Like most jobs, the role of speaker has undergone a change in expectations recently. Speakers must now do more than just present. They must interact with and engage attendees. But asking what the audience thinks once during the presentation, when the question-mark emblazoned slide appears isn’t engagement. Interaction must be a before, during, and after conference responsibility for speakers.
The relationship between speaker and conference host is a symbiotic one. A well-known name and hot topic will bring new attendees to the conference, and an impressive presentation and interaction with attendees will bring them back.
Attendees expect interaction and are vocal when they don’t receive it. Conference planners can thank social media for that. In order to meet your audience’s expectations you need to insist your event speakers do the following:

Possess a Social Pedigree
Before awarding any application to present, examine the speaker’s social pedigree. The speaker should be involved in social media, use it regularly, and have a decent-sized following. All speakers don’t have to be Neil deGrasse Tyson with 3.71 million followers on Twitter alone, but anyone you’re considering as a speaker should show an effort on popular social media platforms.
A successful speaker in today’s world must be involved in social media, regardless of chosen career or niche. Social media is a way of spreading ideas and having conversations. Today’s social media platforms are yesterday’s Paris salons, where people are able to exchange ideas and build followings.
The other reason your speaker must have a social media pedigree is because it helps in spreading the news of your conference.

Talk About You
A good speaker has a following, and while not every association conference is of interest to everyone, you might be surprised how many of your members will come just to hear a particular speaker. A good speaker will publicize your event as part of his/her speaking roster. Christopher S. Penn and Michael Hyatt (marketing speakers) do a wonderful job of telling their audience where they will be. When they’re there, they make sure people know that too by posting about the conference.

Show an Interest in Your Audience
In the case of keynote speakers, they often come from broader industries than the niche served by your association. This means they may have to tailor their presentation accordingly. Make sure they have the interest and knowledge about who they’re addressing or you could be dealing with social media backlash. While astute conference goers can draw their own correlations, most won’t bother and they’ll turn off to the message. Don’t put your speaker in that position. Make sure she/he understands your conference audience‘s top concerns and how to connect through them. The little bit of preparation it takes will make you both look like superstars.

Give You Content
If your speaker’s on tour, it’s likely the presenter has something to sell – a book, idea, more speaking engagements, etc. On the other side, you need content. Remember the symbiotic relationship? Request your speaker provide you with a guest blog post (doesn’t have to be unique to your site), article snippet, interview, or additional background into how his idea came about will not only feed your need for content, and publicize the speaker, but also build interest on your audience’s part.

Engage Your Audience Before and After
Keynote speakers used to be rock stars. They’d fly in, give you the allotted time, and duck out a back door. No more. Presenters are discussion leaders so they must be present (virtually or otherwise) to help lead the conversation. Some speakers assign homework, some interact in a conference online community, while some follow the conference hashtag and engage people directly.
Professional presenters spend a lot of time traveling and often can do a little “social” work in between flights. If you’ve selected a social speaker, chances are he’ll do this anyway but make sure you encourage him to engage with your audience before, during and after.
After the conference is over, a great speaker will review the tweet stream and posts from her/his presentation. If you see a question directed to the speaker that has gone unanswered, feel free to pass it along. Answering questions and engaging attendees afterwards impresses the audience and may affect next year’s attendance numbers.

One note of caution: never write into a contract how many social posts are required. This creates an inauthentic situation and goes against the very basics of social media. Engagement is the goal, not a certain number of posts.

In Conclusion

When you’re considering speakers, think of more than the presentation. Consider what they might be willing to do outside of the conference from a content and social media perspective. Engagement is the goal and successful speakers grasp the benefits of that for you, your association, and their careers.

The event and hospitality industry regularly relies on casual event staff and volunteers but this can often bring challenges. This post looks at how to maximize commitment and performance from casual event staff and volunteers.

Casual event staff and volunteers are regularly employed in the event industry to give valuable extra support and input as required. They are commonly brought in for specific tasks, short term projects or to supplement the core team on site at an event.

Many staff are worth their weight in gold and do a sterling job, however staffing issues such as absenteeism, late notification of unavailability and poor timekeeping can cause stress to Event Managers when you least need it. This post focuses on some ways to try to encourage and develop a pool of dependable casual staff.

Pay Above Average
You may not have this freedom but if you can pay above the average or minimum wage, even slightly, this will help inspire greater commitment and motivation.

