360|Conferences sorta got started by accident. John and I didn’t walk around as young children saying, “When I grow up, I want to get 400 geeks together and host them for 4 days in a random city.” There may be some conference planners out there that did do that and more power to them. We just weren’t two of them.
Therefore, now that we’re thinking of expanding to something beyond conferences, it’s a different ball game. 360|Conferences back then had no personality, no corporate identity. It was just a name on a piece of paper with John’s signature and mine. That’s no longer the case. While 360|Conferences is still just me and John, 2 years have come and gone. We’ve served over a few thousand customers with 360|Flex, 360|iDev, FlexCamps and one 360|MAX. Customers that now have an expectation of our company. When people hear the name 360|Conferences or the phrase “John and Tom”, something comes to mind. Something that we should probably try to stay true to.
This is where you come in. I have my own personal ideas of what I think the brand means to our customers and the world at large. (The small part of the world that does actually care that is. LOL) However, I’d like to hear directly from you.
Why do we care? Well, if we’re going to expand the business into new areas, we should do so upholding the ideals that people associate with us. I.e. I think what we’re known for in the conference space can be applied to other businesses. We just want to make sure we’re on the same page with you. :)
So spread the word, blog about this question, tweet the URL. Leave a comment or email us your thoughts (info@360conferences.com). We want to hear from as many people as possible (which should be no surprise since we ask questions of our customers all the time :D )
Be honest.
When I was thinking about DotComIt and Flextras branding, I asked a bunch of friends, family, and associates to pick 3 words to describe me. It was a great excersize and I strongly recommend it. ( I stole the idea from Simb).
Although, I might suggest picking your own 3 words before asking people chime in.
Pick you own words; then I’ll DM you mine. I wouldn’t want to taint what others would say w/ my own views.
I think it comes down to the personal touches. The fact that you and John are manning the desk, running to get food, lending DVI cables :), and just generally there to serve attendees and speakers. That is obviously something that could be hard to maintain while growing, but I think it just means you need to continue to be the faces of the biz, be hands on where you can and be sure people you hire buy into the philosophy. I am sure these are all things you already know, but I’d hope you guys will delegate “behind the scenes” tasks to others so you can remain in the mix and part of the experience.