The Vendor’s Dilemma: What is the Proper Role of Vendors at Learning Events?

James Tennermann
Published:
Life Science

 

This week's blog comes from Jim Tennermann, our Life Science Segment manager. Jim attends a variety of conferences and training events throughout the year, and in this submission, he discusses a recent experience that got him thinking about the role of vendor companies at industry conferences.

Some time ago a colleague and I heard an interesting comment at an IQPC meeting. One of the conference attendees noted that there were just as many vendors at the event as there were industry people. As an industry person there to learn and connect with other industry folk, he wasn’t happy that so many vendors were promoting their hardware and solutions at the conference. Even worse (he said), vendors were actually presenting at the conference! Can this be interpreted as a biased commercial activity? It was if the barbarians had invaded. I didn’t comment at the time, but it’s stayed with me and I’ve done some thinking about it.

As a vendor, we have to take a step back from the comment to really understand both what is being said and why it’s being said. The underlying fear seems to be that independent information, as one could expect from presenters who do not work for a vendor company, will be more valuable and informative, whereas the information one is likely to get from a vendor will be limited – referring only to that vendor’s product or services.

I found myself wondering: who, other than vendors, has the greatest motivation to find and create solutions? Additionally, who else has (or is willing to allocate) the resources required to find a problem inside the industry and develop a workable, marketable solution? In my experience vendors attend industry events not only to represent their own solution, they are also looking to learn about competing solutions in a forum filled with customers who can give honest, valuable assessments and feedback about multiple vendors' solutions.  All of these serve to set a nice, high, competitive bar for vendors, who must not only maintain in depth knowledge of ever-changing industry needs, but also the emerging technologies within their market. The conference then becomes a hub where providers and customers can interact outside the context of the RFQ phase, and in a more comfortable setting designed for information gathering. And in the end, this all serves the industry.

Then, there are the costs involved to attend the events. Vendors pay to attend industry events, such as conferences, often at a higher rate than industry attendees. Conference organizers encourage us to support the conference, offering an opportunity (also at additional cost) to exhibit our offerings and network with industry attendees. To a vendor, this begins to look like a sales opportunity, and if the event does not have some commercial potential it’s difficult to justify the expense. Can vendors really be blamed for this?

However, I agree with the original commenter at IQPC: all parties have an obligation to keep meetings and conferences useful, productive and agreeable to everyone.  Having thought a bit about it, this is where I landed with regard to the responsibilities of stakeholders in keeping industry educational events educational, even with a high number of vendors as participants:

Vendors/exhibitors: Vendors should not be presenting at these conferences unless they have something to present that is both relevant and not limited to a single commercial endeavor. The criteria for this should be set by the conference organizer. If vendors are seeking collaboration or any other honest exchange of information, it would be smart to scale back aggressive sales efforts and take a more consultative approach.

Conference organizers: Organizers should be clear when promoting their events. Define the overall purpose and delineate the roles that exhibitors can play in the event.  Ideally the organizers are going to foster a sense of community that is inclusive of various industry stakeholders. Vendors – especially successful ones – employ experts who have much to offer and can be a valuable resource for communities of practice that look to share information. This is especially important in terms of emerging information that can serve the industry's needs; the sort of information that flourishes within a competitive, R&D-driven market place.  So long as this information is not tied to, or limited to proprietary systems and provides new knowledge that can serve the industry-side attendees, vendor company employees should be allowed share their knowledge.  A conference can benefit from commercial enterprise; it need not be a 3-day commercial.

Conference attendees: Exhibitors provide funding and sponsorship for the events that provide lively, interesting forums and encourage networking within their own industries. Preferably, attendees who aren’t looking for any new vendors will be able to avoid the exhibit area. But, if there’s no avoiding the exhibits, keep an open mind… there may be a solution out there that you didn’t know existed, something you may not need right now, but in future, who knows? Then, as a last resort if you have to walk through the exhibit area on your way to the sessions, you are still welcome to grab some SWAG. 

Personally, I don’t need any more pens or cute key chain fobs… however, some vendors (thinking of no one in particular here!) are savvy enough to put consumables on their tables for all and sundry to enjoy.  May I recommend some Finnish Fazer chocolate?  :)

 

Author

James Tennermann

Business Development Manager

James worked for Vaisala from 2001 to 2016 in various roles. He provided oversight, guidance, and development for Vaisala's rapidly growing life science business segment in North and South America. He created new pathways to customers through extensive collaboration with scientists, engineers, and business people, both internally and externally.

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