Making sure your event attendees are ‘in the know’

Making sure your event attendees are ‘in the know’

Everyone can realise the stress surrounding the planning of an event, but no-body ever really considers the stress of attending an event. I’m sure at some point you have felt the stress of making the arrangements to attend the event you signed up to, whether it’s your travel, your outfit or which pitch to take with you amongst many other things! As an event planner, this is not something to push to the side lightly. After all, you want as many people as possible to attend your event.

So how can you ensure your attendees are ‘in the know’ and feel the least stress they possibly can? Communicate with them regularly – simple.

Technological advancements have given us incredible new opportunities to communicate with customers in ways that were never possible before. We can reach mass audiences instantly through emails and social media and niche markets likewise. Materials such as video allow us to inform customers about our products and services on a much more thorough level. We even have systems in place these days that create marketing automation and send specific messages to customers they are applicable to, with limited human input. Make the most of these tools and keep your event attendees ‘in the know’ through email, social media and event websites!

Email

Emails are a good tool to use to initiate a customers awareness and interest in your event. After you have sourced this interest you can build on their desire to attend and then encourage action to buy a ticket through other methods. Emails also give you the opportunity to send a bit more information, compared to a push notification. Any information you have about a client is usually an email due to the hundreds of business cards stacked up in your cupboard and sending an email gives a more personal feeling.

What are the best ways to use email?

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Send more detailed information in segments (e.g. send a few emails talking about your event to keep reminding customers)

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Address the email to the receivers real name

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Push customers to visit the company/event website

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Segment emails on different attendee needs (e.g. if they have attended an event before or if they got the VIP package).

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Don’t clog up their email box. Customers will start to ignore your emails or simply block you if they are constantly receiving new emails full of marketing promotion and advertising which may lead them to ignore vital information they need about the event.

Social Media

Social media is an incredibly useful tool to ensure one message reaches a mass audience very quickly. Not only do all of your friends/followers see your post, algorithms ensure those who are not friends/followers can see your post and the option for people to share, comment and like your posts also boost the likelihood of more people seeing it. This method is very time and cost effective. Also, your customers don’t want to feel like they’ve got to do lots of work to find out the information they need, they want you to serve it to them on a silver plate, social media allows this. Creating a group for all event attendees also limits the chances of your messages not being able to cut through all other advertising noise and target exactly who you need to.

What are the best ways to use social media?

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Post at the right time on each platform. Ensure you post when your audience are most active and your competition is least active.

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Create a group, either for each event or a general events page. This gives  customers one place they know they can find all the information they need and allows you as the organiser to ensure your message is not clogged down with other noise.

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Use images to catch their attention and increases the chances they will remember the information you provided them with. For example, a picture of the venue.

Event website & apps

Having a website to fuel the excitement and harvest all relevant information for your event is key. It is also a great hub for all your current and prospective attendees to use to find out everything they need. This kind of tool is very appealing to customers as it is reliable and makes their lives ten times easier as they are not having to spend an hour searching for all the information they need. Websites also give guests a feeling or reassurance and a more thorough understanding as they can see videos, pictures, testimonials, partners and more. An event app is often more convenient for a lot of people, but creating apps can be an expensive method, so a website is always a good place to start.

What are the best ways to use an event website/app?

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Use push notification to tell guests details such as where, when and the dress code. 

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Ensure every last detail for the event is on the page so guests have no need to look anywhere else.

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Leave an option for guests to contact you if they need to and ensure that responding to them is a priority.

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Send automated emails if any details change on the website so customers are constantly updated and don’t feel as though they have to keep checking themselves. If you have an app you can send automatic push notifications.

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Update the event details as the schedule changes (e.g. you have a new keynote speaker or you’ve organised some entertainment last minute).

With all of this in mind the most important factor to remember is that posters, mail information, printed programs and big event signs get outdated very fast. An event planner almost always changes either the date of the event, the title, the location, the theme etc at least once which makes the above methods almost useless and very expensive to keep producing. Giving customers the option to refer back to an email, check a social media page or group or even the event website ensures they are always up to date, ‘in the know’ and the least stressed they can be.

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