Hello, Amjy. So Åsa, right here with us, is the Commercial Director at Copperberg, where she joined in 2009 to help build the company’s manufacturing community. With a background in sociology and a master’s in business administration, Åsa has a passion for sales and customer service. Originally from the Swedish mountains, she now lives in Stockholm with her family, juggling work, and her two small children.
Amjy Hussain, the gentleman right here, is Copperberg’s Senior Business Development Manager for Europe and North America. Amjy is an experienced electronic and communications engineer with nearly 15 years in B2B sales, where his love for technology drives his work. Beyond his professional expertise, Amjy is also a passionate cricket player enjoying the game right there where they’re based in Sweden. He’s here to share his insights in tech, sales, and perhaps a bit about his love for cricket.
Hello again, Åsa and Amjy. So nice, and I’m so happy to finally connect with you on this topic.
Nina Roper Yearwood (02:42)
Yeah, so to kick things off, I’d love for us to start with a big picture question. So from your perspective, can you just share some of the most compelling success stories you’ve seen from companies who’ve partnered with Copperberg at in-person events?
Amjy Hussain (03:07)
Nice to see you, Nina! Absolutely, there’s so many to choose from. I believe I could probably go first, the one that comes to mind right from the top of it. Obviously, I won’t be able to name the company, but we’ve had partners where they’ve managed to meet the influencer or the decision maker on-site where they were able to demonstrate what their product could do. And then actually get a verbal sign off in terms of how many units they would like to have. So that’s like off the bat, just that. So, and obviously there’s a lot that goes in the backend to lead up to that kind of a point, which was, you know, positioning the partner in the right space in front of the right people. So that is one story.
I’m talking about a technology partner, right? It’s just like a tangible solution, which was an augmented reality solution. I believe it was Rolls Royce, I could say, the name of the end user company that did that. Åsa, do you have any memories?
Åsa Karphammar (04:16)
Yes, of course, in the way of meeting or even signing customers or potential customers on-site. But we, of course, also have quite a few companies that have met and found their future colleagues that they have hired afterwards after meeting at our events. We have had smaller companies just starting out on the European market. And then after joining our events, you know, year by year growing, growing, and sometimes also being bought by other companies that they also meet at our events.
I mean, it’s the whole ecosystem if you say it that way. I mean, you have the potential customers, but you also have them working together with each other in the case of our community, which is focused specifically on B2B manufacturing. So it’s not only if we say the technology providers who would be interested in meeting, but actually the people from the industry themselves also meet and connect and can have business conversations on-site.
Amjy Hussain (05:53)
So yeah, success could have so many definitions, right? Like one is obviously from a partner’s perspective to be able to land a potential client. That is like spot on. The other is that, and the reason why we do these events is to help them cultivate these business relationships, you know?
And so we create that ambience and atmosphere where we lower the threshold for not just partners, to interact with delegates but also the manufacturers to come at the table at an event and just openly being able to share and discuss their problems, some things that probably keep them at night in their day-to-day life. Just recently we’ve concluded the Aftermarket event and people were hugging Lisa saying “Thank you very much for putting this together, I am so happy that I was here”. So that is success, right?
So you’re right, Åsa, in terms of meeting your potential colleagues or internally gaining some insights so you can change or help in the strategic direction of your company from the end user side. Because I represent my partners mostly, so I’m looking at it from their perspective and for them it is about coming to an event where they are able to build those relationships or initiate those talks. That is the most important reason. I think we keep nailing it and something we are very proud of.
Nina Roper Yearwood (07:27)
We talked about the overall strategic value, especially from the partner perspective, as you have elaborated on, Amjy. And of course, yeah, like you mentioned, we had our Aftermarket event and Copperberg events, the portfolio of it attracts a wide range of profiles, right? From senior leaders in aftermarket services, pricing, field service, spare parts, e-commerce. So all from various corners and parts of interest of the manufacturing world. And it’s like you’ve said, it’s really fascinating that the delegates get a lot of value from the event.
And so I just want to pick your brains a little bit on the peculiarities of certain business groups within manufacturing. Describe to us like the peculiarities of each of them? So what makes certain industries or business groups like those that I’ve mentioned in manufacturing more challenging to engage?
