The Forgotten Keys of A Successful Event
What event are you expecting people to attend?
Whether it is a birthday party, baby shower, home shows, holiday parties, business networking event or a seminar there are some key elements that will make your event successful.
Often the "Forgotten Keys" will be left out of an event which could allow for an okay event however often left feeling like something was missing. You will want to use every source of medium possible to promote your event. To help you have an exciting and powerful event follow these steps.
Email:
Send out a "Save the Date" announcement informing people of your upcoming event with date, time and location.
Send a "Formal Invitation" with all the specific details of the event.
Resend invitation to non-responders a week later.
Email a reminder a week before and a day before the event to everyone who has stated they would be attending.
Social Media:
Use the Event pages on Facebook
l your local friends.
Post frequently your event on LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace. Let people know and since everyone looks at their social media at different times you will want to post your information about the event at different times also.
Make announcements on your home page.
Have each vendor post on their social media outlets as well.
Media:
Submit a "Press Release" to your local newspapers, business journals and radio. Follow up with a call to your print publications to confirm they received it.
Hand out Cards, Flyers and Poster everywhere you go. Mail an invitation to a minimum amount of people that may not be in your email list that are in your target market.
In Person:
Go to other local event and hand out your flyers, posters and cards. Make sure to get their business card to add them to your reminder list.
Phone people you have not heard back from. Ask them if there is someone they know that may want to attend this event with them.
Phone people to remind them that the event is just days away! Build your relationship with people and offer the special touch of a personal connection. This will also give you an idea of how many people you may have attending your event. This call can be done by you, a volunteer, a personal/virtual assistant and your vendors.
If You Have Vendors:
Have each of your vendors offer a "give away" so you can promote this in your invitation.
Request that your vendors give you a list of people (minimum of 25) to send the invitation to.
Request that your vendors send out 15 or more postcards/flyers to people they may or may not know in the community.
After the Event:
Send a thank you to every person in attendance. If it is a large group you can send an email thank you. If it was smaller group send out hand written cards.
Before too much time passes follow up with your attendee. You can offer a survey for people to fill out to give you feedback. Follow up and find out one thing your attendees felt they could take and put into action from your event. If a large group select 25 to 50 people to call or get volunteers, vendors or a personal/virtual assistant to make the calls for you. You want to know what your attendees took from your event.
Request that your attendees post on their social networking sites about attending your event. You could have a script for them to make this easier for them.
Hand out Cards, Flyers and Poster everywhere you go. Mail an invitation to a minimum amount of people that may not be in your email list that are in your target market.
In Person:
Go to other local event and hand out your flyers, posters and cards. Make sure to get their business card to add them to your reminder list.
Phone people you have not heard back from. Ask them if there is someone they know that may want to attend this event with them.
Phone people to remind them that the event is just days away! Build your relationship with people and offer the special touch of a personal connection. This will also give you an idea of how many people you may have attending your event. This call can be done by you, a volunteer, a personal/virtual assistant and your vendors.
If You Have Vendors:
Have each of your vendors offer a "give away" so you can promote this in your invitation.
Request that your vendors give you a list of people (minimum of 25) to send the invitation to.
Request that your vendors send out 15 or more postcards/flyers to people they may or may not know in the community.
After the Event:
Send a thank you to every person in attendance. If it is a large group you can send an email thank you. If it was smaller group send out hand written cards.
Before too much time passes follow up with your attendee. You can offer a survey for people to fill out to give you feedback. Follow up and find out one thing your attendees felt they could take and put into action from your event. If a large group select 25 to 50 people to call or get volunteers, vendors or a personal/virtual assistant to make the calls for you. You want to know what your attendees took from your event.
Request that your attendees post on their social networking sites about attending your event. You could have a script for them to make this easier for them.
The success of your event will be because "You" stepped out and did something different. You added the extra touches to your event which makes you stand out from the crowd. When you call people they are less likely to forget about your event because you created a feeling for them. When you follow up by sending out a thank you or asking what they can take away from your event will create a feeling for them as well. People skim through emails but a call will get them connected to you and they will tell other people about you. If you leave these "Forgotten Keys" out of your event you will be like most other event organizers and hope they have a successful next event!
Kimberley Borgens, CBC is the CEO of Be A Legacy. She enjoys working with small businesses and helping them gain ground to being a successful business. She coaches, consults and mentors leaders who want to make a difference in business and in thier lives. Learn more http://www.bealegacy.com
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment