Event Planning

Sharron Senter

Are you planning an event or participating in a trade show any time soon? If so, consider the following 10 low-cost marketing tactics before mailing your payment.

Event Marketing Tactic #1 — Is the purchase decision-maker attending the event? Are you certain? Let’s say you sell gifts that help increase employee moral and you’re considering exhibiting at the National Association of Human Resources annual conference. Is your decision-maker attending? Who attends this event — HR directors, managers or VPs? Perhaps all, or a small percentage of all three attend. If your decision-maker is a human resources director, then you’ll want to make sure the event management company can provide you statistics supporting what percentage of the participants have director-level titles. You need to drill down to your target audience. It’s not good enough to say that it’s a human resources related event; rather, is the job title you’re targeting attending? And if so, what percentage of the attendees hold this title? I recommend at least 50-60% before spending any money.

Event Marketing Tactic #2 — What value-added benefits is the venue [trade show organizer] making available to your business? Will they allow you access to the attendee mailing list so you can implement a premailing promoting your one-day trade show special, as well as the location of your booth? Well organized events, at minimum, provide a list of attendees after the event so exhibitors can follow up. More organized events provide participant contact information BEFORE the event as well as after. Other value-added benefits to inquire about include: being included in participant email distributions promoting the event, as well as an advertisement in the event show guide.

Event Marketing Tactic #3 — Target your event qualifying questions around the “who?,” instead of the “how many?.”

Event Marketing Tactic #4 — Giveaways should be relevant to your business. Don’t give something away for free just for the heck of it. Who cares if you collect 10,000 names because you ran a really cool promotion giving away a free 48″ TV. If you’re a personal chef, what does a TV have to do with your business? Nothing! [Unless you're Emeril.] Therefore, you’ve just collected 10,000 NON-qualified leads. Instead, as a personal chef you could try, “Sign up to receive our special report, “How to Live Like the Rich; Tips to Hire an Affordable Personal Chef.” One can assume the majority of business cards deposited in your fish bowl have an interest in personal chefs.

Event Marketing Tactic #5 — Location, location, location. If prospects can’t see you, then you’re wasting your time. Don’t be fooled into purchasing a cheap booth at a last-minute special, such as “One booth remaining at 50% off.” Chances are no one will be visiting you, since your booth will be tucked away hidden from all eyes. The most ideal locations are found at the entryway to the event and near the pathway to the food stations and restrooms. Corner booths between major walk-throughs are ideal.

Event Marketing Tactic #6 — Some of your most qualified event leads come from networking with other exhibitors. Therefore, secure the exhibitors’ list several days before your event. At minimum, you want to know what competitors will be there so you can mystery shop. What’s more, you want a plan outlining what exhibitors you intend to approach to either pitch your services, or secure an informal partnership. Prepare your plan and your sales-spin before the big day!

Event Marketing Tactic #7 — Would you like to participate in more events but don’t have the budget? Try approaching complementary exhibitors and ask if they’d be interested in sharing booth space with you. Split the costs. Moreover, you can cover for each other when you need a break. Or, look around for hidden advertising money. If you’re a distributor, perhaps you’ve accrued MDF funds [Market Development Funds] a.k.a. advertising coop money, unbeknownst to you. Many companies will allow resellers to spend MDF funds to pay for event booth fees.

Event Marketing Tactic #8 — Save yourself a lot of time and only approach event passersby who make eye contact. People who don’t look at you or your booth are not looking for a reason. Remember, you can only speak to so many people at an event, therefore utilize your precious time wisely. Target those who make eye contact.

Event Marketing Tactic #9 — Make sure you’re allowed to display signs, posters, banners, etc. Treat your signs as miniature billboards. No more than six words and make sure it can be read from at least 10′ away.

Event Marketing Tactic #10 — Don’t pay full price. Remember, almost everything in life is negotiable, including booth fees. Always ask for a price reduction; you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Printed advertising and/or booth fees are just a starting point for negotiations.

P.S…..Stand up, don’t chew gum and try not to talk too much to the other people working your booth. The latter makes you appear unapproachable. Finally, your attire should be slightly better than what you believe attendees will be wearing. For example, if you’re attending an event whereby most of the attendees are engineers, don’t wear a three-piece suit!

Shane Williss

One of the greatest factors influencing the success of a corporate event planner is the experience acquired from previous engagements. There are just some things that can only be learnt through experience, with no amount of preparation adequate. This is precisely why some organisations have a preference to engage corporate event management companies such as Chillisauce, so as to ensure a successful and hassle-free event.

Nevertheless, as a corporate event organiser, we are open to sharing experiences with our clients with the aim of enhancing customer relationships. Thus, the following insights are some of our inputs on critical mistakes that should be avoided by anyone organising a corporate event.

