Tag: event management

Infographic: Are Your Events Ready for GDPR

Posted on 28th February 20181st December 2020 by Eventsforce

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the most important changes facing our industry today as it is set to radically change the way events globally collect, process and protect the personal information of people in the EU. But with just a few months to go until the May 2018 deadline, how ready are we really for Europe’s new data protection law?

Read: The Event Planner’s Guide to GDPR Compliance

Eventsforce conducted a research study with 120 event professionals earlier this month to assess the industry’s current state of ‘readiness’ for GDPR. The study investigates where event planners stand in terms of their understanding of the new legislation, what steps they’re taking to get ready for the new requirements and the kind of challenges and opportunities they feel GDPR will bring to their organisations in the long-run.

Have a look at some of the key findings from the ‘Are Your Events Ready for GDPR’ study:

2 in 3 event planners don’t understand all the requirements of GDPR despite 60% holding responsibility for compliance
Nearly 90% are already underway with their GDPR preparations but many concerned about meeting the May 2018 deadline
Creating awareness, running data audits and updating consent boxes on registration forms and websites are key steps event planners are currently undertaking
Data security will become a bigger priority for 81% of event planners, yet less than 30% have updated their data security practices or prepared for a data breach (Download eBook: The Event Planner’s Guide to Data Security in a Post-GDPR World‘)
Only 41% of event planners say their event technology systems meet the new GDPR requirements
45% are concerned they will lose a large chunk of their marketing mailing lists as a result of GDPR
Perceived long-term benefits of GDPR include better data management, transparency with suppliers and improved reputation with attendees

For a more comprehensive look at the results of the ‘Are Your Event Ready for GDPR’ research study, please see the infographic below:

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Industry Insight: The Impact of GDPR on Meetings & Events

Posted on 20th February 201814th December 2018 by Eventsforce

If you’re an event planner or marketer and not up on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – a new, stricter EU data privacy law that comes into effect on May 25^th 2018, the time to pay attention is now. George Sirius, CEO of Eventsforce, explains in an interview with MeetingsNet magazine, why GDPR is one of the most important changes facing the events industry today.

Why is GDPR an issue for meetings and events? What type of events will it effect?

GDPR is important because it will completely change the way events and meeting planners collect, process and protect the personal information of attendees coming from the Europe. It will apply to ANY event holding data on EU citizens and residents – regardless of their location. It is a major global issue and one that is vital for organisers to understand and prepare for as ignoring it could lead to some very serious financial consequences.

What impact will it have on events? The new regulation is going to change the way meeting planners decide what data needs to be collected from attendees in things like registration forms and apps and how that data is going to be used for marketing and personalisation. It will change the way attendee data is shared with other third-party organisations like venues, sponsors, agencies and tech providers.

The regulation will also force planners to play a much bigger role in securing all the data they collect from attendees, as well as making sure that any organisation dealing with their event data is also complying to the new regulations. Not doing so can result in big fines – and this is one of the most important things about GDPR. Compared to current data protection regulations, non-compliance comes with serious financial consequences so event planners need to be prepared.

Get your copy of ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to GDPR Compliance’, and learn what impact Europe’s new data protection regulation will have on event marketing, data management and event technology – as well as what steps event planners need to take now to get ready for the May 2018 deadline.

Why do meeting planners need to pay attention to GDPR? Isn’t this an IT or legal problem?

It’s easy to look at GDPR compliance as a technology initiative and not a business one. But the reality is that even though it may be the responsibility of the IT and legal teams to sort it all out, there are a number of things that event planners do today that can put their organisations under serious financial risk with GDPR. Things like using pre-ticked consent boxes in registration forms and apps and not having the proper processes in place to store attendee consent. Or sharing delegate lists freely with venues, speakers and other attendees. Or not paying enough attention to the information freelancers and temp staff have access to. Emailing unsecure spreadsheets and leaving unattended registration lists around. The list can go on and on.