Åsa Karphammar (08:33)
Well, I mean, one thing, there is a difference between events and events, right? I mean, you have the, to use the phrase of our former sales director, you have the nice to know and the need to know events, if we say it that way, where the nice to know events would be like, big expos for example, showing off a lot of different solutions, looking into the future, being very high fly discussions, while we focus mainly on at Copperberg is the need to know.
So we have, should we say, more qualified audience. And usually higher strategic level of the delegates that are joining us, which means also that they are of course really busy. And of course it costs money to travel and, you know, but also the time to spend out of the office is really expensive. I mean, this is a real investment.
So, it’s of course really difficult to meet these people in another way. And for a solution provider to try to meet, let’s say 40 or 50 of them, this is gonna take a year, if not more. Now, you can meet them all in one place.
And I think the key is, that they actually see a value in joining. I mean, they are investing time and money to join us because they actually have an issue that is pressing that they need to solve within whatever vertical that we are talking about.
Amjy Hussain (10:43)
Yeah, and I agree. Just to add to that, most of our events are service industry events, right? And since these are service leaders, the customer is their top priority, right? And so it is definitely them to bring those guys in for discussion. It’s very, it’s kind of challenging because, you know, they could probably be needed in that moment elsewhere.
And then therefore we do have these kinds of challenges where people go, you know, I couldn’t make it to this event because I’ve got a customer problem that came up. So we have built this community that has now a lot of service leaders who are like some real high-end decision-makers, influencers, strategic leaders at the companies. And so the way we kind of overcome is this kind of challenges that we have, I would say a lot in terms of network. I think we’ve got the biggest network of service leaders in our community. And so it has now become an annual gathering place. And this is something that took us time to get there. But now people look up to these Copperberg events annually.
So, that is one place where Copperberg delivers, where I believe, like Åsa was saying in terms of other big shebang events where it is about, maybe publicity and broadcasting just this message about future and these new technologies that coming through. We are more in terms of, from the sales perspective, the guys who would like to meet and sit down and talk to those guys.
Nina Roper Yearwood (12:28)
Okay, Åsa, you want to add or elaborate on that?
Åsa Karphammar (12:35)
Well, no, I mean, I think in general, of course, there is always challenge. Again, time and money. But as long as there is a need, a need for action, so to say, to change something internally, this is why we managed to, should we say, secure our participants at the events.
Nina Roper Yearwood (13:07)
Åsa, we had an interesting conversation a few weeks back about, you mentioned something that really stuck with me about face-to-face communication and how that is so valuable, picking up the phone. Let’s just put on our academic hats and, you know, take it out and look at events from an academic perspective, if we may. So how do events succeed in really engaging the senior leaders where other channels might fall short in general?
Åsa Karphammar (13:45)
Well, again, I mean, think both me and Amjy we’ve been doing this for a very long time. And I think we are both, you know, we prefer to actually talk to people that sit down and write emails back and forth. And, you know, you don’t know if it even reach the right person. So, obviously meeting and talking, I mean, it comes down to in the end of the day, if we’re going to talk sales as such, we look at different kinds of leads, right? So you have the marketing qualified leads and you have the sales qualified leads. Where, I mean, if, of course my marketing department can give me a list of 1000 people and say, okay, here are your leads. And I will be like, oh my God, this was not at all what I wanted.
While if I go to, let’s say an event and I actually speak to 30 or even 15 people that I get to know and I can start conversation with them and then go back and continue on that report, let’s say, let’s call it, then this is of course enormously beneficial. I think, at least.
Amjy Hussain (15:23)
Yeah, I guess I mean to add to that a little bit, I guess traditionally sales has been face-to-face, you know, I mean, people still prefer to book that meeting up, go to the office and sit down or, I don’t know, whatever it is means of meeting in terms of you do it at an event or perhaps at a coffee shop or just go to their office, call them to your office. But we still see a lot of value in face-to-face interaction, taking nothing away from the technology shift, especially since pandemic of digital reach out. There are a lot of tools now that support face-to-face meetings, like what we are doing right now, coming together like this.
But if you ask the software providers or this manufacturing community, they prefer both. There’s a time when they would feel like I just want to listen in, just, you know, perhaps on my way to the office, I just want to watch a video on a certain service business model. And then there’s time where they feel like I need to be there, I need to talk physically with these guys in the network and understand benchmark, you know.
And again, referring back to the Aftermarket event, one of the delegates was like, “It was great to be here because now I understand that I’m not the only one in this problem”. There are others and that, I believe, is the key plus point of having face-to-face communications.
Again, it’s not from one perspective. It is a multifaceted setup that means that it is not just whether you get to know your potential customers for the partners or whether it is understanding what it is that the market wants at the moment. So there’s a lot about in terms of positioning yourself but also taking it back. Again, one of the guys saying the other day, one of my partners was saying the other day, “Was great to be here because now I understand. I was just a listener here to understand what are the pain points. Now I’m going to take this back to my team and say, guys, maybe we are doing good at certain places. But maybe we need to tweak a certain part of our value proposition”.
So this is something that I believe physical face-to-face meetings has that cannot be at the moment with the existing technology replaced.
Åsa Karphammar (18:03)
Yeah, I agree 100%. I mean, in the end of the day, it is one thing to just reach out and send an email to someone on the list, let’s say. But it’s a completely different thing if you can, you know, call someone afterwards after meeting them and say, Hi, you know, I thought about what you were telling me. I’ve been thinking about it. I think maybe there is a solution. Have you thought about doing it this way or how about I pick up some, you know, kanelbullar and swing by your office and let’s discuss it in more detail, you know, it’s a completely different quality on the conversation from both sides.
Nina Roper Yearwood (18:53)
Yeah, so you’re saying here something like a contextualized aspect, right? Of outreach now, more than just like, hey, I can do this and that and why not talk to me, exactly.
Nina Roper Yearwood (19:07)
So that is super fascinating because I was just listening to Amjy touch upon the pandemic accelerating the adoption of technology and sort of really the events industry almost looked like it wasn’t going to survive the pandemic, right? But of course, we as ingenious creatures, as people, we somehow found a way to really, you know, crawl out of that deep dark hole that we were in. And now we have emerged as a much stronger industry.
And I’ve read a lot about it, it was projected to grow, and I also see a lot of event platforms out there coming up with so many different solutions to help partners maximize their participation in an event. So with that said, can you just, from your experience, what are companies doing now to use the data that they have on hand and event tech, for example, to track and enhance their ROI from events?
And another question related to that is, if you can share with us some standout examples where leveraging data or technology significantly impacted their post-event success?
Åsa Karphammar (20:33)
I will leave the technology questions to Amjy!
Nina Roper Yearwood (20:36)
Yes. Take it away, Amjy!
Amjy Hussain (20:40)
So, it was a long question. So, I’m trying to kind of comprehend it. I think the during the pandemic, the shift or the only mode of communication for everyone was the digital way of communication, right?
So you have to understand that these guys were using webinars or some kind of event platform and so on to interact with these people. They gathered that data, that’s true. They now have this lead sheet, if you call it, like, basically it’s a lead, right? From a partner’s perspective, if they do a webinar or any virtual event, they get this set of companies.
For them, it is still vital to be able to build a relationship with them. What I’m trying to say here is that no matter how much data you collect for the companies, especially for the technology providers, it is still extremely important for them to have a mood to meet them physically and have this relationship building. What they’re doing it is the other way around.
So now, after the physical event, for example, you meet someone, there are a lot of partners that we work with right now who feel like nurturing the communications they have had, the contacts they developed from the physical event. We have had partners who look at perhaps creating content that could just be based on the discussions we have had at our physical event, for example. And then they put that together and then as, in a nutshell, like a summary of the event, now they have something to go back to the people they met and say, here is an additional value added piece of content that would give you an overall perspective of what we were discussing.
And we thought these were the key takeaways from this event. And that is what they are doing. So they’re using the digital aspect, which is content creation, or even doing a video recording and then showcasing this to these guys. We do that as well, post-event, we record some videos, for example.
These are very good, nutshelled, short interviews that they are using to touch upon that again. We call that nurturing, a relationship to build on and also to remind them that these are busy guys who come in the next day and they are probably doing something else that extremely important. So just to refresh their memories a little bit. I believe I would look at it from this perspective which means the way they are using the relationships they are building from a physical level and how they are following up with this in the digital way.
The reason why I say this is because it is possible that we could look at it from the other way around which says, how are partners using the data that they have? But if you look at it from the partner’s perspective, they still want to have number one priority is that discussion, that face-to-face discussion with the partners. And then they are happy to have some kind of follow up with them to keep them informed. That’s my take also. What do you think?
