NBAA11 Mobile App Raises the Bar High for All Future Aerospace Shows September 29, 2011
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, eBusiness Applications/Services, International Business Development, iPhone, Management, Social Media.Tags: Aerospace, eBusiness, International Business, iPhone, Social Media
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If you read my critique of previous Aerospace trade shows, I have always said that exhibitors needed to do more with technology to get noticed at such events. Attendees have a limited amount of time to spend in the expo hall and they will be armed with a predetermined list of booths to visit. I am a big fan of mobile apps, and I have been looking forward to the possibilities of making trade show going a much more efficient experience. But so far, I have been disappointed with what has come out. For example, the 2011 Paris Air Show app was far less that exciting. However all of that changed this week.
For the 64th Annual Meeting in Last Vegas next month, NBAA has just released the official NBAA11 trade show app that sets the bar very high for all future large aerospace events. The FREE app, created by Core-Apps and available for iPhone, Blackberry and Android, is nothing short of brilliant. Finally!
FIVE BEST THINGS ABOUT THE NBAA11 MOBILE APP
- No Internet Connection Needed – When you open the app, it updates the information if you have an internet connection. But to use the app, no connection is required. Everything is already there! Exhibitor info, maps, documents, news, twitter feed, etc… are all available as of the time of your last connection. This is an absolute requirement for large shows where connectivity is usually very difficult to maintain.
- Booth Categories and Map – You can find exhibitors easily through an alphabetical directory or a category directory. This is very efficient. For example, if you are looking for a new base of operation, you can easily find in a list all the airport representatives at the show. You can then jump to a zoom-able map, exhibitor contact info, description, and (if you have connectivity) their website.
- Booth Tagging, Tracking and Notes – In preparation for the show, you can tag the booths you would like to visit and create notes for the topics you would like to discuss. Once in Vegas, you can update the notes as you visit the exhibitors and flag the booths you have seen. At the end of the day or the show, you can email yourself all your notes for follow-up or reporting.
- Events List with Personal Calendar – The app comes with a personal calendar for the days of the show. From the conference agenda, you can add the sessions that interest you to the calendar, then add your own meetings. And if your meeting will take place at a booth, the app will add the location information automatically.
- Central access to important document and feeds – From the main menu, you can also access important documents, YouTube videos, and the NBAA Facebook page. This is a very convenient way to have all the event information in a central location although some of these features do require connectivity.
THREE THINGS THAT COULD MAKE THE APP EVEN BETTER
- Trending and Social Networking – Since the app knows the exhibitors that are tagged and visited, I would love to see trending on a map. Rating and/or public notes could be additional information collected by the app. This would be a great way to find hot products or important innovations. If that trending can further be curtailed by my sector of interest, the opinion of renowned experts, or by the habits of the “friends” I have connected with (perhaps through LinkedIn), we could start seeing some interesting efficiencies.
- Booth Tagging of News – As news gets submitted to NBAA over the wire or via press partners, the items could be tagged with the relevant booth numbers to make them available directly from the booth page. This would allow visitors to see the latest items relevant to the exhibitor right as they approach the booth.
- Check-in and Directions – “Visited” flags are great, but “Check-ins” are better. It would allow visitors to keep track of where they have been, but also to provide them with direction to where they need to go directly on the map. Combined with the social aspects above, this would also allow colleagues to find each other on the show floor if the check-ins are made available to the network.
I know this app will be a huge success at NBAA 2011. And I hope that other show organizers take notice and build upon this strong foundation. Exhibitors should also push for this development as it is one of the best ways for them to rise above the fray at these large shows.
Do you have an opinion of this app? Are you planning on using it at the show? What has been your experience?
Use of Twitter takes off at MRO Americas April 18, 2011
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, Management, Social Media, Twitter.Tags: Aerospace, eBusiness, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
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Last week, the MRO Americas conference and exhibition hosted by AviationWeek in Miami Beach was the largest in the 16 years series. Clocking in at over 8500 attendees and 950 exhibitors, it was good to see the buzz in back in this segment of the industry.
