Author: attendease24

6 Impactful CSR Event Ideas That Will Make A Difference

  • Event Management
  • March 27, 2024
A corporate employee holds a paper heart, representing CSR.

Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is all about companies doing good things for society and the environment. Engaging in charitable activities associates your brand with beloved nonprofits, so you can help change the world while getting your name out in the community!

If your company isn’t sure what kind of good deeds to do, don’t worry. CSR events (like 5Ks that benefit charities) are some of the best ways to make a difference, and they can diversify your company’s event calendar. We’re excited to share impactful CSR event ideas to help you make a difference, but first, let’s start with the basics of CSR.

Corporate Social Responsibility FAQs

Before planning a CSR event, understand the fundamentals of these initiatives by reviewing common questions business owners commonly have.

What Are CSR Events?

A CSR event is a sponsored activity a company organizes to have a positive impact on social, environmental, or community issues. These events are part of a broader CSR strategy, where businesses seek to contribute to society beyond their direct business interests.

Double the Donation’s CSR guide explains that these programs structure a company’s efforts to give back. For instance, many companies implement programs like employee matching gifts, volunteerism, and charitable events.

As one part of these strategies, CSR events can vary widely. For example, you might host a fundraising auction, organize a community cleanup day, or host educational workshops. Some require more robust event programs than others, but all can contribute to your efforts to give back.

Why Is CSR Important For Companies?

No matter your business’s size, CSR presents incredible benefits. You don’t need complex programs to make a difference. Simply holding a fundraising event or offering to match employees’ charitable contributions can strengthen relationships with employees, customers, and community members.

Here’s a rundown of why companies engage in CSR:

  • Increased Brand Reputation: Supporting nonprofit causes demonstrates a commitment to social responsibility, showcasing your company as one that strives to make a positive impact.
  • Profit Growth: While CSR initiatives might require upfront investments, they can lead to substantial returns through increased consumer interest. Studies show that 77% of consumers prefer buying from companies committed to making the world a better place.
  • Higher Employee Engagement: When employees see their company contributing to society and the environment, they feel proud. Engaged employees are more productive and committed to the company’s success, enhancing workplace culture and attracting top talent.
  • Tax Deductions: Donating to nonprofits provides financial benefits via tax deductions. Check your local, state, and national tax regulations to learn how to leverage this perk.

It’s not hard to see why companies create these programs and host CSR events. It’s up to you to figure out which initiatives inspire your audience, so pay attention to the impact of your events and programs. 

How can your business participate in CSR?

You can build CSR practices into your budget in a variety of ways. Here are some of the best ways to get involved with charity:

  • Donate funds. Give a portion of your profits to organizations with similar values. For example, if you run a pet care business, donate to an animal shelter.
  • Offer matching gifts. Pledge to match a gift to any nonprofit your employees choose to donate to, doubling the donation’s initial impact. Workplace giving initiatives can maximize your CSR potential while increasing employee satisfaction. 
  • Sponsor or host a nonprofit fundraising event. Purchase a sponsorship package, provide volunteers, or donate in-kind gifts like venue space for local nonprofit events. Better yet, plan an event, and donate the proceeds to a nonprofit.
  • Donate in-kind gifts. In-kind donations are non-monetary gifts, such as goods and services. This includes employee volunteer time or a gift certificate for a service or merchandise.
  • Market a nonprofit’s cause. Spread awareness about your nonprofit partner’s fundraising efforts among your loyal customer base. You might share their campaigns on marketing channels like social media, email, or your website’s blog.

These are only a few of the ways you can participate in philanthropy. Adopt strategies that complement your business’s size, industry, and community.

What are helpful platforms to get us started?

Perhaps the most important part of CSR planning is ensuring your budget is in order. Consider investing in budgeting software to keep the process as painless as possible. 

In addition, a large portion of CSR involves project management and event planning, so invest in event management software to streamline the planning process. The right software can optimize everything from the registration process to post-event reporting.

Event management software offers reporting features, so you can assess the impact of your CSR events.
  • Alt text: Event management software offers reporting features, so you can assess the impact of your CSR events.

Lastly, if you’re new to CSR, a corporate giving platform will help you vet nonprofit partners and facilitate charitable giving. eCardWidget explains that corporate giving software eliminates the guesswork of CSR planning, so you can boost employee participation and maximize philanthropic impact. Facilitate donations, fulfill matching gift requests, feature volunteer opportunities, and more.

These solutions provide peace of mind when solidifying and executing CSR programs. Let technology take the stress off your plate so that your big events and initiatives can be successful!

6 Impactful CSR Event Ideas

If you’re excited about hosting a CSR event, we’ve got plenty of ideas to inspire your next event. Here are six events your business can try out.

1. Fundraising Auction

An auction is a classic fundraising event, whether in person or online. Get the best of both worlds by making it a hybrid event! 

For an in-person event, you can auction off items that your business has acquired or sponsor a local nonprofit’s fundraising auction by providing auction items, a venue, catering, or entertainment. To host an online event, you’ll need to use an online auction platform. At a hybrid auction, some people will attend in person while others will bid online. Everyone will use your auction platform or a mobile bidding app to place bids.

To decide what to auction off or donate to a nonprofit’s auction, think about what your business specializes in, what’s in your possession to give, and how it can be crafted into a unique package. For example, if you run a pet store, donate a private training session or gift certificates redeemable for pet care products. 

2. Gala

For a taste of luxury, host a high-end gala and encourage your customers and partners to buy tickets to attend. When setting ticket prices, account for overhead costs, and emphasize that the proceeds will go to charity.

At your gala, treat guests like VIPs with delicious food, drinks, and live music. If you’re sponsoring an existing nonprofit gala, contribute by supplying volunteers and in-kind donations like venue space and catering.

3. A-Thon Event

Partner with a nonprofit to host an a-thon-style event related to your business. In these activities, you’ll challenge participants to raise funds from their networks while completing a task. Here are some common a-thon themes for your CSR event:

  • Read-a-thon: Participants engage in a marathon reading session, sponsored per book or page, to raise funds for literacy programs or libraries.
  • Walk-a-thon: Participants walk around a track or other course. The more miles or laps they walk, the more they raise.
  • Run-a-thon: Participants are sponsored per mile they run to support health-related initiatives or other charitable causes.
  • Dance-a-thon: Contestants dance for as long as possible to generate funds for arts programs or other nonprofits.
  • Push-Ups for a Cause: Participants do as many push-ups as they can, often receiving donations per push-up, to support causes such as veterans’ affairs or physical fitness initiatives.

The versatility of this CSR event type means your business can create a-thons aligned with your focus. For example, if you’re a bookstore owner, support an education nonprofit or school with a read-a-thon.

4. Social Webinar or Panel

To demonstrate you understand the importance of CSR beyond supporting nonprofits, you must develop a deeper knowledge of your community’s social issues, do what you can to help, and spread the word. 

Accomplish this by hosting an educational webinar or panel. For example, a law firm partnering with a student legal aid branch might host a webinar about the justice system. If you sell plants, an environmental organization could teach about water conservation and gardening. 

Your corporate giving platform may be able to help you make connections for these conversations. For instance, many platforms have matchmaking capabilities, allowing companies to find nonprofits that align with their CSR goals, values, and interests in specific causes.

5. Team Volunteering

Another valuable resource you can donate is time. As a form of workplace giving, you can organize volunteer outings with a nonprofit partner to build employee camaraderie. This could include:

  • A community clean-up
  • Helping out at an animal shelter
  • Distributing food at a community food bank
  • Visiting a senior home 

Some companies even offer volunteer grants, which are donations to charities that their employees volunteer for. This helps drive participation and maximize your positive impact.

6. Matching Gift Drive

Corporate matching gifts are the easiest way to support nonprofits and employees’ charitable interests. Consider hosting a matching gift challenge and commit to donating a certain amount of money to a cause. Offer it to employees’ donations, your customers, or even a nonprofit’s entire donor base.

Here’s how it works:

  • Set the drive’s parameters. Announce the matching gift drive, specifying the organization that will receive the donations, the match ratio (e.g., 1:1, 2:1), the maximum amount your company will match, and the drive’s duration.
  • Encourage participation. Employees, customers, and other community members donate to the specified cause during the designated period and submit proof to the company. Alternatively, have the nonprofit set up a campaign page for the donation drive.
  • Your company submits a matching donation. After verifying the donations, your company will match the total amount raised according to the predetermined ratio up to the maximum match amount. For example, if the ratio is 1:1 and an employee donates $100, your company will also contribute $100.
By matching donors’ contributions, your company will multiply the amount given to charity.
  • Alt text: By matching donors’ contributions, your company will multiply the amount given to charity.

For an example of this CSR event in action, the Demopolis City Schools Foundation partnered with Robertson Banking Company for a matching gift drive. During the foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign, donors gave $6,940, and the company’s match brought that total up to $6,940.

Overall, a matching gift drive fosters community involvement and significantly increases the financial support provided to the chosen cause.

The Bottom Line

CSR is not only good for your brand, but it’s the right thing to do. No matter what your industry is, you can find a nonprofit partner that matches your focus. Your next step is to research and reach out to nonprofits you think would be a good fit. Then, brainstorm ideas for your next CSR event, so you can change the world together!

Event Ticket Pricing Strategies [2024 Guide]

  • Event Management News
  • March 27, 2024
product-school

How much you decide to charge for tickets can make or break your event. In this guide, we will cover proven ticket pricing strategies to help you determine your ticket prices and ensure the financial success of your event.

1. Determine Your Event’s Value

Before exploring ticket pricing strategies to drive event revenue, you’ll need to revisit your event design. In a talk with Anthony Vade, Director of North America at Event Design Collective, we learned just how crucial this step is.

Revisiting your event design means closely examining your stakeholders (attendees, sponsors, exhibitors, leadership, etc.), what they want to get out of the event, and what value the event will bring them. Once you know your event’s value, you’ll be able to apply a price tag to it confidently.

