Category: Event Planning

Thanksgiving planning like a pro: tried and tested strategies

Posted on by Eventsforce

Family enjoying Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving planning is no mean feat. Like any other occasion, it has its own logistics and practicalities, yet Turkey Day is a banquet of epic proportions, a cornucopia of endless culinary iterations (you’re either Team Apple Pie or Team Pumpkin Pie, OK?) and often — as any gathering of family and friends is wont to be — a feast of deep and rich emotions.

Bearing in mind the complexities of the day — the large and sometimes disparate guest list, your diners’ multiple dietary requirements, the obsession with perfect timing, the endless simmering (of both gravy and feuds) — we at Eventsforce wondered what it would be like if we applied some of the planning tactics familiar to every event professional to organise and pull off a perfect Thanksgiving. So without further ado — and because every Thanksgiving chef is well and truly a planner at heart — this is your perfect Turkey Day, portioned out, plated up and served with efficiency thanks to the power of professional event planning.

  1. Define the Day and Choose the Date — With Care

A thoughtful host and a careful planner begins by naming and defining the purpose of their occasion. For many Americans and those around the globe with a broad awareness of American culture, Thanksgiving speaks for itself. However, there are many for whom the day is entirely foreign; bear this in mind and be prepared to describe the holiday to give context to anyone not familiar with Thanksgiving festivities. In the US and its territories, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, which is a public holiday. As those marking the day overseas well know, Thanksgiving is not observed internationally and so you’ll want to schedule your feast for a weekend and/or a time appropriate to the surrounding culture (i.e., avoiding local days of religious observance, etc.).

  1. Pause and Prep for effective Thanksgiving planning

What’s a planner without a schedule? In terms of overall preparation, a savvy Thanksgiving host begins their initial preparations approximately a month to three weeks out from the big day. Here’s a rough timeline for your Thanksgiving preparations; feel free to add in your own points and adjust, as needed:

  • 1 month to three weeks before: know your budget, select your date, have a rough estimate for guest figures, choose your venue
  • Three to two weeks before: create a WhatsApp group/some kind of platform to communicate with guests, issue invites with RSVPs, set your menu, order turkey, verify freezer space for cooking ahead (see next point)
  • One week before: ensure you have enough seating, cutlery, plates, glasses, mugs etc., for everyone in attendance, cook/freeze side dishes
  • Three days to one day before: defrost turkey/pick-up fresh bird, check that your  roasting tin is large enough and that your turkey and tin can fit in the oven, defrost your sides and create an on-the-day masterlist for cooking timings
  • On the day: Cook and rest turkey, make your mash, bake rolls and heat through sides, gravy and pies

  1. Selecting the Venue, Setting the Time

A professional event planner may have multiple venues up for consideration, but your home — with its familiar kitchen — is absolutely your best bet. There is nothing more disorienting than cooking Thanksgiving for a crowd in an unfamiliar kitchen. On that note, if you decide to use an alternative venue, do as any planner would do and familiarise yourself with the space ahead of time, making a note of where pots, pans, plates, dishes, cutlery and all utensils are stored. Test the oven to ensure that you know both how to adjust the temperature and also if it runs hotter or cooler than your appliance at home.

When you set your time for the occasion, take into account the intricacies of your menu (for example, a whole turkey takes much longer to cook than a crown), the schedules of your guests, the size of your oven and even things such as the nap schedules of smaller diners. HINT: when setting the time, suggest an early afternoon sitting to allow your guests to enjoy a leisurely meal, a point that also enables you to avoid cleaning up late into night.

  1. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

You might already have a reasonable idea of who you want to invite to your Thanksgiving feast, but it’s wise to firm things up with a more formal invite, issued via the platform most convenient to your guests. Unlike a professional planner, you won’t have a bespoke app at your disposal for the occasion, but consider setting up a WhatsApp group specifically for the day. After all, all you really want is a platform that will enable you to communicate with guests directly both in the run up to and on the day of your Thanksgiving feast.

