Two major US data center trade shows are rapidly approaching and you should be finalizing your PR strategy for both. Datacenter Dynamics (New York City in March) and Data Center World (Los Angeles in April) have historically drawn large crowds of senior data center and IT executives. Even though these shows are held annually and have been around for years, it’s important to revisit your strategy for the events every time you attend or exhibit to consider how each one can provide a specific PR opportunity for your company.
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Whether you plan to attend these shows or other conferences of a similar scale in a different industry, examining certain elements of upcoming events can help prepare your PR strategy and maximize the benefits of attending. Here are a few pointers to remember and a quick review of each conference.
>> Consider whether your presence at the show could be one of your next press release options
>> Take advantage of trade show briefings and make sure your key executives don’t miss them once scheduled
>> In conference sessions, utilize the opportunity to fill your social media feeds by engaging with the speakers and presented content
>> After hours at either DCD or DCW, both New York and Los Angeles offer so many opportunities to build relationships with potential customers and partners
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DCD
Dates
March 14-15, 2017
Location: New York Marriott Marquis
This East Coast-based show draws a crowd of 1500+ senior IT professionals. The event is held in Times Square, Manhattan and presents a good opportunity to reconnect with New York-based clients or work to build your presence there.
Content
This year’s DCD Enterprise focuses on “Infrastructure Transformation for the Data Center-Scale Enterprise.” The tracks include:
- Design + Build
- Servers + Storage
- Colo + Cloud
- Power + Cooling
- Software-Defined
- Core > Edge
Exhibits
You can plan to visit about 85 companies exhibiting at DCD Enterprise. The website has linked an individual profile to each logo so you can easily click through to learn more about who will be there.
Social Media: #DCDEnterprise
Use @DCDConverged on Twitter and #DCDEnterprise. The conference has used an app in the past, we presume they will again this year, and typically engages a strong social media presence – use this to your advantage. Reviewing their Twitter feed can also show you how other companies are using social media to promote their attendance.
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DCW
Dates
April 3-6, 2017
Location: Los Angeles Convention Center
After years of being held in Las Vegas, DCW moved further west to LA and projects around 1,100 attendees. We’re interested to compare these locations, as each offers unique features for both the conference and leisure activities during downtime.
Content
The theme of the LA conference is “Data, Automation, Scale: Building and Managing the Data Center of the Future.” These are the conference tracks:
- IT Infrastructure Technologies
- Data Center Design & Management
- Modern Data Center Strategies
- Security, Data Sovereignty, and Risk Management
- The Cutting Edge
- Product Information Sessions
- HostingCon Sessions
Exhibits
Held this year in collaboration with HostingCon, Data Center World offers attendees access to additional HostingCon sessions and they have co-located their exhibit halls together. The DCW side should welcome around 50 exhibiting companies.
Social Media: #DCWLA17
The @DataCenterWorld account is active and good about retweeting or sharing content that tags them – this is a great way to get additional company exposure on Twitter. Use hashtag #DCWLA17. In previous years, the show utilized an Instagram handle, though it’s yet to be determined if they’ll start posting for the 2017 conference.
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Post-Show
After you (or your company) attend major conferences such as these, take the time to debrief the experience. Compare the number of leads gained, press opportunities available and whether you took advantage of them, social media activity, the quality of sessions, and other benchmarks. Year-over-year, you’ll be able to build your preparation for each show based on its effectiveness and the results of previous efforts. Over time, you can hone your PR strategy and attend the shows that prove worthy of the investment.
Do you plan to attend this year’s DCD or DCW shows? Have you tossed trade shows out of your marketing and PR strategy altogether? Keep us posted on your thoughts and experiences. Maybe we’ll see you on one coast or the other in the next few weeks!
Please note the information in this blog, including projected attendee numbers, was drawn from the show’s websites and/or official social media handles. Milldam does not formally endorse either entity, but we will be attending both! Reach out if you want to connect while we’re there.
Caroline Haley authors the column “Caroline’s Cloud” and is Vice President, Outreach & Operations for Milldam Public Relations.
