Once you have carried out the basics of the planning process, event managers can turn to social medial to help promote their events. Social media really comes into effect when you get your delegates/customers talking, networking and sharing information, these networking sites are all about communication and engagement. 

Using the right social media platform can be an extremely effective way to reach a wider auidence than you normally would have access to. Not only is it a popular tool for many inidividuals/delegates but because the majority of them are free, it is making it one of the most cost effective marketing mediums out there. Used carefully and appropriately , event managers can utilise the popularity of these tools to help boost the success of their events. There are many social media sites out there that can help promote your events - Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn (to name a few). Event managers need to get onto these key networking sites and start creating profiles so that no matter what platform a particular delegate prefers, they are able to locate your event and communicate with you.

It is key to have goals and strategies when event planning and with regards to social media, your goal should be to get your event covered in the main social media platforms. Once you have the presence, encourage conversation and promotion of your event. A good idea is to link all these accounts to a focused page on your website, microsite or blog. An effective strategy would be to integrate your social media accounts into a comprehensive event management software soluton, as you will be able to update all your social media accounts without having to leave your event solution making it that much easier and that much faster. With event managers being under considerable pressures, technology such as event management software solutions can be the key to organising a successful and well executed event.

In this post we will be looking specifically at a Facebook page.

Facebook is fantastic for event management - it's accessibe and simple to use and setting up an event on Facebook takes mere minutes. This page needs to be populated with the key information regarding the details of your event.  Setting up a page couldn't  be simpler:

When setting up a page focus on either your company as whole or if your event is a large, recognised annual event (for example) you can set up a page dedicated to that event. At the very bottom of the Facebook Page is an option "Create a page", Click on this and Facebook will take you through the stages of creating your own Facebook page.

Key things when creating our Facebook page:

1. Choose an effective name: Ideally the name of your company or the name of your event
2. Select the best URL (Facebook username) for your Facebook page: Choose a username that authentically represents your business or event
3. Use the "About" text box: Place a keyword rich summary near the top of your Page
4. Use the "Info" tab effectively: Include more important keywords, text and high priority links on your page
5. Post regular updates: 2-3 times a week at different times of the day/days of the week is a good initial benchmark

If your Facebook page is basd around your business, you can add an event application so that you can promote your event(s). You'll need to search the Facebook Applications directory for "events" then install the main Events app.

You need to be sure that you add your event to the "Event" tab, also allowing fans of your page to take part in online discussions within the page. Make sure that when you create an event that you complete as much information about the event such as:

• When - date & time
• What are you planning
• Where
• More info
• Who's invited

In order to make the event as visible as possible, make sure it is public and promote the page throughout all your other marketing communication (i.e. in email signatures, via Twitter etc). Once your events is live on your Facebook page, you can post details on the wall and send out sporadic reminders to your delegates.

What & When to Post on the Wall

Too many posts and it becomes intrusive, not enough and it becomes lost in your delegates newsfeed. The number of posts needs to correlate to the closeness of your event. If your event is still a few months away we recommend only posting two or three times a week. When your event is closer, you can post up to once a day. And in the immediate run up to the event, post updates as and when required.

So....how do you then promote your Facebook event? It's important to promote your Facebook page actively. The more people who "like" your page or who have RSVP'd attending to your event, the wider your overall network will be. When someone engages on your page (through commenting or liking a post/picture/video etc), this activity will be posted in the newsfeeds of their friends - giving you exposure that you would not normally get.

The people engaging in your event page are likely to have friends, peers or colleagues in their Facebook list that may be interested in your event, so increasing your overall network in this way gives you greater access to these people. You should promote your page in the usual way - through your email signature, blogs posts, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. However, there are more specific ways you can try and increase your pages reach...We will cover these in our second part of Event Planning with Facebook, the post will include Sharing Your Page, Facebook Adverts & Live Check-In's.

In the meantime if you would like more information on our event management solution and how it can integrate with social media event strategy or you would like to download our free ebook "Event Management & Social Media" then please email us events@evocos.com or call us 0800 369 8677.

