Do you Like Networking? Or do you find it difficult to talk to people when you attend networking events?

Are you hosting and event?  Are “new” faces a  part of the guest list?  If you want your guests to get to know one another better during your event;  then try an great activity for finding out more about everyone using general interview questions.  The object of this activity is to encourage guests to talk to one another and “guess” where they are FROM.  This works best when your guests don’t know one another very well (if at all) and it is a fun way to connect and start the relationship-building process.  The interesting thing is that many people will be from a certain geographic location and find it rewarding to discover others who are also from that same area.  The “hometown” can be defined as the city, state, or even country of origin.   

You will need a list of interview questions to be handed out to participants during the social (networking) part of your event.  The only rule is that participants should ask a series of questions to uncover the “hometown” before either guessing the answer or asking the final question, “Where are you originally from?”    

It is also a good idea to ask questions that may be more specific to your guests.  Although it is really more fun to just “pop the question,” you may also consider sending this to your guests prior to the event, so they can be prepared.  I also suggest you keep the number of questions to around 8 to 10 so that your guests will have time to meet a few people. To help you get started here is list of suggested questions:

      1.         What type of food is your hometown known for?
      2.         Do you have a state motto – if so, what is it?
      3.         What flower is associated with your hometown?
      4.         What is the weather like?
      5.         What is the geographic landscape (mountainous, desert, flat, surrounded by water, etc.)?
      6.         Is it a small town or large city?
      7.         Is there a certain type music that is preferred by the people from your hometown?
      8.         Are there any famous people/celebrities from your hometown?  If so, who?
      9.         Do you say tomato or toe-maaaahhhh-toe?
    10.       What is your hometown best known for (attraction, activity, etc.)

As the hostess, you may also want to include “prizes” for the person who guesses the most hometowns.  Once the activity is over, you can also ask how many people are from a certain area, and if anyone wishes to share a story allow time for sharing.

Variation:  Instead of the using the topic “where are you from” you can change it to be “what was your previous career (job)” and create a list of questions that would help the audience to guess the answer.   

If the first most important outcome to hosting an event is that it is a SUCCESS., what is the second most important outcome? Like any endeavor, one success becomes the model for future successes. To get to that end result (which in my mind is really the beginning) there is another critical component to staging a world-class event. And that is the front and back-end promotion. By that I mean, cultivating referrals from your clients/vendors/attendees. Promoting your services for other events to this base of referral business requires careful, strategic, ongoing planning. You could turn one event into many with the right marketing mix. It’s the personal attention, the details and the relationships you build that will create this flood of referrals.

Gather Information

Create information cards that will be your resource for referrals. The cards should be completed for both clients and vendors. Vendors can be a great source for referrals and should be treated with the same care and personal attention as the clients. Information on the cards should include:

Names and birth dates of family members

Wedding anniversary, and other special dates such as # of years in business or with the same company

Interests of each family member to include hobbies, talents and accomplishments

Place of employment of client and spouse

Special designations, offices or memberships of client

Corporate client cards to include information of your contact within the corporation and the CEO

Birth dates of key personnel within the company

Any annual celebrations the company hosts

If you are a meeting planner or planning a meeting for your company, ask your client/colleagues for an evaluation immediately following the event. If you are hosting an event for a nonprofit or other type organization, ask all stakeholders (volunteers, staff, interns) for the same.

Handle any complaints professionally and proficiently. Do not allow time to lapse before addressing Make it brief and concise. Send the evaluation with a thank you note. Be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Ask one or two open-ended questions to elicit candor. Ask the client to be open and honest about all aspects of the event you were involved in.  Handling and correcting complaints quickly will solidify the relationship, and increase your chances of working with the client in the future. Remember the statistics which imply that when a complaint is handled quickly and favorably, 87% of those who complain will do business with the “offending” party again. You’ve worked so hard to get the client; in most cases, it’s much easier to keep a client than find a new one.

When appropriate, it is also a good idea to send an evaluation form to your vendors eliciting their opinions of the event and be sure to include a “ways to improve” comment section.

Send thank you notes to your vendors, catering and sales professionals, volunteers, staff and any and all of those may have had a hand in ensuring the success of the project. Thank you notes go a long way especially when you find yourself in a jam at one time or another. If you have been doing this for any length of time, you have probably needed to find a last minute replacement for the entertainment or photographer or a speaker. You know the importance of appreciation.

Once the event is over, while it is still fresh in the minds of your client, ask for a testimonial or letter of referral. Happy clients are happy to oblige. However, they may be very busy and when too much time passes, they may forget. If you do not receive the letter within a week or two after the event, follow up. Graciously ask them if they would not mind you writing the letter for them, and fax or e-mail it to them. Tell them you use these letters in your promotional kits and their testimonial would be greatly appreciated. Busy people are happy to accommodate your requests when you make it easier to do business with you.

When you implement these strategies, you will receive the accolades, rewards and referrals that will lead to future successes!