Once you’ve issued invites — preferably with some kind of RSVP to enable you to move forward with a precise number of guests — you can use this forum to provide arrivals with information on points like transport options for getting to your venue and, if needed, details on parking.

  1. Menu Madness with a side of Guest Engagement

Now is the time to plan your feast in earnest. With your platform set up, you can easily gather information on any dietary requirements. In keeping with convention, the traditional Thanksgiving feast is comprised of the following core dishes:

– Turkey

– Stuffing

– Mashed potatoes and gravy

– Cranberry sauce

– Green bean casserole

– Sweet potato casserole

– Dinner rolls

– Pumpkin OR apple pie

Depending on your personal custom, taste, diet and budget, you may not follow this exact menu and instead opt for a variation on these foods. But know that once invited, guests may offer to bring certain menu items. While this level of enthusiastic engagement certainly is the stuff of planners’ dreams, you should — as the person who is ultimately responsible for feeding your guests — consider these offers with care. After all, should someone volunteer to cook one of the above key items and then either forget their offer or be unable to attend on the day, this hole in the menu will create serious last-minute stress for you.

So, to any kind offers of help, you may want to ask volunteers to bring a dish or an item that — while perhaps not traditional to the Thanksgiving table (hello vegan quiche) — if forgotten or not made, won’t ruin your feast. With this diplomatic and discreet tactic, your guests are actively participating in the occasion, but you still have full control over this event in the culinary sense.

  1. Maximise Time and Budget: Shop and Cook with Care

Like any other planner, you need to maximise your time and your budget and so it pays to carefully comb through your freezer, fridge and cupboards to see what you can use to shave both pennies and seconds off your pre-Thanksgiving shop. Take the time to walk back through your menu — down to the individual recipe ingredients — and try to incorporate what you already have in your cupboard into your meal — be it spices, tea or coffee, potatoes, onions or a few bottles of wine for the table. Anything you can find will help lessen the cost of your feast.

If, like many modern hosts, you find yourself cooking for guests with multiple dietary restrictions, you’d be wise to find a recipe that meets all requirements (rather than cooking multiple variations of a single recipe). For example, if you’re catering for vegetarians as well as those who are gluten and dairy-free, you can easily make a vegetarian gravy with cornflour that suits these requirements and still tastes absolutely delicious. Most importantly, if you work ahead, cranberry sauce, sweet potato and green bean casseroles, rolls, gravy, stuffing and pies can all be made in advance, frozen and then defrosted a day or so ahead of Thanksgiving to be heated through on the big day.

  1. Find a (Sober) Second in Command to help with your Thanksgiving planning

Even with the best organisation and preparation, the frank truth of Thanksgiving is that you’ll still be spending a lot of the day in the kitchen. As the chef and chief organiser, you know your timings and what needs to be done exactly when and that’s why it pays to delegate any other tasks — be they cleaning, setting up, decorating, answering queries via your WhatsApp channel or greeting guests (and keeping them out of the kitchen!) to a trusted second in command. But before you do this, talk them through what you need and expect from them on the day because — just as with any other event — communication is absolutely key to the success of your Thanksgiving. Likewise, if you need and expect them to be stone cold sober for the day, be honest with them (and buy them a nice bottle of wine for later).

  1. Handling Disagreements, No-Shows and Leftovers

The gravy’s not always the only thing that simmers on Thanksgiving and so — when it comes to handling familial disagreements and tensions — if you feel an assigned seating chart will help keep things civil, feel free to draw one up. Likewise, if you know that you can rely on your guests and your second in command to resolve any issues that might crop up, don’t worry about assigned seating. But if you are worried about any extra prickly guests or potentially awkward situations, speak to your number two to agree on a strategy to handle these so as not to impact the overall good vibes of your day.

