This year ’ s model
Stephanie Selesnick discusses the hosted buyer model in Covid-19 times with Phil McKay , nGage Events , Inc .
hil McKay , CEO of New Hampshire-based ( USA ) nGage Events , Inc . may not have invented the business-to-business events hosted buyer model , but he perfected it . The nGage Events hosted buyer model brings together executives to exclusive locations where top-notch education and business development activities take place . It includes matchmaking in the form of pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings and boardroom-style case study presentations . Buyers are targeted , invited , and hosted for the event at no cost to them , including travel in return for attending a specific number of sessions and meetings . This model assures sponsor ROI .
Before founding nGage Events LLC , and PPM Media , McKay served as executive VP for Questex Media and was responsible for their hosted model events and technology group . He also served as senior vicepresident of the World Market Center in Las Vegas , in charge of growing their event portfolio in the furniture , gift and home accessories industries , and was group vice-president and general manager at Gartner ’ s Vision Events , where he managed teams in 10 verticals holding hosted events .
When March 2020 hit and everything closed down , like many other organisers McKay knew the company ’ s June in-person events would be cancelled , but had high hopes for reopening in Q3 or Q4 . “ In the meanwhile , we had two tasks : keep our community together and stay in front of them ,” he says . “ Holding digital events that stayed as close to our DNA as possible was the solution .”
The trick , McKay believes , with being successful in a digital world is making it impactful for the community – short and sweet . No filler . “ Ninety-minute sessions held every other month . Make them interactive and bring in the quality people from both the buyer and sponsor sides ,” he advises . His team also performs matchmaking , asking sponsors who they most want to meet . Of course , the attendees have to agree . Last , they bring in a professional moderator .
With 15 digital events held since last March , McKay and his team plan on producing another 12-15 more in 2021 . This doesn ’ t include live events . “ The digital events are driving our live , in-person events , which are slated to begin this fall . We ’ ve been using ‘ save the date ’ announcements and conversing all along with sponsors and attendees to see what they want when we return to faceto-face . We ’ re still looking month-tomonth in making decisions . While it ’ s great that more and more people are receiving vaccines , it ’ s not the time to be complacent .”
One reason that nGage Events has been able to keep its communities together has been the team ethos . “ I ’ m so proud of everyone one of them ,” McKay says . “ They ’ ve adapted so well - going way out of their comfort zones , learning new systems , all the while taking care of all of our clients in crazy Covid-19 times .”
Presently , nGage Events produces hosted buyer events in the US and Canada . I ask if there are there any future plans for global expansion . “ Our goal has always been to expand to other markets with brand extensions . nGage has a long and successful history of partnering with other companies . This is how we would envision extending these brands in foreign markets .”
While McKay , his partners and team make the hosted buyer model look easy , it ’ s not . He offers a piece of advice on replicating the model : “ If you are looking to dip your toes into the hosted buyer space , my advice would be to embrace the communities you are working in . By this I mean you must either hire an expert or become as immersed in the content as you can . Your audience will drive the sponsors ! Content will drive the audience .” Great advice .
Right : Stephanie Selesnick ( left ) and Phil McKay ( right )
12 Issue 2 2021 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk