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Promoting an Event Requires Creativity

April 5, 2013 By Comments

red umbrella standing out, example of promoting an event to stand outAll the planning is done and you’re now ready to begin promoting an event. This is where a lot of event planners consider the major part of their job complete. However what’s often overlooked is that it takes planning and creativity to promote an event. I’m sure you have planned the best function ever however, without getting the word out properly, your event may fall short of expectations.

When Promoting an Event Think of the Attendees

I’ve seen too many meeting and event planners promote events the way they feel they would want to be approached. While I agree that this is a part of the promotion planning, it’s also important that you put yourself in your potential attendees shoes. In other words, think about what is it that would appeal to your target market that would make them want to attend your event.

Two Tips on How to Promote Your Event More Effectively

We all know how valuable social media platforms have become today. They’re one of the most effective tools for communication that we have. But, unfortunately, it’s not as simple as putting a message on Twitter, or Facebook for example, and then assuming that alone will communicate your message. As many seasoned promoters will tell you, your message can get lost in all of the chatter that is going on at any given time.

Keywords. Keyword sounds simple enough. For example, in this article a keyword that I’m using would be “promoting an event”. Keywords are often thought of as ways to Google trends logoincrease organic traffic to your site. But think of keywords as they would relate to the theme of your event. Another way to think of them would be buzzwords. Words or phrases that will make your message pop out. Google trends is an excellent platform (that’s free to use) to research keywords or phrases for the type of event you are planning.

twitter hashtags

photo by mashable.com

Hashtags. If you are on twitter you’ve seen hashtags. They are words that are preceded with the “#” symbol. Now, unless you have a very popular twitter account, I’d be very careful about creating your own hashtags. There’s certainly nothing stopping you from using your own hashtags. If you already have a large mailing list for your target market, you could create your own hashtag and then communicate that to your mailing list. But if you’re like many event organizers your goal will be to drum up new attendees. This is why it’s important to understand the makeup of your target markets. You’ll want to research potential hashtags that this market segment would already be aware of. One site that you may want to check out is hashtags.org. There you can find trending hashtags as well as research potential hashtags that you’re considering.

It’s said that in today’s world you have about 6 seconds to make your “elevator pitch”. When you need to promote an event it’s important that, in addition to the event itself being enticing, you make sure your message pops out from all of the others.

 

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Isn’t the Easter Bunny Supposed to Make Kids Happy (Funny Video)?

March 29, 2013 By Comments
Scary Easter Bunny

photo by sharpie99.deviantart.com

It’s the time of year when the Easter Bunny makes his annual visit delivering all the chocolate goodies. Setting aside the Christian aspect of the holiday, Easter is also synonymous with chocolate. And who better to deliver these delicious treats than the Easter Bunny himself, of course!

Many parents spend countless hours concocting Easter ideas for kids. Of course many of these ideas include colorful eggs (do Easter bunnies lay eggs??) and, of course, the hunt for the chocolate eggs. I seem to have an up session with the chocolate Easter eggs here, I’m realizing. Hum.

An Easter Bunny Entrance That Takes a Turn for the (Comical) Worst

The video below was setup by the parents of two small children who were, as you can tell, anxious to find out what the Easter Bunny was bringing. It’s obvious that parents wanted the element of surprise to be a large part of the Easter tradition. But, as you’ll see, the surprise didn’t quite unfold the way the parents thought.

Happy Easter from All of Us Here at Plan an Event.

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Crowd Sourcing; a Unique Way to Promote an Event.

November 23, 2012 By Comments

photo by cooltownstudios.com

Who do you turn to when you have to promote an event? As many event planners know, there are many steps to planning and executing an event. First the event itself has to be exciting enough that it will generate interest. Then the organizer has to make sure that the event is well attended. That’s where promoting an event comes in.

Using Crowd Sourcing to Promote an Event.

Many of you have probably heard the term crowd sourcing before. If you haven’t, crowd sourcing is a term used for the practice of obtaining ideas or services by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. The idea is that you would turn to a community (usually online) for ideas rather than from traditional sources such as employees or suppliers.