Family tensions aside, the other things you can always rely on at Thanksgiving are no-shows and leftovers. Whether it’s down to illness or a scheduling conflict, it’s frustrating to realise that you may have over-catered your event. But if you are aware of no-shows even just a few hours in advance, you can always ask your guests to come with empty containers in hand, explaining that they’d be doing you a huge favour by taking some extra food home with them. You’ll find that many are only too happy to oblige and — what’s more — that this level of guest participation makes you look extra generous, all while cannily relieving you of the burden of leftovers.

  1. No, Thank You!

Yes, of course your guests should be thanking you for your outstanding culinary efforts. But even if your Thanksgiving planning doesn’t quite go to plan (and what event does?), there’s nothing that adds an extra glow to the day like a gracious host. This is precisely why you need to deploy a final tried-and-trusted planning strategy and offer your thanks to your guests when the day is done. After all, they have given you their time, their attention and — of course — their willingness to eat sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows (hey, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea).

Indeed, by being a grateful host, you’re the living embodiment of everything that this unique day — whether you’ve celebrated it before or not — truly symbolises. And what’s more, by striking a gracious note, you — as the chef, the host and the planner — are setting exactly the right tone for next year’s feast and for all the good things yet to come.

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Want to maiximise event success like you’ve done with your thanksgiving planning? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

Eventsforce Launches a New Mobile App Designed to Drive Event Planning Success

Posted on by Eventsforce

 

LONDON, UK — Eventsforce, powered by Simpleview, has released the Eventsforce mobile app — a scalable event app solution designed to drive event planning success. The new mobile app utilizes an upgraded technology stack to help inspire, engage, and connect event attendees.

Eventsforce, an intuitive, all-in-one solution that can scale to meet your ever-changing event portfolio needs, created the mobile app to engage attendees and drive event success. Whether you’re running simple events, tradeshows, or multi-stream conferences — the new app gives users everything needed to drive attendee participation and build lasting relationships while reducing reliance on the traditional paper program guide.

The app benefits event attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, organizers, and everyone in between by boasting the following key features:

  • Intuitive and easy-to-use
  • Integration with all major AMS/CRM and event management systems
  • Mobile and desktop access
  • Advanced QR code scanning features
  • Capability to boost attendee engagement with gamification and engagement features
  • The ability for attendees to create personalized schedules, connect with other attendees and sponsors, and stay up-to-date

On the event planner’s end, the app can be used for:

  • Engaging sponsors and exhibitors
  • Controlling all aspects of the event, including branding, content, and menus
  • Lead scanning for exhibitors and sponsors
  • Revenue-generation and analytics reporting

“The future of event tech is all about creating personalized and engaging experiences for attendees,” said VP of Growth Andrius Remeikis. “Our newly launched mobile app is designed to help event planners do just that, by providing them with the tools needed to connect with attendees on a deeper level and drive business outcomes.”

Give attendees a mobile event experience they’ll remember, before, during, and after the event, with technology they can rely on.

 

Don’t miss out. Find out more and get in touch!

Mastering the Fine Art of Communication with Event Stakeholders

Posted on by Eventsforce

Event Stakeholders in a meeting

As an event planner, you always aim to please, especially when it comes to your stakeholders.  Be they clients, sponsors, vendors or delegates, the key to their contentment lies in your ability to effectively communicate with your stakeholders before, during and after the planning process.  Regardless of the type or size of the event you’re planning, this blog will uncover the strategies you need to keep your stakeholders happy and on your side, all while creating memorable, meaningful and valuable events.

  1. Identify Your Stakeholders

First and foremost, clearly identify your stakeholders and, even better, work to understand both their roles and their expectations of your activities as a planner.  These first steps will go a long way to ensuring a smooth flow of communication between yourself and the stakeholders you serve.

  1. Establish Clear Objectives

Next, you’ll need to set clear objectives for your event.  Take the time to share these with your stakeholders so that you can ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding your event’s purpose, goals, and expected outcomes.

  1. Choose the Right Communication Channels

It almost goes without saying, but different stakeholders may likewise prefer different communication channels.  Take the time to consider these personal preferences and tailor your approach accordingly.  While the conventional channels of email, in-person meetings or phone calls may work for some, other stakeholders might prefer to use project management software and/or collaboration tools to streamline communication and provide a centralised platform for updates and discussions.

  1. Open and Honest Communication

Choosing the best channel for communicating with your stakeholders is one thing, but there should never be any doubt about the tone and manner in which you interact with them. Be open and honest with your stakeholders at all times, even if — and especially when — there are challenges or delays to your plans. This kind of transparency builds trust and shows your commitment to delivering a successful event.

  1. Develop a Communication Plan

It also helps to create a comprehensive communication plan that outlines when, how, and to what level of detail you’ll communicate to stakeholders throughout your planning process. This should also incorporate timings for regular progress updates, important milestones and any plans for contingency communications to address any changes to the scope or budget of your event.

  1. Cultivate the Art of Active Listening

A little bit of active listening — that is, listening with an intent to fully understand and engage with the perspective of your stakeholders — can go a long way to improve communication.  For you as an event planner, this means taking the time to fully engage with the feedback, concerns or suggestions of your stakeholders — and sometimes even asking questions of your own to get total clarity and understanding of their views.  By actively listening, you not only demonstrate respect for your stakeholders and the input they have to offer, but stand to gain positive insight that can allow you to fine tune your decisions as a planner.

  1. Adapt to Their Needs

This same set of active listening skills can also be used to understand the unique and varied needs and expectations of each stakeholder group. For example, your sponsors may be interested in ROI metrics while your attendees might care more about the overall event experience.  Once you understand the needs of each group, you can tailor your communication accordingly.

  1. Conduct Regular Meetings

Regular stakeholder meetings — whether they are in-person or virtual — are absolutely crucial in keeping all parties aligned and informed.  Regardless of the format they take, consistency in scheduling these helps to establish a sense of routine and reliability.

  1. Record and Document Everything

When interacting with stakeholders, it’s important to keep detailed and up-to-date records of all communications, decisions, and agreements.  If needed, this documentation can serve as a reference point to help resolve any disputes or misunderstandings that may arise.

  1. Celebrate Successes, Learn from Mistakes

When your event goes well, be sure to share that success with your stakeholders and take the time to acknowledge their contributions while thanking them for their involvement in your undertaking.  While success is certainly easy to celebrate, it’s just as important to acknowledge when things haven’t gone so well.  In these instances, you should be ready to conduct a post-event evaluation alongside your stakeholders, using those active listening skills to identify points of improvement for any future events.

As a planner, you know that communication is a fine and subtle art, especially when multiple diverse parties are involved.  Regardless of who they are or what they want, the key to stakeholder happiness lies in your ability to communicate honestly and effectively with them throughout the entirety of the planning process.  This is a tactic that not only fosters an atmosphere of trust and reliability, but a sound strategy that can help you move toward event success time and time again.

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Want to maiximise event success with a better understanding of your key event metrics? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

The Key Event Metrics Every Time-Poor Planner Should Track

Posted on by Eventsforce

Woman looking at key event metrics

Event metrics: As an event planner, you know a thing or two about being busy.  But when you’re caught up in so many different priorities, tasks and details, it’s easy to lose focus on your broader operations and, more importantly, how the data you generate via the events you create can be used to make your life much easier.  By knowing exactly which key event metrics or pieces of information you need to track, you’ll not only help to streamline your event operations, but save yourself that most precious of commodities: time.  In this blog, we’ll filter through a sea of data to identify the key event metrics you should track at each and every event and, more importantly, consider how this information can enhance your chances of creating a memorable, meaningful and valuable event.

