Volunteers are the core of most any event. Very few trade shows, conferences, and fundraisers can properly function without a dedicated, devoted event team running the show behind the scenes.
In other words, if you don’t have the proper framework in place – if you aren’t doing as much as you could be to attract people to your events team and retain them – then your event’s inevitably going to suffer.
Employees are the KEY to having a successful event. No matter how successful of an event planner you are, you can’t put your ideas and hard work into action without help. Whether it is full time employees, volunteers, or paid people for an event, it is important to be able to manage them successfully so they are happy, and so are the attendees. Last weekend, we focused on everything that you need to know about location. So now that you know about WHERE we are going to focus on an important WHO for your next client and event. The topics […]
When the time comes to schedule, organize, and manage an event, there will be an unlimited number of questions running through your mind. While every question deserves an answer, there is one you have to deal with before the rest: which venue is best for your event? You can’t do much until you answer this question. After all, attendees want to know where the event is taking place, as this may help them decide if they will attend. A variety of details deserve your attention when choosing an event venue. These include: Size of the venue Number of attendees Location Features […]
Your conference’s layout is every bit as important as what you’re hosting it for. An event with a terrible floor plan is extremely likely to end in disaster. For that reason, you need to make sure your conference uses its space as efficiently and effectively as possible. That’s what we’re going to discuss in today’s piece – how can you determine the best floor plan for your conference? Figure Out How Much Space You Actually Need First and foremost…how much space are you actually going to require for your event? How many attendees are you expecting to show up, and […]
Every event planner knows that where they choose to host a meeting or conference is every bit as important as the event itself. Ask anyone who’s been involved with the event industry for even a marginal amount of time, and they’ll tell you as much. If you don’t have a great location, then nothing else matters, right? Even if you’ve got what seems to be the perfect venue, a less-than-stellar location can deep-six any benefits you might gain from it. Why is this, though? One word, folks: proximity. While there are certainly other factors that come into play like technology, […]
Now, granted, location is something I’ve talked about in the past. Venue selection is so central to the event planning process that it’d be bizarre for an event management blog to not have addressed it on at least one occasion. Today, however, I’d like to put together something a little more comprehensive – a one-stop guide that lays out every single detail you need to account for when you’re figuring out where you want your event to be. It’s been said on many occasions that location is everything. In some ways, where your event is situated is even more important […]
It goes without saying that no two venues are exactly the same, and not all event sites are created entirely equal. Today, we’re going to take the time to give a nod to the top places to throw an event. These locales are the best of the best. They’re the living legends of event management; they’re the places where everyone wishes they could host. Chances are you’ve heard about at least one of these places in passing – some of the biggest events of the past decade have been hosted within their walls, after all. Madison Square Garden We’ll start […]
There was a time when the people responsible for running events had to rely almost exclusively on their wits to ensure that things went off without a hitch. Thankfully, those days are well behind us. Although event planning still requires a great deal of organization, logistical skill, and charisma; there’s now a bevy of tools on the market to make the job a whole lot easier. Fortunate thing, too – as events grow larger and more complex, the need for tools and platforms that streamline the planning process grows greater and greater. Today, we’re going to talk about how you […]
Today’s we’re going to be taking a look at Bizzabo – an Israeli developed networking and event management app, which last month managed to acquire $2.5 million in funding from a group of investors in the event industry. We’re not terribly interested in the details of that deal – rather, we’re going to take a look at what it was that made Bizzabo such an attractive choice for these investors. What is it about Bizzabo that gives it so much potential as an event management tool? What differentiates it from so many others on the ‘net? In short, we’re interested […]
The best event management professionals are those men and women who can keep the rapt attention of an audience for hours on end – and make it look easy. They’re those folks who can crunch numbers, analyze their resources, and puzzle out an intricate web of suppliers, staff, and locations in their head. They thrive under pressure, and they wouldn’t trade the high-speed environment of event planning for the world. There’s a good chance that they – and many other event planners, for that matter – could easily get away with not using any technological tools to help them run […]
