In This Issue:
Successful Events and Lessons Learned During Challenging Times
Our event planning team is most active from March through July and September through November. During the last quarter of 2008, I must admit I was a little nervous about a few of our annual signature events. What if our clients canceled these premier events, or significantly downscaled their scopes in 2009? While we are only in April I am happy to report our calendar is busy. Are clients asking us to create events superbly representing their brand but with a lower, more conservative budget? Yes, and they should be. Anyone can make a spectacular event if enough money is thrown at it. But how do you create a "WOW!" factor with a slashed budget? You must find innovative ways to connect with the audience - those are the events that create modern folklore! Any professional event planning firm will be able to scale your event in ways that make you proud to be host. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE planning big budget events-- all of the pomp and circumstance makes our industry thrilling! Once the economy rebounds, we are sure our clients and their guests will expect a return of this fanfare. But until then, we are happy to partner with our clients in acting as good stewards of company resources. This means we find new ways to generate revenue, create client connections, and keep their business on the radar. If you are still fearful about the returns from hosting events, here are a few successful events we recently planned and managed, along with lessons learned:
- A nonprofit client hosted an auction event. The Development Committee leveraged their Rolodex and tripled sponsorship donations over the previous year's event. Although attendance was lower than expected, the revenues for the event reached their goal and profits were comparable to the 2008 event.
Lesson Learned? Ask and you shall receive. The Development Committee refused to allow the recession to dictate how much support they could secure. Instead, they went out and "shook the money trees" to find new sources of support via employee matching opportunities, new donors, and reinvigorating previous ones.
- A new research company hosted their first event, an interdisciplinary conference catering to a niche group of researchers and clinicians. The presented research was so specific there were concerns about drawing a large enough crowd. Even with a $350 registration fee, the conference attracted over 200 attendees with an impressive international presence. The conference was a huge success.
Lesson Learned? Events of value bring attendees eager to participate. By doing so your event turns into the "must attend" of the year, instead of just another "it would be nice to go."
- A nonprofit client hosted a casino night for their high end donors. Sponsors wishing to get their brands out in front of these individuals underwrote much of the event making the expenses for the nonprofit minimal. Admission for all donors was free, and each was given ten tickets to use for colleagues and friends. This created an opportunity for the organization to meet new prospects. The donors enjoyed the exclusivity of the event and parted with their money "for a good cause" in hopes of winning prizes that they could easily purchase on their own for much less. Donors partook in activities such as roulette, black jack and Texas Hold 'Em because it was fun! The donations from guests were plentiful and the organizations received support from new sources, as well as attracted new volunteers.
Lesson Learned? Fun reigns supreme in generating buzz. Everyone had a great time and people that were first introduced to the organization got a feel for what the organization was about while being entertained. The mission of the organization was not lost during this event, in fact it was incorporated into many aspects of it to make sure that the brand and messaging made an impact. It takes a great deal of work to plan, manage, and execute all of the fine details preceding a successful event. Hiring a professional event planning firm can make the difference between an event that is a boom or a bust for your organization. If you have an annual event your clients or supporters look forward to, don't cancel it in an effort to save money; keeping up the momentum is simply priceless. Trying to figure out how to have it all without breaking the budget? Give us a call.
Best,
Vanessa
Simple and Effective Online Tools to Promote Your Special Event
The great thing about online tools is that most are free and require only a consistent investment of your time. Rather than trying all of them at once, just start off with one. Take time to build upon your success by slowly adding additional tools to the mix. Based on your company's characteristics and goals for your event, a few of these suggestions may not apply. Wow With A Website People crave information, and the easiest source for access is the Internet. You probably have a website for your business, but have you considered one just for your event? Interested attendees can view seminar descriptions, accommodation and travel information, alternative activities for guests, and even detailed biographies of speakers. An event website gives a place for links from other organizations involved and promoting your event. Keep interested parties informed with an RSS feed that will send updates about your event as soon as they are posted to your website. Banner buttons available for use by sponsors, speakers, registrants or volunteers to post on their own websites further heighten your event's cross-promotion. Be Visual: Create Videos About the Event Why say it when you can show it? Create a channel on YouTube.com just for information about your event. Speakers can contribute related video previously recorded, or you can create small teaser trailers about aspects of your event. Have footage from a previous event? Use it to highlight the best of what your event has to offer, and make sure to give a taste of what's still to come! Pump Up the Event's Presence with Press Releases Traditional press releases are circulated to your media contacts. Really stretch the functionality of press releases by including them on your event website and using a wire distribution service to spread the information. Your event's press release could be picked up by the big online news engines, like Google or Yahoo, and explode the exposure of your event! Get Everyone Synched In With Social Networking If your event is open to the public, take advantage of the many social networking resources relevant to your industry. Twitter. As the event reaches new milestones, tweet about them to keep people updated about the event's progress. Create a hashtag, a grouping on Twitter named for the hash (#) mark used to start one, and encourage everyone to add any tweets mentioning the event. The benefits of Twitter do not stop once the event starts. Get a jump on next year's promotion by encouraging tweeting during the event. This practice is effective at meetings and conferences to keep those not in attendance engaged and desirous of attending next time. Also, the tweets can increase media coverage of an event in specific industries. In addition to Twitter, there are other free social networking resources such as LinkedIn and Facebook. On LinkedIn you can use surveys and discussions to drum up interest in your event. Facebook allows members to become "fans" of events visible to all of their friends, and quickly knowledge of your event spreads like wildfire. Attendees can also use Facebook to interact and begin getting to know one another before the conference doors even open.
With social media, the promotional opportunities are endless. Share what's worked for you and we'll include it in a future newsletter. Send comments to info[at]thewakemanagency.com.
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