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Political Current Events-For Fox Sakes, Not Again!

June 1, 2012 By Comments

photo by puregarlic.blogspot.com

For the media, there’s often a fine line between reporting the news and becoming the news. Case in point -on May 30th one of the more reputable 24-hour news stations (yes I’m being satirical here), Fox News, aired a video billed as portraying Obama’s first term in office. Well, since then, all hell has broken loose in media circles. You see, apparently, this event promotion turns out to be nothing more than a propaganda video aimed at drawing support for Obama’s competitor, Mitt Romney, in the upcoming election.

Political Events Are a Great Study on How to Promote an Event

In politics, like meeting and event planning, the name of the game often boils down to promoting the event. In meeting and event planning, the event can be a conference where you need to get word out so that it is well attended. Political events are no different. Except what they’re trying to promote is the candidate as the event itself. And let’s face it whoever gets the most people out usually crosses the finish line first.

Media organizations are expected to remain relatively neutral. However, it’s becoming more and more frequent in the US for media organizations to pick sides and then do whatever they can to promote their candidate, or the event. Without going into too much detail here, what media organizations have to be careful of is crossing the line and becoming a medium that promotes instead of reports. Fox News likes to bill itself as being fair and balanced. Unfortunately that couldn’t be further from the truth. They barely hide their tactics any longer.

Here is the video in question that was aired on “Fox and Friends” on May 30.

Before you say that it’s just the liberal media having an issue, the video in question was also panned by many conservative commentators as well. As usual, a senior Fox News executive later issued a statement saying that the deed was done by an associate producer and that person was not authorized to do so. Ohhhhhh, I see… Not my business but maybe Fox had better take a long hard look at its internal policies and revisit the section that states who is allowed to put content on the air.

Just sayin.

It seems that many news organizations will justify their lame attempt at reporting by putting a “?” after certain controversial news stories. I guess, to them, the “?” makes it legitimate. Let me show you an example of how this can be utilized. Say, for example, somebody reading this post decides that they don’t like Plan an Event. So they put a blog up on their site titled “Is plan an event trying to destroy the meeting planning industry?”. You see, by adding the “?” at the end of that phrase gets them off the hook for any slanderous comments. Then in the article all they would have to do is state that according to rumors that they’ve heard, such and such is doing such and such and therefore by all accounts destroying the meeting planning industry. You see where I’m ongoing here…. A slippery path.

Political event promotion can be a dirty game at the best of times. It’s a sad fact of world we live in today. Having said that, I’m going to be following the upcoming presidential election with fascination. First, it’s an excellent study on how to, whether correctly or incorrectly, promote an event. As for Fox News, well they too are an excellent study. I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of these little “mishaps”. We’ll just have to wait until November to see how effective they were at getting their candidate promoted the most.

 

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Promoting an Event – If Only We All Had the Nerve (Tee Hee!)

May 31, 2012 By Comments
black background with one spotlight

Photo courtesy of -Kenzie-

There is a great deal to consider when thinking about promoting an event. When it comes to event promotion, we want to get the most bang for our buck. To increase your chances of success, start with a plan and arm yourself with a bit of foresight and some social media tools and you are on your way to promoting your event.

First and foremost, know and set your goals. Before you begin, it is important to strategize and set not only your goals, but your approach and line of attack as well. And specifically, what is it you want to accomplish through this “happening”. Envision (what you see) how the ultimate success of the event will turn out. Then you will be able to establish what real tasks and undertakings have to happen to achieve your vision.

Ensure you design an “event” that is effective, interesting and worthy of attendance. Take some time to define the reason(s) you are bringing people together. And as the boy scouts say, be prepared! So research, research, research is the name of the game. Things will definitely change along the way but recognize your target audience and plot things out; you will be able to make adjustments as you go.

Having said all that, there are definitely some times when you do not, I repeat do not want to promote an event. Sometimes the element of surprise is an important part of the event. If you’re ready to chuckle and say if only, have a look at this and be prepared…to laugh!