Here are a few key things Anthony Vade made note of around value:

Information Delivery Is No Longer Enough

While you might think that sharing information through presentations and workshops is what your audience wants to pay for, remember that information is now widely accessible and free thanks to the internet. For your event to have value to your stakeholders, it will need to provide connections and experiences, along with the information.

Experiences Carry More Weight

Some virtual events may be free, while others charge premium amounts if attendees want access to a deeper in-person or online experience. Intimacy, networking, and the chance to form close connections are major reasons why people are willing to pay more to attend events.

Events Provide Value When They Change the Behaviors of Their Stakeholders

Consider the following:

  • Why do your stakeholders attend your event, and what do they leave with?
  • What pain do they enter with, and what gains do they exit with?
  • How does your event create transformations for your audience?
  • What actionable takeaways is your audience walking away with?

All the above translates into your event’s unique value that, when articulated correctly, is worth investing in.

ANTHONY VADE QUOTE

2. Uncover Your Event’s Value

How do you know that what you perceive your event’s value to be is correct? Will your stakeholders see it the same way? Following the methodology by the Event Design Collective, the way to uncover this is first to map the stakes for all your high-impact stakeholders:

  • What is at stake?
  • Who is involved?
  • What is their contribution?
  • What are their expectations?

Collaborate with your team and ask them to share their perspectives on what they think those stakeholders want so you can validate your hypotheses. You can do this by asking major stakeholders like attendees, event owners, and sponsors directly if your ideas are accurate and if they’re willing to pay what you’re planning to charge for the event. If you’re right, you’ve validated that what you’re about to offer is indeed what they want and are willing to pay for. If you’re wrong, then you can take that feedback until you get it right. Once you validate your stakeholder’s goals, you can then:

  • Analyze how your event will help them achieve what they’re looking for.
  • Justify the investment or expense of your event (e.g., buying a ticket or sponsoring a tradeshow booth).

3. Calculate Your Event Ticket Price

How Do You Determine Ticket Price?

Setting the right ticket price for your event involves a careful balance to attract attendees without compromising your financial goals. Here are key steps to help you determine the optimal ticket price:

Step 1: Establish Your Break-Even Point

Before setting your ticket price, calculate the total cost of organizing the event, including venue, refreshments, staffing, etc. Determine the minimum number of attendees required to cover these expenses and break even. This foundational step ensures that your pricing strategy aligns with your financial objectives.

Step 2: Analyze the Competitive Landscape

Conduct a competitive pricing analysis to understand the rates for similar events in your industry. Align your ticket prices with or slightly below the average to remain attractive to potential attendees.

Step 3: Explore Different Pricing Models

Consider innovative pricing models to enhance attendee engagement and increase revenue. Options such as early bird pricing, member discounts, or bundle pricing can create value for attendees while maximizing profitability for your event.

Step 4: Get Attendee Feedback

Engage with your audience by getting their input on ticket pricing. Conduct surveys through email or social media to understand their willingness to pay and the value they associate with your event.

Step 5: Assess & Adapt

Your initial ticket prices are not set in stone. Monitor attendee response and adjust prices based on the observed demand. If events consistently sell out, consider increases. If events consistently have low attendance, you may need to make price adjustments to attract more participants.

How to Determine Your Break-Even Ticket Price Point

Before you start thinking about pricing, you should know your numbers. Use a budget template to calculate your projected expenses and revenues. You then have an educated perspective on how much your tickets should cost in order to cover the expenses.

How to Research Other Events

Research other events in the market that are relevant to you:

  • Regardless of location, similar events may give you a good idea regarding size, attendance, and pricing.
  • Similar events near you which might compete against your event. Why would people choose to go to your event instead of a competitor’s?

Understanding the competitive space will indicate the range of ticket prices you should consider and the expected attendance numbers from similar events.

How to Forecast Ticket Sales

Based on your previous events and your competitors, you should be able to develop a realistic sales forecast. How many people are likely to attend the event? How many people can the venue hold? Once you find this number, you can divide it by the Break-Even point found earlier to calculate the minimum price you should sell your tickets for to pay for all expenses.

If you offer different purchasing options, bundled pricing may work for you. You can create perceived value by adding multiple items into one bundle at a reduced price compared to having all items purchased separately. This is also a good way to motivate the purchase of add-on items, such as meals, transportation, accommodation, activities, parties, and more.

4. Set Up Common Ticket Types, Pricing Strategies, & Sales Tactics

Once you have determined how much you should be selling your tickets for, draft your strategy to sell the tickets. Here are some different event ticket pricing strategies you may consider.

Early Bird Ticket Pricing & Tiered Early Bird Ticket Pricing

There is no surprise here: early bird sales are the easiest way to create awareness about the event and push sales in the early months of promotion. You can create a multi-tiered early bird strategy to push for even more event ticket sales. Here is an example of how to use the multi-tiered early bird structure:

First 50 tickets at $100
50-100 tickets at $125
Regular price at $175

One thing to keep in mind is that you should never extend your early bird rate. Doing so trains your audience to wait instead of acting, which is the whole point of the early bird strategy.

Timed Batch Event Ticket Pricing

Similarly to tiered early bird, you can create a tier based on milestone dates. You can create as many tiers as you wish, adding price increases as it gets closer to the event date. Make sure the increases are significant enough to make people want to purchase it early. An increase of at least 10% is recommended. Here is an example of timed batch event ticket pricing:

Purchase by March 1st at $100
Purchase by March 14 at $125
After March 14, the regular price is $175

Odd/Even Event Ticket Pricing

This is an old marketing trick we all have heard of. Prices ending in odd numbers, such as 5 and 9, tend to outperform even numbers in terms of sales. Whether this is an old psychology trick or the real deal, it doesn’t hurt to try. You can test this strategy in different events to compare the results.

You should avoid cents and stick to a whole number—for example, $75 or $79 instead of $70.95. The price with no decimal numbers is perceived as lower, even though it may not be.

Bundled Event Ticket Pricing

If you are offering different purchase options, bundled pricing may work for you. You can create perceived value by adding multiple items into one bundle at a reduced price compared to having all items purchased separately. This is also a good way to motivate the purchase of add-on items, such as meals, transportation, accommodation, activities, parties, and more.

Event Up-Selling Strategy

If you don’t want to increase the total cost by using the bundle price, you should consider up-selling after the ticket purchase. That means you focus on selling the tickets for your event and contact them later to up-sell other items, such as meals, transportation,  accommodation, after-parties, etc. This way, you can guarantee the event ticket and worry about items with lower margins later.

Event Ticket Price Discount Strategy

Whether you give a percentage discount of a fixed dollar amount, a discount can make all the difference based on the perceived value of the discount. Follow the “Rule of 100”, which uses percentage discount for ticket prices under $100 and dollar amounts for prices over $100. Here are some examples:

Ticket priceDiscount (%)Discount ($)Better Option
$1020%$2.0020%
$2020%$4.0020%
$10020%$20$20
$50020%$100$100

Use Scarcity To Drive Event Demand

If your audience knows your previous event was sold out, chances are they might feel rushed to get their tickets early for the next event you host. With this in mind, you may choose a smaller venue to host your initial event as a strategy to increase demand for future events. Don’t forget to announce the selling-out situation when promoting a new event to encourage your audience to move quickly to secure their event tickets.

Offer a Top Tier Ticket Package

A premium ticket package and other cheaper options may make lower-priced tickets seem more attractive, increasing demand and sales. Even if you don’t sell too many higher ticket prices, this can help with regular-priced tickets. The VIP offers, which may include exclusive access perks, will appeal to a segment of your attendees who are looking for the best.

Promo Codes

Create promo codes for specific segments that can help push sales through referrals. For example, you can create a special code for your speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors so they can share the event with their audience. This will help increase your promotion reach, as your “partners” will promote directly with their audience, who might not necessarily know you and your event. Partners will feel more motivated to promote the event, knowing they are offering their audience a benefit while strengthening the relationship with you. Provide them with assets to share on social media to help with the event promotions.

Similarly, you can create promo codes for niche influencers in your industry so they can share the event with their audience.

5. Use Unique Ticket Pricing Strategies for Virtual Events

Ticket pricing strategies are even trickier when it comes to hosting virtual and hybrid events. As these events become more popular, the industry is in the process of figuring out the best ways to monetize these events. Here are a few ways you can price your virtual events:

Offer Flexible Event Ticket Pricing Options

Sliding scale: Rather than having a set price, you can offer attendees a sliding scale to give them options for how much they can afford according to their financial situation.

By donation: You can also offer attendees to pay by donation, so they choose how much to pay for the event. In this case, it can be wise to add a “suggested donation amount’ to educate them on the value of the event.

Free, excluding premium components: Another route you might consider is hosting your event free of charge but charging premium amounts if attendees want to get access to specific event components like the online networking platform, high-profile speaker sessions, or exclusive content. This option lets you set several ticket tiers so attendees can choose what suits them most.

Anchor Your Ticket Price On Desirable Experiences

In addition to offering an exciting program with a diverse agenda, you can anchor your price on additional experiences your event can provide, including:

Networking opportunities: Give your audience more points of interaction to create and strengthen connections. You can justify a healthy ticket price for your virtual event when you give attendees an exciting opportunity to connect with peers meaningfully.

Exclusive touch-points with experts: The chance to connect with experts privately or in small groups can be a huge selling point for attendees who value one-on-one time or exclusivity. This can take the form of private meetings or limited-capacity Q&A sessions where guests can connect with people at the very top of their field for an opportunity to pick their brains.

On-demand flexibility: Many virtual events are free to watch live but paid to have on-demand access to watch the recordings. This can be a good way to attract ticket sales as well.

6. Develop Strategies for Where & How To Sell Event Tickets

Your sales strategy should cover the channels you’ll be marketing through and how the sales will be executed.

Sell Event Tickets Online

Ensure customers can buy tickets to your event online. Selling online not only makes it convenient for customers, but it also frees up administration time for you and your team. One of the easiest ways to offer online sales is through an event registration platform. In addition to scheduling and attendee log-in capabilities, this type of platform offers features like different pricing categories, promo codes, and group passes.

Sell Event Tickets At The Door

It could work in your favor to offer tickets at the door as well as online, though this depends on the type of event. People could turn up at the last minute, which could help you fill up your event. However, you might want to charge slightly more at the door to encourage people to buy well before the event.

How to Use Marketing Channels to Sell Event Tickets

As for marketing, you should explore the different channels you’d like to market through.

  • Search engines – You can use pay-per-click (PPC) or search engine optimization (SEO) to reach more potential leads through search engines.
  • Social media – Leverage your social media channels. Social media could be a highly impactful way to get your message out there, generate awareness for your events, and reach a large group of people without expensive paid advertising. Concentrating on the two or three platforms your target audience uses the most is helpful. Ensure your attendees spend time on these platforms and that the content you share is tailored to your target audience and the platform.
  • Customer database and re-targeting – Email your customer database and consider re-targeting leads who’ve shown interest in your events.
  • Your network – Ask your event-management team, caterers, vendors, and other partners to help generate word-of-mouth interest in your events. Ask them to forward emails to their network and share posts on social media.
  • Advertising and sponsorships – Expand your reach through billboards, radio advertising, local press, social ads, other paid advertising media, and related channels like sponsorships.

Leverage Effective Ticket Pricing Strategies & Sell Out Your Events With EventUp Planner’s Event Ticketing Platform

Sold-out events are the result of careful ticket pricing strategies and sales rather than chance. With a detailed ticketing strategy designed for your target audience, you’ll be better positioned to generate awareness, accelerate ticket sales, and sell out your events.

Want to learn more about how to sell out your events and make them a financial success? Download your ticket pricing strategies guide today. Or book a call with our team to learn how EventUp Planner (formerly Attendease) can help you.

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Handbook #3: Master The Art Of Choosing The Right Event Management Platform

  • Event Management
  • March 26, 2024
https://info.eventupplanner.com/master-the-art-of-choosing-the-right-event-management-platform

A guide to shopping, evaluating, and onboarding the right software for your events and meetings business.

There are four key factors to consider when looking for and implementing a new event management and meeting management tool to your software stack. This handbook will guide you through the four steps on how to find the right solution for your event needs, properly onboarding once you select the right tool, and finally, how to take full advantage of the platform so you get your money’s worth.

Attendease Handbook: Master The Art Of Choosing The Right Event Management Platform

Download the handbook: Master The Art Of Choosing The Right Event Management Platform

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Deep dive into four key factors when picking an event management software:

  1. 9 Critical Customer Success Factors to Consider When Shopping for an Event Management Tool
  2. Vetting Event Management Technology for Ease of Use Before You Buy
  3. How to Evaluate the Onboarding Process of Event Management Software Companies
  4. Get The Most From Your New Event Management Software Platform

How to Manage Multiple Events at Once

  • Event Management
  • March 19, 2024
How to Manage Multiple Events at Once

Handling multiple events at the same time is a unique challenge for corporate event planners. 

When done well, running multiple events at once can help your organization scale its reach, increase engagement, and optimize resources. However, without proper planning and coordination, juggling multiple events can quickly become chaotic and overwhelming.

This post covers key strategies to help you manage multiple events at once—without pulling your hair out. With the right frameworks in place, it’s possible to deliver seamless, high-quality experiences for everyone involved, event after event. 

We’ll also dive into how event management tools make your life easier through automation, cloning, and cross-team collaboration. 

Read on to learn how to scale your corporate events program successfully!

Multi-Event Planning and Organization

Thorough planning and organization are crucial when running multiple events at once. Otherwise, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks. Here are some proven strategies to set you in the right direction. 

Establish clear objectives for each event

Every event you run should support a specific purpose tied to organizational goals. It’s crucial to outline the desired objectives for each event you’re managing at the outset to ensure strategic alignment. 

For example, the goal of an annual conference might be to educate employees on new company initiatives for the upcoming fiscal year. A networking happy hour, on the other hand, may seek to strengthen relationships between sales team members. 

Defining objectives will inform the decisions you make around content, activities, and resources for each event.

Create a master event calendar

When running multiple events, a centralized calendar listing all dates and deadlines will be your new best friend. 

Follow these steps to create your master calendar:

  • List all events with their dates and locations.
  • Add key milestones like vendor booking deadlines and payment deadlines.
  • Include standing meetings and appointments with key stakeholders.
  • Identify conflicts or scheduling issues.
  • Assign team members to be accountable for milestones.
  • Build in buffer time for unexpected delays.
  • Regularly update the calendar with any date changes, new events, or task completions.
NEED HELP? Download our Event Marketing Calendar Template to manage all the moving pieces of your event from one unified place!

Prioritize Events

Not all events demand equal levels of your time and attention. 

To make your life easier, identify priority events such as the annual all-hands-on-deck conference, executive summits, or important training seminars. Dedicate more planning resources to these high-priority events to ensure they go off without a hitch.

By prioritizing your events, lower-stakes events won’t monopolize the bandwidth or resources needed for your company’s more strategic initiatives.

Efficient Resource Allocation

Running multiple events simultaneously requires that you carefully allocate resources—financial, human, and technological. Setting budgets, delegating tasks, and utilizing event management tools optimize how you distribute resources across your entire portfolio of events. 

Budgeting and financial planning

Creating a master budget and then separating finances for each individual event prevents the co-mingling of funds—not to mention overspending on individual events! 

Here are some best practices for managing budgets for multiple events: 

  • Assign a specific budget to each event based on its scope, audience size, and organizational priority. Larger budgets go to high-priority events.
  • Consider opening individual bank accounts for each event, which can help you manage costs in real time. 
  • Build approval protocols for expenses over a set threshold, especially for discretionary spending categories. 
  • Regularly reconcile your projected versus actual costs and adjust budgets as needed.
  • Look for opportunities to save on bulk orders or multi-event vendor contracts.

Keeping event finances separate and organized from the beginning will save you time and headaches down the line. 

Human resources management

Your team’s bandwidth is a precious resource when juggling multiple events. 

Avoid burnout by delegating responsibilities among capable team members. Identify opportunities to cross-train employees for different event roles, such as registration support or speaker management. This flexibility prevents bottlenecks when someone is out. 

It’s essential to treat your team members well to maintain morale and productivity across your demanding portfolio schedule.

Technology and tools

You know you don’t have to do everything manually, right? 

Event management tools centralize planning and provide automation for repetitive tasks. This streamlines cross-event workflows such as:

  • Registration and ticketing
  • Email campaigns and reminders
  • Vendor and speaker management
  • Task assignment and tracking

Tools like EventUp Planner by Tripleseat optimize data sharing across large teams and multiple events. With all information and workflows in one secure, cloud-based platform, you can maintain focus on strategic priorities rather than time-consuming manual tasks!

But with so many options, how do you choose? Download our step-by-step guide: Finding The Right Event Management Platform!

Communication and Coordination

Frequent, open communication keeps all parts moving across multiple events. Establish centralized channels to facilitate the quick, transparent exchange of information within and across your planning team.

Establish clear communication channels

Clear communication sets your team up for success by avoiding bottlenecks and information silos. 

Consider implementing the following: 

  • Set up shared mailboxes, Slack channels, or other platforms to house conversations, documents, and knowledge for each event planning team.
  • Determine meeting cadences and use agendas to stay on track.
  • Record decisions and action items in shared drives. 
  • Share calendars widely to distribute real-time awareness of deadlines and dependencies.

With these structured channels, your team can exchange information quickly and transparently so that no details get lost.

Regular team meetings

Schedule standing team meetings to get status updates on all events. Use these meetings to foster open dialogue and quickly resolve any conflicts that arise. 

Recurring touchpoints could include:

  • Daily standups to cover new action items, blockers, and quick wins.
  • Weekly check-ins to assess progress toward goals and address any roadblocks.
  • Monthly reviews of master calendars and budgets.

No matter the size of your team, regular check-ins will help you identify hurdles early and move forward as a unit.

Client and stakeholder communication

Keep clients and organizational stakeholders (like event sponsors) happy by looping them in on progress through regular touchpoints. This could include weekly or monthly email updates on timelines, budgets, and key metrics. 

Gather their feedback early and often through surveys or calls. Immediately communicate any issues or risks that arise along with proposed solutions. 

Post-event, share relevant highlights and testimonials to showcase value, getting them onboard for the next event. 

Streamlining Event Processes

Look for ways to streamline planning across your portfolio of events. Consistent workflows increase efficiency and reduce the risk of missteps.

Standardize your processes

Don’t waste time and resources reinventing the wheel. Regularly review your event management workflows to identify opportunities for standardization. 

Consider reviewing your processes for the following: 

  • Vendor sourcing and contracting
  • Venue relationships and booking
  • Catering Policies
  • A/V equipment requests
  • Security procedures
  • Sponsorship and exhibitor requirements
  • Staffing and volunteer coordination

Checklists, timelines, and templates solidify best practices so that you can reliably execute your events each and every time.

FREE CHECKLIST: Is Your Event Management Software Empowering Your Team? Because empowered team members equals happy, engaged team members who take pride in putting on epic events!

Templates, templates, templates

If it isn’t broken, why fix it? Reuse successful agendas, floor plans, show schedules, and other program elements from past events. 

For example, compile a master design folder with pre-approved branding assets and graphics to pull from. Or create a shared library of training materials if you host a recurring session across multiple events.

Templates accelerate the planning process so you can scale your events without wasting precious time and energy. 

Contingency Planning

Despite the best-laid plans, you can expect surprises when managing multiple events. Identify potential risks ahead of time and develop contingency protocols to minimize disruption.

Identify potential risks

No one wants to plan for something to go wrong. But failing to do so can be disastrous for your event—not to mention your company’s reputation. 

For each event, conduct a risk assessment to spot potential vulnerabilities across factors like venue (power outages, WiFi issues), vendors (delivery issues, staffing shortages), and attendance (lower than expected registration).