Crowd Sourcing Can Be Quite Effective. It Can Also Be Very Risky.

Crowd sourcing is effective when it catches on and turns promoting your event into a viral campaign. It can also be risky in that if there is little interest from the crowd that you have approached.

Recently the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) undertook a unique way to promoting an event. Well, I guess we could call it an event. Their job was to promote Canada. Rather than use the traditional means such as hiring an ad agency, developing a series of high-level commercials and buying media time, the CTC decided to turn to the crowd that they were in fact promoting; Canadians.

Via crowd sourcing, the CTC asked Canadians to describe, in their own words/video, what they liked about their country. They received over 65 hours of content.

The video below is a compilation of the crowd sourcing videos that were submitted. Talk about a unique way to approach crowd sourcing for promoting an event.

 

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Planning a Marijuana Conference in Washington and Colorado? Don’t Exhale Just Yet.

November 16, 2012 By Comments
planning a marijuana conference in Colorado or Washington

photo by wxow.com

So you may have heard that there was an election recently. We all now know that President Obama has a mandate for another four years and Gov. Romney is now leaving the national spotlight. Whatever will we do without those never-ending political ads? But, did you also know that Colorado and Washington State also voted to decriminalize marijuana (or rather small quantities of marijuana).

So, does that mean that the meetings and events industry will be rushing to host conferences in those states? And will they have new gift ideas that they can offer to their delegates – i.e. pipes?

Well, not so fast according to government and tourism officials in those states.

Will Promoting Marijuana Tourism Help the Meetings and Events Industry?

Many are wondering whether Washington and Colorado will become North America’s Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, citizens and visitors can easily and freely enjoy marijuana (albeit in controlled environments). All indications are that this will probably not be the case in Washington and Colorado.

Visit Denver’s president and CEO, Richard Scharf, recently stated that he’s concerned that by relaxing marijuana laws in his state, Colorado’s brand would become damaged. Mr. Scharf fears that this new law may attract fewer conventions in addition to a decline in leisure travel.

Washington and Colorado are already part of a group of 18 states that have legalized medical marijuana. This new law now includes anyone 21 or older. Those that are eligible can legally possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. In Colorado they can also grow up to six plants. In Washington their books states that you can grow your own.

Washington State has had an annual hemp festival for over 20 years. Currently in Washington State you are not able to be in public with alcohol. Under the new marijuana law, this will not be any different.

Promoting Marijuana Tourism Can Be Risky

Both Washington and Colorado fear that tourism to their states will now be focused on individuals seeking marijuana. Naturally for anyone planning a conference, a location is usually selected because of what it has to offer. Now there’s no doubt that both states have a lot to offer for meetings and conventions. But, will meeting planners now think twice? After all, planners are very careful to maintain a middle-of-the-road position on many social issues. They do not want to be viewed as promoting an event that can create controversy. Unlike politics, it’s just not wise to stake a position on hot button topics like marijuana.

Of course it’s too early to tell what the impact will be as a result of Colorado’s and Washington’s new marijuana laws. Conference planners are always careful to select locations that do not cause controversies. In the Netherlands, where marijuana consumption is tolerated, tourism officials claim that meetings and conventions have not been affected. Whether or not that is the case for Colorado and Washington is yet to be seen.

 

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Las Vegas CVA Shows Us How to Promote an Event

August 29, 2012 By Comments
how to promote an event Las Vegas CVB style

photo by potx.com

*Note – this article has been updated to correctly portray the Las Vegas CVA (we previously called it the Las Vegas CVB) Thanks to reader Candy Adams, from “The Booth Mom®” for alerting us.

We all know the famous slogan; “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas”. Well almost everybody that is. You see apparently some of Prince Harry’s confidants broke the code and distributed, how shall we say it, compromising pictures of the Prince recently in Las Vegas. Well, as you can imagine, the Prince has been royally embarrassed by situation. And by his so-called confidants selling those pictures it became rather obvious that they broke the Las Vegas code.