Smartphones have changed the world. Of that, there can be no doubt. Today, we’re more connected than we’ve ever been before – and we can work from just about anywhere as a result. Particularly for professions which require a great deal of travel, collaboration, and field work, this technology has been a godsend. Event management is one such profession. Not only do you have access to a host of powerful, full-featured event planning apps through your phone, you’re able to instantly connect and communicate with members of your events team. In short, your Smartphone is one of the most powerful […]
As I’m certain you’ve heard on more than one occasion, mobile technology isn’t going to go away. Smartphones and tablets are today as much a part of our lives as electricity. What that means from an event management perspective is that it’s expected – or more like demanded – by attendees that a public WiFi connection is available at the events they attend. After all, they need to be able to connect to the Internet in order to share their experience, don’t they? It’s not just mobile technology, either. As I’ve noted on more than one occasion, embedded devices – […]
Today, we’re going to tackle a topic that might at first seem like it doesn’t quite fit the Tweetwall blog – information security. See, in a recent piece on upcoming trends in the event planning industry, one of the points I mentioned was the fact that, as we move through 2015, event management professionals are going to increasingly become the target of cyber-crime. There are many reasons for this, but the chief among them is the fact that – like every other industry – event management is becoming increasingly digitized. We’ve cloud platforms that assist with planning and registration, mobile […]
For the past few weeks, we have dove into everything that you need to know as an event manager to market both yourself and your events. The next few weeks we are going to look into different event technology and how to keep it as secure as possible. There is nothing worse than not having up to date equipment, or having secure information get lose via an internet connection. We will also look into the newest event technology, making it easier for you to do your job better than ever before. Also, we will look into the data realm; what it […]
A Customer Relations Management (CRM) platform serves one primary purpose – it helps an organization to manage its dealings with both current and future clients. In so doing, it automates a great deal of customer relations – sales and marketing, technical support, and general customer service generally fall under the purview of such a system. I suspect most of you already have some idea of why a CRM platform is valuable from an event management perspective. After all, running events is only part of what you do; a great deal of your job involves managing people, as well. If you […]
Everyone knows that social media’s changed something fundamental about the way we do business. The event industry is no exception to that, naturally. The birth of the social network has forced an evolution event management – perhaps more so than in any other field. With even a cursory look, it isn’t terribly difficult to understand why – and how – this happened. “In the event industry, people have always been social by nature – whether establishing personal connections at live events, understanding a clients meeting objectives, or negotiating a business deal with vendors.” explains Cvent’s Eric Eden. “It’s an innate […]
Having an active blog is great for your event management business in many ways. First of all it helps with SEO, which will make you more visible on the internet to people searching for services you offer. Also, it’s important to have a social media presence, which is all about content! This provides relevant content for you to share and grows a community around what your company is about. Here are some ideas on what you should do as far as content. Take A Look At Your Industry As with any blog, your most important consideration is what you’re trying […]
No matter what business you’re running, a strong brand is integral to your success. That applies to event management just like any other industry – albeit with a caveat or two. See, event planners occupy something of a strange space where branding’s concerned. I should explain. It’s incredibly rare for an event management firm to be noticed in any meaningful way by their guests. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve no concept of who ran the last few conferences I attended. I only recall the business they were running it for; the brand whose reputation that event was designed to cultivate. […]
I recently read an interesting piece on the Cvent blog titled “If You Don’t Share Your Successes, You’ll Hate Yourself Later.” Essentially, it talks about how event planners shouldn’t be afraid to tell people of their accomplishments – they shouldn’t be worried about tooting their own horn, so to speak. “Don’t assume that doing a good job is enough or that your work speaks for itself,” writes the author, Kristi Sanders. “Most corporations are run by bean counters and revenue magnets who see everything as a cost center or line item, humans with health benefits included…they only know what they […]
As an event management professional, you might consider search engine optimization to be outside the scope of what you do. You might believe it’s something you need not concern yourself with. You’d be wrong. Search Engine Optimization actually plays a fairly vital role in event visibility, something which is directly correlated to both registration and ticket sales. If people can’t find your event website or portfolio through Google, you’re going to get less traffic. Less traffic in turn means fewer attendees and potential clients. See where I’m going with this? The problem, of course, is that SEO isn’t exactly a […]