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More and more businesses who run events are looking for a way to be that little bit more efficient for less cost, the old adage, do more for less and better for less. Improving your levels of efficiency and increasing the value of your events are two primary drivers that help distinguish a successful events company from one that is struggling. So whatever type of events you run, whether it is multiple events weekly, internal corporate meetings, training, staff development, incentives or annual conferences it is imperative that your organisation and event operates at maximum efficiency and giving your delegates a high quality experience.

Have you considered giving some of the power back to your delegates? By allowing your delegates to manage some of their own event experience you are making them feeling in control and have ownership and involvement with the event process. One way to do this is to implement and use an event software which includes a self service event portal. A self service portal can be used in a variety of ways, but for the events industry, this portal would be used to take registrations online and to give delegates a profile or account so they are able to manage their details and event experiences themselves.

By implementing a self service portal your delegates can register online and they can manage their contact information, dietary requirements, event history, selection of courses, accreditation requirement, purchase of relevant event merchandise and more. It will also allow your delegates to view upcoming events and choose whether this is something they are interrested in attending. Most people have a preferred method of communication and an online self service portal will allow delegates to select their preferred method so they can receive updates on the events that are not only relevant to them but also sent via a method of their choice.

As the service portal is online delegates can access their profile and information 24/7 and from any location, making this extremely convenient to your delegates, this can only mean that your delegates will have control and are more likely to register ensuring they provide themselves with a smoother and less stressful registration experience. Also if your delegate is able to register via your official event website this gives them a familiar, trusted view, whilst providing them access to their own branded portal.

 By simply handing over the reigns to their own event portal means hat many jobs that the event manager would have managed is now in the hands of the delegate. Meaning that many of the communications between the event manage and the delegate can be removed, saving the event manager time and allowing them to work on more strategic tasks.

You can avoid the inevitable bottlenecks associated with event management by introducing a self sevice portal. Many delegates might learn about an event over the weekend and will have to wait until Monday morning before they can call the event company to register their interest or attendance. This can lead to sudden peaks in demand on a Monday morning which can be tough to control and manage and this can often lead to mistakes trying to juggle numerous tasks and coping with an unrealistic workload. However if you provide a way for your delegates to register via the internet this eans that the bottlenecks can be avoided.

A further key benefit to the event managers of the self service portal is that it allows them to access their dlegate information from one central location/platform. Making it that much easier to create reports, download data ad create delegate badges and custom event packs.

The self service portal can be integrated into your organisation's CRM system, this means that any amendments made by the delegates themselves to their contact information are automatically updated/populated (in real time) into the CRM. This means that your records are always clean, accurate and up to date.

Most self service portals, such as evocos', are more often than not supplied as part of an event software solution. These solutions include a host of event tools such as email marketing, invitation maanagement, online registration/microsite management, integrated surveys, reporting tools and more.

Contact the evocos team to learn more about our online self service portal, simply click here.

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In the first of our Twitter and events blog posts we introduced how event managers can start to use

In part 2 we are going to look at #Hashtags in Twitter, how to generate a quality network and what you should be tweeting about.

#Hashtags

Hashtags are used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. Hashtags were originally created by users of Twitter as a way to categorise messages. When you create a hashtag for an event you should create one that matches the event in question. A good tip is to try and keep the hasthtag to a minimum number of characters as possible so as not to take up valuable space in the 140 character limit of tweets. You now need to let your delegates know about the hashtag and promote it to all stakeholders involved in the event, encourage them to use the hashtag when anyone is tweeting about the event and to monitor any updates on the event. This way both thte event organisers and delegates can monitor what is being said and answer any questions and respond to any comments.

Generating a High Quality Network

Ensure you add your Twitter username to all relevant marketing communications. Include it in the event collateral, emails and direct mail. It is key to start building your followers and the owner of the account should then start to follow the relevant Twitter users such as:

• Delegates
• Suppliers
• Speakrs
• Prospect Delegates
• Those in the local community
• Those from relevant industries

It is important that the account generates a high quality network, the quality of your followers is more important than the quantity of your followers. Ensure that you continue to update your Twitter account with interesting and relevant information on the event and try not to leave the acount inactive. You should work towards ensuring your network consists of relevant, high quality users; those in your industry and those who can help promote your event further.

