After snow on Wednesday, we completed our Richmond, VA. executive security luncheon today with perfect weather and about 40 attendees – mostly business leaders.  What makes an event like this successful?  Well funded through sponsorship, relevant information, credible delivery, and a strong follow up plan.  Some notable sound bites from our opening;

• – Still no suspects on the $9 Million ATM heist.
• – 3 arrests made in connection with the Heartland hack – which has affected 101 banks and over 300,000 credit card accounts.
• – Over the past week over 200,000 identities have been compromised between Kiaser, University of Alabama medical center, and the FAA.

With about 70% of attendees going on to assess risk, I fully expect 90% of them will find there are things that should be done to increase security.  Most of these will go on to add or increase some level of managed security.  In addition to the event, this solution provider was able to get the attention of a local news paper and TV video spot.  When dealing with a recession, marketing, branding, and differentiation are all essential parts of driving forward.