Depending on where you’re located, climate and local weather conditions can be a factor. Make sure you have a well-defined Plan B (or Plan C) in case things take a turn for the worse.

Crisis management

Similar to contingency planning, having emergency protocols in place is crucial for taking quick action in the case of a major issue. 

Consider your protocols for evacuation procedures, crisis communications to attendees, clients, and leadership, and triggers for event cancellation or postponement. 

  • Tip: These procedures are great candidates for standardization and templates, but they need to be reviewed regularly.

Having protocols in place ensures all team members understand how to respond in an emergency, especially if you’re not able to be present at every single event. 

Event Technology and Automation

Technology and automation help you smoothly execute multiple events at scale. The right systems provide the data and workflow optimization needed across multiple events to deliver outstanding experiences every single time. 

Event management solutions

Event management platforms like EventUp Planner by Tripleseat centralize planning by providing:

  • Role-based permissions to control team access
  • Cloning capabilities to easily replicate events
  • Customizable forms to capture event data
  • Vendor and speaker management tools
  • Robust reporting and analytics

Software automation ultimately frees you from tedious manual data entry to focus on strategic priorities.

Registration and ticketing systems

Registration and ticketing are major pain points when running multiple events, but event management tools can alleviate common headaches with the following:

  • Branded registration pages and confirmation emails to provide a consistent experience
  • Flexible pricing and promotions that are tailored to your target audience(s)
  • Secure payment processing that reduces checkout frustration
  • Automated confirmation and reminder emails that improve communication with minimal effort
  • At-a-glance tracking and registration analytics that enable data-driven decision-making

When registration and ticketing are optimized, you stand out by providing smooth experiences that make attendees eager to RSVP. This enhances turnout across all your events!

Post-Event Evaluation and Feedback

Just because your events wrap up doesn’t mean the work is done! Gathering insights through post-event analysis and attendee feedback is crucial for continuously improving future events.

Post-event evaluation

After each event, ask your team reflective questions to identify areas of success and improvement, such as: Did we accomplish the intended goals and objectives? How can we enhance the agenda or program based on feedback? What did attendee surveys reveal about the experience? Were there any vendor or partner issues? Did we stay within budget?

Make sure to document your findings and takeaways in a shared drive so that they’re easy to reference when planning the next event. 

Gather attendee feedback

Collecting feedback from attendees provides valuable insights into their experience of your events. This allows you to continuously enhance your events over time. 

Here are a few ways to gather attendee feedback:

  • Exit surveys immediately after events
  • Follow-up email surveys a few days later
  • Focus groups, usually with an incentive
  • Social listening 
  • Directly asking for testimonials

With feedback from multiple events, you can identify patterns and systematically improve recurring issues over your events portfolio.

Deliver Exceptional Events While Staying Sane Along The Way

Handling multiple events at once requires strategic planning, efficient execution, and continuous improvement. By following the best practices set out in this guide, you’ll be able to build the infrastructure to maintain a growing events portfolio successfully!

Standardizing and automating repetitive processes is key to executing multiple events well at scale. EventUp Planner (formerly Attendease) is an all-in-one platform that provides robust tools to scale your events efficiently through automation, cloning capabilities, and cross-team collaboration. 
Now is the time to level up your corporate events program—schedule a demo of EventUp Planner’s event management solution today!

Schedule a Demo

Engaging Through Gratitude: How to Thank Event Volunteers

  • Event Management
  • March 14, 2024
Event volunteers at a desk helping registrants check in at a professional event.

Volunteers are crucial to event success. With so many moving parts, you can’t be everywhere at once.

Volunteers make events a positive, engaging experience for attendees from the moment they approach the check-in desk to when they find their seats. Not to mention, your tech volunteers work behind the scenes of hybrid and virtual events to troubleshoot and keep the event running smoothly. In other words, your generous volunteers help pull your event off.

So, what can your organization do to show how much your volunteers’ efforts mean to you and keep them coming back? In this guide, we’ll cover the following strategies for showing gratitude:

  • Reach volunteers where they are.
  • Personalize your messages.
  • Share the impact of your event.

Before you craft a genuine, personalized thank-you message to your volunteers, you need to make sure that you’ll be able to reach them. Let’s get started!

Reach Volunteers Where They Are

Think about your current volunteer recruitment strategy. You could leverage your website, post a call to action on social media, and send a message to your email subscribers. No matter which method you choose, the goal is to ensure your message gets in front of prospective volunteers’ eyes. 

Thanking your volunteers is no different. To find out which channels they engage with most, reference data from past marketing campaigns and your recruitment efforts. Most simply, you can also use any contact information volunteers provided on application forms. If you haven’t already, consider adding a question to your sign-up form asking volunteers to identify their preferred communication method.

Once you’ve identified the communication channels your volunteers are most familiar with, you’ll need to choose a messaging strategy for each channel. Here are a few ideas:

  • Email: Emails are a personal, one-on-one communication method. Write a detailed, personalized thank-you letter and send it to those who prefer this channel. Or, choose a more engaging option like a branded digital eCard. As eCardWidget’s volunteer retention guide explains, these eCards are a bit more flexible, allowing for endless design and messaging options while being easy to use.
  • Phone: Call any volunteers who served in leadership roles or went above and beyond in their roles. Have a friendly conversation about the event, express your gratitude, and ask them how they thought it went. You might also ask them about any personal details you’re aware of (e.g., maybe they recently got married or had a birthday) to deepen the relationship.
  • Direct mail: For some volunteers, direct mail feels more genuine than digital communications. After all, this channel shows that your organization took the time to handwrite and send a letter to them. To ensure recipients know the mail is coming from you (and avoid your letters getting tossed out as junk mail), consider using branded envelopes and stationery. 

If you aren’t sure how best to contact your volunteers, you can reach out through your volunteer management software or mobile app. Since your volunteers have already used these tools to access schedules or log hours, you know they have access to them and are familiar with the interface.

Personalize Your Messages

Fundraising Letters’ guide to thanking volunteers explains your messages should make volunteers feel a personal connection to your organization and strengthen your relationships. Acknowledge the specific ways that they helped shows that you appreciate their individual contributions.

When writing thank-you letters or notes, add a personal touch by:

  • Greeting volunteers by name. Avoid boilerplate greetings and opt for a more personal approach. This is the first thing volunteers will read when they open your message, and it will set the tone for the rest of the card or letter. 
  • Mentioning what the volunteer did. Be specific when thanking volunteers. Rather than saying, “Thank you for your hard work at our event,” try saying,“We appreciate the 8 hours you dedicated to checking in registrants, distributing lanyards, and helping attendees find their way.”
  • Sharing upcoming opportunities. Show that you couldn’t organize events without your volunteers and encourage them to help out again in the future. Invite them to future events they might be interested in, ask them for assistance promoting upcoming events, or request that they help you recruit more volunteers.
  • Adding a tailored closing. Finish the letter with genuine well-wishes and something personal. For example, you could wish them happy holidays, acknowledge an upcoming birthday or other milestone, or say you hope to see them at your next event. Make sure the letter is signed by someone the volunteer interacted with, such as their team leader or the volunteer coordinator.

If your organization is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization, you might also urge volunteers to take advantage of CSR initiatives through their employers. For example, they may be able to secure a volunteer grant for your organization, depending on how many hours they’ve spent volunteering. Consider leveraging employer data about volunteers to identify those with CSR programs or simply ask them to inquire about these initiatives at their workplace. 

Share the Impact of Your Event

Along with mentioning the specific ways volunteers helped you, it can be helpful to share the impact that they made. This shows volunteers that their hard work had tangible results, inspiring them to continue driving results at future events.

Make sure to note which team or responsibility the volunteer served on and include metrics relevant to their position. For example, volunteers who worked at your check-in desk might be interested in knowing how many attendees they helped. 

Some of the impact metrics you could share with volunteers include:

  • The number of attendees 
  • Growth in attendance compared to previous events
  • New connections made, either between attendees or with prospective new members
  • Total volunteer hours contributed to the event
  • Positive feedback from attendees
  • Social media reach (e.g., the number of posts using your event hashtag)

You can also use these impact metrics to identify top performers. These are your hardest-working volunteers who are likely to be loyal and dedicated in the future. For instance, you might identify the IT volunteer who solved the most tech issues during the event. Encourage them to keep up the good work and consider rewarding them with public recognition or awards, such as making them your volunteer of the month, quarter, or year.

These strategies will motivate more volunteers to return to future events, helping your organization build a strong base of reliable volunteers. Remember that you can apply these strategies to other areas of your operations, such as welcoming members or engaging current ones, to boost metrics like member retention and satisfaction. Focus on communicating your gratitude personally and genuinely, and you’ll earn the ongoing support of volunteers, members, and attendees alike.

Learn More!

Best Practices for Hosting a Webinar Event

  • Event Management
  • March 12, 2024
Best Practices for Hosting a Webinar Event

Webinars have become an increasingly popular event format for organizations of all sizes. 

Compared to in-person events, webinars provide a flexible, convenient, and cost-effective way to reach a broader audience. However, hosting a successful webinar that engages your target audience takes thoughtful planning and preparation.

Whether you’re hosting your first ever webinar or looking to improve your existing webinar strategy, following these best practices is key to running an event that delivers results! 

In this comprehensive post, we’ll walk through everything you need to know—from initial planning to event execution and follow-up. We’ll also share tips to avoid common webinar mistakes that sabotage your efforts.

Why Follow Webinar Best Practices?

Taking the time to host your webinar thoughtfully isn’t just about checking boxes; it directly impacts your ability to meet your goals. Consider what’s at stake if you don’t follow webinar best practices:

  • Low attendance and engagement
  • Minimal lead generation
  • Negative brand reputation
  • Wasted time and resources

By optimizing your webinar strategy, you can avoid these pitfalls and create an event that:

  • Captivates your target audience
  • Drives product interest and conversions
  • Strengthens your brand authority
  • Provides lasting value for attendees

Following best practices gives you the framework to accomplish these goals consistently, webinar after webinar. Plus, choosing the right webinar software makes it easy to scale up and customize your webinars in one place—whether you host a few webinars per year or a few hundred.

