Anatomy of a Great Franchise Conference – Murphy Business Case Study

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the Murphy Business Annual Franchise Convention and can I just say “WOW!”?  Roger Murphy and his amazing team put on an extraordinary event.  Evelyn Perdomo, V.P. of Corporate Services at Murphy Business and Financial Corp, absolutely knocked it out of the park in every way.  She and her team created an experience for the Murphy Business franchisees that seamlessly blended education, inspiration, motivation, recognition, partnering and fun!

   

Evelyn and Roger did so many things right that I thought it would be valuable to share. Here they are in order:

Pre-Event:

1. Planned Early! Roger started talking to us about his objectives and content goals more than 8 months ago. 
2. Created a clear vision for what they wanted to accomplish from an educational, social, fun, and vendor partner engagement perspective.
3. Selected the right franchise-savvy keynote speaker (Chip Eichelberger) to reinforce the overall theme and key content objectives.
4. Created additional spark and fun by bringing in a content driven comedian (John Di Domenico) to interact with the group in various ways throughout out the event to keep the energy up and to make it fun and surprising.
5. Planned.  Planned.  Planned.  I can’t say enough about the value of this. By thinking it all through well in advance, Roger and his team had the event running like clockwork.  The result was staff that was present, relaxed and engaged with the franchisees – not running around putting out fires!
6. Communicated consistently and thoroughly with all vendor partners on what to expect, how to be prepared and how to best engage the Murphy Business Brokers for optimum return.
7. Hired a professional presentation skills coach to help sharpen the messages, delivery and energy of the key executive team presenting.  Giselle Chapman – what a dynamo she is!  
8. Rehearsed!  Giselle and key presenters were on site early for rehearsal and run thru.  With plenty of time to tweak the room set-up, the stage, the sound, and the flow of how it all came together, the finished product was seamless! 

During the Event:

1. Intentionally created the right balance of fun, networking and social time, with actionable educational content.
2. Carefully orchestrated the energy and tone of the meeting from start to finish.
3. Engaged attendees – both franchisees and

   vendor partners – through a variety of interactive activities.    

4. Created multiple ways for vendor partners to connect with Murphy Business Brokers to hold meaningful conversations, including targeted roundtables and speed-dating.
5. Recognized top performers in a variety of categories that reinforced the culture of the Murphy Business and Financial Corp System.
6. Collected surveys after each workshop and responded to the comments.  For example, one of the comments was that the handouts were too hard to read.  The Murphy team responded by re-formatting the handouts and sending them out to the session attendees as conference follow-up.  By responding to the attendee’s comments, the Murphy team demonstrated that they care about the relationship.

Post-Event:

1. Held a team debrief to identify what went great, what was just ‘good’, and what they don’t want to repeat again immediately after the event.
2. Followed up with vendor partners with a thank-you gift.
3. Included a series of short reminders, video links and articles in their newsletter to reinforce the key messages of the franchise convention.
4. Had all attendees complete a post-event survey to gather feedback and insights from everyone involved. 

A big congratulations to Evelyn, Roger and everyone on their team for a fabulous event.  You folks really know how to do it right!

More soon….

Katrina

PS: Check out some of the pictures taken at the event below.

 Roger Murphy, Austin Powers and Katrina Mitchell – YEAH BABY!

 Katrina Mitchell and Dr. Phil interview attendees as they register!

Guy Fieri runs Minute to Win It games from the trade show floor!