Åsa Karphammar (24:41)
Yeah, of course. I mean, in the end of the day, depending again upon what kind of event it is, depending on how many people are going there. Of course, there are these huge massive events with thousands and thousands of people. And of course, it’s important for marketing department to have a big reach and a lot of people in their CRM system, right?
But also as we mentioned throughout the pandemic, I think, when I speak to our customers, many of them say like, we have bulk now, we don’t need more, just, names, numbers, we need to actually get in contact with them. So again, of course, data is really, really good. But yeah, obviously, since I’ve done this such a long time, I believe in events. But I think it is a very valuable tool, a very, you know, important part of the marketing mix. So you need to do both. Of course you can join an event to get data, but I think that data like Amjy was saying is more, you know, in the way of knowledge, customer understanding, rather than the number of people that joined the event, if that makes sense.
Nina Roper Yearwood (26:31)
Yeah, so I think we’ve established here something about qualitative data that is more needed now in order to have contextualized quality, high quality conversations with the people that they really want to connect with.
So this brings me to the question about the knowledge and insights, right, that come out of industry events. What advice would you give to companies sending senior leaders to ensure they maximize the value from those in-depth conversations?
Åsa Karphammar (27:10)
Well, I mean, again, when you look at this kind of conferences or events where you have on one side the sponsors, let’s say the solution providers, the ones who want to show what they can do when they are there as part of their marketing mix, as I mentioned, in order to find new customers. You have that part.
And then you have the delegates who are there in order to learn something, right? So we always need to look at who it is that we’re talking about because they’re there maybe for two different reasons. So yeah, I guess it depends on which side we are talking about.
Nina Roper Yearwood (28:08)
So let’s say from the side of the partners that you regularly engage in. So they send their, like say for example, some partners send their senior leaders to facilitate the round tables, right? And have these topics and get essentially polish up the discussion points at that specific round table. So imagining those people, what advice would you give them so they can really make the most out of the opportunity to have that in-depth conversation in a roundtable?
Åsa Karphammar (28:47)
Well, I would just say, you know, to not sell at the event. I mean, in general, we get really, really good feedback from both our partners, so the solution providers and the delegates, right? And seeing the seniority of our delegates, it just doesn’t make sense to sit at the table and pitch, doing the pitch over and over and over. This would not be useful for anyone.
Amjy Hussain (29:22)
Also, I believe, if I may add something to that, is you got to understand who Copperberg is. There are a lot of events out there, a lot of companies out there. I do not know their motto, but our motto and our core belief is sharing knowledge. So that’s how you look at it. When we do an event, we represent the manufacturing industry. And of course, we love our partners.
But what the event is, is an annual meetup, a closed door workshop, a closed door community meeting between service leaders. Some of them are technology experts, some of them are business experts, some of them are service leaders. They all come together, look at it from different perspectives.
So my advice to our partners is always this, like you come there as part of the community. And in that your role is as a technology company, your role is to see what is the current status of this particular industry, what is lacking, how can you add value and you can do that by listening to the customers and then as I said before, sometimes you already have nailed something and you just need to educate the market about it. Again, this is the same platform for you to do it.
The idea where we look at it from a perspective of creating an ambience that is so light and easy for everybody to just communicate. So the technology partners who join us, they are not there to sell their solutions. They are there to share their knowledge, hear from the company.
So just like an end user, our partner is also there to benchmark, to learn, and share the knowledge. And that is why our partners love us as well because in doing so, you are automatically positioning yourself as a unique seller in a certain aspect, right? If it’s a field service technology company or a supply chain management company, or inventory management company. And because these are all, you got to understand these partners are also very, you know, top end guys. So they understand how to get the best out of a physical event? Nobody’s these days come there and start selling, that’s old school I guess, yeah, and so they come there as consultants.
Now you understand about this how these talking about technology companies are talking about being a partner of the manufacturer and not a solution provider. So they are trying to be that’s like a listening ear to understand what the challenges are and to see how. And then they are also very open to share their stories from their customers and what they have been doing and the challenges the customer faced and so on. So that’s how we look at it and this is what we tell our part, our technology partners, come to this event, just have fun, you know, just have fun because it’s your event, your community event, you belong to this industry and just be there, learn, share and enjoy, you know, and network and just build on relationships.
