When Data Met Strategy: A  Love  Story

Erin Berry

Joseph Colangelo

…with

Erin BerryVP, Marketing & CommunicationsBoardSource

@ErinJonesBerry @JoeColangelo

Joseph ColangeloCEO & Co-FounderBear Analytics

The  Situation

Meet Erin Berry

New to BoardSourceexecutive teamTasked with marketing & growing the BoardSourceLeadership Forum (BLF)Lover of data

@ErinJonesBerry

BoardSource Leadership Forum

Largest BoardSource event: ~$600k in annual revenuePremier event in the nonprofit board education spaceStaff HUGELY invested in show production

The Hurdles

1. Dirty data2. Didn’t know what we had3. No defined budget for analysis4. NO TIME!

A  Quick  Note  on  Dirty  Data

125,000+ data points

$3M+in total revenue

3 separate data sources

Exhibit Sales

Sponsorship

Registration

9

Tip #1Don’t be scared of dirty data!

Tackling Dirty Data

Exhibit Sales

Sponsorships

Individual Registration

ü Disparate systems

ü Duplicate company records

ü Strong email collection

ü Open field text job titlesEx: CEO, Chief Executive, C.E.O.

Key  Findings

Topline Stats

1,024

708849

616

808 787

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Tota

l Reg

istr

ants

(5.4%)  CAGR

47% decline in number of Exhibitors

13% increase in Total Revenues

↓

↓

62% 54%

2009 2013

Change in Percentage of RegRevenues

23% decline in number of Registrants

↓

2015

983

2,909%

394%111% 50% 25% 26%

0%

500%

1,000%

1,500%

2,000%

2,500%

3,000%

3,500%

1%Year% 2%Years% 3%Years% 4%Years% 5%Years% 6%Years%

2,909

Uniq

ue In

divid

uals

200

8-20

13

394111 50 25 26

83%

6%

Retention & Loyalty Issues Tip #2Event loyalty & retention measures your event’s brand strength.

BoardSource's most loyal organizations contribute

57% more revenue than less loyal organizations.

~20% of individual registrants are retained

year-over-year

Percentage of Paid Registrants

2008 2013

Perc

enta

ge o

f Re

gist

rant

s W

ho P

aid

76%

63%

84% 80% 78%71%

Members24%

Non-Members

76%

Members73%

Non-Members

27%

Non-Members contribute

34% MORE in registration

revenue than Members

2015

75%

Turning  Things  Around

Evolution in Strategy

Better content | New leaders | New content

More sessions: Dynamic | Interactive

Highlight 2015 with a new reception – New Orleans style!

ONLY FOCUS ON 2-3 Recommendations

1. Improve attendee retention

2. Diversify exhibitor base

3. Use event as brand exposure for membership

Key Results2015 BLF was the largest event for BoardSourcesince the recession!200+ attendees from 2014 came in 2015!75% of registrations were PAID!Huge jump in non-member registrations

2014 and Beyond

We wanted to be more data-driven and this engagement made our senior leadership even hungrier for it!

Questions?