Econo-marketing-sticky thoughts

Some random notes for Glue this morning:1. I've been emailing with Brad a bit this morning about what "feels" like a change in the economy.  We're in agreement that something is changing. I've spoken with dozens of tech companies in the last 3 weeks (all from different sub-sectors), and almost to a company, they report an increase in "activity" as of late. Combine that with the obvious increase in M&A (oracle/sun, broadcom/emulex, symantec/mi5), and it's not hard to think that a change is occurring. Is it THE bottom? No one's that smart. But something is definitely different.2. Louis Gray posted some great thoughts about tech trade show attendance, wherein he argues that attendance may be down, but quality is up. Tech marketers can RADICALLY improve their "lead performance" with regard to event marketing if they'll simply do a few things: First, measure "lead quality" based on the amount of dollars that comes from a lead (versus measuring "cost per lead" -- which exaggerates the importance of quantity and completely ignores quality); Second, distinguish between "trade shows" and "conferences" - and realize that trade shows tend to offer great quantity of leads, while conferences tend to offer greater quality of leads; Third, dial down trade show participation in slower economic times and dial UP conference participation (ie, when the economy slows, focus on quality of lead; when it speeds back up, layer in quantity of leads). If you're a tech marketer and you just do those 3 things, you'll spend less and make more.3. Add it up: the economy is getting better and you should really be at conferences = get your butt to Glue! And remember, use those discount codes now, as they're absolutely worthless for on-site registration. You'll save yourself $200 bucks (400 vs. 600) by just registering now.