Anatomy of a Successful Franchise Conference – Murphy Business Does it Again!

A while back, we published a case study of a great franchise convention – the Murphy Business 2012 Annual Conference  https://www.franchisespeakers.com/anatomy-of-a-great-franchise-conference-murphy-business-case-study/.

Hard to imagine, but Roger and his team took their event this year to an even higher level.  The 2014 Murphy Educational Conference was a stellar success and feedback from attendees was off the charts!

Many of the successful practices that we noted in our earlier post are also included here. These convention best practices are well worth mentioning again…and again…and again…
 

Pre-Event:

• Planned Early! Roger started talking to us about his objectives and content goals more than 8 months before the event.
• Created a clear vision for what they wanted to accomplish from an educational, social, fun, and vendor partner engagement perspective.
• Selected the right franchise-savvy keynote speaker, Lisa McLeod, to reinforce the overall theme and key content objectives.
• 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!
• 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.
• Sent a gracious thank you – a copy of Lisa McLeod’s Selling with Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work that Makes You Proud to participating vendor partners before the event to let them know how much their support was appreciated and to create excitement about the event!
• Hired a professional presentation skills coach to help sharpen the messages, delivery and energy of the key executive team members who would be presenting.  Giselle Chapman – what a dynamo she is!  
• Rehearsed!  Giselle and key presenters were on site early for rehearsal and run through.  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:

• Set the tone for a high energy and supercharged meeting by opening with a surprise – A BagPipe and Celtic Drum Corps!
• Intentionally created the right balance of fun, networking and social time, with actionable, educational content.
• Carefully orchestrated the energy and tone of the meeting from start to finish.  Kept it fresh and fun and kept the pace moving but never made it feel rushed.
• Engaged attendees – both franchisees and vendor partners – through a variety of interactive activities – speed dating, roundtables, networking receptions, morning workout fun-runs and team building on the beach!
• Created multiple ways for vendor partners to connect with Murphy Business Brokers to hold meaningful conversations (including targeted roundtables and speed-dating mentioned above).
• Recognized top performers in a variety of categories that reinforced the culture of the Murphy Business and Financial system.
• Collected surveys after each workshop and responded to the comments. By responding to the attendee’s comments, the Murphy team continues to demonstrate that they care about the relationship.
• The Murphy executive team participated in all the events equally including the speed-dating.  Feedback from franchisors on how impressed they were by the Murphy leadership being so engaged was over the top!  
• Staff and executives alike were relaxed and engaged with participants throughout the event.  Because they were so well organized and prepared, on-site their time was spent engaging with their franchisees and vendor partners, not running around in a state of panic.
• Closed the meeting with surprise entertainment, Performance Speed Painter, Tim Decker! Tim customized his session and WOWED us all with his amazing talent and great sense of humor.

Post-Event:

• 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.
• Followed up with vendor partners with a thank-you.
• Included a series of short reminders, video links and articles in their newsletter to reinforce the key messages of the franchise convention.
• Had all attendees complete a post-event survey to gather feedback and insights from everyone involved.
   

A big congratulations to Evelyn, Brandy, Jackie, 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 and testimonials captured at the event!

 

One of the best parts for me this year was having the gracious Roger Murphy suggested I invite my Mom, also a Floridian to join us. In our debrief, Roger commented that one of the highlights of the event was meeting “Mother SPEAK!”.  I was really  touched by that – thank you Roger!

 

After team building on the beach, Anna Mitchell a.k.a. “Mother SPEAK!” and I grab some dinner and watch the sunset!

 

Taking a Pedicab back to the hotel with one quick stop for homemade Gelato!

 

Having fun in the photo booth with keynote speaker Lisa McLeod!

 

 

VIDEO: Opening with a flare – the Bagpipe and Drum Corps

 

After the auction… Einstein has a new home!

 

 

VIDEO: You have to hear what Roger has to say about Tim Decker’s outrageous entertainment.  APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE – the camera women (me) failed terribly connecting the directional microphone!  You can still hear Roger’s comments though so I wanted to post it anyway.

 

 

VIDEO: And here’s Tom Miller’s comments on Tim Decker!