Whether you are a professional event planner, or you just have a small conference, there are conference tools to help make your event a success. From creating a website, to organizing email campaigns, to running surveys, there are a variety of ways to help boost attendee engagement and manage finances.
Boost Attendee Engagement
Using conference tools can help boost attendee engagement. These tools are effective at tracking attendee engagement and measuring satisfaction levels. This information can be used to plan post-event marketing strategies and message messaging.
One popular method of measuring attendee engagement is live polling. This tool allows event organizers to randomly select audience members and ask them icebreaker questions. This helps attendees interact with each other, empowering attendees and improving attendee engagement.
Another popular way to engage attendees is with gamification. This adds a fun competitive element to the event, and can create an immersive virtual attendee experience. Typically, gamification involves assigning badges and points to attendees.
The use of gamification can be extended to virtual scavenger hunts, pop-up quizzes, and virtual exhibits. These tools will keep attendees engaged by providing valuable insights.
Create Websites
Having a good conference website is a great way to promote your event. It can also serve as a historical record of your event and help you build a reputation for yourself.
A good conference website should guide visitors through the registration process and help them submit information. The website should also have a detailed schedule, contact information and sponsors. It should also be optimized for mobile visitors.
It’s a good idea to create a conference website on a platform that is easy to use and manage. It should also be easy to update. If you plan on updating your website regularly, it’s a good idea to find a platform that offers a responsive design.
A conference website is the first place that potential presenters, sponsors, and attendees will look when considering attending your event. The site should provide all the information about your event, from the location to the date and time.
Manage Finances
Developing and managing a budget is not a trivial task. Fortunately, there are a few ways to make the job a breeze. One way is to employ a budget spreadsheet. This can be a Google spreadsheet or a shared drive, depending on your organizational needs.
A conference budget spreadsheet should be a mix of fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs include a venue fee, AV tech/support, and room preparation. Variable costs will vary based on the size and scope of the conference. A conference budget should also include software to manage the logistics of the event. For example, a budget spreadsheet might include columns for: *venue, *catering, and *live streaming.
The most expensive component of your budget might be the venue. You may also want to include expenses for travel and accommodations. You should also consider costs related to exhibiting software that will help you engage virtual attendees.
Organize Email Campaigns
Organizing email campaigns to make your event a success is a good idea. Not only can it increase your attendance, but it can also enhance the attendee experience.
Organizing email campaigns to make your event successful should include sending out relevant content. This can be done through sending regular messages, but it can also be achieved through automated updates. If you can, send a nice thank you to attendees, suppliers, and partners for their assistance. If you can’t do this, send a summary of event data, and offer some form of compensation for their time.
Organizing email campaigns to make a successful event also involves testing different demographics. If you find that your target audience has a common pain point, such as high prices or limited seating, you might want to highlight this fact.
Run Surveys
Whether you’re running a large conference or a smaller meeting, you can use surveys to gather useful feedback. Not only does this give you valuable insight into your audience, but it also gives you the opportunity to make adjustments to your event.
Event surveys can be distributed in various ways, including online, via email, SMS, and via social media channels. It is important to distribute your survey to the right audience.
Online surveys can be distributed using pop ups on your website or through a QR code. Kiosks with web surveys can also be set up on the show floor to collect in-the-moment feedback.
Regardless of how you distribute your surveys, you should follow up with the respondents. This will help increase your response rate. You can also use survey analytics to track attendee satisfaction in real time.