Åsa Karphammar (32:44)
Yeah, and I also think, I mean, especially if I speak to a new partner, new sponsor who’s joining us for the first time, you know, you need to look at who is at the events, because it also differs who should you send to different events.
If you go to an expo, for example, you might want to send someone who’s very chatty and nice and social and stand and talk and laugh with lot of different people or do demos or whatever it is. While at the Copperberg events, you need to send someone who is matching the level, the seniority and the competence and the expertise of the people who are actually in the room.
So a little bit depending on there as well. I mean, there are some conferences that we do where the audience is very informed in the different technical tools and they have a very clear understanding of digitalisation and all of these words, right?
While we also have part of our audience who might not be from that generation, let’s say, and with them, it would be completely useless to sit and talk technology. This is not the point for them. They need to understand, you know, the value, how to implement it, what changes do they need to make in their business in order to actually, you know, get ROI from investing in this new solution. They’re not interested in what is going on behind.
So that is also really, I think, important when a company decides who should go to what event is to see on what level are you going to talk to the audience.
Nina Roper Yearwood (34:41)
Super interesting, Åsa, I really love that point, the whole thing about matching who you send to, you know, the end user who could be very knowledgeable and I imagine that during these round tables there could be difficult conversations. It’s almost like to borrow from one of the partners. It’s almost like group therapy, described it before. Sharing the common challenges and finding ways to work through it together.
And so my question is, so the event, I think, looks like it is acting as a bridge to kind of, you know, because you have a solution, but does it really help the end user? So the event is a way to kind of understand where you stand to benchmark, like you said earlier. And so, just to be a bit more specific and to also help out partners out there, what do you think they can do with the knowledge that they gather from these events to make it into something tangible for them?
Åsa Karphammar (35:53)
Well, again, I mean, it completely depends on one thing, like Amjy was mentioning to understand the customers and then be able to tweak your solution and the way that you communicate your solution in a more efficient way so that your potential customers understand what it is all about.
Another thing, we’ve had partners who has joined our events that might not even have that kind of solution. For example, we had one company that was focusing mainly on new product development on that part of the organization, the manufacturing organization. And then we were discussing the whole idea of design for service, right?
So they joined our event and they had roundtable discussion about what do they need to do in order to create a new solution. And a couple of years later, I mean, everything takes time, of course, but a couple of years later, they actually had a completely new product that has become really successful.
But of course, that’s maybe a bit drastic, but it all depends on where you are in your product life cycle. We usually talk about very simply three things, why customers or partners come to Copperberg. One thing would be to educate the market, demonstrate the expertise, right? The other one would be the branding to create brand awareness. And then you have the networking part where you actually, you know, actively meet and speak face-to-face.
So it all depends on where you are in your product lifecycle and in what stage, you know, where are you going to put your top priorities for the year, if we say it that way.
Nina Roper Yearwood (38:16)
Okay, so as we begin to wrap up, because while time just flew talking about this, I just also want to ask you just to give us a picture of event partner expectations, what’s changing. So what are companies demanding now from event organizers to ensure that their participation is worth the investment?
Åsa Karphammar (38:45)
Again, I mean, it’s about what is ROI? What is it that you are measuring? Again, this can differ depending on if you speak to the marketing department or if you’re talking to the sales department, right? I mean, you’re being measured in different ways, but in the end of the day, of course, ROI would be money, right? Do you get customers?
So, less and less, I mean, before it was more important how many delegates we had, for example. Now it’s more important that the organizations that are joining us are on their target list, let’s say, of potential customers. It used to be really important for a lot of companies to have speaking sessions and, you know, who had the biggest booth. If they had two meters or three meters and they brought walls and it was this and that, you know, at our events, at least now, this is not at all what is important. We don’t even have expos anymore because it’s all about, again, the quality of the conversation. So yeah, I mean, it has changed quite a bit for us, at least, the way that we work and what we offer.
Amjy Hussain (40:09)
Yeah, I think I could add to that a little bit. Spot on there from Åsa is that the partner’s expectations have changed as well. And it was, I believe, it’s a journey that we have been together on partners and us. We had to educate them a little bit. We understood what they wanted.
We used to do, if you remember the roundtable format before where there was, you know, it was not the best sort of feature sometimes because some delegates thought that it was not the right discussion point and so on. So we had to figure out the aesthetics of it to nail a format that fits well. And what we have now, the Power of 50 event, as I keep saying, we can only talk about Copperberg Power of 50 event, and these are not marketing events. These are sales and R&D events is how I look at it.
So I often say that this would actually come from a sales budget not a marketing budget, like Åsa said, we have no booth. We’ve had those issues where partner says I want a three meter roll-up, but what are they gonna do standing there? The discussions are inside the room, so like, you can, whatever, you know, and then there were some partners who showed up just with like no roll-up at all and they had like equal fun or even, you know, more so the point here is that the partners, when I talk to the marketing managers in the company, so back in the days, they would go, how many people? Number one, the quantity mattered a lot. Like how many?
Åsa Karphammar (41:47)
Yeah, they are buying per kilo almost.
Amjy Hussain (41:51)
Exactly. And so now, even now, the big companies, they take time to change, right? So the big companies are still working the old school style. So they look at an event like this and go, but how many people? I’m like 50. But that’s too little for us. Right, because that’s not their style, right? It doesn’t mean that the event is bad or they are wrong. It’s just that different horses for courses, right? It’s not their cup of tea because they’re, if you think about the global brands without name dropping, the global brands, they probably would just sponsor the airport or, you know, or maybe host the biggest trade show in the world in Dubai, but would not probably…
And I was like, if you’re going to do that, don’t you see a value in networking with our delegates on our side? They were like, probably not, because it’s not their mode of communication. You know, they’re into different way of building up relationship with customer. So for us, it is about our marketing managers that we speak to at our partner companies. Now they go, we understand. The most important thing, as Åsa said, is like, our accounts present there? So they look at who has been attending. These are the kind of companies we would like to network with, talk to them, right?
So that is okay. So it’s not like the more the merrier, it is the quality of the, I guess, what matters more is job title now, meaning like the seniority of the guys, which is, we are a network of senior business leaders, you know, Copperberg has, takes a lot of pride in doing so. We don’t have backpackers attending the event. We have people who are really senior people, if not the decision-maker, they are influencers, they are not users of the systems, they are mostly drivers of the systems, and so they have a high stake up there.
So I guess what they expect from us is to deliver on the ability to help these companies engage in the discussions with the right people. And we keep doing so.
I think post pandemic, Power of 50, is a unique brand. I think we should patent it the way Copperberg does it. Nobody else does it. We are proud of it. And it is no glitter in terms of big exhibitions areas or nothing fancy. Everything happens in one room. You go in there. That’s how service leaders like it. That’s how our partners like it. That’s how we like it.
Åsa Karphammar (44:16)
Well, I mean, I would love to do one big event per year, maybe, you know, where you have the dinner and the award ceremony.
Amjy Hussain (44:26)
I like that as well. Yeah.
Åsa Karphammar (44:29)
Yeah, that would be nice as well!
Amjy Hussain (44:34)
But the reason for that would be different, right? The outcome there is different. It’s like what are you trying to achieve? This is a different output. I just keep saying this is for sales. That would be probably for marketing kind of right, which is like broadcasting and also maybe brand awareness and building the brand value where you want to showcase the power of your brand, I believe. I mean, do you remember, Åsa, when people like if you do this event we will do it with a keynote otherwise we won’t do it because what otherwise we look too small, you know?
Åsa Karphammar (45:06)
Yeah, or otherwise we don’t get our message across because they didn’t manage to speak to enough people. So they had to speak in front of everyone. Otherwise they didn’t feel that they were being heard, which is not at all a problem. If we say it that way, it’s not that all the issue now, the people who the companies who wants to speak at our events now actually, you know, who invests extra to be on stage.
I mean very often has something new that they maybe want to tell about or they’re doing a rebranding or they’ve done some research that they want to share with everyone. But to just stand there and talk about your solution, you know, it doesn’t give value to anyone. I always thought obviously that Copperberg were making great events being here since 2009.
But yeah, I agree with Amjy, the Power of 50 concept does create a different atmosphere. I mean, we always had a great community and people really enjoyed coming to our events and they’ve always been like, thank you so much and hugging, you know, when they’re leaving.
But yeah, the conversation, the quality of, you know, we have this turning knowledge into action for the manufacturing industry. This is what we want to do in order to actually know, you know, pick up a couple of things that you will actually change tomorrow when you’re back in the office in order to move forward. Rather than being enormously inspired about, oh, we can put down, we can pick down the moon with this new solution. That’s amazing.
