Waste+Expo+Final+Paper

Waste Expo is a conference and an exposition. The three E’s of marketing are entertainment, excitement, and enterprise which are critical to event success. For entertainment, Waste Expo is having a welcome reception. For excitement, an inspirational breakfast and awards will be held, and for enterprise there is a mack driving skills safety challenge. In addition to the three E’s of marketing, there are also 5 P’s, product, price, place, public relations, and press release. The product is Waste Expo 2009, the largest solid waste and recycling tradeshow serving both private and public sectors. The price of Waste Expo for the full event if purchased before May 8, 2009 is $645 for members and $815 for nonmembers. This includes 3 days of Waste Expo education sessions, the Landfill Operations for Managers Workshop, the Route Auditing for Experts Workshop, 3 boxed lunch discussions, 3 days of Waste Expo exhibits, and 1 ticket to the Welcome Reception. After May 8th, the price rises to $720 for members and $890 for nonmembers. One day packages can also be purchased for $230 for members and $290 for nonmembers before May 8th. After that date, the prices rise $30 each. Tickets can also be purchased for individual events for $135 per member and $150 for nonmember. The place of the Waste Expo 2009 is the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. The welcome reception is being held at the Paris Las Vegas. There isn’t a designated hotel for guests attending Waste Expo to stay. However, there are discounts to several hotels exclusively through the Waste Expo Travel Desk. There is a link on the website to reserve a room or a toll free number to call. Hotel reservations are due by May 12, 2009. The Waste Expo Travel Desk is also offering discounted airfare through American Airlines. Avis car rental is also offering discounts to participants of Waste Expo. There will be a shuttle provided between the convention center and Waste Expo hotels. For public relations there is a “contact us” link with several different contacts in several different areas. For the press release portion please see attached. The final P of marketing is positioning. There are not any similar conventions or conferences going on about waste at the same time as Waste Expo. However, there are several other conference venues happening in Las Vegas at the same time as Waste Expo. Some of the bigger conferences going on are the Special Forces Association, the National Notary Association, and the National Association of Colleges and Employers. However, none of the conferences come close in attendance with Waste Expo, at 16,000 attendees. A qualitative and quantitative survey has been attached in the appendix for review. Many attendees sometimes cut out early of conventions and conferences. In order to defeat early departure Waste Expo 2009 is offering a live equipment auction. Donated equipment and specialty items are auctioned by a professional auctioneer to the highest bidder at EREF’s, Environmental Research and Education Foundation, biggest fundraising event of the year. There is also an inspirational breakfast and awards the last day of the conference, with motivational speaker, David Roche. There are five important questions that must be answered when marketing an event. The first is what. Waste Expo is the largest solid waste and recycling tradeshow serving both public and private sectors in North America. Waste Expo 2009 is being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. It is being held June 8-11, 2009. One should attend the Waste Expo 2009 to keep ahead of the curve and plan for the future by staying aware of the latest trends, technologies, and issues the industry is facing. Presentations by industry experts focus on the current trends, issues, and opportunities facing both the public and private sectors. Anyone in the private and/or public sectors of waste are invited to attend. Private refuse firms or independent contractors, including landfill owner/operators, government employees in the sectors of municipalities, county agencies, regional authorities, and special districts, general contractors, trucking professionals, landfill professionals, equipment manufacturers, distributors and dealers, legal, insurance and financial firms are all attendees who would benefit from Waste Expo. Waste Expo has the option of registering online or registering by mail. To begin the online registration process you must first decide if you are registering as a member or as a nonmember. After choosing your status, there are six steps to the online registration process. The first step is filling out your name and address. The second step is registrant profile. Next is the package selection. Then follows, to review your information. The next step is payment information. The final step is a thank you. Waste Expo is using X-Press Event Convention Data Services to process payments and registrations. Waste Expo’s website address is //www.**wasteexpo**.com/.