Feb 19
Ashley SpitzerTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows attendee interaction, meeting attendance, meeting ideas
Redefining value has become more important than ever before. What worked last year or the year before may be out the window, especially with a rapidly changing economic landscape and competitors scrambling for market position.
Here are some creative marketing ideas to help build meeting attendance:
Go Viral – Forget the swine flu! We’re talking about viral exposure in the social media. Come up with unusual – even outrageous – ideas for your meeting that will start tongues wagging and tweeters tweeting. Get your executive director to volunteer to sing a song onstage at the Opening General Session if the meeting attendance sets a record (be sure to post a video of him/her singing a few lyrics on YouTube as a sneak preview). Then have your Board members, convention planning committee members, and other leaders start tweeting about this and posting links to the YouTube video and your meeting website.
Talent Search – Everyone has talent, right? (OK, maybe some people are more talented than others.) Have a “Talent and Great Ideas Show” at your next meeting. Use your e-newsletter, online convention promotions, and the social media to recruit members to participate. Each person needs to demonstrate their talent for a minute or so (do a card trick, play a musical instrument, sing, dance, juggle, do an impersonation, etc.) and then deliver one industry-related great idea that attendees can take home and use in their business. Record a couple short videos with willing members to show how it works and post these on YouTube as examples. The show will add fun and value to your next meeting, and create powerful social media marketing leading up to the meeting to promote attendance.
Jeopardy – Think of an important topic in your industry and imagine how that might play out in a Jeopardy-style game. (Remember, answers must be phrased in the form of a question!) Creativity is the bottom line, of course – think about how the game can be built into into a PowerPoint presentation, for example.
What are you waiting for? Step out of your comfort zone, toss ideas around with colleagues, and think about the wow factor!
Jan 11
maureen-pickellTrade Shows attendee interaction, Event Industry Networking, meeting experiences, pcma
The PCMA 2010 Annual Meeting “Convening Leaders” opened in Dallas this weekend with organization members giving back to the city. Five Dallas based charities benefited from the hard work, talents, donations and fundraising efforts of convention participants attending PCMA’s 5th annual meeting, Jan.10-13, 2010.
Attendees also enjoyed the Opening Welcome Reception sponsored by the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau. The event provided glimpses of the North Texas culinary scene, arts district, sports, hair and make-up professionals, shopping opportunities and carnival fun. Interactive entertainment, Texas food specialties and two-steppin’ music rounded out the evening.
Over the course of the four days, the annual meeting will offer <u>200 plus speakers and more than 60 education sessions</u> along with ample opportunity to network with colleagues. Attendees will learn new skills, share goals, solve problems and generally expand their horizons while reinforcing the position that “Face to Face” encounters are still the best example of “social networking.”
What is your favorite session so far?
If you’re currently at the show, be sure to say hello to Maureen Pickell. She’s been busy blogging about her experiences in between networking and attending sessions!
Dec 01
Damion RutherfordContests, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows ASAE & the Center, attendee interaction, meeting attendance
As conference attendees consider the events they will continue to attend, or are forced to justify attendance to their employers, the value of the conference must be high.
What better way to incorporate the needs and desires of your attendees than to value their feedback?
Karen Freeman, CMP with VSR Financial Services, Inc. says:
Incorporate feedback sheets for your conference as a way to gain insight on how your attendees feel. Collect them as they leave or ask them to fax or mail them to you. Put your address and fax number on the feedback sheet so they don’t have to hunt for the information later. Then read them and listen to what folks have to say.
The most important step is to incorporate some of the ideas into the next conference. When folks know you really listen they feel more like they are a part of the conference. And all meetings are created for the attendee…right?
I received an email yesterday about ASAE & the Center’s 2010 Annual Meeting & Expo. The message focused on the changes for 2010 based on attendee feedback, in a question answer type format. (First by identifying the problem followed by the solution.)
ASAE is utilizing attendee feedback to create a better experience for the attendee…and what better way to engage the audience than by taking their opinions to heart? An attendee whose input and ideas are implemented will be more likely to continue and increase involvement within the organization.
So let’s keep the feedback forms coming!
Karen Freeman’s advice won the November ConventionPlanit.com Stellar Tip Contest. If you have a meeting related tip to share, submit your thoughts for the December contest – and respond to this post, too!
Sep 16
Ashley SpitzerTips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows attendee interaction, hsmai affordable meeting, meeting ideas, social media
Affordable Meetings National Day 2 – keynote speaker Scott Klososky takes control of the audience with engaging and useful social media tips and tricks.
If you weren’t lucky enough to attend, we’ve got some of the highlights for you (we took lots of notes) -
Live Q&A: Screens posting Twitter feeds for an educational session are becoming popular, but Klososky’s method, we felt, was more effective. Attendees text messaged questions to a specific number and code, which would then appear on the presentation screens. Klososky flipped his presentation to view and answer the live questions in between segments.
We felt this was more effective because:
- The internet at the convention center could not control the posting speed (which was slow, of course, considering the large number of people using the server)
- Attendees could interact specifically with one another; Tweeting questions to a general hash tag for an event can become confusing if it is used by too many attendees. What if attendees are tweeting to the same hash from several educational sessions? It is difficult for attendees and presenter to quickly interact with one another.