 

 

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Promoting an Event – Nobody Does it Better than Kim Kardashian

November 5, 2011 By Comments

Photo courtesy of Damian Morys Foto on flickr

You’re probably wondering if I’m out of my mind…read on.

Promoting an event can be one of the most important parts of event planning. Whether it’s for a fundraiser, a product launch or even a social event, promotion is the name of the game. Once all those planning ducks are in a row, it is imperative to concentrate on the promotional end of things.

Just turn on the TV or radio, or go on line to Twitter or Facebook (or any social media outlet) and you will see some great examples of event promotion. Whether you were one of the millions that watched their “wedding” or not, we all have to admit, Kim Kardashian is a master at promoting an event. Yes, her product is herself but she has proven time and again that, above all, her self-promotion skills are beyond extraordinary.

Promoting an Event – Part One

It’s a fact that from start to finish, the high speed “Kardashian” promotion train blasted out of the station and never looked back. Not only do they publicize and promote everything in their lives from soup to nuts, they make what seems like every second of Kim’s romantic relationships public.

They took a new, brief and possibly even passing relationship and exposed and broadcasted it to the masses. They promoted, prompted and publicized all the gory details until millions of viewers took the bait and became involved. It was like a car accident; you didn’t want to look but just couldn’t help yourself. Then they sold those same viewers on a “wedding” and got millions to watch yet again. If that’s where the story ended, we would all agree that it was a successful case in promoting an event.

However…

Promoting an Event – Part Two

Seventy two days later the marriage is off and there are rumors, speculation and accusations that every component of their relationship was, and is, a hoax. So the question remains, was this successful promotion or not?

Honestly, I’m not sure if there even is a correct answer. But what I do know for sure is they got exactly the results they desired. So some would term this exercise, regardless of the consequences, a success.

Promoting An Event – Lessons Learned by US!

By giving promotion some advance thought, you will be able to go the distance and get the most out of your efforts. Here are a few tips to get you started on the right road to event promotion.

Audience – I can’t say this enough,  one of the most important pieces of event promotion is to know your audience. Once you pinpoint who is your audience is, it will help you narrow down the various advertising outlets you can utilize.

Approach – Once you determine your audience, you can then decide which media channels are applicable. Typically when blue printing your approach, several media areas are engaged. Whether its social media like Twitter and Facebook, TV, radio, newspaper, websites, billboards or word of mouth. And remember, don’t just advertise in the area of your event, be sure to include the location of your audience in all your advertising.

Time-line – Once audience and approach are established, it is key to set up a promotional timeline. By scheduling accurate promotion lead time you will be that much closer to ensuring success. The reason for promoting an event is to drive traffic and get your audience to your event. By not allowing enough time to promote, you are putting yourself way behind the eight ball. And that can be a tough place to get out of.

We all think it and therefore we all know it, when it comes to event planning and promoting an event, we get out of it what we put in to it. So before diving in, think things through and be sure to consider your audience, approach and timeline before you get started.

 

 

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3 Key Areas That Are Must for Every Event Plan

September 7, 2011 By Comments

They’re everywhere. Seems there’s a checklist for pretty much everything these days. A quick Google search for any industry will show you there’s a checklist for everyone. Of course some checklists are better than others. Most really depend on your level of expertise to determine whether or not they’ll be useful. While I’m a proponent of checklists, I have an issue with some checklists that are so simple that they’re pretty much telling you that you should have a checklist for your checklist. So while there is relevance to most checklists, there are three key areas that should be included in every checklist and certainly an event plan checklist.

