Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Tired of FEAST or FAMINE Sales? by @MallaHaridat

Thursday, April 18th, 2013

Are you tired of “feast and famine” sales in your event planning business?  I’ve got just the strategy for you to find ways to market your current events and land new clients – in the midst of keeping track of ALL of the details and operations!!

The brainstorm: A friend emailed me recently to promote an upcoming event where she is the featured speaker.  Unlike most of her events, it was open to the public.   I thought it was a smart strategy for her to invite her email list to share in her presentation and potentially land some new clients.

Now if you are thinking – I missed it.  What’s so special about that?  No worries.  Her marketing was very subtle – but I would argue powerful in keeping her company name top of mind.

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Time to dust off that crisis management plan by @KristiCasey

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013

Maybe it’s awful of me, but I can’t help wondering if the Boston Marathon organizers had a crisis management plan, and if they were able to see it through from start to finish after the bomb went off.

It also made me wonder about you: When was the last time you updated your event’s crisis management plan? Do you even have one?

As event organizers, we’re lucky that most unexpected dilemmas don’t involve bloodshed, just the on-site A/V guy. But what happens if your next event is disrupted by an act of terrorism, flu epidemic, heart attack or natural disaster? Will you be prepared to limit risk and control panic?

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Customization is Key, but Where Do You Stop? by @KristiCasey

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

CustomizationAccording to the recent PCMA Convening Leaders convention and MPI Business Barometer, customizing your attendee’s experience is a trend you can’t ignore. But if you have thousands of attendees, how can you possibly create 1,000 different experiences? After all, budgets are just now starting to grow. You’re lucky to be able to afford a social media monitor, much less have the money to creating two or more versions of everything.

So let’s take a look at some big-ticket issues and examine the simplest way you can customize your event to address them. Below I’ve addressed the to-do items involved if you want to implement the simplest solutions. If you’ve got those licked, I include how you can go the extra mile.

Issue: Accommodating dietary restrictions and allergies.

Simple fix: Collect data about special needs at registration. Label buffet items so ingredients are obvious. Educating banqueting staff about what’s in the food they’re serving. Making accommodations on the menu.

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Get Full Access to Industry professionals Without Spending a Dime by @MallaHaridat

Thursday, January 17th, 2013

TwitterStart using Twitter to both follow AND meet industry professionals.

Oh the beast called Twitter.  How do you meet someone you’ve never met in under 140 characters?  Lol. It can be done.  And I’ll share with you as one business owner to another – it’s a powerful tool to really establish your brand – both in your industry and in circles that you follow  - trends, groups and associations you like, causes you believe in, etc.

I recommend that you challenge yourself to meet industry professionals on Twitter.

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My Big Fat Predictions for 2013 by @KristiCasey

Monday, December 17th, 2012

Yesterday, I was catching up with a friend who plans international events and she asked me, “What are you excited about right now? What do you think the big trends will be?”

Lucky for her, I am in the midst of cool-hunting for our 2013 PYM Annual, so I’ve been ruminating about those very things since August.

There’s a million things I could have told her (and you). But for this column, I’ll boil all of of my thoughts on the topic down to two big ideas.

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Why I Instagram Our Events by @JennG_

Thursday, November 8th, 2012

With every introduction of a social network, I’m reminded of my social media manager mantra: “Stick to the channels that work and do those well,” which Rejuvenate Marketplace keynote speaker Jon Acuff reminded me of again during our interview last week. It’s easy to spread myself too thin, and the last place I want to do it at work is with my organization’s messaging and image.

I manage a website for each of our communities, as well as accounts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We flirt with Pinterest and have almost fallen off of Flickr. But I am hook, line and sinker for Instagram.

Why add yet another medium when it’s hard enough to keep the major accounts flowing? Because on-site, Instagram offers the best of the social networks most popular at events.

Twitter is great for attendees because it is mobile, quick and drives common conversation into one place with a hashtag. Facebook is personal, visual and has more options for posts. Foursquare is driven by your physical location.