And then you go back to your office and you sit down and you think like, okay, and now what? It sounds great, but now what do I do? This is something that we want to avoid with these kind of events.
Amjy Hussain (47:13)
Also, one last thing I want to add, I know we are running out of time, but this is important if ever any marketing managers are listening to this in future from a technology side, is that Copperberg has seen the evolution at our events, the evolution of e-commerce, field service, pricing…
Åsa Karphammar (47:23)
IoT was a huge thing. Yeah.
Amjy Hussain (47:38)
Now the late IoT, and now sustainability. So when we started with the one big event called Aftermarket. I don’t know like our partners are like, we want to talk about spare parts individually. So we then had this Spare Parts event. Do you remember the time also when people started talking about e-commerce in B2B spare parts? And so we would always have a topic dedicated to that in the event.
And then we, so we take a lot of pride. We all often call ourselves as generalists in, least I do, I’m a generalist in this industry, but also be working in the industry for so long, seeing so many trends becoming first, hypes becoming trends, and then becoming the go to market strategy and also the mainstay.
This is something that the technology companies could look at saying, the Copperberg events are almost academic educational events as well. So you would come there, you would probably not have heard about something before and you’d come to this event you would realize, okay, I heard about e-commerce being, you know, the next big thing but I did not understand so many companies are working on it at the current stage and they are a little immature at the moment so maybe we can help them and so this is what has happened at our events and this is one key reason, the reason why I said this also to very efficiently try and promote my sustainability when that’s coming up on 5th of December.
We are trying to now educate our partners to understand the value of or the importance of this subject. It is not about you suddenly, I cannot expect, I don’t expect a field service technology provider to turn into a sustainability solution provider, but I expect them to understand that this is something for service guys. This is important because they are no mandate to work on this.
And so they should be there to learn as I keep saying to educate themselves and then perhaps you have something with you already that you can help them with or maybe you need to tweak your offering a little bit and then you can help them with but be a part of this journey.
So Copperberg, one of the big takeaways for our partners and from our events is they become part of a journey that they feel they are, but when they attend the event, they realize, I didn’t know that sustainability is such an important topic for these guys. There is so much that’s happening. We thought it’s a buzzword. So this is one thing that I definitely believe the marketing managers at least should look at it from that perspective. And obviously, there’s ROI for them as well in turn. They are talking to their potential clients.
Nina Roper Yearwood (50:29)
Fantastic. OK, one final question. As event industry veterans, let’s just zoom out a little bit and, you know, give it an academic approach again. When it comes to measuring success, and I know Åsa mentioned leads per kilo before and the difference of that with, you know, tweaking your value proposition and all of that.
So what realistic benchmarks or KPIs should solution providers be tracking to assess whether the event delivered?
Åsa Karphammar (51:17)
Well, I mean, yeah, quite a lot. I mean, anyone, Amjy mentioned, for example, that we’ve had quite a couple of times companies that have even, you know, signed the papers on-site with a new customer. I mean, this is not realistically not going to happen like that at our events because Copperberg community, I mean, very large global manufacturing organizations, it’s not going to go that fast, right? So sometimes it might take years to see that kind of ROI, if we say that way, because the timeline of the deal is very, very long, let’s say.
But yeah, if you manage to meet your potential customers on-site, but you also have the need to meet customers that you already have. So it’s really difficult, I would say. Amjy, what do you think?
Amjy Hussain (52:26)
I would actually say to counter that I would say what are the KPIs partners should not measure as well? For example, I call them next year and they go well if you didn’t close any business from the leads like also was saying well it’s not, that’s unfortunately, that’s not up to me, that’s up to you.
My job is, you got to check me, my KPI should be did I deliver the right quality of the audience? Were these people senior service leaders, for example, as I promised you I would deliver? Were they talking about the right pain points? Were the discussions on the table the right kind of discussion on the table? Did you have interaction on-site with everybody?
I mean, as simple as that, right? You look at the contract that I signed up with someone and so you should look at my contract and go, OK, so you say you’ll give me delegate list at the end of the event and you will say you would give me networking time. And then I deliver on the deliverables. That is my KPI. And then to expect to come back and go, well, I did not close any business. I don’t think the event was so good for me last time.