  1. Attendee Registration and Ticket Sales

First and foremost, every planner should be tracking both the number of attendees as well as the ticket sales associated with any event.  When it comes to the following fundamental metrics, you should always track the following:

  • Registration rate: Take care to measure the percentage of website visitors who convert into registered attendees.
  • Pricing Strategies: Track the effectiveness of your tiered pricing structures, discounts and promo codes.
  • Revenue generated: Keep a close eye on ticket sales to ensure you’re meeting set revenue goals.

  1. Event Metrics – Marketing ROI

Effective marketing is absolutely crucial to the success of any event and with that in mind, be sure to capture the following key metrics:

  • Cost per acquisition (CPA): This calculation offers an insight into how much it costs to acquire each attendee through your marketing efforts.
  • Return on investment (ROI): This enables you to assess the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by comparing the revenue generated versus your marketing spend for every event.
  • Conversion rate: From this metric, you can analyse how well different marketing channels (email, social media, advertising, etc.) enable you to convert leads into attendees.

  1. Engagement Metrics

As every planner knows, audience engagement is key to creating memorable events.  By tracking the following key metrics, you’ll have a deeper insight into how engaged your delegates are with your event activity:

  • Social media engagement: Monitor likes, shares, comments, and event-related hashtags to gauge and — if needed — to increase the buzz around your event.
  • Email open and click-through rates: Keep an eye on these in order to measure the effectiveness of your email campaigns in engaging potential attendees.
  • Session attendance: By gauging the number of attendees in every session, you can actively  evaluate the popularity of certain pieces of content, enabling you to create better-tailored events in the future.

  1. Vendor and Supplier Performance – the Key Event Metrics

Vendor relationships can make or break an event and so it’s worth keeping an eye on:

  • Vendor ratings and feedback: Collect feedback from attendees and assess vendor performance.
  • Budget adherence: Ensure vendors are staying within budget and not causing unexpected expenses.
  • Timeliness and reliability: Track how well vendors meet set deadlines and if they honour their contractual commitments to you.

  1. Attendee Satisfaction

Attendee satisfaction is the ultimate testament of event success and so it’s well-worth collecting feedback and tracking the following metrics:

  • Net Promoter Score (NPS): This piece of data measures attendee loyalty and the likelihood of your delegates recommending your event to their peers.
  • Satisfaction scores: These metrics are used by attendees to rate various aspects of your event, including speakers, sessions, venue and overall experience.
  • Post-event engagement: This metric gauges how delegates continue to engage with the content of your event even after it’s over.

  1. Registration and Check-in Efficiency

As a planner, you know that time is like gold dust and so it makes sense to keep an eye on the following key pieces of data:

  • Registration completion time: This measures the average time it takes for attendees to complete your registration process.
  • Check-in duration: This metric tracks how long it takes attendees to check in at your event.
  • Queue length and wait times: Use these details to optimise the check-in process and to shorten the time attendees spend waiting in a queue.

Keeping tabs on multiple priorities, overseeing every last detail — as an event planner, you’re well-versed in doing many things at once.  But let data guide your efforts and sharpen your focus; by tracking these key metrics, you’ll be increasingly more efficient at planning successful, impactful events and — what’s more — you may even find that you have more of that most precious commodity: time.

 

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Want to maiximise event success with a better understanding of your key event metrics? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

How Attendees and Planners Can Benefit from a Streamlined Registration Process

Posted on by Eventsforce

 

As a profession, event planning is rewarding and exhilarating in equal measure, but this is a calling that often comes with its own unique challenges.  For example, as any planner will tell you, an efficient registration process is one of the most critical aspects of any event.  After all, a seamless registration process not only makes for a positive attendee experience, but eases a planner’s workload.  But achieving this win-win scenario takes considerable thought and so in this blog, we’ll consider the tools and strategies that planners can use to simplify their registration process, all while reaping the benefits of a more streamlined system.

