Hosting an event is a demonstrated way to communicate a compelling message to an unique audience. They offer the opportunity to increase exposure, drive revenue, and grow the customer base. Customers see events as a chance to build relationships, network, learn about a new technology or service, and directly address positive and negative issues. Here are some industry best practices that we have compiled to help you make the most out of your next customer-facing event.
EVENT PLANNING BEST PRACTICE
One of the first decisions in your planning process is to choose the type of event that is most appropriate in communicating with your audience. Each offers great opportunities, but some are better suited to you and your attendees.
There are a few considerations that you should give thought to before continuing your event planning. Answering these important questions is necessary to ensure your event planning process is effective:
What event format will I use?
Select the type of event that is appropriate for the kind of information you want to relate. Your event should either showcase a technology, be a show-and-tell of what you’ve done, or relate how to solve a specific customer problem.
Have I chosen my right audience?
Focus your event on one type of target audience, typically either the business decision makers or the technical decision makers. This will determine the direction and theme of your presentations.
What is the topic of the event?
Your event should concentrate on one topic that is appropriate to your audience. This will focus your creation of presentations and prevent your event from being either too broad or irrelevant to the attendees.
What is the goal of the event?
It is necessary to determine the ultimate purpose of the event for your company. It should either appeal to and cultivate your current customer base or expand it and attract new customers to your company.
Timing is key. Ideally, you should give yourself at least eight weeks to put everything into place.
After all of the effort you put into preparing and staging your event, you’ll want to know what your audience thought of it and how useful it was in acquiring sales leads. There are a number of measurements industry experts use to determine the success of an event:
Evaluation forms
See what the audience thought of your event by handing out evaluations or asking attendees to fill out an evaluation form on your Web site.
Sales leads
Follow up with attendees to track down any strong sales leads and get one-on-one feedback from them.
ROI
In addition to calculating the financial ROI of the event, track the success of your invitations and e-mails to guests. Not only will this optimize future campaigns but it will give you the opportunity to learn more about the background and demographics of your intended audience.
TIPS AND KEYS TO SUCCESS
- Leverage the work you do for an event by rolling it out to multiple cities or customer segments.
- When choosing the venue, consider such things as suitable audio/video technology, catering service, and convenience for out-of-towners.
- Think quality, not quantity when targeting your audience. Analyze your prospect database and make sure you have the right business decision makers on your invitation list.
- Make sure to thank all attendees within a week with a personalized letter that addresses specific issues discussed at the event.
- For best results, plan a sequence of communications leading up to your event that uses a range of media. For example, send e-mails, postcards, and invitations at different times to remind customers of the event.
- Keep the audience engaged. Break the ice with games or informal conversations to get attendees participating early.
PROBLEMS TO AVOID
- Refrain from making the event purely a sales pitch. Let the audience know that it is an opportunity to ask questions, network, learn, and receive prizes/giveaways.
- Keep the session from moving too slowly. Don’t get bogged down in technical questions and break up the information by varying speakers.
- Avoid sending generic mailings. Personal phones calls and mailings have the most impact when reaching business decision makers.
- Avoid developing an event too broad in scope. Focus the event on a topic that is important to business decision makers in a particular industry.
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