It is therefore really important that event planners understand exactly what they should and shouldn’t do under GDPR – so that they can then figure out what changes they need to make around collecting and managing the personal information of people that come to their events.

Did you know that more than 81% of event planners think that data security is a much bigger priority for them because of GDPR? Find out what you should do to prevent your attendee data from getting lost, stolen or compromised by getting your copy of ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to Data Security in a Post-GDPR World‘.

How does it affect event technology providers? What should planners be talking with their event tech suppliers about when it comes to GDPR?

GDPR regulations require compliance both by the organisation hosting the event and the event tech companies that process data on their behalf (registration systems, mobile apps, surveys, networking tools etc). It is therefore important that event planners make sure that all their tech vendors and suppliers are also fulfilling their legal responsibilities. Why? Because if in the course of an investigation, the authorities find that these parties have not been compliant, then the host organisation may also be liable too (even if they themselves were compliant).

So organisers need to start asking their event tech providers from now how they’re planning to fulfil their obligations around their events and GDPR – especially if their data centres are based outside the EU. They need to find out where their data is hosted and how that data is being transferred in a way that is compliant to the new regulations. They need to find out how the data is being used by the organisation, who has access to it and where they’re based. For example, if their customer support team is based outside the EU (even if data is hosted within the EU), then they’ll still need to ensure that they’re complying with GDPR standards.

In the case of registration systems, the meetings organisation needs to find out how their provider allows them to obtain and store consent, as well how it can help them delete any personal data. And they need to ask them how they themselves as an organisation are complying with GDPR. Having an EU-based tech provider will ensure they’re also subject to the new regulations, which will limit the risk of non-compliance. But that’s not enough. What is their understanding of GDPR and how are they planning to help you their clients meet their obligations? How important is data security for them and do they follow best practices? What about their own suppliers and contractors who also have access to their data? Having the answers to these questions will protect event organisers from any unpleasant surprises in the future.

Read: 5 Questions to Ask Your Event Tech Suppliers About GDPR

What aspects of GDPR are most important for meeting professionals to pay attention to?

There is no single aspect of GDPR that is less important than others – if an organisation is found to be non-compliant, then they will still be fined up to 20 million or 4% of their global turnover for each instance of non-compliance. However, as we mentioned earlier, the key concerns for event planners in particular are the issues of consent, data security and ensuring that third-parties that process event data on their behalf are also meeting their legal obligations.

I think it’s important to highlight the issue of data security because a data breach is essentially what can get an organisation into a lot of trouble if it’s not complying with GDPR. Event organisers need to show they’re doing their best to protect the personal information of individuals to minimise the chances of it getting into the wrong hands. Failing to report a data breach with 72 hours can result in crippling fines under GDPR – so ensuring that everyone in the events team has a good understanding of what constitutes a data breach and how to follow best practices is key to compliance. It’s also important to think about what processes need to be put in place once a breach has been identified, including how to report it within a three-day timeframe.

Read: Look after your attendee data….or face the music!

What are likely to be the biggest challenges in preparing for GDPR? Are there any benefits that will result from doing the preparatory work, aside from avoiding penalties?

The biggest challenge for event planners will be around figuring out what personal data they hold on attendees/speakers/sponsors etc, where it came from and whether or not they have the adequate consent – remember that pre-ticked boxes and soft opt-ins will no longer count. They need to know which systems this data is stored in, when it was last used and what it was used for. They need to know how accurate the information is, what kind of processors they have in place to keep that data safe and whether or not it’s been shared with other suppliers and partners. If it has, then they need to ensure that these parties also have the consent and that they are doing everything they can to comply to GDPR regulations and keep that data safe.

Running a data audit of this scale is a BIG job and unfortunately, there is no way round it. If you find out you have inaccurate information on one of your delegates, for example, and you have shared this information with hotels and venues, then you will need to inform them about the inaccuracy and get them to correct their own records. Or destroy the data if you never had the right consent in the first place. You will not be able to do any of this unless you know what personal data you hold, where it came from, where it is stored and who you shared it with.

