Last year, ICE Totally Gaming (ICE) brought together over 33,000 thousand attendees across 150 countries around the world. Returning for the 13th year in a row, the London Affiliate Conference (LAC 2019) will attract over 5,000 affiliates, brands and service providers to London. In this post we discuss four ways brands can maximise their experience in London this year.
Tip #1: Acquire More Knowledge on Industry Trends
These conferences are a hub for all major gaming players including operators, regulators and affiliates. It’s equally an opportunity for delegates to attend panels and educational sessions like ICE VOX, a series of engaging conferences discussing latest industry trends.
This year, the theme being tackled by our VP of Strategy Sarafina Wolde Gabriel is the scope and impact of PASPA’s repeal, emerging opportunities for sports betting brands and the overall forecast on the US market. The panel session takes place at 10:30 a.m. on Monday 4th February before the main ICE conference begins.
Panels aid in negotiating the iGaming market from multiple standpoints (regulation, product development, marketing, etc.). It’s also a great opportunity to discuss the latest trends with fellow ICE and LAC attendees, ensuring you remain ahead of the game.
For instance, with sports betting and, connected to this, affiliate marketing growing in the African market, attendees can take the opportunity to attend a panel discussion entitled ‘Engaging Afrilennials’ at 2 p.m. on Day 2 of LAC. Led by marketing, business and law experts in the iGaming industry, participants will learn top content strategies for engaging African consumers, mobile SEO strategies to optimise visibility and more.
Tip #2: Network with Attendees Online and Offline
Networking online and offline is the key to building and maintaining strong business relationships. It’s also an effective way to spark conversations with new clients.
Before the conferences even begin, operators can make noise about their attendance through PRs, corporate blogs, newsletters to client and supplier databases, and more.
At LAC, after pre-registration, participants can attend a networking event ahead of the exhibition. Similarly, ICE created an official networking app that allows users to connect with their peers, set up meetings, browse ICE London seminars and more.
Additionally, you can easily connect with experts through social media. Actively engaging with professionals and brands could get you the leverage needed to take your business relationships to the next level. By live-tweeting, posting pictures, tagging brands, using conference hashtags and sharing related posts, people will feel more inclined to interact with you too.
Tip #3: Organize Your Schedule Ahead of Time
Pre-planning meetings is the best way to manage your time and get a better sense of how much free time you’ll have once you’re at the event.
It’s best to keep all your meetings in one place like in an agenda, Excel sheet or Google Sheets or Calendar. While having a busy calendar is great, allocating free time in your schedule to explore the conference floor is also recommended to meet prospective clients.
Furthermore, it’ll give you a chance to scope out your competitors. For example, through ICE London’s Pitch ICE initiative, gaming start-ups will debut their companies to industry investors and strategic partners. This means you’ll be one of the first to discover up-and-coming firms, as well as pinpoint their strengths and challenges.
With a record figure of over 600 exhibitors from 66 countries, there’ll be plenty of moments to connect with iGaming industry professionals from various backgrounds.
Tip #4: Keep Your Business Relationships Alive
ICE and LAC are platforms built for laying the foundations of future business relationships. The next couple of weeks following the conferences are the most crucial, where a connection decides whether to become a client.
After both events, it’s essential to compile a list of your prospective clients’ contact information. Make sure that your follow-up calls, emails and meeting requests are personalized and targeted with your business goals in mind. Developing a follow-up strategy beforehand will speed up this process.
If you’re not already connected to prospects on socials, make it a point to do so on all relevant channels.
Once you begin a business relationship, be sure to maintain regular contact. Even if projects may end up falling through, you’ll benefit more from maintaining these relationships when it comes to future opportunities and other possible collaborations.
Finally, make the most out of your experience by bolstering your content marketing strategy – create blog articles with key takeaways, social media content and recaps of the key panels you attended.
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If you’re attending ICE London and/or LAC 2019, we’d love to meet! Email our Communications Manager Nick Say to schedule some time or stop by our stand at either event (Booth N4-304 for ICE; D20 for LAC).
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