I had the wonderful opportunity to host the Social Media Lounge at the BizBash NY Expo on Wednesday, October 27th at the Javits Center. It was a great chance to meet event professionals face-to-face. Since there are lessons to be learned at every event, I wanted to share what I learned at BizBash as a recap and learning opportunity for all of you who were unable to join us.
The most important thing is to be surrounded by good people.
The Social Media Lounge was hosted by thirteen of my colleagues and friends – all professionals who really know their stuff. They can help you set up a Twitter account and talk to you about the integration of social media in your events, but more importantly, they are good people.
I trust their skills and their friendship. Being surrounded by this particular group of people reminded me the importance of having a team that works together. It helps an event run smoothly and keeps everyone honest about the successes and areas for improvement. When you run an event, surround yourself with only the best!
Fun breeds love.
The BizBash Pre-Party was a blast. It was held at Carnival, a fun venue with games and a festive atmosphere. There was also a photo booth for guests to take pictures with their props of choice sponsored by 5th Avenue Digital. Everyone had a great time and it was the perfect chance for attendees to meet one another in a casual setting. This was a significant investment from BizBash, but critical to the success of their event. Kudos to them for the thought behind the preparty!
Social media is not as prevalent in the event community as it could/should be. We need more education on this topic!
With over 1400 tweets sent, the #BizBash hashtag was the second highest trending topic in New York. Nearly 300 unique tweeters were buzzing about the event. However, we met countless people in the social media lounge who simply saw no personal or business value in it. I was shocked at how many people do not actively use social media, especially given that there is quite a sizable event professionals community on Twitter. This further reminded me that we must be very focused on education surrounding the impact and importance of social media as people are still learning about what it really is.
We had a great time at the BizBash lounge and we hope to be closely involved as the event professional community further embraces social media with strategy and purpose to achieve results!
