Inspiration Hub

Effective social media marketing means taking the proper steps before, during, and after the show. To ensure you cross everything off your social to-do list, refer to the following checklist:

Have AV quotes bamboozled you before? You’re not alone there. And if you don’t understand the quote, it can be tricky to know how to negotiate on the price, or if you hold any power to negotiate whatsoever! The good news is, you do have that power. And all you need to put it into action is a little knowledge, which we’re about to arm you with.

Using social media to promote your next live event? Of course you are. In this blog post we highlight the use of Twitter as an incredibly useful platform for event promotion, featuring four examples of how other industry leaders have leveraged Twitter as part of their event strategy. 

The event is planned, speakers are lined up and vendors are all confirmed — but how do you make sure that the right people attend and the world hears about it? Twitter is an optimal channel to promote your events on because people look to Twitter for live news, updates, and engaging content. If you follow the right strategy, your event can reach millions of people who are interested in what’s going on.

eSports may not be new—did you know that the first game was released in 1960? But this exciting form of entertainment is emerging as a big business in the gaming world. Robert Rippee, director of the new Hospitality Innovation Lab at University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ International Gaming Institute, spoke with Smart Meetings in a webinar about the opportunities this trend brings for planners. Read on to learn about the history of gaming and its connection to the meetings industry.

Think about the last social media post you liked or commented on from a brand or event you follow. What compelled you to engage with that post? Was it because of an intriguing picture? A clever joke? Or was there some emotional hook that convinced you to take action?

To surprise and delight attendees is the backbone of event marketing. That means delivering the personalized experiences your guests expect. Attendees want you to be able to tell them which sessions they’ll be most interested in, which booths they’d like to visit, and which keynotes they can’t miss.      

Fine-tuning your brand on social media is all about writing compelling copy that taps into your followers’ emotions. Here are five brand personalities that events like yours embody on social media. Find the one that most aligns with your event’s brand voice, and discover the emotions your team can inspire.

We’re seeing a 2018 event trend for creating a personalized event experience. That means understanding what the individual (or attendee profile) wants and tailoring aspects of the event to suit them, rather than the general crowd. Why this trend? Today, we have more choice than ever when it comes to finding products and services to satisfy our needs and wants. And having the ability to tailor products to our personal requirements, means people expect the event world to follow suit. But, this isn’t just about creating personalized invitations and marketing; instead, it’s about customizing the actual event experience so that attendees are more engaged and find your event memorable.

Despite the rise of Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, even in 2018, Facebook remains king when it comes to event marketing. In EventMB’s State of the Events Industry Survey 2018, nearly three-quarters — 73.3 per cent — of planners said social media is their most important tool for marketing their events, while 88.1 per cent said they’re active on Facebook, as they should be. Facebook is by far the largest social network, with 2.20 billion active users as of March 2018. That’s nearly a third of the world’s population!

Event professionals have a unique goal on LinkedIn. You use the site to network and scope out your next gig, but LinkedIn is also where many clients or sponsors will turn to get a sense of your work before working with you. So how can you put the best foot forward to all of these audiences in your LinkedIn profile?

We all know demos are a wonderful way to get attention at a trade show and showcase your products. However, sometimes it is not practical to bring your products to the show or maybe they are not easy to demo. Or, perhaps, you just can’t bring everything you would like to showcase. What do you do then? Here are some ideas on how you can use technology to give your products or services the stopping power they deserve.

92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. So how can you work with influencers to sell more tickets to your event? Enter influencer marketing: using influential individuals to promote events. But if you’re only looking at influencers with follower counts in the millions, the price may be more than your event’s entire marketing budget.

Tech continues to play a more significant role in events, from both a planning and experiential perspective. Excitingly, virtual attendance at events is not only possible but is now becoming a serious contender in the event world. We’ve reached the point of experiencing an event without actually having to be there in person.

Social media isn’t just a good place to promote your conference — it’s an essential part of the conference marketer’s playbook. Consider this: nearly 25% of traffic to event registration pages comes from social networks, and people who register after hearing about your event on social media are 3X more likely to share it with others. To increase the amount of people who learn about your conference and increase attendance, however, you need more than a presence on social media — you need a strategy.

Think artificial intelligence, or AI, will be yet another buzzword to add to the list? Think again. In a recent survey of over 800 conference and corporate event creators, an overwhelming majority of event professionals (88%) said they’ll rely on AI this year. That’s a 107% increase from their reported usage in 2017 (42%). What changed? From smartphones to smart speakers, virtual assistants, like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant have become a part of our daily lives.

 “We’re living in a period of unprecedented change and unprecedented opportunity,” said venture capitalist Mary Meeker, as she unveiled her annual Internet Trends report at the technology event 2018 Code Conference, held May 29–31 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The scope of change was evident in the Code Conference’s expanded focus this year, which for the first time was not strictly for people who run tech companies, but also for those who run companies grappling with technological change — and tech companies grappling with government, according to the Code Conference website.

Technology has taken center stage at many meetings. Smart badges, augmented and virtual reality and facial recognition are popping up at events regularly. Think about it—if you carry a smartphone in your pocket, you’re already a part of the tech world. But more innovations are on the way. In a recent Smart Meetings webinar titled The Internet of Things and Its Impact on Exhibitions and Events, Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP, DES and MS, spoke about IoT—”everyday objects featuring network connectivity that allow users to send and receive data.” Here are some of the takeaways.

It’s time to get social! With a wide range of Facebook features, it’s not a shock to see that the platform has become a favourite amongst event professionals.

Now that digital personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Home have begun to fully infiltrate the everyday life of so many potential attendees, is it any wonder that their stripped-down cousin, the chatbot, is starting to gain inroads in events? Not really, said Brandt Krueger, owner of Event Technology Consulting and an instructor at the Event Leadership Institute, during a recent MeetingsNet webinar. Krueger, who has seen his own home become overrun with personal assistants—“They’re really quite invasive as a species”—did have some initial hesitation about event chatbots, but he now finds himself bullish on the technology.

We’re inundated with emails — in the time it took you to open this article, you probably received a few new messages. But according to Miguel Neves, CMP, head chef at digital engagement firm Social Media Chefs, that’s all about to change.

Gamification is an exploding trend as more planners and organisers recognise how guest engagement factors into a lively and well-received event. Statistics also reveal more attendees actually prefer some sort of gamification experience. Furthermore, 40% of corporations indicated they would employ some form of gamification for improving business operations.

In 2016, Gartner analysts predicted that by 2020 the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse. While that is a depressing thought, there is no doubt that chatbots are popping up everywhere, including hotels and events. 

Some innovations can be lifesaving (hello dishwashers! Also, heart transplants, airbags, and carbon monoxide detectors) so advances in technology are always exciting. But “exciting” does not always mean “useful,” and for meeting planners there is a fine balance between upgrading an event and wasting resources on a fad.