Read: 7 Steps to Get Your Events Ready for GDPR

It will be a challenging time ahead but it’s important to note that GDPR will also bring about some big opportunities for our industry too. Those that can show they’re dealing with personal data in a transparent and secure way and have respect for the privacy of individuals will succeed in building a new level of trust. And this will be key in deciding which organisations people choose to deal with in the future.

Do you have any tips on how to make the preparation process as painless as possible?

Some organisations will be required to formally designate a Data Protection Officer (DPO), who will take responsibility for data protection compliance. However, regardless of whether you need one or not (or compliance is something managed by IT and legal departments), it will really help the process if you have one person in the events team take ownership of GDPR and be the focal point for all things events and compliance. That way you can keep a tighter control on making sure all the necessary steps are being taken to prepare for compliance and that the events team aren’t doing anything that puts their organisations at risk.

The full interview can be read as part of the new ‘Meeting Planner’s Guide to GDPR’ published by MeetingsNet this month.

7 Steps to Get Your Events Ready for GDPR

Posted on 6th December 201723rd January 2019 by Eventsforce

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is probably one of the most important changes facing our industry today but compliance is seen by many as a complex, challenging and costly process. Find out how what event planners can do to get their events ready!

How will GDPR impact Meetings & Events?

GDPR is a new legal framework that is set to radically change the way we collect, process and protect the personal data of people in the European Union. We published an article on the topic a few months ago (Blog: What Event Planners Need to Know About GDPR), looking at what the new requirements meant for our industry, the implications of BREXIT and how non-compliance, compared to current data protection regulations, can bring serious financial consequences to organisations worldwide.

For event planners, specifically, there are three main reasons why GDPR matters:

GDPR will apply to ANY organisation hosting events in the EU and ANY organisation collecting data on EU citizens and residents – regardless of where the events take place.
Events deal with high volumes of personal data collected through registration forms, mobile apps, surveys and networking tools. It is inevitable that planners need to know what they can and can’t do under GDPR.
GDPR requires event planners (and event management agencies) to play a bigger role in securing their event data and ensuring that third party suppliers (ex. event tech suppliers) are also GDPR compliant. Not doing so can result in big fines and lost business.

Are your events ready for GDPR? Get your FREE eBook: ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to GDPR Compliance’, and learn what impact Europe’s new data protection regulation will have on event marketing, data management and event technology – as well as what steps event planners need to take to comply to the new requirements.

How Event Planners Can Prepare for GDPR

It’s easy to look at GDPR compliance as a technology initiative and not a business one. But the reality is that even though it may be the responsibility of your IT and legal teams to sort it all out, there are a number of things that event planners need to do to make sure they don’t put their organisations at risk.

This checklist highlights the key steps to take to prepare your events for GDPR, based on advice published by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):

1) Create Awareness

One of the first things you need to do is make sure that everyone in the events team (as well as other departments that deal with your event data) are aware that the law is changing to GDPR. They need to understand the changes you’re going to make around collecting, storing and managing the personal information of people coming to your events. They need to understand what they need to do to keep that data safe. And most importantly, they need to understand the risks of non-compliance (fines up to €20 million or 4% of your global annual turnover) and identify the areas that could cause problems under GDPR.

2) Run a Data Audit

You need to figure out what personal data you already hold in the databases you use around your events – starting from attendee mailing lists, speakers, sponsors and so on. You need to know exactly where that data came from and whether or not you have the adequate consent from these individuals to contact them (pre-ticked boxes and soft opt-ins no longer count with GDPR). You need to identify what systems that data is stored in, when it was last used and what it was used for. You need to know if that information was shared with other suppliers and partners (event management agencies, event technology providers). And if it was, then check that you have the adequate consent for doing so and that these third-party organisations are also complying to GDPR.

It is a BIG job. And the bad news is there’s no way round it. Say you find out you’ve shared delegate lists with sponsors and venues without the proper consent, then you need to destroy that data and make sure they do too. You will not be able to make these kinds of decisions unless you know what personal data you hold, where it came from, where it is stored and who you shared it with.

Read: 5 Questions to Ask Event Tech Providers About GDPR Compliance

3) Update Your Consent Boxes

Have a look at your current privacy notices and consent boxes in things like registration forms, apps and websites and put a plan in place for making any necessary changes in time for the GDPR deadline – including what campaigns you’re going to run to get people to opt-in again. Don’t forget if you don’t have the correct type of ‘active’ consent from someone then legally, you will no longer be allowed to contact them come May 2018. So you need to find a way of getting people to re-opt-in if you want to keep them on your mailing lists.

Under current law, you need to give people only a certain level of information on how you’ll be using their data whenever you ask for consent. With GDPR, you need to explain very clearly why you are collecting their information, how it will be used and ideally, how long you’ll keep their data for. If you’re sharing their details with sponsors and exhibitors, then you need to name those organisations – general terms like ‘sponsors’ or ‘venues’ won’t do. The language you use needs to be clear and concise and easy to understand.

4) Get to Know Your Attendee’s Rights

Don’t forget that GDPR is all about giving individuals more control over the use of their personal information. Check your processes and make sure they cover all the new rights people will have under GDPR (Blog: How GDPR Changes the Rights of Attendees). What would you do if an attendee asked you to delete all the personal information you hold on them? The new regulations state you’ll need to respond to requests within 30 days at no charge. Would your event management system help you locate and delete the data in time? What about the same data that’s been recorded into your CRM? What kind of hidden costs are there in doing this? What happens if you need to deal with multiple requests at the same time? It is important that you get answers to these questions now to assess whether or not you need to make any changes to your processes.

5) Prepare for a Data Breach

This is really key because it is essentially what can get your organisation into a lot of trouble if it’s not complying with GDPR. You should make sure you have the right procedures in place to detect and report the loss or theft of an individual’s data (think printed delegate lists). GDPR requires all organisations to report data breaches to the ICO or other such authority, if its’s likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedom of individuals (identify theft, financial loss, discrimination, damage to reputation etc). If the risk is high for any of these things happening, then you’ll have to notify the affected individuals too. Failure to report a breach within 72 hours could result in massive fines, as well as a fine for the breach itself.

6) Keep Your Event Data Safe

GDPR definitely puts security more front of mind when it comes to your event data. You’ll need to show that you’re doing your best to protect the personal information of individuals to minimise the chances of it getting into the wrong hands. Yes, you’ll need to follow your organisation’s own data security policies – from communications procedures and firewalls to the use of encryption and anti-virus software. But while your IT department will focus on typical external threats, there are risks that comes from within.

Did you know that a data breach is essentially what can get your events into a lot of trouble under GDPR? Find out what you should do to prevent your attendee data from getting lost, stolen or compromised by getting your copy of ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to Data Security in a Post-GDPR World‘.

Find out who has access to your event data – both within your own organisation and the third-party suppliers that process data on your behalf (event tech vendors, event management agencies etc). Have a look at their data security policies. Think about system passwords and how often you change them. Think about how you share your event data with others and what procedures you have in place to keep data safe on-site at your event. Ensuring everyone on your team has a good understanding of what constitutes a data breach and how to follow best practices will be key to compliance.

Read: Infographic – How to Keep Your Event Data Safe

7) Appoint a Designated GDPR Team Member

Some organisations will be required to formally designate a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to take responsibility for data protection and GDPR compliance. However, regardless of whether your organisation needs one or not (or whether compliance is something that will be managed by your IT and legal departments), it is important to have one person from the events team to take ownership of GDPR now and be the focal point of all things events and compliance.

Conclusion

GDPR compliance is not a simple matter and this is by no means a comprehensive list of everything you need to do to get your events ready for the May 2018 deadline – but it’s a good start. The ICO still needs to clarify a lot of the requirements and everyone agrees that preparations for the new regulations will be a complex, challenging and costly process. But those who take action now will be in the best position to succeed in the future.