Both FlightGlobal and AviationWeek were reporting from the show by posting a constant stream of blogs, pictures, and videos on their respective show landing pages. FlightGlobal sent their aviation web celebrity team of Mary Kirby (@RunwayGirl) and Jon Ostrower (@FlightBlogger), both of whom continue to bring their unique brand of refreshing reporting to the industry. But it was AviationWeek showed notable improvement in their online presence. Largely attributed to the leadership of new President Greg Hamilton, AviationWeek was here in full force from the editorial, sales, and event sides of the business. They all seemed re-energized by the enthusiasm of web-minded talent such as Rupa Haria (@AvWeekRupa) and Alejandro Wyss (@AWyss). 
For example, @AvWeekEvents credited Alejandro for the idea of the innovative Twitter Electronic Boards in the lobby and exhibit halls which many thought were a great addition to the show. Beyond the conference hashtag (#MROAM), the conference also had a Four Square location and a fun tweet-up to get attendees, suppliers, and web followers connected. This resulted in the best performance by the AviationWeek online team to date with much promises for the future.
Beyond an excellent use of twitter by the two news organizations as well as veteran social media users such as @DeltaTechOps , it was good to see a number of suppliers jumping into the conversation, many for the first time. The #MROAM conference stream registered over 600 updates in a period of three days, even briefly trending on Twitter during opening day. But it was obvious by the posts coming from the newbies that they were not really sure how to use the medium. So here are 3 pieces of advice for using twitter effectively at large tradeshows:
1) People talking about you is better than you talking about yourself
Too many suppliers simply said something like: “For a great demo stop by booth 3145”. This is not enticing to an attendee as much as if a journalist says your demo is worth seeing (as did @AvWeekKristin), or a customer proclaims their satisfaction with your services. So rather than tweeting about your own great virtues, ask journalist and customers to tweet about you. That is 10 times more credible
2) Don’t Shout, Converse
The proper use of Twitter is in the form of a conversation. Leave the news flash to the professionals. Instead, ask questions or engage attendees in conversations: “What did you think of this comment?”, “What swag do you like best?”, “What innovations have you noticed in the exhibit hall?”
3) Be helpful without being overbearing
Try to think about what would interest you if you were an attendee to this conference. What would be helpful to you? But if you have nothing to say, don’t retweet other posts. Retweeting is not the equivalent of the FaceBook “Like” button. If you like what someone says, simply reply to the post with a thank you message rather than a re-tweet. This is especially important when you have far less followers that the original poster. If you feel that your audience could benefit from the original post but might not be following the conference stream, retweet it, but by removing the conference hashtag from the post. This will eliminate a lot of noise from the channel and make everyone happier.
For additional tips on how exhibitors can use Social Media at tradeshows like MRO, you can check out my review from last year’s show entitled: “Missed Opportunity for Exhibitors”.
The next big show will be Paris Air Show this summer. With both AviationWeek and FlightGlobal promises new web updates and other goodies for the show, as well as many suppliers entering the social media fray, it will surely be the strongest A&D online event to date. I can’t wait to witness it.
What would you like to see happening online at Paris Air Show?
NBAA 2010 online coverage review October 26, 2010
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, Management, Social Media, Twitter.Tags: Aerospace, eBusiness, Marketing, NBAA, Social Media, Twitter
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In her excellent NBAA Social Media preview, Benet Wilson of AviationWeek (@AvWeekBenet) predicted correctly that this year show would be well covered on Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube and LinkedIn. Well, a few days after the end of a very successful show in Atlanta, it is time to analyze the results.
First of all, the ambiance at the show was much more optimistic than in the last two years, so there was a lot more to report. The major Aerospace publications all had a strong presence on-site. They each put out 3 show dailies that were distributed online. The format was similar to that of the Farnborough editions, with the exception of AIN which managed to produce much more professional video through their AINtv brand. They also added blogs for the first time which is another step in the right direction.
