Visitor Management

If you are hosting a corporate event or conference, you can also make the most of attending it. After all, if you are arranging it, you could likely benefit from the exposure to important discussion and education in your industry. Once the event is organized, you can spend time determining how you will benefit by:

• Identifying your goals – what would you like to get out of attending the conference? Would you like to make industry connections? Learn about the latest developments? Promote your own brand by speaking and educating others?
• Know who is attending – as the event planner, you will have a complete list of who is in attendance. If you are not familiar with some of the major players, then take the time to do further research into their companies. Having background will help you prepare to network at the event.
• Be realistic about what you can accomplish – take a look at the schedule, and ensure that you do not overbook yourself. Set aside time between seminars to speak with other attendees. Remember, as the event organizer you may also need to set aside time to deal with staff, or any organizational issues that occur.

After the conference, you can weigh the success by seeing what you took away personally. You can also use the event management system to track metrics and see if event numbers were as significant as you’d hoped.

Is there one tried and true road to a successful event? Not really. A number of recommendations were first published as advertising for specific event products, so buyer beware!  Promotion has turned some of them into myths that too often fail to live up to their hype. It is not how much you spend but what value and convenience you provide that matters.

1- Going first class sells

In reality, the more you spend on an event also might send a message that you will be expensive. This can cause you to draw more moochers than buyers. You want your event to match the buyers’ attitudes re value and price.  Spend the money on reusable investments that demonstrate your viability and professionalism. Using an event management system is one example.

2- Location, location, location

This is usually true but not necessarily the way you think. Holding events right in the core of a downtown may seem to make it more convenient, expecting to draw a larger audience. The reality is that convenience also increases both cancellations and early departures. Holding your event in an intriguing location away from the core draws a more committed audience and saves you money too. Also, don’t overlook using electronic conferences held during work-from-home hours. You can have more of these covering a wider audience over time to increase exposure within the same budget.

3- People want free stuff

It is true that many gather trinkets at conferences. Most end up never being used and provide you with little promotional value, if any at all. What you want to offer is a call to action instead that resonates with potential buyers. Trials, coupons and invitations to private events will give you a better return on a lower investment. Make sure that you track who you give them to with your event management system and make sure to follow up after the event.

4- Mass marketing draws

Shotgun approaches using direct mail, telemarketing and email blasts work with big budgets in mass retail markets. In the B2B market, it takes more personalized approaches to carefully qualified individuals. Find out who makes the decisions and call or write to them. It is not only cheaper than mass marketing but establishes the foundation for an ongoing relationship.  Your event will provide them with more information, access to satisfied buyers and strategic insight. But only if you get past their gatekeepers that would have received the direct marketing material.

5- Avoid vacation periods

The myth is that there are not enough interested people available to attend events in vacation seasons. Most decision makers usually use those periods to work on the business rather in the business and have more time for that when their employees are away.  A well targeted conference providing strategic thinking is good positioning in vacation periods.

For an event to be successful for any business, the choice of venue is key. If you are a planning a corporate event, aside from utilizing the Event Management feature on the Visitors Management System to keep things organized, you will also need to choose the right venue.

Factor in The Venue’s Service and Image

If a venue has notoriously bad service, known around the industry, you might want to avoid it for your corporate events. A great event is largely dictated by service. Event planners should look at how the venue manages its facilities, staff and clients. You should also meet with the venue’s key staff members and find out just what level of service and attention to detail they are willing to give you for your event.

Don’t Neglect The Budget

If you find the perfect space for your corporate event, you shouldn’t just throw away the budget if you are over your limit. A big challenge to planning an event is carrying it out within a reasonable budget. Selecting the right venue comes down to selecting the right space for your wallet too.

Place Value on The Location

The location is always key for a corporate event. In selecting the right space, be sure to pick a location that makes sense for your company or organization. You have to look at the theme of the meeting or event. More relaxed corporate events shouldn’t be held in stuffy locations and vice versa.

 Consider The Time of Year

An outdoor corporate event might sound like a great idea when you are planning it in the warmer months of the year. However the event might end up taking place when the weather is not so optimal. Event planners should not just be choosy in selecting their venue, but you should also consider the time of year for the event. The venue you have in mind might not fit the time of the year or even the time of day.

The timing of an event can often be the difference between a bad event and a good one. When planning an event, you will want to consider just what time of the year will be best. An event at the right time of the year be a successful event in terms of attendance and even when amassing an impressive set of speakers.