Start planning for GDPR now by thinking about how your events are collecting data on EU citizens, how you’re storing consent and how you’re incorporating data security into your event planning and management processes. Find out as well what your event tech providers and third-party agencies are also doing to comply with GDPR. Finally, remember that implementing changes will be a team effort where everyone is aware of the new requirements, along with the new processes that you’ll need to put in place.

Need help tracking and managing consent on event websites and registration forms? Eventsforce offers a comprehensive set of event management solutions, services and expertise that can help support the event planner’s journey to GDPR compliance – from audit trails and consent management to anonymisation of personal information and data security.

For more info, please click here or get in touch: gdpr@eventsforce.com

Ask the Experts: What Impact will GDPR have on Meetings and Events?

Posted on 31st October 201724th January 2019 by Eventsforce

We’ve been talking a lot about GDPR lately. And for good reason too. One of the biggest shake ups in data protection and privacy laws for the past 20 years, the new EU General Data Protection Regulation will come into effect in May 2018 and completely change the way events collect and handle the personal information of European attendees. But how important are these changes actually going to be for event planners? Is GDPR going to make things like data-driven marketing and personalisation a lot more difficult? Or will the new regulation bring on some new opportunities?

Are your events ready for GDPR? Get your FREE eBook: ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to GDPR Compliance’, and learn what impact Europe’s new data protection regulation will have on event marketing, data management and event technology – as well as what steps event planners need to take to meet the new requirements.

EventTech Talk spoke to a number of well-known event experts to find out what they think about GDPR and what kind of impact it will have on the industry. Here’s what they had to say:

Adam Parry, Editor, Event Industry News

GDPR will have a huge impact on event marketers next year, and this in my opinion is a good thing. As an industry we have been very lazy, relying on email marketing with outdated and uncheck cleansed data, I see it myself getting invites to events from previous roles and or having never attended the event in the first place.

We will have to work smarter as event marketers but there are tools and solutions out there to help us and not make it a case of having to work harder. Let’s take for example retargeting technology, it’s not new but hugely under-utilised by our industry as a way of remarking our event to web visitors that didn’t sign up to attend.

Follow Adam Parry on Twitter: @punchtownparry

Michael Owen, CEO, EventGenuity

I’m surprised by how little is known about GDPR by those in business events and associations sector in the United States. Of those who are familiar with the regulation, many forego learning more, as they think it applies only to organisations based in the EU. With headlines about breaches of personal data like Equifax as frequent as the sunrise, one would think at least that curiosity would drive everyone to fully understand the ramifications.

How great will the impact be in non-EU organisations? It’s hard to tell right away. At a recent session, one gent said, “I’m not going to worry about it, because it will be hard to enforce.” Hard? Yes. Impossible? No. Once non-EU enforcement is figured out, and the first massive fine occurs, I suspect interest will spike.

Misconceptions place barriers to learning: “We don’t have offices or hold meetings in the EU”, etc. For business events and associations who host attendees have members or subscribers from the EU for whom they hold data, there is liability.

It’s not all bad news, though. There is opportunity to improve internal business processes. The requirements force organisations to become more, well, organised. Isn’t it a good thing to be more aware of what personal data one possesses, where it resides, how it is processed and protected? Compliance could well reduce financial and reputational risk, and build trust with customers, members, attendees across the board. This outcome would provide more accurate data sets and more meaningful relationships amongst organisations and valued customers.

Follow Michael Owen on Twitter: @EventGenuity

Did you know that more than 75% of event planners think that data security is a much bigger priority for them because of GDPR? Find out what you should do to prevent your attendee data from getting lost, stolen or compromised by getting your copy of ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to Data Security in a Post-GDPR World‘.

Brandt Krueger, Speaker & Consultant, Event Technology Consulting

I have extremely mixed feelings when it comes to GDPR, or for that matter, a lot of attempts to regulate the Internet. While companies clearly need to be held accountable for the securing of our personal data (I’m looking at you, Equifax), and I’m in favour of data transparency – most of these attempts at legislation are reactionary and only deal with new problems as they arise.