In terms of volume and quality of information produced, AIN continues to lead with the largest amount of news stories, while AviationWeek took the lead in blog posts due mostly to the personal involvement of Bennet Wilson who was actually on the ground for once! Flight Global continued their casual style of video reporting with the @RunwayGirl and @Flightblogger team. As usual, Mary Kirby stole the show but her style is perceived as too cavalier by some. I personally disagree and the number of YouTube views seems to side with me.
The bottom line numbers go as follows:
| News Stories | Blogs | Videos | |
| Aviation International News (AIN) | 285 | 4 | 10 |
| AviationWeek | 33 | 41 | 1 |
| Flight Global | 103 | 23 | 12 |
But there were other big changes compared to last year’s show. First of all, @NBAA was itself much more active in Social Media. As I suggested in my analysis from last year, they were much more engaged with the people attending the show. They used Twitter a lot and maintained a very active Facebook page with plenty of good information. They also catered to the people who could not attend by providing their own NBAA News Bureau. Finally they once again hosted the very popular NBAA Social Media panel (See report from ABCI’s Paula Williams) which was attended by over 100 people and is now available as online video(s).
Secondly, there were a lot more people reporting directly from the show using Twitter. Over the period of Nov 18-22, over 2200 tweets were sent on the #NBAA10 stream. That is nearly double the volume from last year. Looking at the list of top users below, I am pleased to see a healthy mix of media, large OEMs, suppliers and service providers. Embraer, Boeing, Airbus and Dassault are noticeably absent from the list while Bombardier and Gulfstream gained great exposure with their brand also showing in the top words tweeted from the show.
[Click picture to enlarge]
Finally, there was also the first ever tweet-up at the end of the show. Sponsored by allFBO.com, it was attended by many of the people from the list above and generated a promise for bigger and better things to come in the future.
For now, NBAA takes the crown for online coverage amongst all the shows I have analyzed in the last two years, so congratulations to all on a job well done.
What were your impressions of the show? Please share your comments and highlight below.
MRO Americas and EBACE Online Coverage: Missed Opportunity for Exhibitors? May 12, 2010
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Management, Social Media, Twitter.Tags: Aerospace, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
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Two major A&D shows followed in rapid order over the last three weeks, and looking at the online coverage of Maintenance, Repairs, and Overhaul (MRO) Americas and the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), there were no major new developments when it came to the coverage of these shows on the Internet. Needless to say, that was disappointing.
As usual, the full press corps was present. Even though MRO Americas was organized by Aviation Week, Flight Global had sent a four people team to cover the show. At EBACE, those two organizations were also joined in Geneva by Aviation International News (AIN).
For MRO Americas, AviationWeek and Flight Global had their usual website landing pages with Flight also producing their online flight daily chuck full of videos during two of the three days of the show. Reporters on the ground posted blogs and used the Twitter effectively. News from the show was also available in Flight Global’s iPhone application.
For EBACE, the organizers were the first ones to try to expand the use of internet during the show. They designed a basic web-based mobile application with schedule information, exhibitor list, floor plan, and news feed. They used twitter (@ebace) before and during the show to provide information and updates in the #EBACE stream. This was a good start that I hope other organizers will pick up and improve on.
On the media side, AIN joined the fray with their regular website landing page, adding to that of AviationWeek and FlightGlobal. AviationWeek did include videos in a couple of their online ShowNews (a first!), but as usual, none of the content from the daily magazine was repurposed on the website (I sound like a broken record!). In fact, if you want a media review of this show, you can read my blog about the Singapore Air Show and change the name of the conference.
I must also point out that @AvWeekBenet was able to attend EBACE in person and that the Twitter feed from AviationWeek was finally of much better quality than that of previews shows. However, all three news organizations could still improve on their online coverage as discussed previously. To best describe the ideal coverage, I would say that I would want to see AIN’s news content in FlightGlobal’s multiformat web platform delivered to AviationWeek’s online audience.