And That Did Not Sit Well with the Las Vegas CVA (Convention and Visitors Authority)

It’s what the Las Vegas CVA did about the situation that I’m going to talk about here. In my opinion, to borrow an old cliché, they took lemons and made lemonade. The brilliant marketing department took the opportunity to promote the city’s, now very famous, code; What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.

On their website, they created a page asking potential visitors to take a pledge that says you will honor the code and promise not to distribute any compromising pictures of activities that may have occurred during a visit to Las Vegas.

And it’s working brilliantly.

They have literally taken a negative situation and have turned it positive. By doing so, the Las Vegas CVA has shown us how to promote an event that would have normally been rather negative coverage of the destination and have turned it into a very positive marketing campaign. On their website they have close to 100,000 pledges by people declaring that they promise to protect the code to its fullest.

Promoting an Event from a Negative to a Positive Position Takes Talent

The CVA is demonstrating how to promote a negative event into a positive spin. What it is also showing us is the power of branding. It’s obvious that Las Vegas has successfully termed the slogan “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” into a brand. In other words, when you hear that slogan you think of all of the activities that Vegas has to offer. From its famous casinos to its many nightclubs and restaurants, Las Vegas is a city that you associate with having fun. And sometimes when we are having fun we all get a little carried away. So rather than highlight the negatives of such activities, the tourism officials decided they would have a little fun and encourage people to be discreet.

So maybe the next time your organization gets a little press coverage that isn’t exactly rosy consider promoting an event that can take the negative side of the event and turn it into a positive spin. And if you’re wondering just how you would go about doing that, refer to the way Las Vegas handled Prince Harry’s recent situation.

 

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Do You Know How Hard It Is Promoting an Event? Just Ask the GOP.

August 24, 2012 By Comments
promoting an event GOP edition

Photo by - politicsontoast. wordpress.com

Just in case you didn’t know, the Republican party is busy promoting an event otherwise known as the Republican National Convention (2012). The convention will be held in Tampa next week running from August 27 through August 30. So, right now, the organizers normal role in promoting an event of this magnitude would be to highlight the party’s unity and presentation of their presidential candidate and their star vice presidential nominee.

So why isn’t that happening?

Does the GOP Need a Lesson on How to Promote an Event?

There seems to be two storms brewing that could make for the perfect storm at next week’s convention. You see forecasters are keeping their eye on a tropical storm, named Isaac, which computer models show that it could affect Tampa next week. On top of that there’s another storm brewing – but not of the natural kind. You see a certain Republican representative from Missouri that is hoping to unseat a long-term Democrat senator made a few comments over the weekend which has caused quite a firestorm. Representative Akin made a bonehead comment on the weekend saying that women that are raped cannot become pregnant because their body shuts down the ability for conception. Well needless to say that stupid comment has landed the representative in hot water. His own party leaders are calling for him to step aside as they now feel he is very damaged goods. Not only that but he is further damaging the GOP’s messaging to women.

Now before you think this is a one-off (and perhaps to the degree of what he said it is) the GOP has also just finalized their policy platform for moving the party forward (or backwards?). You see as part of their policy, they formally oppose abortion under any circumstances.

As a sideshow side story, we’ve also heard from Donald Trump (aren’t we hearing from Mr. Trump just about every other day now?) that he had a big surprise planned for the convention. Well on the very same day that he put out a tease about his gig at the convention, a journalist let it slip that he was going to do a skit where he and an Obama look-alike would partake in Trump telling Obama “you’re fired”.  On cue, the Donald began to trash the journalist as nothing but a flake. Good grief, haven’t we heard this before? Really, have the organizers just given up on even trying to be funny?

Right Now the GOP Should Be Busy Promoting an Event Not Defending Their Policies

What should normally be a period before the convention where organizers are promoting the event has turned into anything but. All we are hearing is how Representative Akin is of touch with women’s issues (and, I don’t know, maybe reality too – not to mention just plain science itself).

I actually feel sorry for the organizers of the Republican convention. It is certainly not their fault what members of the GOP are saying in interviews. However it certainly falls on their shoulders to overcome what their members are saying and try to promote an event in a positive light. After all, this convention really should be about introducing Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan as the Republican nominees for President and Vice President. Instead what many in the party are doing is playing defense as the press just doesn’t seem to want to drop this story.

