As an events professional, you have two concurrent goals: to host flawless events and to be more recognized in your job.
This month, we curated content from around the web geared at making event professionals better at what they do. There’s a high-level, but thoroughly comprehensive, checklist for event success. There are tips on how to excel speaker recruitment and gamification. And there’s a reminder that the GDPR regulations are about to kick in — how will that affect your role?
Read on for this month’s roundup of how event pros can hone their craft and elevate their event experiences.
Check this list for event success
“These 50 tips highlight the way Reinventing Events designs events, allowing their client’s brand and personality to shine through the entire production.”
In one simple infographic, seasoned event-management CEO Karen Hartline offers 50 basic tips for how to create better events. It starts with planning and goal setting, and moves into speaker organization. It also covers how to orchestrate your actual event, handle sponsors, and deal with catering decisions.
Some of this stuff is probably already on your list — but for instance, do you have your Spotify playlists offline just in case? Do you have a safe word so your staff knows you need some space? Make sure you don’t miss a beat by checking off all these to-dos.
Use crowdsourcing to find better speakers
“Instead of letting the content happen to us, we tapped into the collective intelligence of our members and gained deeper insights into what they wanted.”
Tired of the same old speakers? Having trouble infusing your lineup with a fresh P.O.V.? This tip sheet from MeetingsNet outlines a new approach to recruiting speakers. Start by focusing on topics instead of speaker names, so you’re attracting talent that’s expert at what you want to cover. Then, issue a call for speakers in appropriate membership arenas.
Sound easy? It’s even easier when you read this article, which breaks down a methodology for exactly how to achieve success with your speaker lineup. Breathing fresh intellect into your events is a potent way to boost their overall effectiveness and popularity.
Are you ready for GDPR?
“GDPR is set to shake up just about everything when it comes to data privacy for both EU countries and the rest of the world.”
First of all, if you’re asking yourself “Er, what is GDPR?” you should probably know. The European General Data Protection Regulation becomes law in May of this year, and governs how organizations collect and use data that contains personal information about individuals.
It’s an EU law, but if your event company ever throws events in an EU country or welcomes participants from the EU to your events in the U.S. or elsewhere, you need to know about it. This Gleanin article does an excellent job of outlining key info about the GDPR and how it impacts the events world globally.
Introduce gamification to your arsenal
“Digital gamification wouldn’t be as successful as it is if it didn’t add value to your event.”
If improving attendance, increasing engagement, and creating a memorable experience are all goals you have for your next event, it’s time to consider gamification.
Gamification might mean a digitally run trivia game where attendees can rack up points for prizes, or a scavenger hunt with a worthy end goal. Companies often use gamification as incentive around a leaderboard, where top earners compete for prizes in a public forum.
In this guest post for BizBash, Meeting Play gives a solid overview of how gamification could boost engagement at your events.
Bring your email marketing up to speed
“Email marketers should look for ways to make their emails looks more dynamic and interactive.”
Email is one of the “oldest” marketing channels for event creators, as far as digital marketing goes, anyway. And it’s still incredibly effective, which is why most events still use it. But with every advance in technology, email marketing seems to get more sophisticated, innovative, and automated.
Personalization — the ability to automatically insert recipient names in the body and subject lines of emails — was a great boon to marketers seeking to make their messages more intimate.
Now, interactivity embedded in emails is the next big trend. The ability to embed short videos, live videos, and surveys into email bodies is making email marketing more engaging. Read more about this — and how artificial intelligence can increase your open rates — on Marketing Technology Insights.
Inspired to boost your knowledge and credentials as an event organizer? Sign up for our free Event Marketing Course and Certification, taught by five of Eventbrite’s marketing pros.