Ensure Proper Breaks
However pressurized the event and even if you will not get a break yourself it is important that your staff have time out. This will not only help to ensure their welfare but it will hopefully give them time to absorb the event they are a part of, which can often be quite awe inspiring!

Offer Perks
You would be surprised how much the little touches can mean to people. This may be simply saving some cake for them, letting them keep their event t-shirt or uniform, handing them an event goodie bag at the end of the day or ensuring they personally get to meet a speaker or performer at the event.

Try to Utilize Strengths
You have a set role in mind however if you can find out, encourage and develop a person’s particular interests within the event environment this will be rewarded. For example if you have a budding photographer, film maker or social media superhero in front of you, you may be able to use their skills and ideas somehow in future projects.

Brief Staff Fully
It is important to brief staff so they understand their role and what is expected of them. This will also help to take some of the anxiety away for them. It can be quite daunting being part of a large event and not everyone in the events industry is confident and outgoing, particularly if they are just starting out.
Before the day I always talk through and/or send a briefing document about the event detailing important information and try to think about any key questions they may have. This will include practical and logistical information such as what to wear, directions and public transport information, who to ring in case of problems, which entrance to use and who to report to. I also outline their anticipated tasks with a chronological timeline of the day and their responsibilities. Finally I include a paragraph about my company ethos and brand and what I expect from our staff.

Reward Reliable Casual Event Staff
You need reliable casual event staff. Reward dependable staff by ensuring they are on the A-list and ensuring they have first refusal of any additional shifts that come up.

Understand the Role
To be a rounded Event Manager I am a firm believer that you should experience all elements of your event and the different challenges team members face. To do this you need to spend some time in different areas, such as behind the registration desk and serving refreshments. This ensures that you gain a different perspective and truly understand the role every member of staff is undertaking and the traits required by that task. Every single element of your event contributes to the final tapestry. Lead by example and show how you expect each role to be approached but also take heed of the rich feedback this opportunity gives you.

Team Building
This is difficult when casual staff and volunteers often join the team for short periods and at pressurized times, however try to develop team spirit and the sense of achievement that working together effectively creates.

Value Their Feedback
Let staff and volunteers know that you truly value their thoughts and ask for and listen closely to their feedback and suggestions. Your team will often hear insights from guests and attendees which is vital honest feedback you are not aware of and may inspire ways to do things better and differently in future.

Recognition and Praise
Event days are often long and hard. Thank the team and feed back praise from the client, attendees and so forth. Try to ensure casual event staff leave on a high and feeling proud of their contribution!

Meeting design is evolving. Here are 5 simple steps that event managers can incorporate to their design process to help shift the focus and the power of your meeting away from the stage and towards the participants.

The traditional conference model puts all of the attention on a stage where speakers, key stakeholders, and sponsors control the information statically given to the audience. This creates a one-way information dump instead of an exchange of knowledge and ideas. We know as event professionals that this methodology is changing in favour of more interactive and collaborative formats, but how does this shift actually work in application?

Know your Audience

The first step to an interactive event experience is making your specific audience feel important and included in story and the program. Begin in the marketing phase by setting up a ‘we’ mentality that aligns with your group’s specific wants and needs. Each person at your event will have a unique perspective, and the sum of their collective knowledge will always be greater than one talking head on a stage; so giving them a platform that aligns with their needs and wants will give you the ultimate bump in engagement.

How do you determine your audience’s desires? Take into consideration your stakeholder’s main objectives first and then… simply ask. Well before designing your program, put out surveys, polls, and/or questionnaires that take into account the important facets of the meeting – what type of venue works best? Where? What content do you want to covered? What do you absolutely not want to see/do/experience? Putting the power in the hands of your participants should begin (to a point) before the event does.

Inform and Listen

There are plenty of unique educational formats to consider to ramp up engagement, but what works across pretty much every type of event is to use your emcee and your speakers to let everyone know what expectations and opportunities they will have during the course of the program. This could mean simply being up front and announcing that audience input is valued and will be taken into account in the form of open discussions, polling/survey technology, or smaller workshops for example. It could also mean creating touch points that allow for debriefing and tweaking of your program to adapt to the feedback you are getting throughout on social media or within your event app. Whatever your methodology, create a platform that allows you to have simultaneous structure and flexibility: like an improv comedy show where the games are pre-selected but the content (jokes!) is made up on the spot.