As I keep saying, the follow-up is equally important. We give you a platform, we lower the threshold for you so you can openly, without having to meet them in their office, where they know you’re going to pitch them and so there’s a little bit of, as my mentor and guru would say, having the guard up. Here, the guard is low. Relax, enjoy, they’re having fun, they’re discussing and so you can leverage that in terms of trying to position yourself as a thought leader in this area.
My KPI, I often say to my clients, judge me on, first of all, we set the expectations, which is what should you expect from this event? You should expect not more than 40, 45 people. I will never say Power of 50 went to be 100 people because the format is not supporting that. It would be that. It would be whether there was enough time for you to network with the delegates. Yes, there is. And at the end of the day, I would say, how did you feel? Like at the end of the day, if the partners feel like, I’m so happy, then that’s happy factor.
You know, when you enter a shop these days when you buy and you’re leaving, there’s this little pedestal that says how happy were you, like smiley and sad face and so on, right? And so when our partners leave, they’re really happy. They say, bye bye, see you next year. Almost everybody says that and they leave. So that is how you should measure us, I guess.
Åsa Karphammar (55:32)
Yeah. Well, in general we have very, very loyal partners. I mean, at Copperberg. So we obviously do something right. They do get ROI, otherwise they wouldn’t come back to us. And of course, you know, I’m going to say that, to just join once, you know, of course it’s valuable still. But of course, we see that the customers like the partners who are coming back year after year, I mean, they get more more ROI almost being continuous working with us and especially also with, because then you start seeing the fruit from the person you met five years ago, let’s say.
Also, a lot of the partners that we work with are doing more than just our events in order to be, you know, to have an ongoing conversation with their potential customers throughout the year, not just a one time splash.
If the delegates know who you are already beforehand through a case study or something like this, or afterwards, like Amjy said, we’re doing an interview and then go out with this towards our community. I mean, it’s the continuous conversation is also really, really important, I would say. And this you could create much like really high ROI with maybe a little bit less money if you just invest a little bit more time than only that specific day, I would say.
Amjy Hussain (57:33)
Also, yeah, that is so true actually. So it’s about, a day before, for example, we have social networking delegates show up there. Like, are you gonna, some of the partners are there and like, are you taking some of these guys out for dinner? It’s like, I didn’t think about it. That’s like opportunity missed, right? So like you have an opportunity.
Åsa Karphammar (57:52)
Some of them don’t even show up. We stand there with all these people, right? And then the partner flies in in the morning and then leaves before the event is over.
Amjy Hussain (57:57)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I know, you’ve said, Nina, about a sort of an academic view, but I want to say from a Copperberg perspective only because we are like that company that designs tailored suits, you know, that designs had like a Maybach, for example, that will design your car for you. But that’s a luxurious car, right? And so our team being on-site, we take personal interest in following our partners. We are small team like that, but we take so much personal interest. I don’t know how many out there I’m pretty sure others do that as well. So that is also one thing that is a non-tangible that the partners get in return.
Remember that we come with this experience of so many years, so we know what would work and so, if we tell our partner, like, I think you should take them out for dinner, because we say this from experience. It really matters. The next day now, you have an advocate on the table when you’re discussing something of importance.
And the last thing I want to say was that the physical event, the way we do it, for our manufacturing community and our technology partner is, let’s say, an annual gathering. And so our partners should look at it from that perspective. Like we should. The delegates look at it from a once a year meeting that they look up to, they come to. They should make themselves available to be a part of it.
We have another problem, actually. We actually have to say no to no partners because we can only get five per event, you know. And so we have to say no. So we start planning 2026 now, for example, having sold out everything.
So that is one thing that I would like to let my partners know or potential partners know.
Åsa Karphammar (1:00:10)
Anyone who’s been sitting here listening for over an hour to us talking.
Nina Roper Yearwood (1:00:18)
Exactly! Yeah, let’s wrap up with those really interesting points about, you know, looking at events, industry events from a different perspective and really emphasizing the power of building a community and breaking down those walls to have real honest conversations about things that matter for the business.
Thank you so much, Åsa and Amjy, for being with us today!
Amjy Hussain (1:00:53)
Thank you, Nina, for the opportunity. It was lovely talking about stuff with you. Thanks, Åsa, for joining us.
Åsa Karphammar (1:00:59)
Thank you, Amjy! It was great talking to you too! And Nina, I hope you have a nice rest of the day as well.
