the May 2008 Issue in PDF Format - Trade Show Executive

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Power Lunch John Mooney New Horizons John Mooney, partner in 3 Deep Media LLC and former partner of M/C Communications, was the first recipient of the first Robert L. Krakoff Leadership Award at the Society of Independent Show Organizer’s (SISO) CEO Summit in St. Petersburg, FL a few weeks ago. This Boston native was honored for his vision, leadership and ethical standards, as well as his part in developing exposition industry standards. John considers Bob one of his mentors, making this accolade even more meaningful. I spoke with him shortly after he was presented with the award. By Bob Dallmeyer, TSE columnist 38 May 2008 Trade Show Executive www.TradeShowExecutive.com
Power Lunch Bob: You’re a successful entrepreneur, yet you started in the research side of our business. How did you make that transition? John: As an English major graduate of Boston College, I quickly learned that there weren’t any jobs for people who could quote Shakespeare. During my student days, I worked for my father, who was a college professor of research methods and statistics. This gave me a practical background in market research, and one of my first jobs was with Cahners Publishing Company as research assistant to Ira Siegel. He was another mentor, and I soon relocated to New York when Cahners began buying magazines there. Bob: Describe your experiences with Cahners Publishing? John: It really sharpened my research skills. I must have worked for 17 different industries in the Cahners portfolio: interior design, library, book publishing and medical publications among them. I knew just enough about each of these to get through a ten-minute cocktail party conversation before people found me out. Bob: When did you first meet Bob Krakoff? John: I met him while I was working for R. R. Bowker which had been acquired by Cahners. Bob and Ira subsequently felt that I should bring my marketing expertise to Cahners Exposition Group in Stamford, CT. So I packed my research bag and moved there. Bob: Was this about the time when CEG was acquired by Reed Elsevier and became Reed Exhibitions? John: Yes, soon after I relocated. I spent five years with Reed and loved every minute of my association with the company. I had a great boss, Neil Perlman, whom I knew from the publishing side. His roots were with Publishers Weekly, and he was promoted to head up the exhibition division. He pushed me into marketing, direct mail, etc. Jim Alic succeeded him and gave me my first line management experience with the packaging and pharmaceutical manufacturing shows. It was a blast. Bob: Why did you leave? John: I’d relocated five times in ten years and decided to shop my resume with the intent of settling back in Boston. I met a fellow Boston College alumnus, Jack Connors, who owned a successful advertising agency. He gave me the opportunity to start my own trade show business, with the proviso that I develop a concept and invest my ‘sweat equity.’ He would provide the capital. Bob: Sounds like a win-win opportunity. John: Yes, but I was reluctant. He challenged me to take the chance and reminded me that if we failed, I’d be in my mid-thirties and still marketable to other employers. I was scared, but I did it – and M/C Communications was launched. Bob: What was your initial strategy? John: We had two parallel tracks: one was to get management contracts for existing events and the other was to launch our own events. As luck would have it, Terry McDermott, who was president of Cahners Publishing USA, had left to become chief executive of the American Institute of Architects. He asked me to manage his AIA trade show and conference. This gave us our start and Terry continues as a friend and mentor. Bob: How did you start your medical conferences? John: Soon after the AIA contract, we came up with the Pri-Med concept, which is shorthand for Primary Medicine Today. It is a conference and exhibition for doctors and clinicians in their local area that puts together multiple primary care disciplines and delivers world-class education. The first event was in Boston with Harvard Medical School as our partner. We had an exhibitor/sponsor advisory committee composed of all the major pharmaceutical companies, who paid for the opportunity to access doctors away from their hectic workplaces. Bob: Was the event successful? John: Since doctors constantly need continuing education credits, our first conference drew a respectable 3,600 attendees, with 120 exhibiting companies. We didn’t make money, but Harvard loved it, our exhibitors loved it, and most importantly, the doctors loved it. The next year, 5,000 doctors attended Pri-Med in Long Beach, CA. Currently, there are seven large Pri-Med conferences annually, with Harvard Medical School as partner. We also developed Pri-Med Update Meetings for the secondary and tertiary markets, responding again to the increased need for continuing education for doctors. Pri-Med is now held in nine countries and comprises over 200 medical conferences each year. Bob: What about competition from the Continued on page 40 www.TradeShowExecutive.com Trade Show Executive May 2008 39
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Page 7 and 8: A modern update of the archetypal f
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