Demand More of Your Participants

If the audience is truly more important than the person on a stage at any given time, then they should be held accountable for meeting the objectives of the program. This could be as simple as showing up to each session (perhaps with RFID tracking to rule out cheating), or as complex as completing a series of tasks throughout the program through your event app or even writing a test at the end of the program for a certification. If you want to ignite change amongst the culture of your participants and the event itself, try building in small rewards for completion of these objectives. Something as simple as free sponsor swag or a gift card can bring out people’s competitive nature.
In an ideal world, your participants will retain so much and be so transformed by their experience that they could one day be leading the sessions they attended. As event professionals, managing participants expectations and making them accountable should be part of our service to our clients. Looking after their needs and wants over the figureheads and speakers on the stage isn’t enough on it’s own – we must be able to measure tangible results that focus entirely on their transformative experience.

Create an Experience

Create something that your participants can truly experience with all of their senses instead of statically watching or passively listening to someone else talk about their own experiences. After all, people will forget what you say and what you do, but they will never forget how you make them feel. Big brands pull stunts all the time in the name of ‘experiential marketing’ to get people to remember their product, so why can’t you do the same at your conference?
Take the #TimsDark experiment for example. Canadian coffee company Tim Hortons literally blacked out an entire store in the name of promoting their dark roast blend to the masses.
If you were planning a conference or meeting all about coffee, why not include a great sponsorship activation like this one, or even incorporate it into your education? It creates wow-factor, prompts retention, and gets important messages across in thought-provoking ways. As with any creative activation, just remember to make sure that it aligns with your brand messaging so as not to create confusion among participants.

Extend the Conversation

Don’t let your event live in a vacuum. Make your participant’s ideas and contributions valid by continuing the discussion via social media platforms, forums, live hangouts, or more informal meet-ups that spawned out of the main program. You can also utilize your speakers to create post-event videos that reiterate key messaging from their sessions, spark application ideas, and even tease out the next event. If you really want to make sure the conversation continues – try gamifying it by holding a contest. Ask participants to send in stories of how they applied what they learned at the event and then give away a prize that aligns with the content of the meeting. For example, if your conference was for health and wellness, give away a membership to a gym or a new pair of runners.

In Conclusion

The primary reason behind every single meeting is to exchange ideas and information. A static talking head delivering information to a passive audience is not an exchange, and it puts no demand or ownership on the participants. With a few small steps and some trial and error, you can deliver and event that will leave your participants transformed… with only themselves to thank.

Are you happy with your event’s ticket price? Are you confident that you couldn’t be charging more — or that you shouldn’t be charging less?
Finding the perfect ticket price is a tough nut, and very few organizers feel 100% confident that they’ve cracked it.

Today, you may be using a “cost-plus” strategy to price your event. You price above your costs, based on the profit margin you need to hit. If your event costs you $100 a head, and your goal is a 10% profit margin, you price at $110. But this overlooks the most important factor in event pricing: your attendees.

Your Pricing Strategy

Your attendees are the final decision-maker — they will pay for a ticket, or they won’t. And the costs of putting on your event don’t matter to your attendees. Neither do your profit margins. People decide to attend your event based on a simple, very human question: Will this event be more valuable than its price?
To use this to logic to your advantage, you should evaluate your pricing strategy based on three factors: perceived value, the actual price, and the cost per ticket for the event.

• Perceived value is the value your attendees associate with your event. This isn’t just about your event’s offerings — it will depend on your competitive set, your attendee demographics, and the way that you position your event.
• The actual price of your ticket. This may be more or less than the perceived value. If your price is above the perceived value of your event, you’ll struggle to sell tickets. If your price is below the perceived value, it will seem like a great deal.
• The per-ticket cost of putting on your event. These fall into two categories — “fixed” or “variable.” Fixed costs aren’t affected by the number of people who attend your event (such as the cost of your venue). Variable costs change as the number of attendees increases (at a catered event, the cost of food will probably be variable).

