This week’s thought leader, Thomas Kemp, CEO of Northstar Travel Media, talks about how events serve their audiences and clients and have become the largest source of revenue for the company.

 

 

Some of the areas we covered in our conversation with Tom:

•    Running Hosted Buyer Events
•    The attractive margins and cashflow aspects of events
•    Revenue ideas beyond registrations and sponsorships
•    B2B media companies’ ability to leverage brand offerings to create successful events
•    The advantages of adding entertainment to events

MG:
Northstar Travel Media is an innovative B2B information and marketing solutions leader that serves all segments of the Global Travel and Meetings Industries.  The company offers a complete range of profitable media channels, but its face-to-face event platforms have shown remarkable growth.  Would you tell us a little bit about that growth?

Thomas Kemp:
When I joined Northstar Travel Media in 2009, 70% of the company’s portfolio was in print, about 10% was digital and about 10% was in subscription information products.  The company also produced a couple of events.  It was the nadir of the recession, a very tough time in publishing, but we focused on building the company and diversifying so as not to be as dependent on print, and we invested significantly in digital media and face-to-face events.  Since that time, through organic launches of events in our existing market segments as well as through acquisitions, face-to-face events have become the largest segment of our business. Last year we produced 77 events in 12 different countries.