More time for planning

Even if your corporate event may just be for two days, extensive preparations prior to the event will be required. Activities will need to be planned out, participants need to be confirmed and facilities as well as equipment need to be prepared in advance. Thus, it’s always advisable to have more time to plan for an event so as not to be caught unawares in any situation.

Activities should not be rushed through

Amidst budget and time constraints, many events have been organised to rush through a tight schedule without any time for recreation and rest. Therefore, the event turns out to become a stressful time rather than an enjoyable weekend. This defeats the purpose of running the corporate event in the first place, which also translates to a waste of money.

Control the booze

Although most employees may expect alcohol as part of the package, it may be wise to put a cap on alcohol consumption during corporate events. Many organisations had learnt it the hard way when intoxicated employees started behaving inappropriately during an event, disrupting other employees in the process. Furthermore, any team building exercise involving physical activities after alcohol consumption may place the company at risk of employees hurting themselves.

Set aside budget for a good event facilitator

The engagement of a good event facilitator for a beneficial and enjoyable event has always been overlooked. Indeed, a good facilitator will possess the skills required to ensure that all participants take part in the various activities. His or her good communication skills and team building content knowledge will ensure that the purpose of the event is achieved.

Matt Bacak

Seminars and events have always been implemented as a holistic experience to participants. Thus, organizing an event requires extensive planning and preparation with most work implemented at least a few months before the actual event. Most of the time, seminars seem to run like clockwork with all events flowing smoothly according to schedule. In reality however, much groundwork has been worked on with the purpose of developing the right atmosphere in addition to a beneficial experience to partipants.

1. Establishing the theme of the event

Each event follows a theme and purpose which will drive the event set-up, the target audiences or the participants, the guests and the marketing approach. In general, a business event such as an international conference for a particular industry will appeal to participants conducting businesses within that industry as well as sponsors who gain mileage out of publicizing their products during the event.

Apart from that, the theme of the seminar will also determine the type of marketing channels to be used to for publicity. This also holds true for the seminar marketing team who will need the event theme to correctly identify target participants and companies to sell the event to.

2. Selecting a venue

Venue selection is highly dependent on the scale of the event. Usually this is determined by the number of participants, the presence of any guests of honor (such as royalty or politicians) the activities during the event, or if there are additional floor space required for exhibition purposes.

A typical seminar of about 100 – 200 can be comfortably implemented in a hotel seminar room, possibly in a theater style setting or classroom setting. However, larger scale events with participant numbers scaling between 500 – 1000 may require a large hall, ballroom, auditorium or a convention center.

The location and quality standard of the venue is also important especially if the event involves the participation of VIPs. With this, a reputable location would be imperative, including good quality and wide range of seminar facilities available. It is always wise to explore the possibility of a few venues and examine their location suitability, level of services, ambience, and costs before coming to a decision.

3. Seminar Marketing and Publicity

Seminar marketing is by far the most critical and often most challenging task in event organizing, and is often regarded as the most critical factor of an event’s success. This is because the number of participants turning up for a seminar is highly dependent on the strength of marketing activities and publicity. Whether or not the event achieves its objective or whether the organizers will walk home with a profit or loss largely depends on the marketability of the event. This means that the right marketing strategy and seminar positioning must be adopted in order to draw adequate event sign-ups.

Most of the time, event organizers who have large budgets will turn to above the line marketing such as newspaper and magazine advertisements as well as radio and television advertising to publicize the event. Press releases may also be sent in to major newspapers, in order to create the awareness of the upcoming event. Additionally, large advertising media banners and posters can also be purchased to advertise the event in high human traffic areas. When using print advertising, the specific magazine or newspaper used must have the target audience of your event as their primary readership base. Also all print media should be copy written with an enticing approach, highlighting the extensive benefits of participation.

However, if budget is a problem, then below the line marketing may also do wonders. If the event is industry specific, mass faxing to companies belonging to the industry would be feasible. Telemarketing is a very effective marketing channel to create awareness within the right participant group. Additionally, dispatching sales personnel to attend to the requirements of large participant groups is an ideal and effective strategy. Mass emailing has become one of the most cost-efficient methods to reach out to large target audiences. This would be really useful if the event organizer already have an existing database. Otherwise, a list of names can be rented from database companies to attain the same results.

4. Collaboration with sponsors

Getting reputable sponsors to participate in an event will help boost the creditability of the event, as well as reduce costs. Sponsors can also help with marketing, as they also help publicize your event to their customers. Apart from that, some of the sponsors can chip in on venue rental in exchange for exhibition space or publicity for themselves. Some sponsors also require a short message of their company to be given to the participants during the event. Others give away sample products or door gifts to participants.