1) Your Event Plan Must Have a Timeline

At the end of the day timelines are really only worth the paper they’re written on. However a timeline is probably one of the most crucial areas of an event plan, yet we devote very little time to timelines. It sounds ironic but the truth is that most of us are procrastinators of some type. So, for your event plan, take a little bit of time up front to get an understanding of just how much time you will need to devote to your event plan. Next, compare that to how much actual time you have to work on your event. If there is a difference between your budgeted time and how much time you’ll actually have, then you could have a potential problem on your hands. It happens to all of us – either we run out of time when planning an event or we just did not factor enough time to do a proper job. Either way you could be in for a rough ride if you didn’t properly schedule enough time to do all of the tasks necessary for a successful event.

2) Establish Your Event Plan Budget at the Beginning

if you’ve had the luxury of working with clients in the event industry then you know all too well how hard it can be to get a budget from those clients. Many clients are reluctant to tell you their budget at the beginning for a couple of reasons. First is that they probably fear that if they tell you how much money they have to spend on an event then you’re most likely to come in at that dollar figure. The second fear is that if the event comes under the proposed budget then many clients fear that you’ll simply make up the difference as profit for yourself. Yes there are companies out there that will do both of those things to their clients. And it’s these types of companies that give our industry a bad name. Well any industry for that matter. But here’s what I tell clients when I asked them for budget information. First you want to tell them why you’re asking for their budget amount. Obviously the main reason you’re asking is so that you can propose event ideas that will fall within their budget. In addition to a whole event budget I also like the client to break it down for me. And this usually takes a bit of prompting on my part. For example I like to find out from the client how much they expect to spend on transportation, food and beverage, entertainment and venue rental. The reason for this is that I can usually spot when a client is totally off base when they break their budget down. If they say they want to spend $10 per person on transportation while expecting a private highway coach then it’s important to point out that their expectation is simply out of touch.

For you the importance of establishing a budget for your event plan is so that you can begin to break down the various components of your event based on costs. It’s a lot easier to review where you are not meeting budget if you have it broken down by the various components. Your suppliers will also either confirm that you have the right amount budgeted or explain where you are off. It’ll help keep you focused on the type of venue, the type of menu, and other aspects of the event plan.

3) Your Event Plan Must Focus on How You Will Get Attendees

Otherwise known as marketing, getting people to attend your event is what will make or break your event. This item also ties in with point number two as well. From a budget you’ll know how much you have to spend on marketing your event. And one thing is certain and that’s that you must have a marketing plan as part of your event plan.

Part of your event plan may also include having others help you execute your event. Once you have your tasks outlined you’ll now want to assign those task to everyone involved. Remember to assign tasks to individuals based on their strengths and weaknesses. But above all try and understand that you’re not creating an event plan or checklist just for the sake of having one. You’re actually creating an event plan so that you can execute a successful event. Whether it be for your own event or for a clients event taking the time to develop an event plan checklist will be worth the effort.

 

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Interested in the Event Promotion Industry?

September 4, 2011 By Comments

You may have seen invitations in your inbox or a flyer. Are you the type that looked at these invitations and wondered what goes on behind the scenes to get this information out? Well if you’ve been intrigued by the nuts and bolts of event promotion then it might be worth taking a look at what’s involved in getting into the event promotion industry.

What Are the Best Ways to Get into Event Promotion?

Obviously walking into an event promotion career of your dreams isn’t going to happen overnight. And a bit of a reality check here – you may even have to start at an entry-level position before you get the job you want. But if you really think event promotion is for you then working your way up probably won’t be an issue.

I want to outline a few areas that you can use as a stepping stone to get into event promotion. A good industry for event promotion is the entertainment industry. And by entertainment industry I don’t mean working for music bands or superstars (although if you can get an entry-level job here you would be well on your way to the career of your dreams). Entertainment booking agencies which services the meetings and events industry quite often is a good place to start. And you can find these companies by doing a quick Google search or looking at members of your local convention and visitors Bureau (CVB). The reason I suggest CVB’s as an area to look for entertainment booking agencies is that meeting planners often request this information when dealing with CVBs.

Another area to consider would be looking at the large events that occur in your city. Most cities have festivals and events that occur yearly. Find out if these organizations have volunteers and if so volunteer for the next event. When being interviewed for the volunteer position make sure you tell the person that you are interested in event promotion. The goal here is that, if possible, they’ll put you in that area to volunteer.