Utilise Online Registration Platforms

The days of paper registration forms and manual data entry are thankfully long gone and today’s planners can now take their pick from among a wide variety of online registration platforms.  This transition has ensured that registration is almost guaranteed to be quick and hassle-free.  What’s more, these platforms enable planners to customise their registration forms, to send automated confirmation emails and also to accept payments online.  Even better, these many platforms are built to integrate with a wider suite of event management tools, making it easier for planners to track and gather valuable data.

Streamline Your Forms, Tailor Your Questions, Maximise Your Registration Process

While online platforms have contributed considerably to the simplification of the wider registration process, planners should still approach the design of their registration form with care and thought.  Try to keep your design simple and concise and only ask your delegates for the most essential details (i.e., their names and contact information).  When creating your form, consider incorporating conditional logic into your wording so that delegates only see questions relevant to them.

For example, as part of your registration process, you may be asking delegates if they require accommodation and flights. If they answer ‘no’ the form will simply move onto the next question.  However, if they answer ‘yes’, they will be asked questions pertinent to their hotel and flight requirements — questions that would have been of no interest to delegates who don’t require these details.

But above all, when creating your form, the more straightforward it is, the more likely it is that delegates will complete it without frustration.

Different Registration Options, Different Delegates

As a planner, it’s also worth offering various registration options to suit the needs of different groups of delegates during the registration process.  For example, you’ll want to tailor your registration options to take into account delegates who have taken advantage of concessions such as early bird pricing, group discounts or different ticket types (VIP, general admission, etc.). Offering flexibility in registration allows attendees to choose the option that best suits their needs as delegates.

Utilise Mobile-Friendly Registration for Maximum Reassurance

Using a digital platform for registration is one thing, but ensuring that your event registration process is mobile-friendly is quite something else.  By using responsive design to build your registration pages, you have the reassurance that your attendees will be able to register for your event from any device.

Accept and Integrate Online Payments

Your chosen registration platform may well enable you to accept payment for your event and by integrating this with secure payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, or Square, you can help to streamline the payment process.  By taking the foresight to include this kind of facility, your attendees can pay instantly, a point that reduces the need for manual payment processing.

Use Automation to Full Effect in Your Registration Process

Automation is a game-changer for event planners.  When utilised efficiently, it can help to free a planner from some of their more mundane tasks.  For example, automated confirmation emails can be set up to be sent to delegates immediately after they sign up for your event.  If needed, you can also schedule automated reminders to be sent to delegates closer to the date of your event.  This strategy reduces the likelihood of no-shows and ensures that attendees have all the necessary information they need prior to the start of your event.

Provide Dedicated Customer Support

Bear in mind that — even with a streamlined registration process — some of your attendees may encounter unexpected issues or have additional questions.  In these instances, it’s worth making sure that you can direct delegates to a dedicated customer support team to help resolve any queries.

Analyse Post-Event Data for the Future

Just as you would with any other element of your event, take the time to gather and analyse your registration data along with any feedback you receive on your registration process.  You may even consider conducting post-event surveys to collect attendee insight.  Use this data to identify areas of improvement and to refine registration for future events.

An essential for planners and attendees alike, registration is one of the most critical parts of any event.  With foresight and care, planners can simplify and streamline the process, a move that not only eases their work, but one that helps to create a memorable, meaningful and valuable event experience.

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Want to maiximise event success and have the best registration process possible? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

Crafting a Captivating and Compelling Event Agendas: A Guide for Event Planners

Posted on by Eventsforce

As an event planner, you’ll be well aware of the power that compelling event agendas can bring to any occasion.  A tool for engagement and excitement, a well-structured agenda not only helps to captivate your audience, but can actively serve as the successful foundation of your event.  This blog will explore the finer points of crafting an exciting agenda, one that will help you to create an event that offers all of your delegates a memorable, meaningful and valuable experience.

First and Foremost: Define Your Event Objectives

Before you commit yourself to creating those all-important event agendas — and as with any other aspect of event planning — it’s crucial to define the primary objectives of your occasion.  Whether you want to educate, entertain or inspire your delegates, by clearly defining your goals, you’ll be able to shape your agenda to align with the overall purpose of your event.