Much of the GDPR regulations surround consent. While noble in cause, we already give our consent to all kinds of things without thinking twice about it. We click through license agreements and software permission screens without reading them, and every website in the EU has to let me know that it’s using cookies. How many times have you stopped and thought, “Oh my, I don’t know about this cookie thing. I guess I’ll just shut down my browser and walk away.” Nope, you click on it as quickly as possible to just make the pop-up go away.

I worry that we’re going to be generating more and more of these types of screens, where people will be forced to check off 37 boxes of consent, just to find out where their next hosted buyer appointment is. Customers do need to be made aware of what information they’re providing, and exactly what is being gathered about them, but I have severe concerns about the implementation. This will be the most immediate impact on the event industry – how technology companies deal with the informed consent GDPR seems to demand. I predict lots of splash screens and checkboxes that absolutely nobody will read, along with signage next to fishbowl drawings at expos that, you guessed it, nobody will read.

On the positive side, I do think it’s important to require companies to provide a high level of transparency when it comes to other people’s data, though again I’m hesitant about the implementation. Does a dump of data into a CSV count as an accurate representation of your data? And again, the different types of data that are being gathered can be difficult to provide in a way that makes sense to the person making the request. Because it’s not just about the tangible, easy to understand, data like names and addresses – it’s often about the relationships, the links, the connections between that data that’s important. Knowing your name, address, and what magazines you subscribe to are three separate data points, but their interconnectivity can be enormously revealing in ways people would be shocked to discover.

Follow Brandt Krueger on Twitter: @BrandtKrueger

Kevin Iwamoto, Senior Consultant, GoldSpring Consulting

GDPR will have a major impact on the way companies and their event suppliers manage their events in 2018 and beyond. All meetings and events that handle registrant-attendee personal information and the ways they handle, manage, and purge that information will have to change. The currently liberal ways that attendee personal information is shared will also have to change. GDPR will at least temporarily hinder how attendee data and registration lists are currently used. The proliferation of technology platforms, mobile apps, etc. that currently use personal data for marketing campaigns and for determining things like Return on Engagement (ROE) and Return on Objectives (ROO) will need to be reviewed and changed to avoid major EU fines for GDPR violations.

Read: 5 questions to ask event tech providers about GDPR

All companies and their event supplier partners should be doing a personal data audit now to discover the multiple areas that will need to be modified to become GDPR compliant and to avoid the potential for massive fines. Unfortunately, so many companies remain in the dark and in denial about their GDPR complicity requirements.

Follow Kevin Iwamoto on Twitter: @KevinIwamoto

Paul Cook, Writer & Researcher/Creator of Specialised Content Consultancy, Planet Planit

GDPR will have an impact on the events industry as it will on every sector. How big that impact is will depend on how many changes organisations will need to make in the way they look after personal data currently. For those companies that have strict policies in place already it will have less of an effect.

Having said that, marketing under the new regulation is a key area that will impact all businesses. Right now, the business has the power. Next May, the businesses effectively lose that power as it will be the individual that is in control. Consent to receive marketing messages will be a key challenge for a lot of companies and now is the time to sort out the data bases and work on privacy notices. No longer will companies be able to say we will send your information to interested third parties. They will need to state who those companies are. Consent needs to be recorded and updated on a regular basis.

Does it bring new opportunities? Yes absolutely. One big benefit is that companies will be able to get closer to their clients and prospects. They will need to re-think some of their existing strategies for marketing but for the companies that understand how to make the most of the regulation they will gain trust and a bigger market share. After all, who wants to deal with a company that doesn’t care about whether your identity can be stolen or not?