But to be fair, the industry press had these two events well covered online. The 6,000 attendees of MRO Americas and the 11,000 attendees of EBACE certainly were well-informed and so were the ten of thousands of unique visitors that followed on Twitter and came to the AviationWeek, AIN and Flight Global websites during and after the shows. So with such huge information pipe available to them, why didn’t the approximately 800 exhibitors of MRO Americas and the 450 exhibitors of EBACE take more advantage of online coverage?
The MRO Americas exhibition floor was open for 16 hours over a period of three days. As with many events, it was open in parallel to conference sessions for most of that time. Assuming that the average attendee would spend 3 hours a day on the show floor (which in my own experience would be enormous), and would spend 15 minutes to have meaningful interactions with each exhibitor visited, it means that in an ideal situation, 36 exhibitors would get visited by each attendee. That represents 1 company visited for each 20 exhibiting. For EBACE the numbers work out to approximately 1 out of 10. For Farnborough and Singapore, it might be has high as 1 out of 50 or more. As if that was not bad enough, small exhibitors have to compete against larger companies that will attract attendees by default and keep them for longer periods of time. Which means that if you are not Honeywell, Embraer, or Rolls-Royce, your odds of getting visited are heavily stacked against you.
In the past, companies used traditional methods to try to bring people to their booths: use printed advertising, press releases and sponsorship to promote their booth number; make their booth attractive (ooh shiny!); or “buy” as many random business cards as possible with contests, drawings, or give-aways. But today, it doesn’t work that way anymore. The Power Attendees (the ones that matter – not the ones on a “business vacation”) have a pre-determined list of vendors they want to see. They come to the show with a target list and they try to fit them all in. There is no “browsing”, there is no “I wonder what this company does?” Who has time for that anymore?
These days, business is all about efficiency and that goes for attending trade shows as well. Power Attendees will have a predefined rigorous program established before they get to the event: fly in; attend specific sessions (and skip others); visit specific exhibitors; set aside time for email, phone calls and exercise; socialize with industry acquaintances; and fly out.
As an exhibitor, you have to realize that in today’s world, there are only three reasons a Power Attendee will visit your booth:
- they have a pre-existing direct interest in your product (e.g. existing customer, pre-show marketing campaign)
- they are steered toward your product by the industry media or an independent conference speaker
- you are recommended by someone they trust attending the conference.
You should use the web to help develop these reasons and increase the chances of getting visited by the Power Attendees. The basic approach would be to use the trade show to TEACH attendees something rather than to SELL something. What is more attractive: “Stop by the booth the see my new sensors”, or “Stop by to learn the three factors that make old sensors malfunction”? If you are good at teaching and your sensors do address the three factors, you will sell them – implicitly!
With that approach in mind, here are three things should do before and during the show:
- USE YOUR WEBSITE: create a specific landing page related to the event you are attending. So many exhibitors simply put up a link from their event page to the event home page without taking the opportunity to explain why attendees should be interested in visiting them at the show. Create a page that is specific to your participation at the show. Provide a compelling argument about what you want to teach them (perhaps as a short video), provide information in advance such as a white paper (download it in exchange for contact info), and solicit feedback. If a potential attendee posts a comment on your event page saying “excited to come see you at the show”, it will definitely pique the interest of other attendees. Allow attendees to share a link to your show page with others via email or on social networks. Provide practical information about who will represent you on the show floor. Indicate when you will be there (specifically) and where you can be found. List names, function, specialties, cell phone numbers, email address, and twitter accounts. Provide your associates’ pictures. Simply put, make it easy for attendees to find you. Remember to draw the media to your show page so they might have an interest in discussing your educational approach prior to the show (not necessarily in an article, but on a blog or on twitter).
- TAKE PART IN THE PRE-SHOW CONVERSATION ONLINE: prior to the show, start talking about what you want to teach attendees on Twitter, and in online forums such as LinkedIn. Several events set up specific groups or Twitter hashtags prior to the conference where attendees can network before they travel. AviationWeek and Flight Global also have free forums sites (AWConnect and AirSpace respectively) that are a great place to discuss the challenges you are trying to solve. Be non-commercial in your discussions, leverage the website landing page you have built and invite the attendees to connect at the conference.