Schedule Your Event Around a Major Festival or Another Event

Chances are you will garner more success for your event when you plan it around a major festival or another important event. Especially when trying to lure more attendees to your event location, another major festival near your event will only entice invited attendees to come. An event can sound more appealing on promotional material and to the attendees themselves if there is something else going on in town around your event.

Consider an Event During the Week

While the Visitor Management System might make planning an event easier, it won’t help you figure out attendance issue if you schedule your event on the weekend. Many of those in the business world don’t want to give up their weekends to work related meetings and events. If you schedule your business event on the weekend, it will be difficult to get those weekend hungry business people to attend. An event during the week is more appealing as it is still during business hours. Attendees can still enjoy the weekend, especially if your event is being held outside of their home.

Stay Away from School Holidays

You might have your whole business event planned out on a school holiday. If this is the case, you will have trouble attracting attendees with families. School holidays are generally good times for families to take long weekends and get away together. The family probably doesn’t want to go to a business event instead of the beach.

Steer Clear of Time Near Public Holidays

The same rule of thumb can be followed for public holidays. Business events on or near public holidays will have trouble attracting attendees. Many are looking for a break from the office, not a four-day event about what they do everyday in the office.

You might have used our Event Management feature to plan a stellar event, only to find that your guest list is looking quite thin. Many event and meeting planners are under the assumption that if they plan a great event, everyone will show up. That is not always the case. You will need to reach out to potential event attendees in a certain manner to ensure your event isn’t a ghost town.

Event planners can begin reaching out to potential attendees by looking for other associations and organizations to present the event to that might have similar circles. Often times, these companies have similar audiences you can attract to your event.

Another way to add to your attendee list can come from within your company or organization. Your staff might have people in their circles that they can tap into in order to gather potential event attendees.

Event planners can also go Hollywood to reach out to potential event attendees by creating some sort of pre-event stunt. If you can get the media’s attention for your event, you will often fill all of those empty seats you might have been worried about filling. This could include some sort of special guest coming to the event or a pre-event.

Business and other events would be empty without keynote speakers. They are what draw many people to events. They also determine whether an event will be successful or not. Choosing your keynote speakers is often the first step you will want to make for your event. To select the right speakers for your event and to keep exhibitors and attendees happy, you need to consider several factors when selecting candidates.

As the event organizer, you want to meet with your potential keynote speakers in person. This can help you determine if the speaker will be the right fit for your event. Personalities are often different in person than they can seem online or on paper. You want to see how the speaker delivers their message.

If you are organizing and event for your organization or company using the Visitor Management system, the next step with your potential keynote speaker search will be determining if your speaker has the same goals for the event. In order to select the right speaker, you will want to make sure your keynote speaker is on par with your goals for the speech. If you aren’t clear about what you want your speaker to cover, you can as a result be disappointed in the message they deliver.

Event organizers should also be careful when selecting keynote speakers off of recommendations. Even if another event recommends them or they have great reviews, you don’t want to just go with a speaker based on recommendations. Keynote speakers can be different at different events.

Lastly, as an event planner, you will also want to look the potential keynote speaker’s rhetoric skills. A good speech on paper can be a bad speech when given by someone who lacks oratory skills. You want to make sure your keynote speaker can hold the audience’s attention and get their message across successfully.

Communication and planning for an event doesn’t have to fall under the “stress-out” category; in fact, with an online event management system, everything you need for your upcoming event, large or small, is at your fingertips. The online system will virtually eliminate endless and often confusing paper trails, while ridding those in charge from the headache of figuring out which tasks have been completed, and the progress of other tasks.

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Planning an event is a sizeable undertaking, whether it’s a seminar, exhibition or any other kind of event. There are vendors, exhibitors, caterers and of course, attendees to keep track of, space to prepare (and possibly rent unless you plan to hold the event at your own facilities) and a million other things to take care of to make sure that it all goes as you’d planned when the big day arrives. It’s a lot of work and as capable as you are, you can use all the help you can get. Fortunately, help has arrived in the form of new web based event management software which can streamline event planning and all of the work that comes along with it.

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What’s the hardest part of being responsible for planning a major event like a seminar, trade show, exposition or convention? For many event planners, the biggest challenge they face in pulling off a successful event is keeping on top of the many smaller jobs which are part of this larger project. There are a lot of different things which need to be done to ensure that an event goes according to plan and keeping track of them all can be difficult.

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