Setting Your Initial Price

You know that you want to hit the sweet spot: low enough that you’re below the perceived value of the event (which makes your ticket price appealing), but high enough that you aren’t leaving money on the table. And while I’d like to give you a magic formula, there are simply too many factors at play. Your attendee base might shift, your biggest competitor might introduce a new perk, or your speaker might be featured in a reality TV show…and suddenly that perfect price isn’t perfect anymore.
The best approach is, as it is in so many cases, to test and iterate. That said, you don’t have to shoot blind. To make the best possible estimate, start here:

• Research your competition. A basic Google search will yield results, but don’t stop there. Study their Facebook and Instagram accounts, their paid search results, and their event listings.
• Calculate average price points. How are similar events in your area priced? Knowing what you do about your customers, take a look at other events they might attend — what’s the average price point there?
• Study their pricing strategy. Are your competitors using “tiered” pricing, displaying the number of remaining tickets, or using any other strategies to stimulate sales?
• Identify ways that these competitive events might raise (or lower) their perceived value. Do these events devote entire photo spreads to their artisanal food vendors, or hype their opening act with exclusive interviews? How are they highlighting amenities, perks, their location, or even the type of attendees their event attracts?

Set your initial price based on this research, your understanding of your customer and your event’s positioning strategy. For example: if the average price of similar events in your area is $100, but your event is uniquely attractive to students, you might set a lower base price (or a special student discount) of $80. If you’re torn between a slightly lower and a slightly higher price, err on the lower side — as I’ll explain in the next section, you can always adjust over time.

Adjusting Your Ticket Prices

It’s fairly common for events to set a lower initial ticket price, which you increase as tickets run out. There are many reasons to do this — it helps generate ticket sales, it helps you understand demand for your event, and it creates ambassadors for your event when you need them most. People like to attend events with friends, so once they’ve committed to tickets, they’ll encourage their friends to buy.
Typically, successful organizers on Eventbrite increase prices 3-4 times, “triggered” by different milestones. You might wait until a ticket type sells out: if you’re selling 500 VIP tickets, you might sell the first 100 at $199, and then next 400 at $249. You can also opt to increase prices based on tickets on a set date — and make sure event-goers know your plans to do so. Announce that prices will increase each week leading up to the end, and you’ll drive sales boosts right before each price increase.

In Conclusion

While there’s no “perfect” price for your event, there is a smart way to build your strategy.
Position your event as the best possible value to attendees, and find ways to demonstrate that your event is a better value than other options — including a weekend watching Netflix.

We are witnessing a new rise of influencers on various social networks.

Despite all the positives about getting a Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest power-user to attend or report about your event, nothing beats hosting bloggers.

Let’s look at some reasons why inviting bloggers to your next event may be a good idea…

Why Bloggers?

If you are looking for tangible PR results, it is tough to match the impact of a blog post.
Why? Mostly because of the impact blogging has on search.
You may want to invite bloggers to your event because they are usually social networks power users. We are hell of early adopters.

Proper bloggers will share the hell out of their blogpost on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter.
Therefore you definitely hit two flies with one swatter.

A further reason is that you’ll earn trust. Bloggers usually speak their mind and their readers tend to trust them. The good news is that social proof immediately extends to your event in case of favorable feedback.

Inviting a blogger does not mean you’ll get a positive review or live blogging. Being accommodating, getting them freebies will not result in positive feedback if your event is, well, not great. This is if you invited proper bloggers. Average bloggers’ opinions can be shaped. Top bloggers recognize the good from the bad. And blog about it.

If you are still with me and decided to get bloggers to attend your event, here is how to do it.

Research

A rule of thumb is to invite only relevant bloggers to attend. If your event is about fashion, you want fashion bloggers. You get the picture? Make sure they also reflect the tone of voice of your event. Read their posts and watch their language. In order to understand who to invite, think in terms of:

• location
• reach

You may want to reach out to local bloggers first, as getting them to come from the other side of the world may have a budgeting impact.

In case you are undecided on whether it is worth it, look at the blogger reach to make a better decision.
Pro-bloggers know the size of their audience, their geographic location and so forth.

If you do not want to ask for this data overtly you can use external tools to understand the influence of bloggers in your industry.

Treat Bloggers as Press

Sometimes the readership of a blog is twice the size of any other industry magazine. The quality of that readership is usually pristine. It’s earned through the years, it’s there waiting to listen. It’s not a list of contacts bought on the Internet. Create a blogger status and give it the same benefits you give to press. Here are some important reminders that will help you to win bloggers’ hearts:

• Having a dedicated space. A bloggers lounge or area.
• Having a dedicated fast connection to upload pics, posts etc and, in general, wifi at the event.
• Having an operating position (it can be a beanbag with an ethernet or wifi connection and most of all electricity plugs)
• A Tweet Wall with tweets to check out what is being said
• Have some sort of relationship with official channels (Twitter accounts, Event Blog) depending on the event. This can be anything from guest posting to rating content.