- INTERACT WITH ATTENDEES ONLINE DURING THE EVENT: monitor the conference stream on Twitter and get involved in the conversation. Try to contribute rather than sell. Gain respect for your expertise in the community. Find out what the “buzz” is, our create your own. Create “impromptu” events over twitter by gathering people of similar affinity or background at a lunch table or at the bar after hours. Involve the press in the discussion. Post answers on their blog posts, upload pictures or even short videos to the conference site or YouTube.
Events are using the web more and more to promote and manage their events. The industry media is jumping on the band wagon (we various degrees of success), but definitely creating buzz. Vendors who are not taking advantage of this media to their advantage are definitely missing out. And despite what many believe, you do not need a big budget or a large staff to take advantage of this opportunity. If you want to check out a company that does this well, check out Duncan Aviation’s EBACE page and follow them on twitter (@DuncanAviation). They understand the digital environment and they are getting ahead!
Are you taking advantage of the Internet when exhibiting at an Aerospace event? Share your story, ask your questions, or share some tips here. We would love to hear from you.
Heli-Expo 2010: An Experiment in Social Media March 3, 2010
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Twitter.Tags: Aerospace, HeliExpo, Social Media, Twitter
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The annual HeliExpo took place in Houston last week. Although this is already the largest helicopter event in the world with 16,000 visitors and 595 exhibitors, it was interesting to see how it also played out on the web, before and during the show. As usual, I was online to watch, measure and evaluate. Here is my take.
THE HELICOPTER INDUSTRY MEDIA
As always, the industry media was present at the show. However, it was strange to see a very different dynamic than at the recent Singapore or Dubai airshows. Unlike Aviation International News which put out a similar coverage than at the other shows, AviationWeek and Flight Global were relatively quieter.
| Articles | Blog Entries | Photos | Videos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AINonline | 130 | 0 | 124 | 7 |
| AviationWeek | 0 | 29 | 51 | 0 |
| Flight Global | 17 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| HeliHub.com | 143* | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rotor and Wing | 0 | 10 | 55 | 20 |
*Reposts from other sources
AIN produced the most professional videos through their affiliate AINtv which was contracted especially for the show. Rotor and Wing and Flight Global produced lesser quality videos with some major editing and sound issues in a few of them. Rotor and Wing posted their videos on YouTube which made them show up in Google searches although the tagging was not uniform (e.g. why not use HeliExpo10 as a tag?).
AIN was the only news organization that used the #HE10 twitter feed to aggressively promote their content online with 143 posts throughout the show. AviationWeek and Flight Global managed less than 20 posts each (in the stream). However, Flight Global had a Twitter widget on their show page that was tracking the “Heli Expo” keyword so they managed to capture a good portion of the conversation. The other news organizations posted from their twitter accounts but never used the #HE10 tag despite several attempts to contact them to correct the issue. This seems like a lost opportunity especially for HeliHub and Rotor and Wing which have relatively small followings (500 and 800 respectively).
At the end of the show, a quick online survey was generated by @Heli_Expo. Although the participation was low, the results (available in PDF) show that “Article from News Organizations” is by far the most important use of Twitter by professionals in our industry. Even though I believe this will eventually change, I think smaller online news outfits should pay more attention to HOW they use twitter for shows like this. They should definitely use the hashtags so they can be read by a group larger than their followers. They should also post shorter tweets that can be reposted without editing. For example, @HeliHub should limit their original posts to a maximum of 127 characters since any repost will take an additional 13 characters for the prefix “RT @HeliHub: “ . This is actually a good tip for any organization that posts on Twitter and wants a chance to be re-tweeted.