Know Your Audience and Tailor Your Offering to Their Needs

Likewise, it’s impossible to create a finely tailored agenda without knowing your audience.  As an event planner, you should work to understand not only their interests and expectations, but also your delegates’ pain points.  Once you know and understand your audience, you can then work to create a bespoke agenda, one that is tailored exactly to their needs.

Mix and Match Content Types

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life, but it’s also the key to creating an engaging agenda. By mixing and matching diverse sessions — think keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops, interactive sessions and entertainment segments — you can keep your content lively and your attendees engaged.

Schedule Sessions Strategically

When it comes to event agendas, timing is everything.  If you can, avoid scheduling similar sessions back-to-back to prevent burnout and add breaks between sessions to encourage organic networking and relaxation. If at all possible, take into account your attendees’ daily routines when setting your agenda. After all, a well-timed lunch or coffee break can make a big difference in terms of re-energising attendees so that you have their full attention throughout the duration of your event.

Highlight Key Speakers

If your event features notable speakers or industry experts, be sure to give them a prominent place on your agenda. Their presence can help to attract attendees while lending credibility to your occasion.  Also, by promoting their sessions well in advance, you can enjoy the added bonus of creating and building a sense of anticipation around your event.

Create Engaging Titles and Descriptions

Use descriptive, action-oriented language to create session titles and descriptions that pique the curiosity of your attendees.  Try to avoid generic titles that don’t offer a sense of what delegates can expect from the content you’re providing; choose language that clearly conveys the value of each session.

Use Apps to Your Advantage

Leverage technology to full effect by ensuring that your agenda is readily available via your dedicated event app.  This gives your attendees the freedom to choose and select the sessions that interest them most.

Encourage Audience Interaction

Audience engagement can play a considerable role in the success of your event.  By incorporating interactive elements into your agenda — think Q&A sessions, polls and live demos — you’ll encourage attendees to share their thoughts and questions throughout the course of your event.

Showcase Sponsors and Exhibitors

If you have sponsors or exhibitors, be sure to offer them dedicated slots in your agenda.  Not only will this allow them to showcase their products and services, but it could provide attendees with valuable industry insight and knowledge.

Plan for Flexible Event Agendas

Because even the best-laid plans can encounter unexpected changes or delays, try to build flexibility into your agenda to accommodate any unforeseen circumstances.  Think of backup activities or shorter sessions that can be inserted into your event as needed, ensuring that this content matches with the overall flow and atmosphere of your event.

Gather Feedback on Your Event Agendas

Finally, after your event, be sure to collect and analyse feedback from your attendees to understand what elements worked well and, likewise, what elements can be improved upon.  Armed with this information, you can use these points to fine-tune the agendas of your future events.

Serving as a kind of roadmap to guide attendees through each and every occasion, a well-built agenda is a vital part of your event.  And yet, when carefully planned and expertly tailored, an agenda becomes not just a simple session-by-session guide but a compelling tool for excitement and engagement.

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Want to maiximise event success? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

Mastering the Art of Event Attendance: A Comprehensive Guide for Planners

Posted on by Eventsforce

Room full of people attending an event

 

There’s nothing quite as gratifying as hosting a well-attended event.  It may look effortless, but behind the high turnout and the buzzy atmosphere, there is — as every planner knows — nothing but careful preparation and hard work.  A key indicator of event success, attendance should never be taken for granted.  But as this blog explores, there are certain tactics that planners can reliably lean on to pull in the crowds to create an occasion that is memorable, meaningful and valuable.

  1. Start Right With a Clear Vision

Before you begin planning in earnest, define the purpose and objectives of your event.  This will ensure that you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve while allowing you to tailor your decision-making process to appeal to your target audience.