What is a webinar?

Before we dive into planning, let’s define what a webinar actually is.

A webinar is a presentation, lecture, workshop, or seminar that takes place virtually over the Internet instead of in-person. Webinars enable real-time interaction between a host and an audience. They incorporate features like video, audio, slides, polls, and Q&A to encourage engagement.

Organizations use webinars for a variety of purposes, including:

  • Product launches and demonstrations
  • Lead generation
  • Marketing presentations
  • Employee training and development
  • Thought leadership and brand building
  • Customer education

Now that you know what a webinar is, let’s look at how to plan and host one effectively!

Planning Your Webinar

Thorough planning is key to running a successful webinar. You need to make important decisions upfront to create an event tailored to your goals and audience.

Define your objectives

Before anything else, you need to clearly define what you want to achieve. Ask yourself:

  • What is the purpose and focus of this webinar?
  • What do I want attendees to learn or take away?
  • What actions or next steps do I want them to take after attending?
  • How will I define and measure success?

Setting S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals will give your webinar clear direction.

For example, if the purpose of your webinar is to generate new leads for your company, you may set a goal to acquire 250 new qualified leads from the event. Defining a specific volume of new leads makes this goal measurable while setting a lead count you can reasonably achieve with your available resources, and audience size keeps it achievable. 

  • Furthermore, focusing specifically on generating leads directly ties to the webinar’s purpose, making your goal highly relevant. Finally, setting a timeframe, like generating 250 leads over the next 60 days, keeps the goal time-bound.

By outlining crystal clear objectives, you have defined criteria to design your webinar content around and evaluate its success afterward.

Know Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is key to creating content that resonates with them. 

First, define audience demographics like location, age range, industry, seniority level, etc.

Then, ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are their pain points and challenges?
  • What topics and issues do they care about?
  • What level of knowledge do they have?
  • What content format or style will appeal to them?

Gaining insight into your audience’s goals, motivations, and preferences will allow you to build and promote your webinar strategically. 

For example, if your webinar targets entry-level engineering students, you can focus the content on teaching basic concepts and skills for new engineers using straightforward language. 

  • Include topics that provide value to students preparing to enter the workforce. Additionally, you can leverage campus clubs and professors to promote the webinar through channels this demographic actively engages with.

On the other hand, if your webinar is geared toward C-suite manufacturing executives, the content should focus on high-level insights around industry trends, emerging technologies, and strategic initiatives. You could promote your webinar using channels like industry publications, social media influencers/thought leaders, and paid search ads targeted by job title and industry.

Customizing your webinar topic, content style, promotions, and visual design to align with your target audience is key to attracting engaged registrants.

Choose the Right Webinar Platform

The hosting platform you use to host your webinar can help streamline planning, promotion, engagement, and follow-up. 

Look for key functionality like:

  • Automated email workflows to simplify promotion and keep attendees informed
  • Custom registration forms to capture relevant information about registrants
  • Interactive presentation options like polls, surveys, and Q&A to encourage participation
  • Robust reporting and analytics to evaluate engagement and conversion metrics
  • Integrations with marketing automation, CRM, and other tools already in your stack

Vetting webinar software options is essential to find a platform that aligns with your business needs, audience size, budget, and existing tech ecosystem. Prioritizing an intuitive, flexible platform will maximize productivity for you and provide a seamless experience for your attendees.

9 Key Factors for Choosing Event Management Software Checklist

Designing Compelling Webinar Content

With your goals and audience defined, it’s time to craft persuasive content to captivate attendees from start to finish.

Crafting a captivating title and description

Your webinar title and event description provide the first impression that will either attract or deter registrants. 

Here are some tips to make yours stand out:

  1. Focus your title and description on the pains, challenges, and interests of your target audience. This draws in people who relate to what you’re addressing and want to learn more.
  2. Use descriptive adjectives and powerful action-oriented verbs that create intrigue and urgency, like “introducing,” “revolutionizing,” or “accelerating.”
  3. Limit the title length to ideally 60 characters or less so it is concise and scannable.

Incorporate questions or emotions into the messaging to make it relatable, e.g., “Tired of Wasting Time on Manual Data Entry?”

Here’s another example: If your target audience is investors and financial advisors, a title like “Introducing Cutting-Edge Ways to Reduce Risk and Maximize Returns” speaks directly to their pain points and goals. In contrast, a title like “Introduction to Financial Management Strategies” is vague and fails to connect with your audience’s specific motivations.

Structuring engaging webinar content

Outlining your webinar content in advance is essential to developing a logical flow that makes your message easy to digest. 

First, clearly state your central theme or message upfront so attendees understand the core purpose of the webinar. Then, provide a roadmap that breaks down the content into digestible sections and subsections so attendees can follow along with the flow.

During the presentation itself, use transitions like “Moving onto our next topic…” or “Now that we’ve covered X, let’s discuss Y” to guide your audience between topics and speakers.

Make sure to incorporate highly engaging segments every 8-12 minutes, such as polls, Q&A, or activities. This resets attention spans and prevents monotony.

Finally, leave ample time at the end for interactive live Q&A—this is often where attendees get the most value!

Remember: thoroughly planning and practicing your content outline will go a long way in delivering an accessible presentation that keeps participants engaged from start to finish.

The Importance of Visual Aids and Multimedia During a Webinar

While your speaking content needs to be compelling, complementary visual aids are invaluable for reinforcing points and enhancing your message. 

Follow these best practices when preparing visuals:

  • Limit the amount of text on each slide and maximize empty space and visual appeal. Paragraphs of dense text make it hard to convey—and read—key points quickly.
  • Use only high-quality, relevant photos and graphics. Custom images related to your brand and topic are ideal whenever possible.
  • Incorporate charts, graphs, and infographics to illustrate trends, data comparisons, and key takeaways in a digestible visual format.
  • Insert short video clips when helpful to demonstrate a concept, tell a story, or show a process in action.
  • Maintain cohesive and on-brand slide designs, colors, fonts, and logos for a polished, professional look.

Compelling visuals make your webinar more dynamic, memorable, and impactful.

Promoting Your Webinar

Strategic promotion is essential for driving registrations and attendance for your webinar. You need to get the word out early and consistently to maximize reach.

Early promotion

Start promoting your webinar 4-6 weeks in advance of the event date. This extended runway gives you time to execute a multi-channel promotional strategy for maximum impact.

Some key tactics include:

  • Post on social media platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, and LinkedIn. Create short teaser videos or graphics about your event topic and link to the registration page. Consider sponsoring posts to expand their reach.
  • Send a series of 3-4 dedicated email campaigns through your event management platform. Send a “Save the Date” email first before following up with reminder emails. Offer exclusives like early bird pricing or free workbooks to incentivize sign-ups.
  • Publish 2-3 blog posts and guest posts that provide value around your webinar topic. Include a strong call-to-action with a link to register at the end.
  • Purchase digital ads through platforms like Google or Meta. Target your ads tightly to your ideal buyer persona and industry.
  • Leverage 2-3 influencers or industry partners to help promote your webinar through their own networks. Offer special perks for their audience.

The key is layering multiple promotional channels over an extended window to maximize reach and get your event on the top of your audience’s minds.

Reminder emails and notifications

In addition to early promotion, use reminders to keep your webinar top of mind leading up to the event. 

We recommend sending reminder emails 1 week before, 2 days before, 1 day before, and 1 hour before the start of the webinar. You can also set up automated browser notifications through your webinar platform that notify registrants the webinar is starting soon.

Sending a “Webinar Starting Now!” email 15 minutes before the start is an effective way to nudge last-minute registrants. Text message reminders can also be very effective in getting late registrants to show up live.

Getting in front of registrants multiple times through various channels ensures your event stays top of mind, resulting in higher live attendance.

Engaging Your Audience During the Webinar

Simply presenting information often results in lower engagement. Use these techniques to captivate your audience during the live event!

Interactive elements

Get your audience involved by incorporating interactive elements throughout your webinar. 

For example, live polls and surveys let you collect feedback, opinions, and data from attendees in real time. Poll your audience at the start to grasp their knowledge levels.

Then, schedule dedicated Q&A sessions during your webinar to satisfy attendees’ desire to have their questions answered live by a presenter.

You can also use chat features to enable discussions between attendees and hosts during the webinar’s presentation portions.

Introducing features like quizzes and gaming elements encourages a fun, competitive environment that energizes people and boosts engagement.

Engaging speakers

Your presenters and speakers set the tone for the entire webinar experience. 

To maximize engagement, make sure to select passionate, personable speakers who connect with audiences. Look for great storytellers.

You also need to set expectations ahead of time that the webinar will be highly interactive and conversational versus a one-way presentation.

When it comes to the webinar itself, share presenter backgrounds upfront through short introductions to establish credibility and trust right away.

Find the right balance between natural, organic dialogue and high-level talking points or presentation scripts. Then, have a host or moderator ready to facilitate smooth Q&A portions and transitions between speakers or segments.

Well-prepared and engaging speakers are key to captivating your webinar audience and keeping them tuned into the discussion. Leverage speaker prep and training if needed.

Technical Considerations

A webinar’s success hinges on seamless technical execution. Glitches or issues during the live event can ruin the experience for attendees. Be sure to take the following steps to minimize technical difficulties.

Pre-event tech checks

Conducting thorough technical checks before your webinar is crucial. Treat it as seriously as a dress rehearsal for a stage performance. Walk through and test all equipment, links, slides, and presentations. 

Confirm that:

  • Presenter webcams, microphones, and screen sharing work properly with no echo or distortion.
  • Slide deck and multimedia display correctly through your webinar software.
  • Registration links, logins, polls, and other interactive elements function as expected.
  • Internet speeds and bandwidth can support your expected live attendees without lag or freezing.
  • Transitions between presenters happen smoothly if given control access.
  • Speakers are comfortable with the platform interface and know how to share slides, polls, etc.