THE EXHIBITORS
Speaking about other organizations on Twitter, an amazing 77 HeliExpo exhibitors had twitter accounts. @Heli_Expo created a very convenient Twitter List of all the exhibitor accounts. Even though this media is new to most of them, some have embraced it quiet nicely as showed by the top contributors to the #HE10 stream:
| Tweets | Exhibitor? | |
|---|---|---|
| HAImandy | 181 | Organizer |
| AINonline | 131 | Yes |
| HELI_expo | 111 | |
| HON_Carrie (Honeywell) |
41 | Yes |
| FSIrivet | 30 | Yes |
| roadshownews | 21 | |
| GPS4aircraft | 16 | Yes |
| DakotaAirParts | 13 | Yes |
| dnpixl | 13 | |
| CNTV | 12 | |
| bbryon | 9 | |
| embryriddle | 8 | Yes |
I was shocked that more of them did not take advantage of this medium which overall had good activity. There were 670 posts from 51 different accounts in the #HE10 stream. But many companies do not even advertise they have a Twitter account on their home page, even when their account is relatively active (See DakotaAirParts).
Also absent from the #HE10 stream were the Helicopter manufacturers. Five of them have official Twitter accounts: @SikorskyAircraft, @Eurocopter_EADS, @one_bell, @MDHelicopters, and @RusHeliCo. Sikorsky and Eurocopter were the most active while Bell and MD fell silent for some strange reason. I think that was a big mistake when you analyze how Sikorsky approached the use of Twitter at the event.
Sikorsky published 15 press releases around HeliExpo starting with one announcing their Twitter page. The press release contained the strongest endorsement of Twitter by any Aerospace & Defense company to date. Since they had created their account back in December, they opened the show with already over 200 followers as opposed to Eurocopter’s less than 50.
Even though they didn’t use the #HE10 tag, they posted 32 updates during the show. They pushed their press releases, but also targeted the audience at the show by posting booth schedule updates. Despite attempts by several users to dialog with them, they did not respond probably because they have not yet figured out how to make Twitter a two-way channel. This is typical of organizations that are new to this.
But the discussion ABOUT Sikorsky was tremendous and much bigger than for any of their competitors. The keyword “Sikorsky” was mentioned 654 times during the show from 329 different accounts. Their posts were re-tweeted 21 times by 8 different accounts to a total of 1928 followers. Ten of Sikorsky’s press releases were also broadcasted 139 times on twitter directly by 81 different accounts to a total audience of 128,344 followers. That is a tremendous online exposure that all exhibitors should be tapping into. There is no way to know how much bigger these numbers would have been if Sikorsky had used #HE10. Sikorsky has now set the standard, so how can a company like MD Helicopters afford not to jump on Twitter?
THE ORGANIZERS
HeliExpo is organized by the Helicopter Association International. I contacted them before the show to see if they had any social media plans for Houston. Mandy Stahl, a Membership Assistant at HAI, pointed me to her Twitter stream @HAImandy and indicated she had be allowed to post updates before and during the show whenever her regular duties permitted it. From the Twitter stats above as well as the survey results, you can see she did a tremendous job. She also indicated that although the association owned the @HeliExpo account, they were not going to use it. Furthermore, Mandy’s account was not advertised in any official HeliExpo communication from HAI. I thought that was a great loss of opportunity for them.
So I decided to experiment…
Unbeknownst to HAI, I created the @Heli_Expo account at the beginning of February and started posting about the event in the way I thought it should be done. I was careful never to represent the account as being an official account, only using it to promote the event. As I mentioned before, I created a list of exhibitors and posted heavily in the #HE10 stream. I complemented what Mandy was posting avoiding duplicating her work. I worked along three avenues:
- Help the exhibitors by reposting their information in the stream, sending them practical local information, and encouraging companies that should have been exhibiting to do so next year.
- Help the attendees by posting HeliExpo news and information posted on the web into the #HE10 stream. For example, I found several videos and articles on Google that were not on Twitter so I posted links.
- Help the organizers by re-posting show information from their own website such as staff photos and event schedule, as well as promoting Mandy’s account and her work.
