The tech events theme that Topaz has blogged about these past few weeks continues — today with a focus on mobile. March is “mobile month” in Massachusetts — an effort supported by the Governor’is office, industry organizations like MassTLC and the British Consulate in Boston, and media like Xconomy. You can learn more about this and see a summary of the month’s events on the Mass Mobile Month website. This focus on mobile actually started a few weeks back with events like the MassTLC Mobile World Congress debrief. I missed that one, but I did catch last night’s Mobile Monday Boston event sponsored by the UK Trade and Investment group, featuring Boston area and UK-based mobile firms. There were a handful of company presentations, covering a broad range of mobile markets — for consumers, carriers, content developers. Two local firms I found fun and interesting — Textaurant (replacing those crazy restaurant pagers with text messages to your cellphone) and Hellovino (a free mobile wine pairing and recommendation service). Tonight the Mobile Month continues with the MassTLC’s Tech Tuesday event focus on mobile. These are great networking and learning opportunities — and this one promises to be particularly interesting.

Over the past few weeks, Topaz has been focusing on events and their importance in the world of tech PR. I can add another piece of evidence based on an event I attended last week — the IDC Directions 2010 conference. This may be the grand-daddy of all tech events…according to IDC’s Kirk Campbell, it’s the longest running tech conference at 45 years! Based on my experience over the course of the day last Thursday, IDC Directions still has a lot to offer (the good news for those of you on the west coast — there’s an opportunity this week to experience it yourself, as they do this again on March 10 in Santa Clara). The biggest takeaway for me were insights into a broad range of tech topics — wireless, outsourcing, sales enablement, cloud computing to name just a few. There was so much to take in, I had to pick my spots. I caught John Gantz, who offered a look ahead to the year 2020 (billions of personal devices and tens of billions of embedded systems) and an encouraging perspective on the nearer-term prospects for the tech industry. Rich Vancil and Michael Gerard talked about why/how tech companies should focus on sales and marketing (investing to improve sales productivity is key). Frank Gens looked at cloud computing (we’re just at the beginning of mainstream adoption). Amy Lind and Carrie MacGillivray focused on the evolution of the wireless marketplace (by 2013 broadband will be ubiqitous and operators will shift from a focus on the voice/data split to revenue per device). David Tapper and others analysts took a look at outsourcing (a means to enabling intelligent enterprise). I’m not doing any of these justice, but there was just too much to cover. And beyond all these learnings, there were the other benefits Topaz pointed out in earlier blogs and in our enewsletter — connecting with these and other influencers, with clients (Black Duck was well represented) and with former colleagues. All in all, a very good way to spend a Thursday — and another example of the value of tech events.

In what may be a good omen for the economy, new trade shows, events and conferences seem to be popping up in just about every sector, and many of the more established ones still continue to attract attendees and generate buzz year after year.

Scuderi Group, a Topaz Partners PR client, unveiled a prototype of their innovative split-cycle Scuderi Engine at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit in April, 2009

Travel budgets may be tighter these days, but social networks and the web make it easier than ever to identify local and free opportunities (check out Topaz’s Tim Allik’s recent post on BostonTweetup for some events ideas around Boston). If you end up traveling, social media platforms like Twitter and Foursquare enable you to make the most of your trip and meet with prospects and influencers on the fly.

Many of our clients are taking advantage of the gathering of media and analysts to get out there and present new products and services.

Here is a list of five PR tips for events, trade shows and conferences that almost always pay off:

- If a show or conference is important, try to attend, even if you can’t exhibit. From a PR standpoint (and particularly now with social media) Topaz has found that there are PR opportunities whether you exhibit, present or just attend the event.

- Use social media to extend your reach and leverage the content you are developing for other PR activities before, during, and after the event. Blog, Tweet and podcast, and look for opportunities to capture and distribute video through online channels. As early as possible, follow and engage with the event organizers on Twitter, and follow the people who are following them as well.

- Have a plan and prepare ahead of time, especially if you are interested in arranging meetings at a show or conference. Make sure you know what your message is and who you want to reach with it, and be disciplined about sticking to the plan (even though it is counter-intuitive to repeat the same messages over and over again).

- If you are interested in speaking opportunities and article placements, start early, identify relevant and current topics, and craft compelling content that both informs and extends your value proposition.

- Try to “bookend” shows and conferences with outreach to media, analysts and online influencers before and after the event. (Social networks are invaluable for this).

If you need guidance and support implementing these suggestions, Topaz has a track record of expertise and achievement that you can use to maximize your event ROI. Let’s talk about what you have in mind and I’ll be candid with you about what I think.

You can reach me directly at 781-404-2415 or email me at pslotkin@topazpartners.com.

In the meantime, below is a list of events that our clients have attended in recent weeks or plan to attend over the next few months. If one is a suitable fit for your company or for your product launch, let’s explore together how Topaz can help you.

- Storage Networking World www.snusa.com is the largest conference focused on storage, infrastructure of the data center and other IT management topics

- CTIA www.ctiawireless.com and Mobile World Congress www.mobileworldcongress.com both encompass the mobile communications realm (and are where you’ll find Topaz clients Acision and Novarra)

- The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) www.CES.org is the well-known consumer electronics mega-show – The RSA Conference www.rsaconference.com focuses on IT security

- The Sales 2.0 Conference www.sales20conf.com is a sales technology event (where you’ll find Topaz client Infogroup’s OneSource)

- SaaScom www.saascon.com deals with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technologies, a market growing in both size and diversity

- DEMO www.demo.com showcases a broad spectrum of emerging technologies

How would you describe your experience with events, either as an attendee or as a presenter? How has it changed over the years? Do you still see value in face-to-face interactions with prospects, peers, and influencers?

Technorati Tags: Events, PR strategy, PR Tips, public relations, Sales 2.0, Social Media