Follow Paul Cook on Twitter: @planetplanitbiz

George Sirius, CEO, Eventsforce

GDPR is going to change the mindset of event planners when it comes to deciding what data they should collect from attendees, how they use that data for things like marketing campaigns and what they need to do to keep that data safe. Current practices around getting consent in using this information and sharing it with other parties like event sponsors, for example, will land organisers into big trouble after May 2018. The regulation is also going to force planners to play a bigger role in securing all the data they collect from attendees, as well as making sure that third party suppliers like agencies and event tech suppliers are also compliant to GDPR. Again, not doing so can result in big fines. And that is one of the big things about GDPR. Compared to current data protection regulations, non-compliance comes with serious financial consequences. People aren’t fully aware of their rights yet, but they will be. And once they are, the enquiries will start to come. As will the lawsuits – especially if an event suffers a data breach.

Read: Will GDPR change the rights of your attendees?

But it’s not all bad news. I think GDPR will bring about some big opportunities for our industry too. Event planners will need to think and act very differently in the way they talk to attendees – and be a lot more honest in the way they manage their information too. Those organisations that show they’re dealing with personal data in a transparent and secure way and have respect for the privacy of individuals will succeed in building a new level of trust. And this will be key in deciding which organisations people choose to deal with in the future.

Follow George Sirius on Twitter: @georgesirius

Corbin Ball, Meetings Technology Speaker/Consultant/Writer, Corbin Ball Associates

GDPR is a sweeping set of privacy regulations that will affect any event with European attendees or members regardless of where the event takes place. Non-compliance penalties are stiff so it will be imperative that the planners work with their IT departments and technology providers to ensure that the new regulations are met.

Follow Corbin Ball on Twitter: @corbinball

How to Get More Registrations with Event Invites

Posted on 16th October 201717th December 2018 by Eventsforce

Invitations are still one of the most important things to get right when planning a successful event. They help set the tone of an event and are often one of the first opportunities to make a good impression with potential attendees. A new research study from Eventsforce, however, has found that one of the biggest struggles event planners face around invitations is getting enough people to open their invites, take action and sign up.

So, what are the elements of an invite that compel people to either visit your website or register to your event? And what are the metrics you need to keep in mind when measuring the success of your invitation campaigns?

Research Study: Power of Event Invitations

The Eventsforce ‘Power of Event Invitations’ study was conducted with more than 100 senior event professionals across the US and the UK to investigate the latest trends around event invitations. One of the research survey’s key findings revealed the top challenges of managing invites, including:

1) Not getting enough people to click on Call-to-Action (CTA) links

2) Difficulty in measuring success of invitation campaigns

3) Creating attractive, responsive, HTML invites

4) Deciding the best times for sending out invites

5) Difficulty in using personalisation

The study also investigated the elements of an invite that event planners felt were the most effective in getting results. Top of the list were event highlights (agenda, keynote speakers etc), followed by overall design and layout, and the main copy of the invite. Have a look at this infographic to get a full overview of the findings of the ‘Power of Event Invitations’ study.

5 Ways to Make Event Invitations More Effective

Thanks to advancements in technology, putting together great-looking event invites are no longer something you need to give to a specialist designer. Most event management solutions offer design tools and templates that make the whole process a lot easier for the event planner. But the look and feel of your invite is not the only thing that matters. You have to remember that people make quick conclusions about an event through the invitation and it’s important to make a good impression from the very beginning.

Have a look at the five key considerations you need to make to get your event invites to work:

1) Save-the-Date Emails

Before we go into the different elements of the invite itself, it’s worth nothing the important role save-the-date emails play in the whole event invitation process. The Eventsforce study found that 57% of event planners use them to create excitement and anticipation around their events. They are a great way of letting people know about your upcoming event and mark it in their calendars prior to the invite.

2) Strong Subject Lines

If you’re using email invitations, then you’ll know the importance of the subject line. With hundreds of other emails fighting for your potential attendee’s limited attention, it’s important to make then stand out to get them opened. Without a doubt, subject lines that are personally addressed, do the best. If you don’t have names handy, then the use of pronounces like ‘we’ and ‘you/your’ also appeal to readers. Subject lines that feature dates, or urgency seem to perform better than those that don’t. And while we don’t encourage the over-use of exclamation marks, a little extra energy in subject lines is known to impact the open rates of email invites.