What should you tweet about?

This is a toughie, planning your tweets can be a pretty daunting task. It is vital tht you come across as useful, engaging, helpful and interesting. If you are constantly promoting your own agenda this does not tend to do well on Twitter. Therefore the goal is to share information, provide advice and help to others and to become a trusted platform for those in your industry. But this still doesn't answer what you should be tweeting about, my suggestion would be things like:

• Event announcements - new speakers, new key delegates, sponsors etc
• Updates - Changes to agenda, location, registration process etc
• Answer Questions - people might ask questions about the event - the speakers, presentation items, logistics
• Ask Questions - Ask your network of follower's questions that can help improve the event, engage with your followers, what do they hope to achieve from the event, what presentations are they looking forward to, what do they think can be improved?
• Retweet (RT) - This is where you RT another users tweet, such as positive feedback regarding the event that you'd like to share, tweets from suppliers or sponsors talking about the event, industry news, anything you deem as worth sharing to your followers
• Links to useful content - If you come across an article online that is relevant to your event or industry you can tweet a link to the relevant web page.

In part 3 of our Twitter and events blog post we wil be covering Managing your Twitter account and responding to negative tweets. If you would like more information on Improving your events using Twitter then please download our Whitepaper, "The Benefits of Twitter to the Event Management Industry" or if you would like to talk to one of our team about your event software requirements then please contact us

 In the first part of the blog we established that more and more organisations are singing to the same tune, be more efficient with a reduced budget! For organisations that run events this might seem like an impossible ask, however through the implementation of the right event software solution you can start to see your event ROI rising and rising.

In the first part of the blog we covered how the implementation of an online event software solution that included a comprehensive self service portal can have massive efficiency savings for local authorities, in the second part of the blog we will be looking at how an online self service portal can provide efficiency savings and doing more with less from a commercial perspective.

So as an organisation how do you know if your event is efficient? What are the metrics you use to measure whether it has been a success or not? There is no point organising and running an event if you don't know whether it has been a success or not, are you looking to improve efficiency, create more revenue back to your business or to maintain your customers? All of these metrics can be done with face to face marketing which is seen as an extremely effective and also one of the simplest methods to determine whether your event has been a success, it can be also be simplified if you implement and utilise the relevant tools, such as an event software solution with a fully functioning self service portal.  

Having the ability to measure cost per delegate and overall event profitability and then enabling you to present exact projected sales forecast to your organisation is fundamental.  Event software solutions let you to do this and will query your event data making the measurement and reporting process much easier, more cost efficient and less time consuming.

For the commercial event organisation, making use of an online self service portal has a number of transparent efficiency benefits, from clean and up to date data through to improved delegate management. A self service event booking portal will allow the delegate to book online - from the point of booking, to payment, to registering on the day; ensuring the delegates’ journey is quick, painless and error free. Events that are not successful are events that have not been organised efficiently and this will leave the delegates with an unsatisfying experience, resulting in lowered delegate attendance for future events.

If you would like more information on evocos' self service booking portal then please contact the evocos event software team and request a demonstration of our solution.

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In the first part of our blog post we covered the need for delegates to register online and in this final post we will be covering how using online registration will help not only your delegates but you, the event manager.

The online registration procedure should look something like the following:

·      Web page branded to your corporate specification

·      Sending branded, personalised e-invites to a targeted selection of prospect delegates via advanced email marketing tool

·      Provding a single click transaction from e-invite to branded event landing page

·      Allowing your delegates to register on-line through your website

·      Sending automated delegate booking email confirmations

·      Producing personalised delegate packs tailored specifically to each individual delegate

·      Collating and storing relevant information and making delegate badges prior to the event

This model benefits the delegate along with the event manager. For the delegate, they receive targeted, personalised e-invites, can register and pay online and then experience a complete closed loop by getting event confirmation and updates through email. For the event manager, they're able to take a step back away from the enrolment process, whilst still remaining in control. Full monitoring and reporting features should be included in the email marketing software that should allow the event manager to see who opened the invite, who clicked on links and more. This will help to improve the quality of the data, the follow ups and the success of forthcoming campaigns.