I can’t say networking enough. Networking is good in so many ways. But for this purpose, networking can put you in touch with the right people in event promotion. But don’t think that networking will produce results overnight, they won’t. Think of networking as a way of investing in yourself. Not only will you grow as a person but you will be introduced to individuals that share similar interests and ideas as you. At least that’s the goal.

Social Media’s Role in Event Promotion

Like pretty much everything today social media plays a role in event promotion. And a prominent role. So if you’re thinking that an event promotion career is for you then it’s pretty safe to say you should have a good understanding of how social media is applied. You will be using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, to name a few, to help promote your event. If you don’t think your skills are up to date regarding how to use social media then it’s probably a good idea to look at courses (either live or online) that can help you hone these skills.

Understand What’s Required of Event Promotion

Like many aspects of life people often have the wrong impression of what’s required of certain job descriptions. Same applies for event promotion. While you may think you have what it takes you may find that after a little bit of digging that the actual job description of an event promoter is not really what you’re looking for. I suggest that you talk to individuals in the industry. What you should be trying to find out through these information interviews is what characteristics are typically employed in these careers. And then determine whether or not you have those characteristics and whether you like utilizing them.

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How To Find A Good Event Planning Guide

June 22, 2011 By Comments
Sandbox event planning sketch

Sandbox event planning sketch (Photo credit: edmittance)

Are you in the initial stages of planning an event? If so, then you can probably benefit from a good event planning guide. But, as a simple Google search will show you, finding the right one for you may take a little bit of research. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t any good ones out there, you just have to take the time upfront to determine what your specific needs are. Doing this at the beginning just might end up saving you valuable time later on in the planning process.

The Right Event Planning Guide for Your Needs.

As I wrote this piece, I did a Google search for “event planning guide”.  There were over 40 million returns for me to review. A lot of these links were to a specific company’s event planning guide. What I was looking for in my search was something that I could tailor to my unique planning needs. That took a bit longer to find. Before you determine which event planning guide will work best for you, you really need to have an understanding of what it is you want this guide to do. Basically, an event planning guide is designed for you to enter the details of your event and then develop a timeline of when you will need each of these details completed.

An example of a good event planning guide is Microsoft’s Event Planning Guide.  It’s a free PDF that you can download.

Develop a Checklist from Your Event Planning Guide

One of the first things a good event planning guide will do is help you develop a checklist for your event. When you begin your planning, jot down items that you know will be part of your planning. Items such as; attendees, venue selection, caterers, decor, entertainment, transportation, audio/visual would be examples of categories to be added to your checklist.  And of course if you need to attract attendees, you will also need to promote your event. Once you have your checklist, you need to assign the various areas to your team members. Assigning due dates is also a crucial part of the event planning guide.

An Event Planning Guide will Keep You Focused and on Schedule

Once you get the planning stages completed, make sure you review each of these items with your team. You want to be sure, up front, that everyone has a clear understanding of their assigned tasks. Now it’s just a matter of each team member addressing their items. Of course, regular follow up meetings are recommended.

As an example of a great way to keep the communications open, Microsoft has a web-based event management system that you can register with and use to execute your event(s). A web based event planning guide is great especially if you are not always in the same location as other members on your team.

With a little upfront planning on your part, a good event planning guide will help you look at the event in stages rather than a large daunting task.  By breaking down the various tasks involved, you’re able to know how things are moving along at different times. And most importantly, you’ll come across as organized and in control – key ingredients for a successful event.

 

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Tips On How To Promote An Event

June 17, 2011 By Comments

Photo courtesy of ShoutPut.com

We’ve all attended events and wondered how did they get so many people to attend?  During my educational years, I had the privilege of taking a hospitality course by Disney. I remember being impressed by a single phrase that Walt Disney had coined – “you don’t build it for yourself, you find out what the people want and you build it for them”. That single phrase can be applied to so many aspects of one’s career. How to promote an event would certainly fall into that rule.