Social Media is the most democratic form of communication: Klososky noted that never before have users had so much control over the information we receive. If we don’t find something interesting or important, we don’t share it. The media has lost control over the information we receive and deem valuable. The media has no choice but to embrace the new, democratic communication we have, and create thorough content to compete.
Useful Websites: Klososky shared some very useful websites for our industry. Here are a couple –
- Addictomatic.com: enter your event name, company name, etc. to see what people are saying on social media websites. Very helpful from the brand control standpoint as well as from the user standpoint.
- Namechk: Enter a username or vanity URL into the search field, and the site pans virtually every social networking and bookmarking site checking for availability. Even if you don’t use all of the sites, it is a good idea to reserve your usernames just in case.
Aug 18
Ashley SpitzerMember News, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows ASAE & the Center, attendee interaction, Event Industry Networking, Keep America Meeting, meeting education, social media, Trade Shows
What are planners looking for from the ASAE Expo?
A survey taken on the floor the first two days found planners looking for new ideas and new partnerships. To quote one association planner,
“In order to be successful, we look at our exhibitors not just as exhibitors, but as business partners.”
Face to face interaction with business partners at the expo is an important way to foster connections.
After ASAE has concluded, planners can solidify these new relationships by using ConventionPlanit.com as a web portal to our varied portfolio of suppliers.
Technology, especially social networking, are important components to the meetings industry, but can be made much more successful through new face to face connections!
Aug 04
Ashley SpitzerContests, Tips for Meeting Planners attendee interaction, economy, meeting ideas, meeting planner feedback, Tips for Meeting Planners
A smart way to save on your meeting costs is by cutting back on the breaks.
We worked with a hotel to provide vouchers for breaks instead of serving an expensive break time. Each participant was given vouchers to go to the snack shop located in the hotel lobby.
Each voucher was worth $3. For each item the participant chose, they turned in a voucher. The vouchers were then counted and charged to the master account. This wound up costing considerably less than paying for breaks. Hope this tip helps you in your planning!
…this idea comes from Kathy Craig, Administrative Assistant with Ecumenical Stewardship Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, who just won our July Stellar Tip Contest.
If you have a meeting tip to share, enter the August contest to win a $100 prize!
Jul 29
Ashley SpitzerNews, Tips, Tips for Meeting Planners, Trade Shows attendee interaction, meeting education, meeting planner help, technology, Tips for Meeting Planners
If yesterday’s tech info post tickled your fancy…
…here’s some extra help to get you started:
Watch this short video from MeetingsPodCast.com on how to use Flickr Video for your next meeting or event.
Jun 12
Ashley SpitzerNews attendee interaction, meeting attendance, meeting industry
Technology has certainly helped to improve meetings, but does technology also have the ability to hurt face-to-face meetings?
Carolyn Burns Bass’ comment from our “Meeting Attendance Costs on the Rise” discussion brings this issue to light. She said…
“Social media has made great inroads into corporate communications. Blogs, discussion forums, webinars, etc., are great tools for ongoing projects, planning, and performance boosters. Still, as great as these tools can be, they can’t replace the in-the-skin experience of an on-site meeting, convention, or incentive trip.”
…What do you think? With all of the rising costs facing meetings we’ve discussed, are online meetings such as webinars going to increase, or replace face-to-face meetings? Through podcasts, webinar participants can even simultaneously watch the same lectures…without any travel costs.
The added bonus for this? The podcast can be uploaded onto iTunes, for example, and used for future reference. Not only are similar web-based alternatives more cost efficient, but they eliminate the hassle of travel and conserve the environment.
How can online meetings hurt a company? What do you think the future holds for the industry?
Mar 17
Ashley SpitzerTips for Meeting Planners attendee interaction, Tradeshow Name Badges
Name badges can become a focal point of a meeting and a great way to promote lively and fun interaction among attendees with just a little creativity.
Sue Tinnish of SEAL Inc., who is a popular facilitator, speaker, teambuilder, and trainer, offers these tips for sprucing up name badges:
Add a favorite childhood game, three numbers that are significant to you, a significant accomplishment during the past year, something positive about you, something you could use help with, and/or something you know quite a bit about to the nametag.
Reverse the traditional nametag by writing “My Name is NOT. . .”
Add three things about yourself, two of which are true.
Write the nametag in the form of a headline, such as “Sue Tinnish Lands Big Account with XYZ Association.”
Decorate a fingerprint and decorate it.
Rename your job in layman’s language. For example, an informational system specialist wrote, “Help. Help. Help.”
Set up a “Decorate Your Badge” table with stickers, pins, and other decorations for attendees to personalize their name badges.
Use technology for name badges such as ntag, SpotMe, or SmartBadge. These name badges can communicate with each other and identify specific people for you using Radio Frequency Identification based on information such as name, company, or even your hobby.
“I can’t tell you the number of times I have seen meetings totally energized by using some of these name badge innovations,” Tinnish says. “People get totally into it and before you know it they are learning things about their colleagues that they never would have known otherwise. It’s just great!”
For more great meeting ideas, visit ConventionPlanit.com and click on the “For Planners Only” section and go to the “Stellar Tips” link. There is no registration required and you can even enter your own Stellar Tip for a chance to win a valuable prize.
Sue Tinnish publishes a monthly newsletter, “Tips for Innovative Meetings and Events.” You are invited to subscribe or find past issues at Sue Tinnish’s Website.
Current Discussions