How to drive attendance and engagement for your seminar or workshop slides

HOW TO DRIVE ATTENDANCE AND

ENGAGEMENT FOR YOUR SEMINAR OR

WORKSHOP

Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Agenda

Making the most of your event

Promote & communicate

Engage with attendees

Measure your success

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Making the most of your event

To be successful:

1. Identify your audience’s goals

2. Identify your goals

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Considerations Audience Goal Your Goal

Size of Event •Participate, but not faceless attendee •Increase attendance •Right audience for the event

Value of Event •Make connections and learn

•Network with peers

•Create loyal and repeat attendees

Content Focus •Learn from experts •Engage with speakers

•Correctly set level of intensity and delivery of content

Return on Investment •“What’s in it for me?” •Create and stay on budget

Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact, Inc.

Make the most of your event

My Sales Tactics Event

Companies goals Get attendees to sign up

Seen as thought leader

Increase revenue.

Market private coaching services

Create referral network

What do attendees want? Learn the proven techniques

Apply learnings to their business.

A return on investment for attending

4


PROMOTE AND COMMUNICATE

Are you promoting to the right people?

Who do you want to come? Create an “ideal” attendee profile

Demographic

Past attendance, customer

Age , Geography

Industry, Educational background

Influence in networks (local and social)

Where do they spend time?

Online

Offline

Print

Where do they look for information about events?

Your website

Radio and TV

Forward Invites

Word of Mouth

Search Engines

Social Media

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Use the Event Planning & Feedback section of the Survey tool to gather data.

Foundation from those who know you

Get their attention with email invites for those

who know your organization.

Have recognizable brand

79% mark email as spam when they don't know

who the sender is

Optimize subject lines that get you opened

Capture attention with your headline

Why do I or should I care?

Show your personality

Personalize message to recipient

Make the invite relevant.

56% mark email as spam if the message is “just not

interesting to me”

7


Good Invitations cause interest and action

Invitation must include:

Easy registration or RSVP

When and where?

Is there a cost?

Who will answer my questions?

Make it shareable

Do your invites do more than ask people to come?

Engage with video

Increase interest

Improve attendance

Provide event information:

8


71% watch video on the internet, and the number of streams

should double by 2013– Forrester Research 2009

Video in email can increase click-through rates by as much as

three-hundred percent– Forrester Research 2009


Success with Event Invitations

Business Victories

Their challenge:

Promoting weekly teleseminars to educate

customers and prospects.

Boosting teleseminar attendance.

With Event Marketing their results:

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"We've seen registration go up 30% to

40%, and it's consistently growing

each week, undoubtedly because

we've started using Event Marketing.“-

Cheri Ruskus, Business Victories

Track your invite going viral:

Does this invite work?

What works:

Headline captures attention and

sense of urgency

Visuals match event theme

Why it does not work:

No way to RSVP on line!

Unclear how to sign up

No personalization

No map for directions on how to

get there.

No way to share

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Beyond the one event

Share upcoming events in your email

invitations to increase awareness.

“Attend My Events” button

appears in the Insert menu.

Clicking this option will feature:

–Event Name

–Start/End date and time

–Event Description (if given)

–Location

Event names link to event info

Track which readers are

interested in what events.

Leverage Social Media for your invite

Use Simple Share to promote

the event on Facebook and

Twitter at the same time

■ Customize the message for

each site.

■ Include an image (optional).

■ Easily share to Facebook

and Twitter

Expand the reach of your invitation

through Social Media.

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Share information on social media about the event

Get more attendees by sharing the event on your networks

Use a custom message to

encourage attendance.

Establish a #hashtag

(e.g. #B2Bevent)

Ask them to retweet

Watch how followers retweet

Promote the event on a

schedule:

Weekly

The day before

An hour before

13 Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Using LinkedIn

To promote the event:

Promote your event in your profile and

updates

− Prove the value of attending

Invite your connections in LinkedIn

− Provide the event #hashtag

− Include Twitter handles of guest

speakers

− Understand your connections with

InMap:

http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/

Post event notification in Groups


http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/

Leverage Social Media Promotion

Tools Before During After

• Promote the event by sharing the event details on your wall

• Share updates on your wall and upload pictures from the event

• On your wall, thank those who came to the event

• Answer remaining questions from event and send email with link to your wall.