@Heli_Expo Twitter Followers
I limited my invested time to 60 hours before the show (mostly on researching the exhibitor list) and 20 hours during the show. I was not physically in Houston and created very little original content. I used only free tools and platforms. The response was tremendous. Many companies and news organizations started following the account and interacting directly with it. The account was recommended multiple times and my posts were re-tweeted to a large following. I can only imagine what the exposure would have been like if this had been an official effort advertised and coordinated by HAI.
I will now send Mandy the passwords to the accounts so HAI can take them over, but I think I have demonstrated to them and other Aerospace associations that a small time investment and a concerted approach can give them a much greater exposure online especially for events like this.
Why let others tell the story of your event when you can steer the conversation yourself? Are you listening Farnborough?
Dubai Air Show Online Coverage by the Numbers November 20, 2009
Posted by ludozone in Aerospace, Conference, International Business Development, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter.Tags: Aerospace, eBusiness, Social Media, Twitter
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Dubai Air Show 2009, the 11th and largest in the biennial series with 890 exhibitors from 47 countries as well as 130 aircrafts on static display, concluded yesterday with an onsite order book of over $US13 Billion. Not bad for a recession, but significantly less than in 2007. It remains nonetheless a very important event for the industry, and as such draws a lot of attention from all corners of the world. Many get a chance to experience the show in person, but more follow the developments online. Here is my review of this year’s coverage on the web.
AEROSPACE & DEFENSE MEDIA
Although the show was well covered by worldwide mainstream media, the top three aerospace and defense magazines dedicated significant resources to the event. Aviation International News, Aviation Week and Flight Global each created a landing page dedicated to the show on their websites. Flight Global reprising and expanding on its great coverage at Paris (see “Paris Air Show Online Coverage”), provided a much more esthetically pleasing experience than the other two organizations.
However, many will argue that it is the content that is important. But judging strictly by the numbers, Flight Global also comes out ahead in this area.
Although overall less online content was generated than at Paris, some of my favorites were there. Flight Global’s daily video wrap-up by Mary Kirby (@RunwayGirl) and Jon Ostrower (@FlightBlogger) is always excellent, although they quit a day early to my great surprise and disappointment. Flight Global also brought out a full WYSIWYG version of their daily publication, catching up to Aviation Week which has had theirs at both shows. AIN did not provide theirs.
I feel that AIN was the least “Online” friendly of the three. Aviation Week did not seem to improve from Paris. In fact, I feel they went backwards, as they had only 1 video and a much disorganized Twitter presence (see below). Also, they decided to place a full screen Airbus A380 advertising as an entry page for most of the show coverage which was extremely annoying.
All in all, it was clear that Flight Global came to the show with a well conceived online coverage plan. Their online editor, Michael Targett, confirmed that they put a significant amount of work into their strategy. The web traffic numbers should show that it served them well.
I think Flight Global has set the bar for the other media organizations and the race is now on for Singapore just a few months away. For that show, I would like to see the news segregated in “channels” (e.g. BizAv, Defense, Space, and Commercial) and more online interaction with the trade visitors and exhibitors before and during the show. Singapore Air Show should also have very good cell phone data coverage, so smart phone applications might make their appearance. By the way, Flight Global has already released a primitive iPhone app.
TWITTER STREAM
After Paris, AUSA and NBAA, Dubai was the fourth major A&D show where Twitter was used. The organizers, Aviation Week and Flight Global all agreed on a (short) hashtag for the show (#DXB09) back in late October. From November 10th to the 19th, it was used in over 1100 posts by more than 180 unique contributors. It is half the contributions from Paris and five times less than at AUSA. However, I suspect this has to do with the availability of cell phone data coverage more than any other factor.
Looking at the top 10 contributors during the show, @RunwayGirl and @FlightBlogger, both from Flight Global, dominated the stream with 112 and 73 posts respectively. Flight Global accounted for 4 of the top 10 contributors.