  1. Know Your Audience

On that point, it’s absolutely crucial for planners to know and understand their audience — especially if maximum event attendance is the goal.  By researching and gathering data on preferences, interests and demographics, you as a planner will be able to build an event that piques your attendees’ interest at a personal level, encouraging them through the door and into your event.

  1. Mix and Match Tactics for a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy

An effective marketing strategy plays a key part in driving event attendance and so it makes sense for planners to deploy a rich mix of traditional and digital marketing tactics to reach potential attendees.  To that end, consider the following ideas:

  • The creation of a bespoke, compelling event website.  This should be well-designed and user-friendly and contain all essential event details — including registration information — as well as engaging content.
  • The savvy use of social media.  Because you’ve already done your research into your audience, you’ll know their favoured platforms.  Take the time to promote your event on these channels and be sure to include striking visuals, event teasers, and carefully targeted ads. Social is a great place to tap into your attendees’ sense of FOMO, all the while playing up your event as an unmissable occasion.
  • A carefully deployed email marketing campaign.  Once you’ve built your list, craft personalised invitations and updates to keep delegates and potential attendees up-to-speed with your event.
  • Make the most of collaborations and partnerships.  Work with influencers, industry leaders, or complementary businesses to expand your overall reach and credibility.

  1. Set Realistic Goals

In order to gauge and ultimately build on the overall success of your event, you should take the time to establish measurable goals.  When considering event attendance, this, for example, could be something as simple as the number of attendees you aim to attract.  Setting clear benchmarks will help you to track your progress and to adjust your strategies, as needed.

  1. Offer Early Bird Discounts and Incentives to Boost your Event attendance

Tactics such as early registration discounts or exclusive incentives for delegates who register in advance can be a useful tool for increasing attendance.  These strategies help to create a buzz of urgency around your event while rewarding attendees who commit early.

  1. Create and Hype Engaging Content to Build Anticipation

If you really want to pull in the crowds, then compelling content is a must.  Build an occasion that features inspiring speakers, lively panel discussions, practical workshops and outstanding entertainment.  Tease your incredible content via pre-event activities —  think behind-the-scenes footage, countdowns, carefully crafted email campaigns and social posts — to build anticipation.  The goal here is to leverage a sense of FOMO to get delegates through the door.

  1. Seamless Registration to Smooth the Way for Increased Attendance

A straightforward and intuitive registration process is yet another way to encourage attendance.  By taking the time to ensure that your event has an easy-to-navigate online registration system with clear instructions and secure payment options, you can help to increase the likelihood of delegate attendance.

  1. Utilise Event Management Software for Maximised Event Attendance

In a similar vein, event management software can play a significant role in event attendance by enhancing the overall attendee experience.  In addition to streamlining the planning process, a good event software system can help with tasks like registration, ticketing and delegate communication.

  1. Leverage Your Event as a Networking Opportunity

As our recent whitepaper indicated, networking is the number one driver behind event attendance.  Maximise attendance at your event by incorporating dedicated networking sessions, icebreakers, or even a mobile event app that connects individual attendees and their peers with similar interests.

  1. Offer Unbeatable Value

If you want to maximise event attendance, you have to be sure that your event is delivering value to your attendees.  Think: what does my event offer? Be it outstanding session content, expert insights, networking opportunities, freebies or exclusive perks, broadcast what you’re offering to attendees and make it absolutely clear they can’t get it anywhere else.

  1. Collect and Act on Feedback

Finally, after your event, take the time to survey your attendees to identify areas for improvement.  Actively use this information to enhance future events with a keen eye to increasing both attendance and the strength of your relationship with your audience.

The satisfaction of a well-attended event is unparalleled and yet, from a planner’s perspective, there’s more to a successful occasion than a high turn-out.  By deploying specific strategies and tactics and taking due care to know and understand the needs of their delegates, a planner can build on the success of each and every occasion, drawing in and engaging with their audience time after time.

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Want to maiximise event success? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.