The event manager can also customise the online booking form for every event they host - ensuring that they get the most vital data for that event. This information may be used for other marketing and to create personalised delegate packs on the day. Custom delegate badges, complete with barcodes could also be created at a click of a button.

Managing the delegate registration process could be made a lot easier by outsourcing this area to an event software company. This kind of service provides all the above activities - freeing the event manager up to focus on more strategic tasks. Event management software organisations can take control of the delegate registration process through the use of their sophisticated event software solutions - all for a flat and affordable fee. This kind of partnership can often be preferable to event companies who are just starting to make use of technology when organising their events. The other side of the coin would be to completely invest in an event software solution which would come with a delegate registration model. Although in this case, the event managers would still need to manage and control this part of the process themselves.

For further information on how evocos can help you manage your delegates more efficiently, contact the evocos team.

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Have you noticed that more and more of your delegates prefer to register for your events online? People now understand the Internet and all it has to offer, and now expect organisations to meet their requests on the net as well as offline and therefore it is becoming more important to event managers to have the capacity to allow their delegates to enrol and pay online . Online registration provides benefits of increased control and effectiveness, whilst at the same time reducing expenses for the event host. This post explains how event managers can manage this activity - either themselves, or through the use of an event management software supplier.

Creating and managing profitable events is key to all event managers and with this growing pressure to be succcesful you also need to keep your expenditure low whilst increasing your efficiency. This means that event managers are repeatedly walking a very thin line between creating an event that is of value to delegates and producing an event that is managed on a diminutive budget. This can trigger issues sometimes as saving money is not always harmonious with the desire to manage and host a high value event.

It is now becoming apparent to event managers the benefits of control and effectiveness that technology can bring to the event management proess. Being able to automate key actions and taking advantage of the Internet should help save time and money and can also create a more efficient event experience for both event managers and delegates. One of the important areas where events and the Internet coming together is that of delegate registration.

Historically (and some organisations still do this), event managers would manually select target delegates from a database, from this selection they would then create and send direct mail invitations (this comes with addition expenses of printing and postage) and then deal with regsitrations via the phone, fax and post. The tracking and reporting would be minimal through this manual process, whilst incurring other costs via the continuious communication between themselves and the registered delegates. Managing the list of delegates would be very time consuming - managed on massive, complex spreadsheets. However, we are now seeing this conventional model of delegate enrolment being graudally overtaken by that of an Internet based model.

The Internet based model of delegate registration takes advantage of the increase in the use of the Internet all over the world. According to a Radicati Group study from May 2009, there is about 1.9 billion email users worldwide. That equates to just over one in every five persons on the earth making use of email. For 2014, Radicati Group projects 2.5 billion email users worldwide.  These figures demonstrate that people are now becoming accustomed to making use of email as part of their everyday lives.

The use of email and social networking means that people are increasingly living their lives online; simply put, this shows that they would like to be able to undertake essential transactions on line as well - which includes registering to attend events.

In the second part of this blog post I will cover the online registration procedure in more depth. However, in the meantime if you would like more information then please contact the evocos team

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Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a mishmash of thoughts, best practices and methodologies that will help your continued education, development and growth. CPD courses will show clear benefits to CPD professionals in day to day life and cater to a real mix of training courses and workshops which hugley increase the need to manage your members' professional development online.

When searching for a CPD solution your first choice is probably not to look at an event management software, however, event solutions are becoming a more viable option as they are evolving at such a fast rate and aligning their development with the constant changing requirements of the events industry. The flexible and versatile archiecture of online event solutions now enables you to manage all aspects of your members continued professional development with ease.

Part one of this blog will cover:

• Managing your professional members online
• Online CPD event web portal

And part two will cover the following:

• Communicating with your members
• Online registration
• Online reporting services

Managing your professional members online
The members are the heart of all CPD courses and the individuals that attend them are from professional accredited bodies, such as law, accounting, HR, teachers, nurses, counsellors etc. Therefore the implementation of the right online solution to manage them is crucial and by selecting the right web based event solution will not only ensure the professional member attends the right courses but that they also:

• Increase their competence and skill set
• Allow them to be competitive in the employment market
• Show commitment to future employers
• Show your commitment to them
• Avoid them becoming stagnant
• Bring a new and exciting personal and professional challenge to them

Online CPD event web portal
To guarantee your professional members capture the right data and have realistic expectations from your courses you need to be sure that they are being managed efficiently. With the ability to capture an individual's professional development growth online will demonstrate how committed you are to the members' continued self development, growth and improvement.

