5 Reasons to Launch a Multi-City Roadshow
While event planners often focus on events as a “one-and-done,” there are benefits to taking your show on the road. Instead of concentrating people and resources in one location, a multi-city roadshow provides a consistent attendee experience across various venues and regions.
Here are five reasons to consider a multi-city roadshow for your next corporate event, plus three secrets to success.
5 Reasons to Consider a Multi-city Roadshow
1. Reach specific markets
By bringing your event to more cities, you access specific audiences who may not be able to travel to one big event. Consider dialing your event into multiple regions with a specific interest in investing in your theme, product, or idea.
Unique regional markets may find specific value in your event or product, but you need to bring the event to them.
For example, a company premiering a new software product can host multiple launch events tailored to the needs of regional market hubs, i.e., Los Angeles for entertainment, New York for finance, and more. Unique regional markets may find specific value in your event or product, but you must bring the event to them. Creating a consistent event experience, adapted across regional or market needs, brings your product to more audiences.
2. Build community and rapport
Compared to one mega-event, a multi-city roadshow delivers smaller, more intimate experiences, tweaked to the needs and interests of a regional audience. This model can be effective for corporations with multiple satellite offices. Instead of flying in several thousand people to headquarters (where local issues might get lost), a multi-city roadshow allows local teams to focus on issues that matter to their regional employees and customers.
Instead of flying in several thousand people to headquarters (where local issues might get lost), a multi-city roadshow allows local teams to focus on issues that matter to their regional employees and customers.
For example, one Stagedge client hosted a multi-city roadshow to celebrate local partners in each regional hub of their national corporation. For these events, consider things like regional speakers, awards to top performers, discussions of local markets, and more. The benefit? A network of tighter communities, rallying around a central theme—but with localized rapport.
3. Focus costs on the event itself
Mega-events are expensive: they require giant venues with lots of breakout rooms, thousands of hotel rooms, and large teams of onsite staff. Big events also have greater technology needs, and often longer run-times to boost value—but that means even more onsite resources. Breaking the same message or theme into multiple events can reduce these costs. Think less expensive venues, smaller food costs, and focused run-times. Another cost cutter? You can build just one version of your stage, sets, and design, and use it across all of your locations. And with guests coming from local areas, eliminating the need for accommodations, you can save more of your event budget for your actual event.
4. Reduce your carbon footprint
Multi-city roadshows also reduce extraneous waste without reducing overall attendee size. Hosting a series of local events reduces the distance various attendees must travel, which translates to fewer flights, hotel rooms, and travel-related pollution. Smaller venues also require less energy to heat or cool. Stages, set pieces, and designs—especially if they’re digital—can be reused across all events, mitigating waste.
5. Produce more content in less time
Multiple events provide more opportunities to present content—without overextending attendees. Your organization can localize messages for specific audiences and keep a tighter run-time, while still keeping the central theme at the heart of the event. For example, one Stagedge client produced a whopping 13 hours of content across multiple two-and-a-half hour events. Since all of the shows present the same branding and attendee experience, this model produces more content for marketing materials, sizzle reels, and more—all the more reason to film your event.
3 Tips for Making Your Roadshow a Success
Now that you understand the benefits of hosting multi-city events, here are three bonus tips for making your event a success.
1. Plan for consistency
Your events are all part of the same series, with a single centralized theme—so attendees across every event should share the same type of experience. Attendees might feel upset if they see (in the press or on social media) that one event vastly upstaged another. For that reason, you wouldn’t want to present a special celebrity speaker or experience to one venue that you can’t replicate in another. That said, we do encourage you to “think local” when it comes to the details: by offering regional foods at meals, featuring local products in gift bags, or tapping local talent for entertainment.
2. Get modular
Venues come in all shapes and sizes, so set designs that are modular, versatile, and reusable work best. Consider simple stage designs that are easy to set up, break down, and travel. Digital signage is also easier to move and reuse across various venues and locations than printed signage. Consistent and modular designs can pay dividends: One Stagedge client presented a roadshow in which two of the venues were drastically different in size—one fits two thousand people, the other fits maybe a hundred. But when comparing pictures and videos of the events, it’s difficult to tell which event took place in which location. Consistent branding and design, combined with a tasteful appreciation of local differences, create a unifying and memorable multi-city roadshow.
The most important tip for success? Find a trusted partner with a national network.
3. Map your route to your audience’s needs
In creating your roadshow route, consider first who you want to attend and how far they will have to travel. Like a touring rock band, follow the “Rule of 3”: most people are willing to travel up to three hours to see something, so musicians plan stops with that travel radius in mind. Then, vet your venues. In your chosen region, how much space do you need to support your intended audience? Ultimately, the goal and theme of the roadshow, together with audience needs, will create your roadshow route.
A Trusted Partner with a National Presence
The most important tip for success? Find a trusted partner with a national network. A multi-city show requires a capable team working across sites to create a seamless experience. Without one, even the best-looking event on paper will not come to life as planned.
--
Stagedge: Creating Immersive Experiences for nearly 50-years!