• Create an unique event hashtag

• Using bit.ly create short event URL for tweets

• Customize your Twitter background with the event brand

• Schedule tweets in advance to promote

• Maximize the opportunity for a re-tweet by limiting your tweet to 120 characters

• Encourage tweeting during the event

• Create a Twitter List of your conference speakers for others to follow

• List people’s Twitter username’s on their badges

• Encourage people to continue discussion

• Use tweets to promote next event

• Have link to event homepage in your profile

• Invite connections to attend

• Encourage those that meet at the event to connect

• Continue networking after the event

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Get your event found online


Built-in Promotions with

Social Media and Search

Engine Optimization

■ Increase SEO with keywords

− Topics, speakers, theme, location

■ Create an event #hashtag to

encourage conversation

■ Feature #hashtag in event

communications

Can your event be found on the Web?

Do you have an event homepage? ▪Provide more promotional details

▪ Drive desire to attend.

▪Match the branding and colors

“The homepage flexibility provides a fantastic outlet for other complementary marketing strategies such as posting for social networking and affiliates websites.”

-Shannon Beth Harrington, SB Cre8tive

17


Can your event be found on the Web?

Talk About Content

List the sessions offered/Agenda

Link to guest speaker bios, websites,

book reviews

Showcase new products or services

Enable Interaction

Provide event contact’s information for

questions

Feature testimonials of former attendees

Create and update a “What’s New”

section

Display pictures from past events or

featured speakers

Include Fine Print

State cancellation and refund policy (if

applicable) and make it fair and friendly

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It „s more seamless for people and easier for everyone. For

people signing up for the events they don‟t have to bounce from a

newsletter, to our website, to PayPal and back-it‟s so flawless and

easy. What we were hoping for is what we got and so much

more.-Leslie Sturgeon, Women Inspiring Woman


Can your event be found on the web?

Feature all upcoming events online or on your website.

Provide a list of upcoming events on website:

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Provide a calendar of your upcoming events:

Boost attendance with promotional variety


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Remember: communicate where your audience is listening!

Invitations Homepage Social Media

Send personalized

invitations with a

personal appeal

Create a unique event

homepage

Engage those following

you to boost attendance

and awareness

Make sure to include:

Important event information

To ask recipients to forward

the email to friends and family

A list of upcoming events

Encourage to talk about event

in Facebook and Twitter

Links to register-automatically

done for you with Event

Marketing


Information about the event,

topics and guest speakers

Regular updates on the

homepage, with our easy to

update homepage

A “Join my Mailing List” box, to

keep the connected

Use the “Attend my Event

Widget” to promote upcoming

events on your website


Updates about the event

(Examples: new speakers,

discount offers, etc.)

Link to registration for the

event from all posts and tweets

Encourage those who have

registered to post or tweet they

are attending-automatically

done for you with Event

Marketing

Let them know and they’ll show!

ENGAGEMENT WITH ATTENDEES

Step 1: Registration

Easy to use self registration

Decreases errors

Attendees register when and how they want

Centralized Information and Professional Looking

One place for all event information

Same branding for all event communications

Track and see the details registrant provide

Have a better event when you know who is coming

Time Saving

Manual registration = Hours of time vs. Online = time saving

One person can run the show

Easy for anyone to manage


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How registration engages

Cape May County Chamber

of Commerce

Their challenge:

Difficult to get a proper headcount.

Provide adequate event information.

Over-ordering or booking a location that is

too small/large.

Collecting payment from registrants.