Using and implementing an online event softare solution which has a fully functioning web portal will allow professional members to access their personal information from any location at any time (with an internet connection). The member would then be able to document their own career gals, analyse their history, reflect on their progress, plan activities and  view all possible and relevant professional growth courses and workshops available to them. The professional member then has the choice to simply verify and proceed to book their attendance online based on their professional growth requirements, enabling them to develop and contrustc their own online personal development plan.

I will shortly be posting part two of this blog, however in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact evocos directly and we will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. Or if you would simply like to request your free web demo then please contact us.

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Everyone is talking about "the Cloud" but what does it all mean? And more importantly what does it mean to an event manager?

Firstly a little background on "the Cloud", cloud computing is the delivery of shared resources, software and information over the Internet. It is still a relatively new delivery model for IT services and provides users with a completely different way to use and manage their IT software and platforms. The most common way to use cloud computing is through a subscription service or pay a monthly fee to use a particular software solution and instead of the software being installed on a user's computer directly, the user accesses the software remotely, via their web browser. Some of the generic benefits of cloud computing include:

• Cost: Cost can be greatly reduced since capital expenditure is converted to operational expenditure, lowering the barriers to entry
• Local Independence: Users can access systems using a web browser, regardless of their location or device they are using
• Scalability and Peak Load Capacity: using software on the cloud means that companies can manage peaks in demand with ease
• Reliability: Reliability is improved making it a safer option with regards to disaster recovery
• Maintenance: This is easier on cloud computing since the software is not installed on the user's computer; meaning that support and upgrades are managed and taken on by the provider themselves.

Event managers are starting to understand how they can take this development in IT and use it to help improve the management and quality of their events. This post will look atevent management and the cloud and will highlight two popular event software solutions that can be deployed via the cloud. Event managers can take avdantage of cloud computing and use it to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of their events.

Two of the most popular cloud software solutions for event managers are:

Google Docs
Google Docs is a fantastic example of cloud computing. Traditionally, working off a master document on a conventional server or network could cause many issues such as:

• Not knowing if you're working on the most recent version
• Only one person at a time being able to gain access
• Ony those working on the server/network would be able to access the document
• Issues with duplication

Hosting documents on the cloud means that key members of the event team (and external partners and suppliers) can access documents at any time from any location. There is also no limit to the number of peope who can view the document at any time, all updates are made in real time, and there are no issues with document duplication. Additionally, hosting documents on the cloud is also safer, since they are not relying on the security of the network or server they would normally be kept on.

I will be posting the next part of this blog shortly which will cover the second most popular cloud software solution for event managers.

In the meantime if you would like more information on evocos or event management and the cloud then please contact us.

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In part one of the blog "How Event Software Can Benefit Your Delegates" we covered Website Integration, Online Registration & Online Payment as some of the ways that can help make the delegate journey that much smoother.

In the second and final part of the blog we will be covering Improved Communication, Fewer Errors, Supplier Management & Access to Data.

Improved Communication

Most event software solutions will include various methods of communication that event managers can use to contact their delegates. At the point of registration, delegates can select the method that they would most prefer to be contacted by; email, post, telephone, SMS, social media etc. good quality event management software solutions will come with fully integrated communication tools to enable a variety of options to be used;

• Email: Integrated email tools means that event managers can send out targeted emails to specific groups of delegates. These email tools let event managers split delegates into groups based on various criteria so that communication is as focused as possible. Full reporting tools ensure event managers can track email opens, click and overall success rate
• SMS: Event managers can use their event management software to send out text messages to delegates, easily and efficiently.  If this is the chosen method of communication of delegates, this can be managed and tracked with ease via the software
• Social Media: Event software can be integrated with a host of social media networks. Managing your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account from one central platform makes it easy to communicate with delegates - keeping them instantly abreast of all event news and updates.