// I feel that this is an acceptable URL address. The opening page of the website is very eye grabbing. There is a lot of information, pictures, and quotes from previous attendees. The Waste Expo website does not include a section of FAQ’s. There is also not an option to make Waste Expo’s website your home page. Waste Expo does not have an actual newsletter. However, Waste Age Magazine is accessible online through the website. The website is easy and fast to navigate. There aren’t any pages that load slowly. There are not any free offers on the Waste Expo website. In order to increase attendance, I would offer a Taylormade golf bag. This would increase attendance for both the expo and the ancillary event. The golf bag is priced at $186. I would offer to give away six. There are a couple of ads on the right hand of the screen. Caterpillar and RDK are the two biggest ads on the Waste Expo website. The ads are very attention seeking. However, there is no option to purchase ad space on their website. There are several Ezines that would be appropriate to advertise Waste Expo 2009 in. One ezine that I would advertise in would be Environmental Ezine. Environmental Ezine would be an appropriate choice because Waste Expo deals with how to expose of waste in an environmentally friendly way. Waste Expo has also added a lot of green initiatives this year that would also benefit the environment. A second ezine that Waste Expo could be featured in is Recycle Now Partners Ezine. Since Waste Expo is a waste and recycling tradeshow, getting the word out is very useful. Recycle Now Partners would draw in a lot of attendees. Waste Expo is very easily found on the web. Even if one is unable to remember the name of the expo or the website, a few simple words will bring up Waste Expo. The five words that I would use to find Waste Expo on a search engine would be waste, convention, expo, sanitation, and recycling. When using the search engine, //Google,// Waste Expo was the first item to come up. Using partnerships and affiliates, there are several opportunities to trade links with. I would definitely choose to trade links with the Discovery channel. They have a link plantgreen.discovery.com that has several articles and information on recycling. This would help promote the green initiatives that Waste Expo is taking. I would also want to trade links with Mack Trucks. Their website is macktrucks.com. This would be beneficial to both parties because people searching for sanitation and garbage trucks would gain knowledge by attending Waste Expo. A third party to affiliate with would be 1800GotJunk.com. This website offers disposal services to everybody in needed of trash removal. There are several personnel to contact at Waste Expo if there are any questions. There is a contact us link in the top right hand corner on the Waste Expo website. Listed on the contact us page is everyone from the show director, to marketing, to sales directors, to general registration. Every contact’s name is a link to their e-mail. There are also options to e-mail for registration help at registration@penton.com. All contacts also have a phone number for a more direct connection. There are not many loss leader events that Waste Expo is hosting. Almost every event happening at Waste Expo is a separate charge. There was only one event that I found on the Waste Expo Website that is free of charge and it is only offered to international attendees. It is the international reception, offering cocktails for networking purposes. Other than the international reception, Waste Expo is charging all attendees for the events that they wish to be present at. There are several individual events that make up Waste Expo. The first event of the conference is the Welcome Reception. The welcome reception is located at the Paris Las Vegas. The reception will include food, fun, and several networking opportunities. The Welcome Reception is sponsored by Caterpillar. Another event that is being offered at Waste Expo is the Mack Driving Skills Safety Challenge. Mack Driving Skills Safety Challenge is a series of seven events including pre-trip inspection, turning radius, and reversing accuracy. Mack is sponsoring the Mack Driving Skills Safety Challenge. The International Reception is being sponsored by Harris and Marathon Equipment/NEXGEN. This is the only event that does not cost extra money to attend. It is free to all international attendees. The EREF, Environmental Research and Educational Foundation is holding its 15th Annual Equipment Auction, Silent Auction, and Raffle. This event is sponsored by Perkins Manufacturing. KRD trucking is donating the vehicle for raffle this year. Seed money is money that is needed to start up an event. Since this is not Waste Expo’s first year, seed money is not required. However, cash reserves serves as a cash resource from year to year from an existing or long-running event that has a budget. Waste Expo might need cash reserves for reserving the days of the conference. When they book a venue, a deposit is usually required. Cash reserves would be needed for this until attendee revenue has accumulated. There is no information located within Waste Expo on how to become a sponsor. All of their sponsors are listed within the website. Their level of involvement is also stated within Waste Expo website. There are two main sponsors of the entire event of Waste Expo, Waste Age and NSWMA (National Sold Waste Managemnt Association) and WASTEC (Waste Equipment Technology Association). The partners of Waste Expo include Veolia, Castrol, Heil, Marathon, Big Truck Rental, Labrie, O’Brian, RDK, and Wastequip. The supporting organization is EREF, the Environmental Research and Educational Foundation. Their corporate sponsors are AUTOCAR TRUCK, Castrol, Caterpillar, Desert Micro, Wastequip, RDK, O’Brian, Marathon, Leadpoint, and Harris. There is definitely a connection within the sponsors of Waste Expo. All the sponsors, partners, and supporting organizations are industry related. Practically every one of the companies that are sponsors or partners deal with waste equipment and disposal. One sponsor that Waste Expo is not dealing with that I thought would be highly appropriate is Waste Management. Waste Management, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. The company is strongly