Earlier this summer, almost 100 mergers and acquisitions professionals made their way to Southampton for "Convergence: M&A Summit in the Hamptons." Behind the event were president of ImageQuest Communications Cindy Smith, and chief executive of the M&A forum Warren Strugatch. Together they had to entice attendees to the atypical location, scout a suitable venue, and work with local vendors unacustomed to business events—all while trying to lay a steady foundation for what they’d like to be an annual conference. We spoke to them about some of the biggest successes and pitfalls of moving a business conference out of the comfort of an urban environment.
What made you decide to hold the M&A Summit in the Hamptons?
Warren Strugatch: We had been working in the mergers and acquisitions field, and we saw a great need for something different when we went to conferences ourselves. They tended to be very boring and very predictable. We thought that there had to be something more interesting than this. Then we thought about how as soon as a conference was over, [attendees] would take off. It was just a matter of going through the motions. People want to hear more interesting speakers and gather someplace that’s more conducive to meeting people than a Midtown conference room.
We naturally thought of the Hamptons, and how there’s just a ton of dealmakers that live out there on the East End.
How did you expect the location to affect attendance?
Strugatch: One of the things we’re noticing is that there are attendance issues across the board. The industry is having some contractions—people losing jobs, quite honestly. We met our attendance goals for the first year (60 to 80 attendees at any given event), but we’ll grow from that.
Cindy Smith: What I think is really so interesting is that the Hamptons are such an iconic place. Conferences in Chicago and New York happen all the time. Groundbreaking things tend to happen in the Hamptons. This is where philanthropy is happening. There’s a convergence of ideas.
Strugatch: I’m not going to name names, but someone said, “I’m planning to be at another conference. There’ll be 1,000 people there.” But if there are 1,000 people, how many are you really going to talk to?
What were some of the problems you faced choosing a venue?
Smith: The Hamptons present a challenge. When it comes to having a location for a more traditional business event, one does not exist. You can rent a field or a barn, but you have to bring absolutely everything yourself. You can rent out a private home, but the logistics are too difficult. Getting what we wanted was a challenge and, quite frankly, one day we just stumbled on a location owned by a nonprofit, the Southampton Cultural Center. We offered to rent it and make a donation.
What other kinds of obstacles did the locale present?
Smith: I didn’t know how many rooms to book in advance. People know people in the Hamptons, so a lot of them would be staying with friends. We’re also working with people used to being in five-star accommodations all the time. We tried to reinforce that we were going to keep it casual. We told them to bring their flip-flops.
I’d call caterers and say that I needed a traditional breakfast setup, but nobody knew how to do that. I had to turn caterers down because they didn’t know how to do breakfast. Few people out there could offer a menu that wasn’t so off the wall. It was really a matter of reeducating the caterers and telling them what the service called for. [The Southampton Inn] ended up being really willing to move their stuff around and have staff come in early. They did a terrific job.
How did you go about attracting sponsors?
Smith: A lot of due diligence, a lot of networking, and getting a lot of people to stop thinking, “How many people can you put our message in front of?” It was more important to have them understand who these people are and what they value.
Strugatch: What we did was connect with the sponsors by asking who they were looking to meet, and we helped make that happen. It was very informal. You want to meet people, but you don’t want to be the one to reach out and offer your hand. Everyone wants to be the chief. Our role was to find a way to have the people in that room lower the formality. That’s what it’s all about.
Do you think offsite activities proved to be more of a distraction or an advantage?
Strugatch: The attendees make a lot of money on an hourly basis. If they commit to being someplace, they’re going to be there. I’ve seen a lot of these guys fly in for a keynote and just fly out, but you didn’t see that here. You didn’t even see them on their cell phones or their Blackberries. There was golf and there was the beach, but people didn’t take advantage to go play in the sun. They did it before and after, but when they were there, they were focused on the information and meeting people.