3) Event Highlights & Value Proposition

Along with the value proposition of your event (the bit that explains why someone should sign up), details like the keynote speaker, the agenda and venue highlights are seen by 88% of event planners as the most important aspects of an invite that gets them results. Showcase your event’s main selling point and think about that one thing that will grab readers’ attention. Get to the point quickly and always focus on the event’s key message. Make sure that people who get your invite can scan it and quickly understand what the event is about and find out when and where it’s happening. More importantly, they need to know how they can register through prominently displayed CTA buttons that links through to your event’s website or registration page.

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4) Simple Design & Layout

Though a beautiful-looking invite isn’t everything, design and layout is seen as one of the most important aspects of a successful invitation campaign by 69% of event planners. Think about the user journey and stick to a design that’s clean and simple. Given that most people will only scan your emails, it’s always a good idea to break up your invite into several small sections that address different things about your event (speakers, venue and timings, speakers, agendas, how to register etc). This helps them better digest all the different bits of information and get excited about what’s on offer. Also, a lot of people will look at your email invite through mobile devices, so you need to think about how it’s going to look and work on different screens.

5) Attractive Visuals & Video

It’s important to use strong visuals to get the most out of your event invites. Think about the visual draw of your event that isn’t necessarily the subject matter. Use pictures of your event’s location and venue or your guest speaker. Avoid stock shots or generic images of people speaking at podiums – use images from your past events instead. Video is another option that’s becoming more and more popular – though our research study found that only 8% of event planners are currently using video in their event invites. Just remember that videos can give your attendees a different opportunity to learn more about your event and they also do a good job of conveying the personality of your organisation. They’re also a lot more engaging than text – Forrester Research claims that a minute of video can be equivalent to 1.8 million words!

6) Personalisation

We touched on this a little earlier when we looked at the importance of email subject lines. Our study found that a majority 73% of event planners personalise the content of their event invitations. The most popular method was the use of personal names in subject lines and the main body of the invite – followed by personalised content for each audience segment. About 22% of respondents also use personalisation based on information they already hold on potential attendees.

Personalising invitations is simple and effective. By tailoring them as much as possible to the invitee, you can really make an impact and increase the chances of them attending. So, if you know your invitation list is largely made up of corporates and academics, then create two separate versions of the same invite with each one outlining the sessions that would be of interest to them. Remember – both audiences have a vested interest in attending your event but have very different goals and very different ideas on why your event matters. And if you’re inviting people who have attended some of your past events, then use the information you have on them to create personalised links within your invite. By clicking on the link, your returning attendees will automatically log into a registration form that is already pre-populated with all their relevant information.

7) A/B Testing

As great as it would be to find the ‘silver bullet’ that gets people to open up your invites and click through to sign up, the sad truth is that there is no magical formula. Enter the importance of A/B testing – the method of comparing two versions of the event invitation against each other to determine which one performs better. The study found that 36% of event planners are already doing this by using different versions of an invite to test the effectiveness of different subject lines, body copy, CTA buttons, personalised content, timings and so on. Doing this kind of testing on a regular basis can offer important performance insight that can make or break the success of your invitation campaigns.

8) Performance Measurement

Knowing how effective your invitations have been in driving registrations for your event is incredibly important. Whether you do A/B testing or not, it is important to look at some key metrics that will help you assess what’s working and what’s not. Look at open rates, click-through rates and actual conversion rates (the number of people that registered as a result of opening your email invite). Our survey, for example, found that Tuesdays and Wednesdays mornings were seen as the best times for sending out invites by a majority of event planners. The survey also found that the average open rate for invites is between 11-30% and the average click-through-rate is around 10%. Having this information on hand can identify the areas that you can focus on improving in subsequent reminder emails or invitations for your next event.