Of course the easiest way to promote any event would be to have the right budget and just buy up ad space in related markets.  But for most of us, the luxury of this type of budget doesn’t exist and you have to come up with creative ways to get the word out.  Well, luckily you don’t have to be a marketing executive to know how to promote an event.  In today’s digital age, there are many low cost, and even free, ways to get people to come out.

Find Out What The People Want

When people ask me how to promote an event, one of the first things I ask them is “how do you know that people will want to come out”.  If I start getting answers like “oh because I have this great new product that I know people will love” I realize that this event could be on a collision course from the get go.  Just because you think your product is the greatest and newest there is, doesn’t mean that everyone in your industry will agree.  Actually they may even feel like they being targeted for a sales pitch and will avoid the event altogether.

Recently, my company ran a series of networking events for the meeting and events industry.  Before I even began to think of how to promote an event, I needed to find out what people in this industry wanted to do and when. So I began by asking a few colleagues what they thought were key decision factors on events they attended. From those initial meeting, I had about ten questions.  I then took those question and narrowed them down to about four key ones.  Be respectful of people’s time.  Many will answer a couple of quick and easy question.  But if you start taking up too much of their valued time, you won’t get many replies.  Also, if you can, provide an incentive for people that actually do take the time to answer your questions.  A free white paper or a token gift, if you have the budget, is a nice gesture and tells people that you appreciate the effort on their part to help you. For my needs, I needed to get answers to those key questions from a broader audience.  I turned to the web and found that there are several free survey software sites that you can use to set up your survey.  Just a quick Google of free survey sites will give you a great place to start.  Then I sent an email to my data base with a link to the survey as well as posted the information on all of my social media sites.  This relatively easy exercise gave me the insight for what I needed to set up my successful events.  I was quite surprised by some of the answers I was getting.  For example, over 50% of the replies said that they preferred to have an event over the noon hour.  This allowed them to network without the event taking up too much of their free time. I’ll explain the use of surveys in more depth in a later post.

Using Social Media to Promote

Pretty much everyone we know has some type of social media presence.  Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are all very effective way to get your message out. But make sure that you have a social media presence that matches your professional life.  For example, if you use Facebook for your family and friends, chances are they won’t be interested in attending one of your work events.

Check out this great post, by EventBrite, on how to promote your event using social media.

So, take a little time at the beginning to do your homework. It will make things easier and give you a clear picture of what it is that you need to do.  Soon you’ll be creating and hosting successful events and your social media followers will be waiting to hear about the next event.

 

 

 

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Using Surveys To Help Plan And Promote Event Networking

June 17, 2011 By Comments

Photo courtesy Micky.! on flickr

In an earlier post about how to promote an event I touched on the use of surveys and how they play an important role to help plan and promote event networking.  For this post, I would like to explore the use of surveys in a little more detail.  I had set up a series of networking events that introduced local venues to local meeting planners.  But in order for these events to be successful, I needed to find out what would draw these busy professionals to attend these networking events.

Surveys Help Determine What Your Market Wants, Not What You Think They Want.

If you’re like me, I will sign up for events and then when the actual day arrives, I wish I didn’t have to go.  I’ve also been at functions where other attendees shared this feeling as well. I wanted to my networking events to be a function that people actually wanted to attend.  So I turned to surveys to help plan and promote event networking.

I first contacted my industry colleagues and asked them what factors they would consider important for attending a networking event.  From those meetings, I had several common questions.  After narrowing those questions to about four key question, I was now ready to survey my larger audience.  There are many survey sites to choose from – some are free and some have fees.  Which survey service you use really depends on what your needs are.  For me, I decided on a free site as I already had an email marketing service which helped me with the follow up communication, etc.