The other twitter accounts belong to a variety of users, all very passionate about Aerospace: @Tangosix is a Serbian aviation journalist; @DefenseAviation links to an impressive blog managed by a student from the Mangalore University in India; @InflightCuisine reports on behalf of an online community of over 600 in-flight catering professionals; while @obsalah is the Head of Quality Assurance and Safety for the local company Al Jaber Aviation and has almost 1900 followers. In fact, the top 10 contributors count a total following of over 11,000 accounts. This audience does not include the numerous other people simply following the shows’ #DXB09 stream.
Aviation Week seemed disorganized in their use of Twitter. @AviationWeek and @AvWeekMorris posted very little, but most importantly, they did not use the event hashtag thus missing the majority of the audience. As always, but again from thousands of miles away, @AvWeekBenet carried the torch for the organization by providing a steady stream of updates finishing 15th in the contributor ranks. She also posted on her personal account (@BenetWilson) and was assisted by @ThingsWithWings who posted about various elements of Aviation Week’s Dubai coverage including links to Mike Vines’ great photos. @AvWeekJobs re-tweeted two of these photo links continuing to post “ThingsNotAboutJobs” on this account (Am I the only one that is bothered by this?). As an organization, Aviation Week produced 25 online stories, 29 blog posts and 4 days’ worth of editorial content for the show daily news. Yet, they only posted (collectively) 57 updates on Twitter. What is wrong with this picture?
Another disappointment was the organizers (@DubaiAirShow) participating only timidly before and during the show. They managed 6 tweets in 4 days; two of them re-posts from other contributors. I think they could have done better (see below).
The rest of the industry was equally shy. Honeywell (@HON_Carrie and @HON_KC) contributed the most (25 posts), while @Fly_cessna and @PrattAndWhitney basically checked in. @Airbus, @BoeingAirplanes, @NorthropGrumman, @BAESystems, @ThalesGroup and @RaytheonCompany were noticeably absent from the show stream.
Except for Flight Global, I think the concept of Twitter as a sort of “headline news ticker” that draws people’s attention to the rest of the content provided in blogs and websites seems to still be lost on most A&D companies.
THE ORGANIZERS
F&E Aerospace continues to do a remarkable job with the physical logistics of putting such an enormous event together. The event’s website contained a wealth of information for Exhibitors, Journalists, and Visitors. They did make an attempt at social media by adding a Twitter account, a LinkedIn group and a social media “Share” button, but these felt like afterthoughts with not much strategy around them. During the show, the website was updated with the official press releases and a few photos. I think a great opportunity was missed.
DubaiAirShow.aero should have been the absolute hub for all online activity before, during and after the show. The organizers are in the unique position to “mash up” content from all the media and the exhibitors in one place. They can share the excitement in the run-up to the event and provide its heartbeat during. Here are three ideas (Are you listening Farnborough?):
- Stream information, pictures and video live from the show. Post time-lapse pictures of the exhibit hall construction. Provide live webcam of the press conferences. Update the number of visitors and the onsite order book as streaming data feeds on the home page. Show live video of the flight demos. Make the site fun and addictive so online visitors use it as their central hub well before the event and for its duration. I guarantee it will make more people want to attend next time.
- Collect and publish each exhibitor’s website, twitter, and RSS information. Use this information to provide a centralized but segmented news feed (e.g. Corporate, Defense, etc…) directly on the website. Provide a twitter window for the #DXB09 feed.
- Create interactive features before and during the show: voting on the flight and static displays by visitors; “must visit” exhibitor lists ranked by journalists; interactive forums about the local hotels and restaurants.
In a global economy, events such as the Dubai Air Show truly have a worldwide appeal. “Attending” the show online will never replace being there in person. However, better online coverage will expand the reach of the organizers and exhibitors, augment the business buzz, and definitely create the desire to be there in person next time. Next up is Singapore, then Farnborough. Let’s see if they learn from Paris and Dubai.
Ludo Van Vooren, a 15 years veteran of the industry, blogs about eBusiness, Social Media, Internet Marketing, and International Business Development.
