Win big by sharing your event sourcing insights.
Complete our latest survey on event location selection for the chance to win a cutting-edge VR Headset!
Take the survey.

9 Smart Tips From Savvy Event Pros

The event and meeting industry gathered in Long Beach to share ideas and fete the debut of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center's upgrades and Pacific Ballroom debut.

Event pros discussed pressing topics at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center ahead of the Pacific Ballroom debut.
Event pros discussed pressing topics at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center ahead of the Pacific Ballroom debut.
Photo: Courtesy of Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau

On Wednesday, event professionals gathered in Long Beach, California, as part of a BizBash event co-hosted with the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. The crowd was assembled to witness the major overhaul of the facilities thanks to a $40 million revamp budget, including the centerpiece of the day: the debut of the one-of-a-kind Pacific Ballroom, which allows the Long Beach Arena to become a more intimate event space for 3,000 with the simple raising and lowering of a technologically advanced truss and curtain system.

Before the new ballroom debuted with a massive party for 1,000 and kabuki drop after nightfall, a smaller group of event pros assembled for tours and educational sessions that hit on the most salient topics to the live event industry right now. Here are some of the top tips and themes that emerged.

1. Use social media as a way to justify decor spend.
“Social media has given us new reasons to put money toward decor, because we need to give all the brand ambassadors [that is to say, every guest in the room] something to talk about,” said Caravents’s Cara Kleinhaut. When decor becomes the basis of rapidly proliferating brand messages, it’s an essential part of the bottom line.

2. Connect with relevant influencers.
The key to “influencer marketing” is identifying the people—bloggers, social media stars—who already have an engaged audience. And then give them the tools they need to amplify your brand message. “It’s about taking the time to find out who those people are and creating a relationship with them,” said social media strategist and C.E.O. of Middle Child New Media Lindsay Fultz. “They do all the work for you. They do the heavy lifting. Nothing makes me happier than looking out at an event and seeing people [on their smartphones] and promoting it in real time.”

3. Keep your social media presence focused.
“You don’t have to do everything to become successful. If you have an amazing blog, that’s all you need,” said Liz King Events’s Liz King. “Something that provides really valuable content that engages people.” And Kleinhaut advised against focusing too heavily on the number of your followers over the quality of your followers. “I look at who exactly is following me, not how many.”

4. Milk your event content for all it’s worth (which is a lot).
“The key is to take the content that you already have at your events and make the best use of it,” said Smarter Shift’s Jenise Fryatt. “For instance, you can take the summaries of your sessions, and you can create blog posts for the rest of the year with that. You’ve got 365 days a year of marketing for your event and creating community.”

5. Act like a human online.
While there can be a tendency to restrain your online voice in the name of professionalism, remember that social media is all about human interaction, and people will only engage when they feel they’re connecting with a real person. Don’t be afraid to use a little humor. And above all, be authentic. “Don’t set out to create a brand and try to follow [that brand identity] with your voice,” King said. “Just be yourself.”

6. Put apps to work for you.
Sure, most people are already using the likes of Box or Dropbox, but there are a ton of apps out there that can streamline the process and make an event professional's job easier (and even more fun). Among the other options cited by the Meeting Pool’s Dahlia El Gazzar are the online proposal-building portal BidSketch, the conference call tool LiveMinutes, the receipt-tracking tool Expensify, the user-created social ad app SnapMyAd, and the business card tool CardMunch. She also mentioned the presentation tool Prezi, which presenters used throughout the day at the Long Beach event.

As an added tip, she suggested picking tools that interface and integrate with one another. “If you’re looking at solutions, try to look at solutions that play well together,” she said.

7. Don’t think sustainability costs more.
“Today there’s no more expense on the sustainability side. Ten years ago, there was an expense difference if you wanted to do sustainable flatware or dinnerware; it was a very limited source of products. Now there’s a demand for it, and once there’s a demand for it, the price goes down,” said Shaun Beard of Savor, which catered the day’s program. “Caterers help push the manufacturers. [We’re telling them] it can’t just be a round disposable plate, but it has to have character.”

8. Facilitate engagement with gamification.
Continuing to be a big buzz word in the industry, gamification refers to applying game principles and mechanics to non-game situations. Use it in your event’s app or on site in various ways to generate buzz and drive attendance.

9. Surprise people.
When nonprofit event planners (or any planner across the board) are faced with guest and donor fatigue, what can they do to cut through the clutter and reengage these people? The answer from one of the day's sessions was to always keep them guessing. Industry panelists suggested surprising them with new formats for an annual event (for instance a full-scale rock concert rather than a staid dinner program) and new technologies (like an interactive iPad centerpiece).

Page 1 of 135
Next Page