5. Managing People and working with speakers

A seminar will not be successful without the people running it, as well as the speakers sharing their knowledge to the participants. Invite speakers who are of caliber and reputation to the event, and who will provide the participants with relevant information to their work, industry or business. Prepare the speakers beforehand and work with them on their Power point presentations as well as pre-inform them of the logistics processes, timing as well as the expected audience size. Check with them on any special requests, such as the requirement for an overhead projector or additional microphones to be used for question and answer sessions.

All events require a good team of people handling tasks on ushering, registration, customer service as well as handling financials. Familiarize the team with any required event protocol to eliminate the possibility of confusion or error. In order to ensure smooth implementation, each person should be familiar with their individual roles. This can be ensured through a preparation of a detailed schedule of events coupled with roles and responsibilities for each person. Ideally, a project manager should control the whole team and ensure that everyone is carrying out their duties efficiently. Apart from that, the project manager also has the delegated authority to deal with all parties such as the venue management as well as the sponsors and event exhibitors.

6. Actual Day – Preparation, Registration, Ushering, Feedback

All seminar planning and preparations, constituting 80% of total work involved, cascade to the actual event which may last only for a few hours or a few days. On the day before the event, visit the venue to ensure that everything is in order according the requirements and specifications. Microphones, projectors, audio and video systems must be all checked to be in excellent working order. Over at the office, have a packing list prepared and get all require items transferred to the actual venue at least a day before the event. Event staff should be dispatched to work on site preparations, including setting up booths, decorations and posters, the day before the event.

On the actual day, staff should be present at the venue at least 1 ½ hours before commencement. They should report to their duty stations and must be ready to receive participants half an hour before they are scheduled to file in. Registrations must be made at the door to ensure authorized access. Name tags, door gifts and event schedules or booklets will be given out at this point and ushers will show participants to their seats in the event hall.

Staff will also be responsible for providing advice or help to participants during the event. Finally, feedback forms should be distributed and then collected from participants to determine the satisfaction level on all aspects of the event experience. This is in order to receive pointers, ideas and advice for future improvements.

Carla Clemmons

Throwing a celebration of any kind can be a daunting task for most people. Knowing how and when to use an event planner can make the experience less intimidating and more enjoyable. When planning a party, you should think about your personal schedule, party size, event date, your party throwing experience, being creative, and your support system.

Are You a Busy Person?
What does your daily schedule look like? If you are like most people, you have many things on your plate. Juggling everyday responsibilities while trying to not overlook every aspect of a special event can consume a lot of time, especially if you have a busy schedule. Having an event planner to take on the task of planning your party is a great resource because they are experts in this area. In fact, you can simply tell your event planner the type of party you want, your budget, number of invitees, etc. and they can do the rest. In addition, you can tell your event planner how often you want to be updated on your party’s progress. Using an event planner can give you time to attend to your normal busy schedule without the extra burden of planning a party.

How Big or Small is Your Party?
Smaller parties (5 to 8 people) might be easier for one person to plan on their own. However, if you are planning a bigger party, you should look to an event planner to help. Event planners can help with decorations, invitations, catering, equipment rental, and entertainment. Many event planners also have a database of reliable vendors that they can go to to make sure your party is a success. In reality, any size party will benefit from using an event planner.

When is Your Event?
Is your event in 2 months, 6 months, or a year? Depending on the amount of time you have to plan your party, using an event planner might be a valuable option. Most event planners can help with the biggest or smallest of details. Many event planners can offer guidance with every aspect of your special event time frame. From, developing your party timeframe to day of event timeline, your event planner can help you no matter the amount of time you have before your party.

Do You Have Experience Throwing Parties?
If you have thrown a party or two in the past, then you have good insight into the amount of time that might be needed to get a party together. However, you also know that this is usually very stressful, especially when it comes to those last minute errands. Throwing a party on your own can also get in the way of your personal enjoyment of your own event. That is why it is good to know that many event planners also offer Day of Event Management. This type of management helps to make sure that the party is a smooth event and allows you time to actually participate and take pleasure in the party you are throwing.

Do You Need Some Creativity?
Even if you have experience throwing parties, it might be beneficial to utilize an event planner for party concept and theme development. A fresh perspective is good to have when you are planning an event that is special such as a weddings and receptions, milestone birthday, anniversary, bridal party, child’s birthday, etc. Event Planners can offer you unique ideas on themes, decoration, party giveaways, favors, music, and other activities. If you prefer to plan your own party, you can still look to an event planner for development of theme ideas that you can do yourself.

Who Do You Know?
Having a group of people to help you with planning your party can be a good idea. If you have a few people (friends, family, neighbors, etc.) you can trust you can assign party planning tasks to them. However, if you don’t have this resource available to you, an event planner might save the day. Event planners have staff and vendors they can go to to ensure your party is pulled off with flair.

An event planner can eliminate the pressure that you have when planning an event. No matter what your event needs, and a planner can make it a hit.