Fewer Errors

Managing an event with event software makes it far less likely that errors will occur on the day of the event. Event software will include a "Resource Module" or something similar that will assist the event manager with tracking all elements of an event - from the suppliers, delegate numbers, badge printing, personalised itinieraries, presenters and more. Many of the elements that previously were manual and time comsuming can be automated via the software - activities like the printing of delegate badges. Although a small part of an event, if a delegate arrives and there is not a badge printed for them or their name is misspelt, can cause issues for both the delegate and the event manager. Having a smooth running event will increase delegate satisfaction and will result in an improved level of feedback and repeat attendance.

Supplier Management

Most events will work with suppliers at some point - whether it's the venue, catering, transport or material production. It's important that suppliers are managed tightly and that communication between delegates, event managers and supplier is smooth. For example, durng the registration process, delegates can state if they have any dietary requirements. Using the evnt software, catering suppliers can be given their own logon, giving them direct access to all delegate numbers and all their dietary requirements. Eliminating the event manager from this stage now frees up the event manager to focus on more productive tasks, but also reduces the risk of errors being made as the communication is passed down the line.

Access to Data

Event software can be hosted online, which means event managers can gain access to all the information regarding the event at any time and from any place (internet access required). On the day of the event, if tehre are any issues or pblems, event managers can easily resolve these, since they can access all the data relating to the event.

Taking the time to invest in an event management software is an effective way of running professional, successful events, where event managers and delegates can benefit from improved communication and an improved event experience.

Please contact us if you would like more information our online event software solution, evocos.

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Part 2

Over half of all respondents of the survey (56%) also stated that the ability to allow delegates to register online was also an important part of modern event management. Online event registration empowers delegates to manage their own registration process – by removing event managers from this stage, it enables them to focus on more productive areas. Online registration forms can be customised to the individual event, ensuring that the specific data required from delegates is easily obtained. Registration forms can also be saved as a template, allowing them to be easily replicated for future, similar events.

Directing delegates to the host website to register also helps to boost website traffic and can be used in conjunction with online promotions to help increase the number of website visitors and online conversions in other areas.

The use of events software to help manage part or all of the event management process can be further extended to cover the post event analysis. Ensuring events provide a high ROI is one of the key metrics that event managers are measured on. Being able to effectively measure ROI and other KPIs quickly and effectively is now something that event planners demand. The use of event management software to quickly and accurately create post event reports means that event organisers are able to effectively evaluate the success of their events.

Used in conjunction with the email surveys mentioned earlier, event software reporting tools can measure event metrics such as:

• Attendance vs. Delegate registrations
• Expense to Revenue Ratio
• Conversion rate of invites sent vs. delegate registrations
• Delegate Lead Quantity and Quality
• Opportunities and Sales Cycle

Automatically importing the results of the email surveys into the event management software enables the user to create customised and event-specific reports. These can be done automatically by the software and has the ability to drill down into very minute detail. Quite often the process of creating post-event reports can be a very time consuming job, however the use of event software to help manage this activity means that event managers are able to quickly and easily see the results of their events.

Event software is now one of the fastest growing areas in the event management sector. Taking advantage of the benefits of automation and online software tools is helping to keep the event industry afloat during this recession. Increasing efficiency and reducing the cost of event management all helps increase the return on investment provided to both delegates and event hosts. Many event managers are choosing to use a full end-to-end event management software solution that encompasses:

• Website registrations
• Email marketing for promotion, invites and post event surveys
• Automatic badge production
• Resource management
• Online payment facilities
• Sophisticated reporting suites

Making the investment in a total event solution that offers all the event management functions required for event planning can help make the difference between a poor event and a successful event. Resource Box For more information on full end-to-end event management software solutions, talk to evocos. In the past year alone evocos event & delegate management software solution has created over 7000 events, managed approximately 75,000 delegates and has taken over 50,000 online bookings. evocos event management software team ensures our customers are able to seamlessly manage their events; gaining huge cost and efficiency benefits.

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