committed to a foundation of financial strength, operating excellence and professionalism. Through Waste Management’s resources and experiences they actively pursue projects and initiatives that benefit the waste industry, the communities they serve and the environment. Waste Management works to make a positive difference for the environment in every aspect of its business. Another sponsor that would be beneficial to Waste Expo that is not in sponsorship is the US Environmental Protection Agency. They have an entire chapter that is dedicated specifically to waste. EPA has established a variety of targeted partnerships to meet the Resource Conservation Challenge. They are establishing and expanding many partnerships with business and organizations, industries, States and local governments, tribes, and other entities to effectively manage materials and to reduce waste. These partnerships are providing smarter, faster ways to safeguard our environment. One of the main sponsors of waste expo is Waste Age Magazine. Waste Expo is sponsored by //Waste Age//, the business magazine for waste industry professionals. //Waste Age// is the leading publication covering all segments of the waste industry. Every month, //Waste Age// delivers a comprehensive analysis of news, trends, products, people and events that have important business implications for a professional subscriber base consisting of private contractors, municipal government decision-makers and engineering consultants. The return investment with sponsoring with Waste Age is that they have such a broad base of readers. It would increase knowledge of Waste Expo greatly within the industry. There are a couple hospitality opportunities to use as a bargaining tool to entice sponsors for Waste Expo. There is an inspirational breakfast and awards with motivational speaker, David Roche. Another hospitality opportunity would be the boxed lunch discussions. These lunches would give company leaders the opportunity to see the advantages of becoming a sponsor. One sponsor that I would encourage to product samples to Waste Expo would be Waste Age Magazine. I would encourage Waste Age to bring samples of their magazines. I think that the magazine if very beneficial to the industry. It is also very widely read and accepted. Waste Age provides an extreme amount of information on equipment used in the industry. Waste Age could also give away something small for people to remember them such as pens or magnets. I would suggest that Waste Age distribute their magazines and small promotional item at the door as attendee enter the tradeshow. I would use a promotional sticker for my direct mailings. I would keep my sticker very simple. The information that I would include on my sticker would be the logo, which is the name of the convention, the date of the convention, and where it is located. I think that the simplicity of the sticker will look more professional. I would place the sticker on the outside of the envelope for greater exposure. The color of my sticker would be a white background. It would be 2” by 3”. For 10,000 stickers it would be $670. The stickers would be made out of white vinyl. Waste Expo has a link to download the brochure from their website. I have also received on in the mail by request. There is a lot of useful information in the brochure. There is not any history listed in the brochure. However, this is the 41st annual Waste Expo tradeshow. There are several key features and benefits that Waste Expo is offering. Waste Expo is offering a slue of conferences in many different areas. There will be information sessions on everything from recycling, to green management, to accounting and finance, to labor and employment. There are also several networking opportunities such as the inspirational breakfast and the international reception as well as a welcome reception. A schedule of the events is included in the appendix. I think that the brochure is very nicely done. The text is pretty consistent throughout. However, they do use different fonts to emphasize some of the major events. There are logos of all their sponsors which does get a little tedious within the brochure. Waste Expo’s brochure includes the registration information. This is also included within the appendix and briefly explained earlier in chapter 2. There is a discount for members and for early registration. The deadline for early registration is May 8, 2009. There are not housing documents included within the brochure. However, there are instructions for making housing arrangement. The Waste Expo Travel Desk has secured discounted rates for Waste Expo participants with several area hotels. In order to make hotel reservations, you can visit the travel page on the Waste Expo website or you can contact the Waste Expo Travel Desk at 1-800-727-2467 or 312-527-7300 or you can send an e-mail to wasteexpo@ttgonline.com. For first choice reservations, the sooner you book, the better. Hotel reservations deadlines are May 12, 2009. Shuttle busses will provide transportation between the official Waste Expo hotels and the Las Vegas Convention Center, excluding those within walking distance. American Airline is the official carrier for Waste Expo 2009. There are special discount available through the Waste Expo Travel desk. If you decide to use your won travel agency, you can reference American Airlines A3919SS to receive the discounts. The brochure also gives American Airlines phone number, 1-800-433-1790. Discounts are also available on JetBlue by going directly to the JetBlue website and referencing the event code waste2009. Avis car rental is also offering exclusive discounts to Waste Expo 