With Event Marketing their results:

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It took two or three people two or

three steps to register one person

for a $20 lunch. Now, it‟s all

automated. – Vicki Clark, Cape

May County Chamber of

Commerce

Step 2: Acknowledge and Communicate


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Have registrants share event information to create event buzz

Registrants can spread

the word about the

event by sharing on

Facebook or Twitter

Step 2: Acknowledge and Communicate

Include in reminder: Countdown until event.

Link to a pre-event survey or poll

Tease info about guest speaker/feature:

“Forward to friend” link and Social Share button

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Include in confirmation message: Keep it short and concise.

Provide contact information

Feature quotes from past attendees

Reference the “Add to my Calendar” feature.

Reminder communications and confirmation messages increase attendance

During the Event

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Event Check-in

Easy attendance

tracking on your

mobile phone!

Display list of

registrants

Mark as attended

Email individual event

registrants

Available on iPhone and Android devices

During the Event

Use Twitter:

Encourage attendees to tweet during

the event

Non-attendees can participate

Have attendees post photos and

videos

Add Twitter handles to name tags

By the end of 2011 over 50% of mobile

Phones will be smartphones. -ComScore’s “2010 Mobile Year

in Review”

50% of Twitter users useTwitter Mobile. –Mashable.com, “Mobile by the Numbers”


Engage your attendees at the event

Direct to your website

Get feedback via a poll or short survey

Post video content

How do I build? -http://bit.ly/

Add- .qr at end of shortened url


■ QR Code Section

http://www.socialquickstarter.com

QR Codes keep the interaction going

http://www.socialquickstarter.com/

POST EVENT COMMUNICATIONS

Post event email and homepage

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■ Thank attendees.

– Thank you tweet

– Email

■ Post quotes and photos from attendees

■ Provide links to materials distributed at the event.

– Host via Slide Share

■ Provide contact info

■ Give participants a way to stay connected

■ Include link to post-event survey


Collect Post Event Feedback

Use a Survey

Ask about satisfaction with

content, facilities, etc.

How likely are they to come again?

How likely are they to tell others

about your events?

Ask questions that get answers

you can act upon.

Example: “What didn’t you like

about our last event?”

Over 60 templates to start with to meet your objective

Includes good questions

You can edit, remove, add, and re-order questions

You can add your logo, colors and images

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Collect Post Event Feedback

Track conversations with NutshellMail

Monitor at your event

Review on your schedule

Track engagement and review

conversations

Respond directly from your inbox

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Feedback and Data for next event

Determine high value prospects and

follow-up

Identify the right segments to invite to

your next event

Personalize your future

communications

Segment:

– Details such as who paid, how they paid, demographic, geographic, etc.

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Did you meet the objectives?

Measure your objectives by:

Attendance rate

Revenue from the event

Data collected via reports and

survey

Measure attendee objectives by:

Show rate of regsitrants

Social media conversations

Feedback in surveys

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Take the Next Step


Sign up for a free Event Marketing trial. Arm yourself with the tools and coaching to easily promote and manage your online event. Watch your event succeed with Constant Contact!

Toll-free: 866-876-8464 constantcontact.com

Check out our live product demo:

Watch our live demo of the Event Marketing tool : Wednesdays, 2:00pm EST

constantcontact.com/ learning-center

Webinars Event + Social =

Success, Guaranteed.

We’re happy to help!

Call us: Toll-free: 855-816-6508

Speak with a personal consultant

to have all your questions about

getting started answered

constantcontact.com/

support

Have Questions?

http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

http://www.constantcontact.com/learning-center/webinars/live/index.jsp





http://www.constantcontact.com/support/index.jsp





QUESTIONS?

Plan- Using Objectives

Share your story: Recent or Upcoming Event

Attendee Objective

Your Objective

Value and Content Focus of event

Audience Goal Your Goal

Size of Event

Value of Event

Content Focus

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Are you promoting to the right people?

Attendees-Who is perfect for

your event?

Where do they spend time? Where do they seek event

information?

In common What is

different

Real Life Online Real Life Online

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Attendee Worksheet:

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How to drive attendance and engagement for your seminar or workshop slides

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event marketing

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promotethe event

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event details

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