hen there is a cultural trend with consumer implications to be found, Mary Meehan and the team of consumer analysts at Minneapolis-based Iconoculture Inc. are among the first to spot it. From observations (like dog parks popping up in airports) to the forecasted “macrotrends” those observations portend (like “Creature Kingdom” — an Iconoculture macrotrend definition in which pets are people, too), Meehan and company identify and analyze the evolving ideas and consumer behaviors that will define tomorrow’s zeitgeist.

So what does it say that this keen, 15-year-old team of cultural oracles recently launched Iconosphere, its own face-to-face client learning and networking event? Corporate EVENT spoke with Meehan, Iconosphere co-founder and executive vice president, about the state of face-to-face marketing today, why events are right for her firm’s own marketing needs now, and what massive changes in the consumer marketplace mean for the future of event marketing.

CE: You’re both a marketer and a professional observer. If you had a book of field notes about the current state of event marketing, what would it say?

MM: Plenty of people look at conferences and conventions today as incredibly boring. They’re becoming very dated. The experience itself is repetitive. The events are always done a certain way. The formats that have always been around — go to a session, see some exhibits, go to a keynote — aren’t working as well anymore.

CE: Why aren’t they working? Isn’t knowing what to expect — particularly if you’ve paid to attend an event — a good thing?

MM: There has been little innovation in terms of the overall structure of most events. The industry needs a good shakeup — but attendees need to be delighted by that shakeup. Shock and awe is not the kind of experience that people want to have when they’re paying to be part of an event. Each event marketer must understand the needs and interests of his or her audience, and then create meaningful, relevant kinds of surprises that are unexpected and interesting for those customers.

That’s why proprietary events can be so powerful: In an event sponsored by someone else, whether it’s another company or a professional organizer, there’s already a brand that you’re associating with. So the way you associate with that company or organization and the structure they have put in place already affects how you can convey your brand and how attendees perceive it. How do you create a unique presence within such an environment? It can be a significant challenge.

CE: Is that why you launched your own event? Did you feel like there was something missing in terms of the available forums and the kinds of interactions you wanted to have with your client base?

MM: No. It’s just that there is a very different experience that you have when you gather all of your clients, or a number of them, together. It’s that group experience that we usually don’t get to have. Now I can’t say that meeting face to face has any more impact on a customer’s ability to put our knowledge and information to work than simply talking with one of our strategists on the phone. However, when you have other clients from different market categories — say, technology, automotive, and hospitality — all contributing their ideas during a Q&A, it reinforces cross-category learning. That’s where face to face and group interaction really adds to the attendees’ quality of experience.

CE: Have you seen something new, or something changing or evolving in the market that has increased or decreased the importance of face-to-face events?

MM: It sounds clichéd, but it’s true: Technology has placed such demands on us that face-to-face interaction has become a novelty. E-mail, conference calls, Webinars — it’s very special now to actually spend time with people face to face.

CE: Except when everyone is checking the BlackBerry the whole time.

MM: Right.

CE: You’ve mentioned “relevant surprise.” What can an event marketer do to create surprises that are more compelling than whatever is on the BlackBerry?

MM: I’ll share an example from our own event, Iconosphere. Our goal was to give our clients, who are incredibly busy marketers, both a deep sense of our appreciation for them and a multisensory learning experience.

We thought about every single attendee touchpoint at the event, and identified something to make each touchpoint a memorable part of the overall experience. For example, every attendee received a personal, handwritten welcome note when they arrived at the hotel. Our clients are of vital importance to us, and we wanted to make sure they understood how honored we were that they decided to make this trip.

Once the conference began, in as many sessions as possible we offered what we call “artifacts” to the attendees: Something tangible that brings to life an aspect of the consumer culture that we are trying to demonstrate to the audience. In a session about multicultural consumers, we distributed maps of Los Angeles (where Iconosphere was held) that pointed out hotspots where attendees could experience a new culture firsthand. In another, to illustrate the micro-entrepreneurship trend on global consumers, we handed out cookies that were baked by a South African women’s collective.

It’s all about how people interact with you. These artifacts give them something to touch, feel, and taste. It brings people into the discussion, and demonstrates the quality of something consumers are engaged in.

CE: That still left much of the experiential power in your attendees’ hands: whether to visit any of the sites you recommended, or even whether to eat the cookies.

MM: Which is exactly the marketer’s challenge today. People will interact with you the way they want to, not the way you want them to. For example, if you’re going to launch a corporate or event blog, you have to relinquish some control. It’s not “we created an ad, we put it out there, and people are going to see it exactly as we created it.” That’s not the way it goes. If you launch a blog, it’s a free-for-all. It goes where it’s going to go.

CE: What does the consumer’s expectation for control of the interaction mean for marketers?

MM: It’s requiring more knowledge, more work within what have previously been described as niche channels. It’s a requirement that you understand what matters to consumers about media, about marketing, and about advertising, and how they want to be connected with — then be able to connect with them in an authentic manner.

CE: Are there implications for face-to-face events regarding consumer control?

MM: You can see the impact by the growth of a notion called the unconference. The idea is that the event is completely without predefined structure. The sponsor or organizer books speakers and attendees help optimize the schedule the day of the event. All you need is a topic and a time slot and you can speak to the audience.

These events are highly participatory. All attendees are required to be live-blogging, posting questions, and adding to an event wiki in real time. If you’re not actively engaged in what’s being presented in a session, you’re obligated to leave and go somewhere else.

CE: Sounds like user groups would gravitate toward that kind of approach.

MM: Absolutely. It’s very tech oriented. There have been unconferences around everything from gaming to technology use by nonprofits. You have to want to be multitasking for an entire day. You need to be open to this very free-flowing and of-the-moment kind of event.

Some think the unconference will sweep the industry, which I don’t agree with. But there are some aspects of it that that we need to think about. What it does say is there are different ways to interact. Consumers are far more engaged and in control than ever before. They want to be really engaged. That need is being expressed in the outgrowth of the unconference.

There are so many demands on consumer attention. Marketing is just under siege right now. We have to continue to be in touch with what matters to consumers, what sticks in their world. We need to continue to grow and advance with what technology can bring us. We need to get ahead of the flow, as it were. Stay in step with the audience you are trying to attract to your event.

CE: Do you think most marketers are paying attention to these changes and acting on them in the right ways, or are they missing opportunities to connect with customers in new and meaningful ways?

MM: Our clients are skilled marketers, but understanding the consumer can be a difficult thing given the diversity within a typical target group. I don’t think marketers are doing anything wrong. It’s simply so hard to keep track of — and keep up with — all of the options.

CE: As a consumer-behavior expert, what do you think the business-to-business event marketer can — and should — learn from consumer observation?

MM: That whomever your customers are, they’re still consumers. No matter what or how you’re marketing, you’re still marketing to people. They’re still driven by values that are important to them, and you need to understand what those values are and market to them. Whether your customers come from one demographic profile or cross every possible demographic, find a universal value that fits within the consumer group, as broad or diverse as they may be, that lines up with your brand or your product. Align that value with your brand, and you will succeed. e