2009 participants. Waste Expo does offer special assistance for those who do not speak English. There are separate registration and information forms in other languages. There is not a specific testimonial on the Waste Expo website. However, there are several different quotes from previous attendees. I found a testimonial from a different website. The quotes and testimonial are included in the appendix. I have developed an ad from the information from the brochure. This has also been included within the appendix. With this ad, the ROI, return on investment, method that I would use is measuring increase in sales of sponsor’s products or services. I think that this method would provide the most useful information for the purpose of Waste Expo. Two ideas that I would use for future advertising would be a publication and an association website. I would place an ad in Waste Age Magazine. The size of the ad would be a quarter page. There is not pricing listed within Waste Age. However there are several contacts in order to receive this information. The association website that I would advertise Waste Expo on is the EPA website. I feel that a lot of people that are concerned or involved with waste and recycling visit this site. There is also not information for posting an ad on their website. However, I would just create a small ad on the right hand of the screen. Waste Expo is in a centrally located location. Waste Expo has been held in Las Vegas in previous years. Waste Expo has always had a great turn out. There isn’t much competition with Waste Expo because it is the largest waste and recycling tradeshow in North America. Waste Expo also features the Medical Waste Conference and the Fluid Power Conference and Expo within their tradeshow. It is very difficult to compete with Waste Expo. There was only one competitor I could find doing a lot of research. A competitor to Waste Expo might be NAWTEC, North American Waste-to-Energy Conference which is a waste conference that is held from May 18-20, 2009. NAWTEC is a threat in that it is the same category and approximately the same time. However, NAWTEC is located in Chantilly, VA. It is also on a much smaller scale. Weather has never been an issue in the past for Waste Expo. However, it is a whole new ball game this year. New in 2009, Waste Expo is featuring outdoor exhibits. There is a contract for the outdoor exhibitors. However, it only addresses the fact if the exhibitor cancels. There is no discussion of weather pertaining issues. If it were to rain, the outside exhibitors would have to move inside if there was room or they would have to put up tents. Registration pricing is addressed in chapter one. The price ranges from $645 -$720 for a member and $815-$890 for a nonmember. A listing of the prices is included in the Appendix. Discounts are offered if participants register before a specific date. These are also included in chapter one and the Appendix. Entertainment that will be available to the attendees of Waste Expo is the Welcome Reception. It is held at the Paris Las Vegas and is sixty dollars to attend. The Welcome Reception is held on the first night and will provide food, fun, and countless networking opportunities. There are not any giveaways at Waste Expo. However, Waste Expo is raffling off a 2005 Harley-Davidson Thunder Mountain motorcycle at the EREF 15th Annual Equipment Auction, Silent Auction, and Raffle. There is not a unique name or logo for Waste Expo. I think that Waste Expo uses a very straight forward logo and has a very appropriate name. I think that the simpler the better. It is better to be simple and professional then to be gaudy and discourage attendees from a obnoxious design. Waste Expo does offer a fundraising event. It is the EREF, Environmental Research and Educational Foundation’s 15th Annual Equipment Auction, Silent Auction, and Raffle. They are raffling off tickets to win a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Tickets are $100 each and there is a limit to 6 tickets per person. It is not included what the money is being raised for. Waste Expo has to keep up with the times in order to keep up with attendance. A leading trend that Waste Expo is participating in is green initiatives. It is advertised on the homepage in a bold star. Going green has been a big topic in America recently. Waste Expo is increasing its green initiatives, providing a more eco-friendly expo while supporting the sustainability efforts put forth by you, the solid waste and recycling industry. Waste Expo is conscious of the need to reduce our environmental impact and we’re excited to be able to implement these green efforts. Because of the struggling economy, there are several actions that can be implemented in order to increase attendance at Waste Expo. One action that Waste Expo could take is to work with the businesses. With the networking opportunities, the Waste Expo welcome reception could be a place to inquire about companies that are hiring. It could be a job search opportunity for some. Another way to help with the decline in the economy could be to offer discounts to participants that have attended for at least five years. Although Waste Expo offers a discount for early registration, they could do more with the discount. The third way to attract attendees during a downward economy would be to offer a steeper discount for earlier registration. As the registration date gets close, the discount gets smaller. This incentive would encourage early registration and would secure a significant amount of attendees.
 * Chapter 1 **
 * Chapter 2 **
 * Chapter 3 **
 * Chapter 4 **
 * Chapter 5 **
 * Chapter 7 **
 * Chapter 8 **