Running through the event start-to-finish will identify any technical issues to resolve before going live. Don’t skip this step!

Reliable internet connection

Choppy audio or video ruins the viewer experience. 

To prevent lag and freezing, request that attendees keep their video off and close other bandwidth-heavy apps. Presenters should use wired ethernet connections over WiFi when possible for maximum stability. Limit the number of devices connected to WiFi during the webinar to minimize strain.

Tip: Have a dial-in number or hotspot ready as a backup audio solution in case of internet drops.

Post-webinar Follow-up

The work isn’t done just because the webinar is over! Strategic follow-up keeps your brand top of mind for the next event. 

Thank you emails

Send a thank you email within 24 hours recapping webinar highlights and key takeaways. Include links to access the full webinar recording, slides, worksheets, or other assets. 

Most importantly, include a feedback survey or poll link to gather insights while everything is fresh. Offer an incentive like a gift card to encourage participation.

Repurpose content

Get more mileage from your webinar content through repurposing! Here are 4 suggestions to get started: 

  • Upload the full-length webinar recording to your website or YouTube for on-demand viewing later.
  • Turn key talking points into standalone blog posts, social media updates, or newsletter content.
  • Create a 10-minute “Webinar Highlights” video recapping the biggest wins. Use it in your marketing and promotions. 
  • Record excerpts for sales teams to easily reference and share with prospects.

With a great webinar in the can, finding creative ways to reuse it beyond the live event will help you get closer to your long-term goals. 

Post-Webinar Analytics and Evaluation

Analyzing performance data and feedback is crucial for optimizing your next webinar. Let’s break down how to leverage analytics for a successful webinar program. 

Analyzing metrics

Carefully analyze key performance metrics to evaluate how your webinar did and identify areas to optimize for future events. Important metrics to review include:

  • Registration rates. This shows how much interest your topic and promotions generated. Compare to past webinars about a similar topic to see if your marketing reached more or less of your audience.
  • Live attendance. The percentage of registrants that showed up live indicates your ability to drive commitment. A low turnout may signal poor promotions or value messaging.
  • Engagement levels. Engagement metrics like poll responses, Q&A participation, and chat comments measure how interactive the webinar was. High engagement keeps attendees tuned in versus passively listening.
  • Satisfaction scores. Feedback via post-event surveys indicates whether the webinar resonated with attendees and met their expectations. This ties to content relevance.
  • Sales inquiries. For webinars intended to generate leads, track web form completions, downloads, and follow-ups to gauge interest.
  • Viewership of recording. If you have post-webinar recording access, view counts can track ongoing content consumption.

Again, carefully reviewing metrics against your benchmarks identifies successes to repeat and opportunities to improve for future webinars.

Gathering feedback

Gathering feedback is crucial to understanding how your webinar went from the attendees’ perspective. 

Actively collect feedback through:

  • Post-event surveys immediately after the webinar to capture top-of-mind reactions.
  • Follow-up feedback emails 1-2 days later to gain more detailed, thoughtful suggestions.

Again, consider offering incentives for completing surveys to boost response rates. Plus, you can categorize feedback by theme to clearly see areas for improvement.

Participant perspectives point the way forward for enhancing your future webinars.

Top 5 Webinar Mistakes to Avoid

As an event planner, avoiding common webinar mistakes is crucial for delivering a smooth and effective webinar aligned with your goals. Failure to sidestep these pitfalls can sabotage your efforts and reflect poorly on your abilities as a planner. 

We recommend steering clear of these common webinar pitfalls:

  1. Not defining clear goals and objectives

Without having a clear sense of your desired outcomes, your decision-making lacks focus. Not to mention that you won’t have measurable criteria for evaluating the success of your webinar. Always start by defining the purpose and targets for your event.

  1. Failing to tailor content for your audience

Generic content often fails to resonate. Take time to understand your audience, including their interests, pain points, and level of knowledge. This allows you to craft messaging and content that speaks directly to what they care about and need to hear. Otherwise, you risk losing their attention.

  1. Not testing technology beforehand

Nothing derails a webinar faster than audio cut-outs, confusing interfaces, or platform glitches. Invest time upfront to methodically test all equipment, run through presentations, confirm platform features, and validate stable internet. This dress rehearsal sets you up for smooth technical delivery!

  1. Not engaging with the audience

Webinars shouldn’t just be online lectures. Build in Q&A sessions, live polls, chat features, and other tools to make it a two-way dialogue. Interactivity is key to attendee engagement and an overall positive experience with your brand. 

  1. Not choosing the right webinar software

Cobbling together standalone tools for webcasting, engagement, registration, etc., makes executing webinars labor-intensive. Streamline efforts with a unified webinar platform integrating everything needed to seamlessly manage, promote, and host your webinars.

Make Your Next Webinar Less Stressful

Hosting compelling webinars takes strategic planning and execution. By following these tips and best practices, you’ll be on your way to successfully engaging your audience, delivering value, and driving consistent results in no time!

Plus, choosing a flexible all-in-one webinar platform like Attendease by Tripleseat makes it easy to manage and customize every aspect of your webinars in one place.

  • Host up to three concurrent webinars at the same time
  • Share your pre-recorded webinars as a lead-gen tool in the future
  • Stream your webinars to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and more
  • Keep your audience captive using interactive engagement tools to mimic in-person events

Ready to uncomplicate your webinar and events program? Book a demo today!

Book a demo

SEO For Large Association Events: What Beginners Should Know

  • Event Management
  • March 7, 2024
Person typing on a computer

When you think about promoting your association’s biggest events, what comes to mind? 

You might think of designing a visually stunning event web page or microsite, creating an engaging email stream that teases exciting event details, partnering with an influencer to give away a pair of event tickets, or sharing videos and photos from your last event on social media. 

All of these are excellent techniques for spreading the word about your upcoming event. But why not add search engine optimization (SEO) to the mix? 

With SEO supporting your digital marketing strategy, your event and your organization’s website can get more visibility online. 

In this beginner’s guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about SEO for large association events and how you can get started. Let’s begin! 

SEO Basics: How It Works & Why It’s Effective 

Search engines like Google use bots to crawl the web and determine which pages should rank the highest on their results pages using a variety of factors. 

SEO is the process of optimizing your website’s content so that your web pages have a higher chance of ranking well for relevant keywords on these results pages, thus providing your content (and your organization and its activities) with better visibility online. 

There’s a lot that goes into SEO. As explained by NXUnite by Nexus Marketing’s primer on SEO, some of the factors that are used to determine ranking are withheld from the public, but we do know that the following matter: 

  • Content quality
  • Keyword usage 
  • Page structure 
  • Usefulness to visitors 

Things like your geographic location, competitor websites, and the technical aspects of your website can also affect your SEO performance. However, you can get great results by focusing on creating high-quality, comprehensive content that is both useful for internet users and incorporates relevant keywords. 

Here’s an example of what this might look like: Say your organization is an association for dental hygienists and is planning a hybrid-style conference. Part of your promotion strategy includes optimizing your event web page for SEO. 

You create the event page, making sure that it includes all the necessary information about the conference, offers an intuitive and engaging user experience, and encourages visitors to register for the event. You also include keywords related to the event in the page copy, like “dental hygiene conferences” and “dental hygiene continuing education,” so that when users Google similar terms, your page has a higher chance of popping up at the top of the search results. This will encourage more people to click through and register for the conference. 

It’s worth noting that SEO takes time to produce results. According to Semrush, it will typically take four months to a year to see positive changes in your website’s rankings when you launch an SEO strategy. This is because of the numerous factors search engines take into account when ranking websites and the fact that sometimes many websites are competing for the same search engine real estate that you are. 

Consequently, when it comes to using SEO for your association’s events, it will be best to do so well ahead of your largest and recurring events, like an annual gala or regularly scheduled conference, since you’re already playing the long game in planning and promoting them.

4 Signs Your Association Event Would Benefit from SEO Marketing 

Now that you know how SEO works, it’s time to determine if it would be a worthwhile addition to your marketing strategy for your next event. Here are a few questions to ask yourself: 

  • Is our event recurring, and do we have enough time to see SEO results ahead of the event?
  • Do we have a goal to expand our event audience and reach more potential attendees, members, sponsors, and volunteers? 
  • Are we looking for ways to expand our online strategy and center our website as the star of our online presence? 
  • Do we notice that competing organizations or events have a strong presence on search engine results pages? 

If you answered yes to most of these questions, SEO would likely be a boon to your event planning and promotion work. 

How to Get Started With SEO 

Now that you know you’re interested in using SEO to help your association’s event stand out online, it’s time to get started. Follow these tips and best practices to ensure that you’re creating quality content that search engines will have a high chance of ranking: 

List of tips for getting started with SEO for large association events

Get set up with the right tools. 

In your SEO toolbox, you’ll need: 

  • Analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console for monitoring website traffic and keyword performance
  • An SEO-specific tool like Moz or Semrush to identify which keywords to target, monitor your rankings, and track your SEO progress over time
  • A content optimization tool (like Yoast SEO for WordPress websites) that will help you follow best practices for on-page SEO  

Ensure you have a functional, user-friendly website

Remember, SEO isn’t just about keywords and solid content. You also need to offer a great user experience for everyone who lands on your website. Ensure your website is easy to navigate, appears correctly on mobile devices, and is optimized for accessibility. Check any relevant registration pages and donation forms to ensure you’re offering simple, quick, and convenient forms. 

Identify keywords you want to target for your event 

Begin by brainstorming terms related to your event, like “annual gala” or “fundraising dinner.” Then, make your keywords stronger by making them more specific to your field, organization, or location. This will set you up to use keywords that have less competition. Plus, you’ll be more likely to rank and attract website visitors who are specifically interested in your expertise or organization. 

For example, you might adjust “annual gala” to “fundraising dinner for computer science professionals” or “Computer Science United annual gala.” (You can use a tool like Moz, Google Keyword Planner, or Semrush to get data-backed ideas.) 

