Conferences are a major component of an association's portfolio of membership programs. In fact, it's often described as one leg of the "three-legged stool" of association revenue sources (the other two being membership and publications). So, it's logical that your international strategy would look to conferences as a primary vehicle to build its brand and reach new members.

And, while conferences do provide wonderful opportunities, they are ripe with potential pitfalls, both financial and those that may negatively impact the perception of your organization abroad.

For associations in their early-growth phase of international development, for example, leadership can often face the difficult act of balancing target markets and resources. Association ROI has accrued more than 15 years' worth of experience working with 501(c)(3) scientific associations holding events in Europe, Asia, and South America, and, in almost all the cases, the organizations we've been involved with have moved their conferences into different venues each year to pursue a strategy of bringing the association to the (potential) members.

You can't simply come into a city once and expect success. In Europe, it takes time to develop your brand. —Harald Riisnaes, managing director and owner, Travel Planners of Scandinavia

At best, we've seen mixed results, and, at worst, we've seen eye-opening financial losses. This approach and its results can set up confrontations between the elected leadership who often enthusiastically endorse a "more is better" approach and a chief staff officer attempting to meet goals while protecting the organization's financial and staff resources.

Understand the International Conference Environment

With conferences that rotate, volunteer leaders are often excited about the potential of a site to reach new members, but they struggle to grasp what's required to make the conference a financial success and ultimately deliver positive perceptions and lasting impact for the organization.

Take the tight financial considerations. Small- and medium-sized conferences, which we will simply define as 1,500 attendees or less, typically have budgets that cover the conference essentials and hopefully deliver a break-even or modest profit. Rarely do they allow much investment in marketing.

Staff is then put in the unfortunate position of delivering the desired financial outcomes using the same conference models and budgets they utilize for domestic events. Associations can then find themselves trying to make a domestic conference approach work in locations that they're ill-prepared to serve, creating a round-peg-in-a-square-hole proposition.

What associations often fail to grasp is that their brand isn't as firmly established in the market as they believe, and the realities of conference planning timelines simply don't allow sufficient time to become known to the potential attendees, exhibitors, and sponsor organizations. Couple that with insufficient investment in marketing and you have a formula for poor event performance.

We also caution associations to avoid relying on the conference program or papers as representing a legacy success for a strategic conference market. The reality is that your brand has achieved little lasting impact and membership growth will be fleeting.

"You can't simply come into a city once and expect success," Harald Riisnaes, managing director and owner of Travel Planners of Scandinavia, says. "In Europe, it takes time to develop your brand, and your audiences need to come to expect that your event will take place at a certain place at a certain time. Only at that point will they budget and plan to attend in any significant number. Then your attendance will grow, your exhibits will grow, and your membership presence will grow."

The Advantage of a Long-Term Commitment to One Location

We've witnessed exactly what Riisnaes cautions against in Europe and in other markets. Long-term organizational growth and financial success utilizing conferences as your primary vehicle requires time, commitment to a region, investment, and substantial local knowledge.

What we've observed, particularly in Europe, indicates that associations may be better served by selecting a fixed venue and building the conference and association's brand over time. This strategy is often used with commercial shows, and there's merit to the approach.

A beneficial first step with this tactic is to enlist the assistance of a local professional conference organizer (PCO). He or she can bring significant value in understanding the local market, working with hotels and conference centers, and assisting staff and volunteers with important logistical challenges.

At the end of the day, however, PCOs don't drive the strategic decisions for the event and lack authority over the budget decisions. In our experience, we've seen quite capable PCOs raising all kinds of red flags throughout the event planning timeline and the response is typically "Well, this is the way we always do it."

Taking this potential pitfall into account, you may find that a smarter approach to your global meetings strategy is to strategically assess and select your top international markets and put your organizational muscle into developing a repeatable and successful conference model for one market. Be sure to set realistic growth targets and organizational goals and make a long-term commitment. As the awareness of your event and your brand grow, you'll need to focus on serving your new members—but that's a different topic for a different day.