The anatomy of a successful event requires organization, goals, marketing outlets and use of the most up-to-date technology. Although many of these might be common sense, some event professionals are often using them incorrectly, or not at all.
In part one of this three-part series, we’ll dive into choosing the right social media platforms, the importance of awareness and how to avoid being stuck with bad wi-fi at your next event.
1. Using the Wrong Social Media Platforms
Pick platforms that suit your team’s time:
Don’t have a Twitter handle for your event that you don’t monitor. Don’t have an Instagram account for your event that you don’t post to. Don’t have a LinkedIn group about your event if you’re not going to spur conversation.
Pick platforms that match your attendee’s profile:
Social media outlets should be selected to fit the profile of your attendee – not the profile of your millennial social media manager. Make sure that you really consider what your attendee uses, or wants to use, before investing resources into that channel.
Social media outlets need to be familiar to the attendee. For example, Facebook is a safe bet for everyone, Meerkat and Periscope are more appropriate for a Twitter-loving crowd. Poll your attendees upon registration about what they use, or what they want to use…
If they note things that they want to become savvier in, help them accomplish that. Give them simple setup tips and show them the value of investing their time in a communications platform that you want to use to reach them.
2. Not Being Aware of Your Surroundings
When Social Tables’ Manager of Communications, Claire, moved to D.C., one of the first events she attended as a Hill staffer was a welcoming reception for Congress at a well-known Capitol Hill hotel. She walked in with her boss, (the Congressman), his wife, and their family – 10 kids in all – only to have the entire group stopped dead in their tracks when, based on the lobby traffic, it was apparent there was a NSF-children-convention happening in the same hotel (I won’t go into details here, but let’s just say it involved adults in costumes that weren’t even appropriate for Halloween).
Countless planners have experienced an event that undermines theirs. Disgruntled union workers picketing outside of the host hotel, parades that interfere with off-site travel time, construction that interferes with attendee’s sleep, hurricanes that shut down airports – the list of issues that are outside of a planner’s control during an event are quite literally endless.
Outside of your control is not an excuse, however. As an event planner, it is extremely important to address these scenarios in advance with venue management, vendors, and clients. Incorporate this within a contingency plan would be ideal to have a resolution or backup plan if the scenario were to arise.
Asking the correct questions of the correct people can help you avoid embarrassment, frustration, and unhappy attendees. Ask your hotel/venue for a schedule of competing events the day of your event. Ask your transportation company to reach out to the city for a calendar of the week. Have a darn good plan B if the weather looks vile.
3. Relying on Anyone Else’s Wi-Fi
When the wi-fi is not working, no one is working. Attendees are distracted and angry, your staff is frustrated, you’re on a rampage…in our modern society that is so reliant on internet and data access 24/7, adequate wi-fi coverage isn’t an option.
Dan Berger, CEO of Social Tables, believes that “Wireless access should be a utility, just like water and electricity”, and he’s right – consider the last time you went to an event and weren’t on your phone or tablet the majority of the time.
Wi-fi allows you to connect with your attendees (social media, emails, website traffic), and for them to communicate with each other and to the outside world. Don’t ruin this relationship by relying on the stock pricing handout your venue or hotel hands you during the planning process. Instead, make sure you truly understand their networks capabilities (access, speed, cost, etc.) to ensure that you don’t end up stuck when your doors open.
Do this by asking the right questions of the right people. Talk to the CTO or the Director of IT, and ask them to walk you through a list of ways that they promise your event will be safeguarded from bad wi-fi.
Need some help on which questions to ask? Randle Stonier, CEO of AddingValue, created a SlideShare presentation that will help you shape the conversation. For example, “Does the bandwidth provide the same uploading and downloading speed?” or “Is the wi-fi coverage consistent or are there weak areas of connectivity?”
Also, bring your own backup wi-fi for your most VIP events. MiFis and Apple internet provide mobile-backup solutions that create hotspots for you in case of an emergency. Put these in your board meetings, or on the podium for your speaker to ensure they can get to their presentations without missing a step.
This post was originally written for Lumi.
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