Optimize your event landing page and related web content for your chosen keywords

Once you’ve chosen a primary keyword and a few variations of it, optimize your event’s landing page and related content (such as blog posts about the event) for that keyword. 

There are different rules of thumb for how many times a keyword should be used on a web page, like once for every 100 hundred words. However, focusing on using your keywords in natural and useful ways will be most important. 

You should also include your chosen keywords in your web page’s metadata. Metadata is back-end information you provide on a web page that helps search engines better understand your content. This includes elements such as title tags, meta descriptions, and alternative text for images. 

By including your keywords in your metadata, you can further help search engines understand what terms you’re trying to rank for. Just remember to use your keywords in your metadata only when natural opportunities to do so arise—you don’t want anything to feel shoehorned in. 

Build links to your optimized content 

Links built back to your SEO-optimized content (known as backlinks) from other authoritative websites can boost your rankings by signaling to search engines that a high-quality website is “vouching” for your content and thought leadership. 

To secure backlinks, use your relationships within your industry or field. For instance, you might ask a partner organization to share about your event on their website and link to your page. Or, you might ask an influencer in your space to let you publish a guest post on their blog where you include a link to your optimized page. 

Strive to secure natural backlinks in ethical ways. Linking schemes like buying or spamming links will only backfire.  

Two Keys to Great SEO Results 

As you begin weaving SEO into your promotion strategy for your association’s big events, remember that there are two keys to achieving great SEO results: 

  1. Working with an expert. SEO can be time intensive and does involve a bit of a learning curve, which is why many organizations like to hand over the heavy lifting to web design and SEO experts. This will save your team time and help you see results a bit faster as your strategy gets pushed ahead quickly by people who know SEO inside and out. 
  1. Giving it time. Regardless of how robust your SEO strategy is, you won’t get results from this kind of marketing overnight. Have patience and apply SEO in situations where you have the time to assess your current rankings, make improvements, and see changes on the search results pages. 

After your event takes place, use your SEO tools to note your search engine rankings alongside other event metrics. By regularly monitoring your content’s rankings in this way, you can continue to improve your SEO strategy for large, recurring events year after year!  

SEO can take the marketing efforts for your association’s big events to the next level. Use this guide as a resource for getting started, and remember that you’ll need expert assistance and some patience to get the best results possible for your event. You’ve got this!

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5 Tips to Streamline Web Communication for Healthcare Events

  • Event Management
  • March 5, 2024
A person types on a laptop, with just their hands showing

It’s no secret that people are turning to online resources more and more frequently to answer their health questions. 77% of people use search engines during the patient journey, and about 7% of all daily searches are health-related. 

That’s why your healthcare website can be an effective tool for raising awareness of your organization’s offerings, including your event opportunities. Healthcare audiences are already used to receiving healthcare information online, making your website a natural place to spread awareness of upcoming events. 

This guide reviews our top tips for streamlining your healthcare web design to better communicate about your upcoming engagement opportunities. 

1. Create event-related blog content 

Content marketing is an effective way to spread awareness about your organization’s opportunities without being too overt. According to Kanopi, healthcare content marketing involves “developing relevant, useful, educational online content to generate interest in a brand’s products or services and acquire and retain new customers.”

82% of consumers feel more positively about a company after engaging with their custom content, making content marketing a useful strategy for promoting upcoming events. Consider developing the following types of blog content to generate excitement for your engagement opportunity: 

  • A Q&A with your event chair or organization’s executive director
  • FAQs that cover what to expect from the event and explain the event’s purpose
  • Videos providing a behind-the-scenes look at the event and what goes into setting it up
  • A photo essay sharing images from last year’s event

Post on your blog regularly leading up to the event (at least two or three times a week) with reminders and updates to maintain enthusiasm and engagement. You can also easily share these blog posts via email or social media for even more engagement opportunities.

2. Ensure your event landing page has all the crucial information

When potential event attendees land on your website, they’ll want to know the logistics of your event. That means you should offer a user-friendly event landing page that covers the where, when, and why of the experience. 

Along with information about the event’s date, time, and location, include additional details such as: 

  • The event’s purpose. Make it clear why you’re hosting the event, whether to raise funds for your organization, spread awareness about a health issue, or show appreciation to donors, patients, or healthcare professionals. 
  • Ticket information. List your event’s ticket price or pricing tiers. Describe the benefits attendees will receive at different levels, such as access to a VIP section or complimentary food and drinks. 
  • Information about how to participate in the event’s virtual component. If you’re planning a hybrid or virtual event, include details about how to access the event’s livestream or troubleshoot any technical issues. 
  • Details about becoming a corporate sponsor. 360MatchPro’s guide to corporate sponsorships recommends adding information about reasons to support your event, sponsorship levels, and the benefits of each sponsorship tier. Sponsorship benefits often include event naming rights, inclusion in marketing materials, and social media shoutouts before, during, and after the event. 

If a single landing page isn’t enough to cover the full details of your event, consider creating a microsite instead. These are sub-websites linked to your organization’s main website that include a cluster of web pages covering just one topic. Microsites can be a great way to go more in-depth about what to expect from your event while still staying connected to your organization’s branding. 

3. Make it easy for event audience members to register online

Your event registration form is the tool audience members will use to RSVP or buy tickets for your event. This form should be as straightforward as possible to create a positive experience for attendees and communicate the need-to-know information ahead of time. 

Your registration form should be:

  • Mobile-responsive. Your event registration page should be simple to complete from a mobile device. Incorporate large fonts, easily touchable buttons, and clear calls to action (CTAs) to help users navigate the form. 
  • Accessible. Disabilities affect billions of people worldwide, making it critical to design your registration page with accessibility considerations in mind. For example, about 300 million people across the globe are colorblind, meaning they have difficulties distinguishing the difference between certain colors and shades. That means strong color contrast and bold, readable fonts are an absolute must for your online registration form. 
  • User-friendly. User-friendliness is an important quality of healthcare and hospital web development because it lends credibility to your website. Ensure your event registration form is as user-friendly as possible by making it easy to find on your website and only including necessary questions. 

Make sure attendees are automatically sent an email after completing the form to confirm their registration. Provide a ticket and receipt as needed and include contact information that attendees can use to reach out with any questions before the event.  

4. Cross-promote your event on multiple platforms

Using multiple platforms to communicate about your upcoming event increases the chances that more potential attendees will see your promotions and register for your event. 

Plus, a robust online presence on multiple platforms can reflect positively on your healthcare organization as a whole. For example, 81% of consumers view a strong social media presence as an indication that a hospital offers cutting-edge technologies. 

Promote your event blog posts and microsite using channels such as: 

You can also promote your website content to a wider audience by creating Google Ads. These are paid ads that appear at the top of search results pages for keywords relevant to your event. For example, if you’re holding a fundraising 5K event to support your hospital’s patients, you could create Google Ads targeting the keyword “local 5K races.” 

If your healthcare organization is a nonprofit, you could be eligible to receive a free $10,000 in Google Ad spending via the Google Ad Grants program. This program can greatly reduce your marketing spend, helping you save money while still reaching a broader audience. 

5. Give event attendees a way to provide feedback

Your post-event communications are just as important as pre-event messages. After your event concludes, foster ongoing engagement with attendees by expressing your appreciation for their involvement. One of the most effective ways to show your gratitude is by allowing attendees to submit feedback via your website. 

Offer an online survey or poll as well as an email address they can use to send in their thoughts and comments. Ask attendees to provide input on:

  • What went well at the event
  • What could be improved
  • What would inspire them to attend again
  • Whether they would recommend your event to a family member or friend

Follow up with attendees via email to thank them for their input, address common concerns, and outline the strategies you’ll use to ensure next year’s event aligns with their feedback. 

Your event communication and promotion strategy can make or break your event’s success. Streamlined event communications help drive qualified event leads by ensuring audience members have the information they need to determine whether your event is right for them. Following these tips ensures that your healthcare organization can provide a positive attendee experience from the very beginning of the event process.

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Engaging Your Event Team: 5 Tips for Boosting Morale

  • Event Management
  • February 29, 2024

You’re a few months away from what you hope to be a show-stopping event for your association’s members. While you can hardly wait for the day to come, you know there’s still a lot to get done in the meantime—from locking down the perfect venue to developing attention-grabbing marketing materials that drive registrations. Effectively engaging your event team ensures they maintain the focus and motivation they need to excel in their roles.

In this guide, we’ll reveal some top tips for supporting your event team and paving the way for an unforgettable event. Here’s what we’ll cover:

  1. Clearly outline roles and expectations.
  2. Promote wellness among your event team.
  3. Make sustainable decisions.
  4. Check in with your event team often.
  5. Practice gratitude.

By keeping your event team engaged to the finish line, you’ll set your next event (and future events to come) up for a resounding success.

1. Clearly outline roles and expectations.

Minimize confusion and maximize productivity by clarifying which people get assigned to which roles. Doing so empowers your staff and volunteers to confidently deliver on expectations without waiting for more specific guidance or conflicting with someone else’s responsibilities.

For instance, let’s say that you’re preparing to host a hybrid event, like a conference or networking session. Your event team will likely include the following roles:

  • Event Manager. This individual oversees your event planning as a whole, coordinating with various team members to ensure that everything proceeds smoothly. They’ll create a timeline for your planning and managing the event budget.
  • IT Specialist. This team member will leverage your event software to ensure that both in-person and virtual attendees have a pleasant experience at your event. They’ll help with setting up video and audio and, during the event itself, assist with any technical issues or questions.
  • Digital Engagement Coordinator. Virtual attendees may find it more challenging to make connections when they can’t engage in face-to-face interactions. Therefore, it’s crucial to have dedicated strategies to keep them engaged. The digital engagement coordinator will send live polls, conduct Q&As, and manage the chat room during your event.
  • Marketing and Communications Manager. Promoting your upcoming event is vital to securing as many event registrations as possible. The marketing and communications manager will craft eye-catching marketing materials like social media posts and video clips to drum up excitement leading up to your event. Additionally, they can cover follow-ups like thank-you messages and event recaps.
  • Sponsorship Coordinator. Sponsorships can provide essential funding to cover your event expenses and enhance your event’s overall quality. This team member will be responsible for securing event sponsors and cultivating long-term, productive relationships with them by maintaining communication throughout and following the event.

Always opt for more communication than less—not just with your team but with the individual volunteers who will be helping out on the day of the event as well. Ensure they have clear roles tailored to their strengths and interests, whether checking guests in at a conference or collecting donated running shoes for a good cause.

2. Promote wellness among your event team.

Wellness is emerging as an increasing priority among both companies and associations. You want your team members to put in their best effort when preparing for your upcoming event, but this shouldn’t come at the cost of their health and well-being.

There are several widespread wellness benefits that you can offer to your event team and all your association employees, including:

  • Flexible working arrangements
  • Mental health services and resources
  • Gym membership
  • Wellness workshops

Demonstrate to your event team that you’re invested in them as individuals, not just for performance in their roles. It can go a long way toward building loyalty, reducing burnout, and retaining their skills and talent for years to come. Additionally, by ensuring your team is taking care of themselves, you can be confident they’ll feel their best and deliver when the event date rolls around.

3. Make sustainable decisions.

According to Gallup, 71% of Americans worry “a fair amount” to “a great deal” about the environment. Chances are, many of your event team members and future attendees fall into this category. Engaging in sustainable practices at your association is not only an essential aspect of good corporate citizenship. It can attract more socially conscious employees, volunteers, and members.

Encourage your team to make sustainable decisions during event planning, such as:

  • Choosing a venue that uses renewable energy sources.
  • Offering a virtual attendance option to reduce the carbon footprint.
  • Providing event materials in a digital format.
  • Adding recycling bins throughout your venue.

At the same time, there are plenty of sustainable initiatives that you can organize for your association as a whole. For instance, you could hold educational workshops for staff and members to attend or plan regular recycling events. Sneakers4Good suggests creatively boosting your environmental impact by collecting and donating gently used running shoes.

4. Check in with your event team often.

While each event team member has their tasks and responsibilities, they must be able to work cohesively to achieve your overarching event goals. 89% of HR leaders agree that ongoing peer feedback and check-ins are critical for successful outcomes.

Ensure that your event team feels supported at all times by:

  • Opening up channels for daily communication, such as Slack.
  • Scheduling weekly or bi-weekly meetings to share important updates.
  • Sending out an annual or bi-annual survey to collect feedback.

Be on the lookout for ways that you can better support your event team moving forward. For instance, they may identify a need to update your event equipment or adjust your marketing strategy in a way that allows you to improve future results.

5. Practice gratitude.

Developing a culture of gratitude at your association is an excellent way to build a tight-knit community of employees, volunteers, and members around your mission. While you know it’s common practice to thank attendees after your event, don’t forget to recognize all the hard work done by your event team!

eCardWidget’s employee recognition guide recommends several engaging options for thanking your event team, including:

  • Recognition awards or certificates
  • Social media shoutouts
  • Animated eCards
  • A wall of fame

Provide your event team with opportunities to recognize their peers for exemplary performance. It can be as simple as an eCard that they can fill out or a bulletin board that they can post positive comments.

Even after a well-executed event, keep engaging your event team members to solidify their morale and strengthen their bonds. Host a post-event debrief and discuss relevant event metrics such as attendance or virtual versus in-person engagement.
Then, take the opportunity to brainstorm ways you can boost your results moving forward. Doing so allows your event team to celebrate successes and develop a mindset for improving from one event to the next.

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14 New Trends in the Event Planning Industry for 2024

  • Event Management
  • February 27, 2024

What does 2024 hold for the events industry?

Thanks to rapid innovation and the global sharing of ideas entrenched in technology, event managers and planners have started experimenting with new methods and ideas in order to create the perfect blueprint for their events.

At the same time, the core of what makes a successful event remains the same: Events are about the experience, from start to finish (and beyond). People want to feel connected, they want to be entertained, and they want valuable content to take away with them.

Let’s take a look at the top event trends that will shape 2024.

Trend #1: Cross-Cultural Dishes & Menus

Food and beverage selections at events are becoming more cross-cultural. Today’s event menus include more diversity instead of sticking to one culinary genre. Southern-Indian fusion, Japanese with an Italian twist, Korean-Mexican mash-ups—2024 events will include ingredients, flavors, and styles from multiple cultures and cuisines.

Trend #2: The Art of Food Plating

Attendees expect more than good food from event dining experiences in 2024—they are also looking for how dishes and beverages are presented to them. It’s all about curating their eating experience.

The art of food plating, from arranging ingredients creatively to presenting photographic dishes, makes a significant impact on the attendee experience. Event planners and managers will need to pay attention to how food is served and plated to keep up with event industry trends in the coming year.

Trend #3: Unique Drink Presentations

In 2024, we’ll see attendees looking for unique event experiences—even in how their beverages are served. Drink trees will rise in popularity, as will serving drinks in pineapples or other unique objects.

Think of it this way: Instead of attendees grabbing a margarita, it’s more memorable if they can choose from multiple margarita flavors that are served in a tree-like stand.

Trend #4: Elevated Menus

QR code menus aren’t going anywhere in the hospitality and restaurant industries, but the current trend in the event planning industry requires looking above and beyond the expected.

Design-forward and elevated menus are in style for 2024 events. Personalized menus for attendees with curated choices, interesting flavors, and sophisticated selections will take over events catering in the coming year.

Trend #5: CBD-Infused Foods & Beverages

As cannabidiol (CBD) oil becomes legal in more and more states, it has become a popular addition to many 2024 event menus. CBD-infused drinks, seltzers, and dishes will be a common sight, and we expect CBD’s relaxing, calming benefits to heighten attendees’ enjoyment of an event.

Trend #6: Activity-Based Events

Pickleball and axe-throwing are no longer just for breweries. In 2024, we’ll see more activity-based events.

Games, contests, live music, and shows are a great way to get attendees engaged in and excited about the event. Whether it’s intimate private concerts or corporate volleyball games, expect to see more activities on the itineraries of events this year.

Trend #7: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology

New advances in AI technology are streamlining the everyday work of event planners and managers, improving organizational efficiency, and enhancing the overall experience for attendees.

We’ll see more and more event professionals use AI in a number of ways. Event planning apps and platforms will use AI and its advanced data collection abilities to make events more engaging and secure, as well as improve post-event analysis.

From AI-based chatbot concierge services that provide support for attendees to automated ticketing processes and 24/7 customer support, this emerging trend isn’t going anywhere.

Trend #8: Different Themes for Different Rooms

Every event needs a theme, but in 2024, the event industry is taking themes to a whole new level.

For larger events or events of any size involving multiple rooms, a new trend in event management is creating a different theme for each room. Giving each room its own unique theme or vibe is an innovative way to curate a truly unforgettable experience for attendees. We expect to see a rise in choose-your-own-adventure style event themes in the coming year.

Trend #9: Personalization Across the Entire Event Experience

Personalization is key to event success—and in today’s world of data-driven insights, advanced technology, and artificial intelligence, event managers and planners can offer personalization across the entire event experience.

Customizing each attendee’s experience so that it feels like the event was tailored to their specific needs can increase satisfaction as well as the likelihood they will attend an event in the future. From branded floor decals to personalized post-event email messages, creating a unique, tailored experience for guests leads to maximized results.

Event personalization is likely to continue impacting meetings and events in 2024.

Trend #10: Advanced Event Technology

Event technology platforms continue to advance, and we’ll see these new platforms and upgraded data-based technology used in events across industries this year. With advances in data collection and analysis, event technology can accomplish anything from tailoring attendee experiences to automating routine event planning tasks. 

By investing in event tech that collects and reports on more data, event managers can streamline the event planning experience as well as make the experience more enjoyable for attendees.

Trend #11: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives will be imperative for successful events in 2024. With a growing focus on events that welcome and cater to diverse voices, ideas, and audiences, event managers and planners will invest more resources in DE&I in 2024. By prioritizing DE&I in the coming year (and beyond), event industry professionals can ensure that attendees from various walks of life are welcomed, catered to, and engaged.

Trend #12: Accessibility for All

Accessibility is more than a trend—it’s a requirement. Fortunately, in the last year, we’ve seen more and more event managers, venues, and planners center accessibility, and we expect to see the trend continue in 2024.

Whether it’s providing automatic closed captioning on speaker stages, creating sensory areas for attendees to take a break, hiring sign language interpreters, or ensuring venues exceed accessibility expectations, we will continue to see improvements in this area that create better event experiences for everyone.

Trend #13: Sustainability As a Foundation

In 2024, sustainability remains a top priority for event planners, managers, and attendees. Across industries, people expect sustainable and eco-friendly practices, materials, and initiatives to be the foundation of events and meetings.

To meet the demand for sustainable events, the events industry has made huge leaps toward environmental consciousness. From making venues more sustainable and reducing waste to offering plant-based menus and using recyclable materials, the events industry will keep the spotlight on sustainability.

Trend #14: Immersive Technologies & Experiences

Immersive technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) make it possible to transform how attendees, speakers, exhibitors, and guests experience events. With AR technology, attendees can take 3D tours, view interactive layouts and maps, participate in scavenger hunts, and more. VR technology reveals an entirely new virtual world where guests can interact and engage with presentations, booths, and each other.

We expect to see new, exciting, and fun immersive technologies influence events in 2024 and beyond.

Incorporate New Event Planning Trends into Your 2024 Events with Help from EvenUp Planner

If you’re looking for an event planning partner, turn to EventUp Planner (formerly Attendease).

EventUp Planner is one of the leading names in the field of all-in-one event management software. Offering all the key features needed to stay relevant in 2024, EventUp Planner provides event managers and planners with an intuitive, seamless, and convenient digital experience that goes hand-in-hand with live, virtual, and hybrid events.

Contact us or book a free demo today to learn more about how EventUp Planner’s complete event management software and automation platform can help you plan your next event.

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