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Event Tech of the Week: @BusyEvent

Friday, September 7th, 2012

I love, love, love all things events and technology. If you can’t tell by my tweets, Facebook posts and all my other social media interactions, I love to talk about events and the tools that help us do what we do better. In June 2011, I partnered with an organization called imbookin to bring you PlannerTech – an event technology showcase. This weekly blog series is going to help continue to expose you to new tools you need to be aware of as an event planner. Also, in case you missed it, PlannerTech could be coming soon to your area!

Today, we’re talking about GoMobile.Pro

Your Name: David Schenberg – Principal and Co-Founder
Company / Tool Name: BusyEvent’s gomobile.pro
Website: http://www.BusyEvent.com
Twitter: @BusyEvent
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BusyEvent

What is the “problem” that your tool seeks to solve?
After 20 years of designing and managing mall tours, comedy tours, air shows, expos and trade shows, the founders of BusyEvent have rolled with just about every flavor of technology along the way. But no matter what the technology, the goal has always been the same: How to create a return for the money spent. So while people argue over a return on investment we’ve discovered over the years that by tracking what people actually do and report on it, we create something called a Return on Action. And we’ve trademarked the name and a process mixing technology solutions we create, some we general contract along with customized services to ID qualified opportunities from the mounds of data flowing out of live events. So as technology evolves and shiny objects come and go, we remain committed to delivering high-quality information about how people learn, communicate and connect around live events.

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Event Tech of the Week: @IMLWorldwide

Friday, August 24th, 2012

I love, love, love all things events and technology. If you can’t tell by my tweets, Facebook posts and all my other social media interactions, I love to talk about events and the tools that help us do what we do better. In June 2011, I partnered with an organization called imbookin to bring you PlannerTech – an event technology showcase. This weekly blog series is going to help continue to expose you to new tools you need to be aware of as an event planner. Also, in case you missed it, PlannerTech could be coming soon to your area!

Today, we’re talking about IML Worldwide

Your name: Susan Abrams
Company/Tool Name: IML Worldwide/IML Connector
Website: www.imlworldwide.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/imlworldwide or @imlworldwide
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/imlworldwide/

What is the “problem” that your tool seeks to solve?
How to measure and prove ROI from your meeting or conference.

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4 Steps to Create a Social Media Landing Page in Under 5 Minutes

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

As a business owner, I spend a LOT of time on Facebook and Twitter – always trying to meet new people and find ways of engaging on a deeper level with old friends. One of my big goals for these interactions is to use them like a funnel to lead to our website and get people to understand what it is that we do as a company. Directing traffic to your website can be as simple as a link from your blog or gallery, but a social media landing page is a great way to keep the “feel” of social media while still getting them on your site. It also helps you track how many people come to your site as a direct result of your social media channels. I set up my landing page in about 5 minutes and here is what you need to do.

1. Create a new page on your website that is not on the navigation. In other words, you don’t want people to be able to get there from your homepage. In WordPress, I do this by using the Exclude Pages Plugin.

2. Start your page with a friendly welcome to your readers – beginning with acknowledging that they clicked on a link from your Facebook or Twitter account (or others!). Then, introduce them to some of the most important resources on your website. I share my PHILOSOPHY page and my BLOG. This is also a great place to ask people to sign up for your mailing list.

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Event Tech of the Week: @GoPlanana

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

I love, love, love all things events and technology. If you can’t tell by my tweets, Facebook posts and all my other social media interactions, I love to talk about events and the tools that help us do what we do better. In June 2011, I partnered with an organization called imbookin to bring you PlannerTech – an event technology showcase. This weekly blog series is going to help continue to expose you to new tools you need to be aware of as an event planner. Also, in case you missed it, PlannerTech could be coming soon to your area!

Today, we’re talking about Planana

PlananaYour name: Anna Sergeeva, Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Company/Tool Name: Planana
Website: http://planana.com
Twitter: @goplanana
Facebook: http://facebook.com/goplanana

What is the “problem” that your tool seeks to solve?
We’ve found that most event organizers struggle to sell out their events. This problem occurs largely because traditional marketing strategies like paid advertisements and email blasts are no longer effective. People hear about events through their friends; people attend events with their friends. That’s why we build Planana – to help event organizers leverage social media to promote and sell out their events.

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