As I’ve mentioned here in the past, I’m looking forward to both political parties conventions as they are truly a study on events and how to promote them. I guess only time will tell which party was more effective than the other at getting their message to stick. The correct message that is.

 

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CNN Learns How to Promote an Event the Hard Way (Comedy Video)

July 6, 2012 By Comments
how not to promote an event

photo by digitaltrends.com

Whatever would we do without our 24 hour news channels? I know, maybe we get off our butts and actually get out and learn something for a change. Sorry, nothing personal here, it’s just that I’m sick and tired of these cable news channels. Anyone watching these news channels from the outside would think that we literally hate each other in the US. Maybe we do now I don’t know. But, for me, I prefer to turn those channels off for good and get my news doses in half-hour increments each day.

We all know how politicized the healthcare debate has become in the US. And as we were all waiting with bated breath for the Supreme Court’s ruling on Obama care last week (okay so the only ones waiting with bated breath were the media), the news cameras and news people were camping outside of the Supreme Court so that they could be the first to report on this landmark ruling. The reason that I’m writing this is because it really is a lesson on how to promote an event or, rather, how not to promote an event. Think about it. Would you rush an announcement from your company even before you knew if it was true or not? Of course you wouldn’t. But that didn’t stop reputable (yeah I kind of used that word loosely here) news agencies from spreading the word that Obama care was basically defeated by the Supreme Court. Except, of course, that it wasn’t. Talk about a lesson in event promotion.

The Media Needs a Lesson in Event Promotion. Oh Wait, Weren’t They Taught That in Journalism School?

Whatever your political leanings tend to be I’m sure there is one common ground that we can all agree on. And that is that these jokers at the Cable News Network’s need to step back, take a very deep breath, and do their freaking jobs!

Which brings me to our video presentation. Leave it to our good friends at Second City for putting together this spoof on the reaction of a certain CNN producer. Of course at first it looks like he’s going to be King of the world – until of course his people completely screw things up and, well, maybe he’ll be looking for some type of new job (I, for one, am hoping that it’s not in the media industry).

Lesson learned? Stay tuned…

 

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Donald Trump-Event Promoter?

June 6, 2012 By Comments

photo by blog.reidreport.com

It seems we’re seeing “The Donald” a lot more as of late. I know, I know. He seems to be a spokesperson for a lot of companies lately. And he’s also a major contributor and supporter to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. We’ll see how that pays off down the road, won’t we.

Careful What You Ask for, Especially When Promoting Political Events

I am going to give you a little tip here on how to promote an event – never ask a question that you really don’t know the answer to. Or another way of putting it is; never ask a question that can potentially lead to embarrassing answers.

Often, as part of political events, the candidate will offer themselves to the winner of a contest. Of course these types of promotions are done as ways of raising campaign money. Certainly nothing wrong as many politicians will do this to raise the much-needed campaign funds.

Donald Trump Is Learning How to Promote an Event the Hard Way

Promoting an event, or rather how to promote an event, can be a difficult task and can take some mastering. Unfortunately, for Mr. Trump, it seems he’s not taking the time to learn how to promote events properly.

The Romney campaign decided that it would run an event promotion to have dinner with Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. To Republican voters this could be enough of a draw to make them want to contribute to Mitt Romney’s campaign. At least that was the hopes of the campaign itself. So Mr. Trump took to Twitter (he seems to like twitter as of late) and posed the following question:

Donald Trump promoting an event on twitter

Now, again, it’s not so much about the event itself. With this, it’s more about the way the question is posed. Or, more importantly, it’s about the question itself that was posed. As you can guess, twitter world went abuzz with people answering Mr. Trump’s question. And I’m sure you can guess, most of the answers are not even fit to print in this article. So instead I am posting a link so that you go and take a look yourself (but don’t forget I did warn you). Click here to see the twitter community’s answers to Donald Trump’s question.

With event promotion communication is the key. But the take away here is that you’d better be careful what you ask for because you just may get the answers that are really on everybody’s mind.

 

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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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