THE FORUM GROUP – Sydney Event Management Company

• How to plan and promote events with social media

• How to use twitter to promote your event

• Social media for event planners

• Social media strategy IS the new event coordinator

• Facebook for events

• How to create an event on facebook

A huge trend that we are seeing at the moment is the use of videos to promote event speakers and their sessions. Long gone are the days of reading one page biographies and hoping that a session will meet your expectations. Now your audience can see, hear and experience your speaker with the simple click of a button, in a much more engaging and interactive way than ever before.

So what are the other added bonuses of communicating to your potential delegates in this format? Here’s 4 good reasons;

1. By experiencing a speaker first hand (even if it is only a short 30 sec video), delegates will be much more inclined to register and attend your event. It will ensure that there is the right fit between your speaker and the audience, and is a great tool for helping delegates select which sessions they would like to attend.

2. Keeping up with the latest technology implies that your event will also have this same forward thinking. It adds a fresh perspective to the traditional format.

3. Social media/viral marketing enables delegates to post and ‘like’ your speaker video. This powerful use of the internet means that any social media action spreads to your delegates friends, and then their friends friends, and on and on it goes. You can post the videos to websites, blogs, newsletters, emails…allowing you the ability to expand your potential audience by multitudes! This can help create a HUGE buzz pre-event.

4. Use this buzz as a draw card for sponsors and major partners. Help build a community which can be carried though to the event and even continue post event as well. People want to be a part of what everyone else is talking about – and if this is somehow linked to your event then you have some great marketing and PR opportunities!

Click here to see the speaker video from our friends at Ovations!

Do you prefer this method of advertising your speakers pre-event? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

We keep hearing about social media. Twitter this and Youtube that! The growth is substantial – with facebook alone having more than 400 million active users! However the question remains, are the majority of these 400 million users uni students that engage in social media purely for…social reasons? Or is it true that social media outlets like facebook are in fact becoming effective marketing opportunities for corporate brands? And are they currently facilitating these opportunities?

Exhibitor Media Group decided to get to the bottom of this issue by inviting nearly 8,000 marketing professionals to participate in the 2010 Social Media in Marketing Survey. Some interesting statistics are found below;

• Two-thirds of companies surveyed have used social media for marketing
• 90% claim that it holds “moderate” or even “limitless” potential
• Of the one-third that don’t use social media, the biggest obstacle is lack of time
• Nearly 10% of respondents dedicate 21 hours or more per week to their social media campaign

It is unquestionable that corporate brands and marketing executives are definitely on the social media bandwagon. Certain benefits including increased brand awareness, increased press coverage, increased event attendance rates and even increased sales. However it is also recognised that by engaging in social media outlets, there is a trade of – it is time consuming.

How do you find the right balance between time spent on social media, and time spent on more traditional marketing initiatives? Which do you think has a greater ROI?

We’d love to hear you thoughts. Please comment below.

Twitter and other social media platforms are undeniably changing the nature of presentations. Real-time communications are now shared between the speaker, the audience, and others that aren’t even in the room – with the added comfort of being able to sit passively in the audience! Twitter makes it easy to engage, there is a risk of humiliation however what people are finding, is that what often results is an honest, productive and content rich conference or presentation.

Here are some examples of how to incorporate tweet-mania into your next conference or presentation;

1. Set-up a hashtag on twitter and hook it up as a live feed via a big screen/s (ensuring that both you and the audience have clear visibility). Begin your presentation with a slide listing your name, title of your presentation, your twitter username and the event hashtag. Announce to your delegates that tweeting throughout the presentation is encouraged!
2. Twitter feed – to get them started, ask the audience to introduce themselves via the twitter feed. This will enable delegates to get an understanding of who is around them and the general demographic (a great way to do this is by starting with a poll – ask delegates questions and help break the ice, or ask them to tweet three words that describe how they are feeling, or what they would like to hear about in this presentation – the possibilities are endless!)
3. Encourage your audience to ask questions and make comments throughout your presentation! Make your time together as productive as possible and give them the content and answers they want to hear! Don’t underestimate the intelligence of your audience – they might have some useful points and insights!
4. Invite other specialists to tweet throughout your presentation for that added credibility – delegates will appreciate the extra expertise and professional opinions! (Also invite delegates that could not physically be in the room to participate)
5. Make a pdf of the twitterstream – ensure your audience that everything is recorded and that you will respond to any questions/tweets you missed after the presentation. It’s also a great way to capture leads and for the audience to receive everyone’s combined notes/thoughts/questions from the presentation!

It appears that twitter can enable an audience to engage with the content and possibly focus more at conferences. Yet others argue it is nothing more than a mere distraction and people are only doing it because it’s the latest trend…What are your thoughts?? We’d love to hear your comments.