I designed my survey with ease in mind.  An important thing to always remember, when putting questions to your connections or data base, is to keep it simple and fast. It’s best to put a time frame for completion as well. I also had a small budget which allowed me to send a gift (electronically) to everyone that participated.  This was a way of thanking people for taking the time out of their busy schedule.

It’s What You Do With The Survey Results That Matter

I was quite surprised when I started to review the feedback.  In my case, a vast majority of the respondents said that they wanted events to take place either over the lunch hour or right after work. And they also wanted the event to be about an hour or two in length.  I also got a lot of feedback on the type of venues that planners wanted to see. Before I had this feedback, I fully intended to host these events in the evening, around 7pm.  However after the survey results were complete, I structured these events either; from noon to 1:30pm, or from 5:00PM to 6:30PM. In my marketing emails promoting the events, I would use phrases such as “we’ll have you home for the evening news”.

Once I started, my networking events were filling fast.  People were happy that they were able to see great local venues without chewing up too much of their personal time.  A win win for sure.

Consider using surveys to help plan and promote event networking for your industry. They will keep you focused on building the event based on what people in your industry want. You’ll be rewarded with a room full of interested colleagues.

 

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Promoting an Event – How Are You Getting the Word Out?

June 10, 2011 By Comments

Photo courtesy of cliff1066 on flickr

Remember throwing your first boy/girl party? The cans of orange and grape soda chilling with the chips and onion soup dip placed at strategic intervals in the basement. And as you waited for the first guests to arrive, you sat there “wishing and hoping and thinking and praying, planning and dreaming” that people would come to your party. Please let them come, please let them come!!

There are several different ways to determine the success of an event, any event. But solid attendance has always been a watermark of any successful event. You can plan the heck out of a conference, but if you don’t have the numbers to back it up, it’s just irrelevant.

Promoting an Event – Targeting Your Market

Before you can even think about how to promote and  promoting your event, you need to determine who your target audience is. Is this a city fundraiser that will attract to a wide group of people? Or is it an industry specific conference appealing to a small, specialized group?

Although the kind of event, and your primary market, will determine the type and tone of your overall advertising and event promotion, one fact is consistent regardless of the nature of the event…promoting an event on line and Social Media has changed how ALL events are promoted.

Social Media and Promoting an Event

Promoting an event through Social Media, Twitter and Facebook  are web sites that allow the exchange of information and ideas (social, political, entertainment, business) between users. In the last five years these types of web sites have changed how to market and how to promote an event, ideas, entertainment and sports. So pretty much everything!

With over 400 million users, Facebook is king. (so long live the king). Looking to promote an event on Facebook, be sure to create a Facebook page for your event and make sure it’s linked to your web site. You should update your Facebook page regularly but make sure you are posting relevant information. There’s nothing more annoying than five straight posts of “Ten more days to the event!”, or “We picked pink napkins!” Be creative and keep your posts interesting, humorous or informative. If people enjoy what you’re saying, they’ll keep coming back for more.

Promoting an event  on Twitter, open a Twitter account, and tweet about the upcoming event. You can create interest prior to the event with tweets about the entertainment, speakers or even possible surprises. But Twitter will also allow you to tweet live during the event and continue to build the momentum. This can help you create a dialogue after the fact and possibly start event promotion by building interest for next year’s event

Promoting an Event – We’ve Come a Long Way Baby!!

Photo courtesy of bizbuzzmedia on flickr

Promoting an event used to mean using a lot more hard copy information. Direct mail, even when sent to a custom tailored mailing list, creates a lot of waste. Broadcast is expensive and newspaper too broad. Most forms of traditional advertising are time consuming, expensive and not as effective as you require.

Social media has changed event promotions and how we promote events. It’s about all about connecting and communicating. And while your workload may increase with the constant posting and updating that is required, the financial savings are substantial and with how many people using social media it allows you to promote your event for a fraction of the cost.

Regardless of the type of event, promoting an event on Social Media will help raise awareness without the heavy cost of traditional types of advertising.

 

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