Getting in Touch

Communication is key with bloggers. They like to feel as VIPs. Maybe they aren’t but they like to feel like that.

A lot of bloggers started a blog because they were rejected by the journalism world or by an industry ecosystem. Bloggers reputation is earned on the ground with a lot of sweat, posting and coffee. They want recognition of that.Therefore the only tip I can give is to have a personal approach, get to genuinely know the blog (mentioning the last post doesn’t work) and be nice. Despite this halo of celebrity, real bloggers are approachable and always respond to genuine requests.

In Conclusion

Inviting bloggers to your next event is a great idea. It helps your SEO, it increases your social reach and gives you a whole new authoritative image. Try to treat bloggers as rock stars but make sure to select the right bloggers. Location and reach will help you. When in doubt, ask around. Embrace the benefits of getting bloggers to attend your next event and remember to throw a great show, this what ultimately counts!

Technology plays an integral role within today’s event industry. Every event now uses technology in the form of event apps, event websites, digital signage, presentation graphics, digital check-in and more! Technology can be used, not only to save time and paper, but to engage and connect audiences and really personalize an event.

Technology is a key factor within events as it helps to improve and streamline the experience for attendees, as well as encourage interaction. The result is that forward-thinking event planners are now using digital alternatives to push boundaries, personalize events and create unique experiences.

Here, we look at ways to capture audiences’ imaginations and interaction at events through the use of technology.

Create a Buzz and Plenty of Publicity

Start as you mean to go on at your event, by starting off with a bespoke wow factor experience as delegates arrive. Most event planners have heard of video mapping, even if they haven’t yet used it themselves at an event. Building projection video mapping has been used to amazing effect at product launches and by high profile brands to attract widespread publicity and make a real impact.
Using custom designed graphics and new technologies, this form of video mapping projects images on to structures or buildings with amazing effect.

Display Logos and Wow Attendees

Corporate or event logos need to be displayed somewhere, but who’s to say that you need to stick to traditional banners, backdrops or gimmicks? A stunning and creative way of displaying logos and names at an event is through the use of water, light and, of course, technology.
An information waterfall uses solenoid valves placed across the top of a huge metal structure to release water droplets in a particular pattern that spells out a word or creates an image. The whole thing uses a special computer programme to customise the experience, as well as lighting to complete the effect.

Digital Ice Breakers

Technology can play its part after guests’ arrivals or during drinks receptions to help break the ice and set the mood. Digital Caricaturists are a modern take on the traditional paper and pen caricaturists and a great way to get guests mixing and mingling.
Digital caricaturists can instantly upload pictures, email or even print them out for attendees. They can also be customized to include logos or a particular event theme.

Engage and Interact with Speakers

Technology is already used to help engage audiences during speaker presentations. Alternative ways that tablet devices can be used during talks to improve the experience include using devices to ask questions during the presentation, which will encourage an audience to participate.
Include an assistant, sat near the stage, who can scroll through questions and comments in real time so they can broach important topics during the event. Or perhaps a giant digital graffiti wall on stage for attendees to create and generate ideas and questions during the Q&A section.

Personal Edible Treats

A new creation which is taking events by storm is the Ice Pop Generator which is opening up a whole new world of personalised food and beverages. Harnessing new technologies, customised ice lollies can now be created by a new machine and can include faces, logos and more. The Ice Pop sticks themselves can even include personalised messages!
This is a concept to inspire, amaze and engage attendees as they can watch the icy treats being created.

Interactive Musical Entertainment

Another unique, technological concept is Stanley the Piano. A 21st Century digitally enhanced musical instrument that has the ability to play songs requested by attendees via social media. With a special ‘Stanley Team’ behind the scenes, this option offers a fully interactive musical experience for guests. This is musical entertainment like no other.

To dance the night away

Ipad bands are the new, ingenious way of using technology to party the night away! Professional iPad bands are emerging as the demand for event entertainment that can incorporate technology to create a complete digital event experience.
A range of instruments and sounds can be created by iPad bands to suit event themes and requirements, as well as performing a variety of musical genres. A great option for events with limited space!

In Conclusion

Technology is here to stay, so finding unique and innovative ways of incorporating digital alternatives in to events to improve experiences and push boundaries is one of the tasks facing today’s event planners.
With rapidly evolving technologies, event planners need to stay connected and informed on industry trends and new innovations in order to offer cutting edge events and experiences that will feel fresh, whilst wowing audiences.