Course spotlight: Marketing of Conferences and Special Events

Professor Richard Aaron Rubin teaches the Marketing of Conferences and Special Events course at the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality. This is an undergraduate course in the Event Management and Marketing and Revenue Management concentrations. In this post, he tells us more about his background and the course.

What is your background? 

I served as President of BizBash Media, the nation's leading Event Media Resource and Industry bible, where I operated the company’s special events, expos, conferences, and meetings as well as industry relations with over 12 associations. My research interests include all aspects of sustainability, event marketing and event business Strategy for Tourism and meetings. Last fall, I co-edited an update to the EIC (Event Industry Council) certification manual used for meeting planner certification process. We updated the current guidelines regarding sustainable practices, technology and event production. A few years ago, I was inducted with the highest honor awarded within the Hospitality Industry into the Hall of Leaders by the Convention Industry Council CIC, now EIC, at IMEX Global Conference in Las Vegas.

At the Tisch Center, you teach the Marketing of Conferences and Special Events course. What are the objectives of this course? 

This course is an analysis of strategies used to market conferences, meetings, and special events on a regional, national, and global scale. Topics we cover include: planning the market scheme for the entire event; developing and using market research for profit versus not-for-profit marketing; sales techniques; target niche markets; marketing strategies for organizations; partnership development; and interactive experiential marketing.

Why are you interested in this specific topic? 

I can bring my practical knowledge to this course for hospitality students who want to work in areas of marketing, social or PR design. It’s necessary that they learn skills in the current practices of marketing so that they can make a better employee to an organization that hires them. 

What sort of impact do you hope to have on your students through this course?

I hope to open students’ eyes to the important role of marketing of conferences and events as it’s an exploding area of the hospitality industry. I hope that they will realize the importance of new techniques, such as numerous technologies in use, and experiential marketing which is being adopted everywhere. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share? 

The importance of a class like this is to introduce students to the impacts of many different technologies on current events in marketing. I have been trying to strongly focus on the technological innovations that are impacting the marketing of events and meetings. When students take this course, they will be truly amazed at the amount of work going into fairs, meetings and festivals to attract satisfied audiences.