Be sure and read my other two articles on this topc: How to Increase Attendance at Your Events and The Best Time to Evaluate Your Event

Have you noticed a decrease in event attendance over the years? If so, you are not alone. Every day more and more groups and organizations are popping up vieing for the attention of specific targeted groups of people. Increasing event attendance is generally the biggest challenge facing meeting and event planners. Many people think that if they plan a fantastic event, people will just show up. Of course, today with all the competition for peoples’ time, this does not happen.

Event planners and hosts can find themselves in a quandry about just how to promote the event to get maximum exposure and participants.  Some will hire a public relations firm to get them much needed publicity in the hopes that it leads to more attendees. Others buy “lists” which can be very costly and there are really no guarantees that the list will draw the type of attendees that will add to the overall success of the event.  Keep in mind a PR firms responsibility is to garner publicity for the event. Not necessarily bring attendees.  It will of course, raise awareness of what you are trying to accomplish but may not result in adding to your bottom line or your database.  That is partly because in most cases the media covers events “after the fact.” There are exceptions. Like a slow news day, or a celebrity involvement or a totally unique concept that has never been done before would greatly raise the chances of the event being covered on the spot.

Advertising on the other hand is totally different. It can cost money that results in zero return on investment because it too may not be seen by your target audience. 

So then you may be asking yourself, what CAN I do to create a successful well-attended event? One thing you can do is what some groups I have volunteered for is to cross promote. By that I mean either share your mailing lists with them and vice-versa OR promote one another’s events to your stakeholders. 

If you do this make sure your “list” is always kept up to date. And ask any partnering organizations how often they update their lists.  That is because people move away, loose interest and basically get “tapped out.” Or their interests change and they go on to other groups.  The same holds true of events themselve. Organizations today have to keep reinventing themselves and their parties, galas, fundraisers and other events so they can continue to draw the people they can count on.  If not, you’ve lost them before the date for the next event has even been set. That is why it is important to have a plan and a specific targeted list of supporters. Those with the highest probability of attending and becoming life-long supporters.

Here are eight strategies you can use to see immediate results:

√  Research other available mailing lists. Look for associations and organizations who present events to similar audiences. Offer to trade sponsor recognition in exchange for their mailing lists. The sponsorship could include a table at your event for them to distribute promotional literature. It could include their name and logo in your brochures, programs and other printed materials. It could include an exchange of your mailing list as mentioned above.  Be sure to spell out the terms of using your mailing list. For instance, can the list be used multiple times or only once!

√ Negotiate what they would accept or develop sponsorship guidelines to include what they would receive. This will cost you nothing and your mailing list could go from 1,000 to 10,000 (or more). Of course, it will cost more to mail to more people. When my church decided to host an auction, we looked at our community, asked volunteers for their input and found several other organizations that had hosted auctions in the past. We were able to trade lists with some of them, which tripled our original list. Since our events were at different times of the year, we agreed to trade our list for theirs which resulted in almost half of our ticket sales coming from those lists. 

√  Since printing and mailing to a larger list will increase costs of promotion, use other strategies to save money. Print inexpensive self-mailing brochures to save on envelopes which can be costly. If two color will get the message across effectively, opt for that instead of a four-color process.  Using ey-catching graphics and good copywriting to “sell the event.”  If you must hire someone, I recommend a copywriter is a good investment. She or he will know the words that “sell.” and can come up with copy that is both appealing to the target audience it can be used again in multiple ways to spread the word such as postcards, email invitations and more. Be sure you bid on the print job. Unless you are getting it donated or sponsored, printing costs can vary greatly from company to company. I also recommend using bulk mail instead of first class which will save you considerable investment and you can increase your reach by sending to more of your target audience. 

√  Brainstorm lists with your in-house “staff” and volunteers. It is said each person has at least 200 in their cirlce of influence. Tap into those circles if and when possible.

√ Create a publicity “stunt” to increase pre-exposure for the event. When a women’s organization that I am involved in (American Busienss Women’s Association) wanted publicity for a regional conference we were hosting, we brainstormed ideas that would get the media’s attention. We were hosting a cocktail reception, open to the public the night before the conference was to start. The event had two goals to meet. One was to increase local awareness of the organization. The other was to increase event attendance. Our theme for the event was Hot, Hot, Hot in South Florida.

We invited the South Florida Calendar Fire-Fighters to the event to “mingle” with attendees and sell their calendars. The calendars were a fundraiser for the Jackson Memorial Burn Center in Miami . So we created a “pre-event” to promote the reception. We called the Cooper City Fire Department (two of the calendar guys worked there). We asked if we could take publicity pictures with the Firefighters on their Fire Truck (when I find the picture will post it here). They said “yes.” We asked a member who was a professional photographer to take the pictures. The results were great! A full color photo on the cover of the Society page, prior to the event and mentions in other local papers. We had a sell-out attendance. In fact, the firefighters sold all the calendars they had brought that they had to take orders to fulfill the rest. And the “pre-event” was FUN. This may not work for every event. Especially if it is for member’s only.

√ If your event is open to the public, check out other local papers and journals to see what other organizations would be likely partners with your organization. Of course, if you have it in your budget you can also offer to purchase their mailing lists which then removes any partnering responsibility on either part. Always, always be on the lookout for new lists.  Chambers of Commerce and other business leagues and organizations make it a practice of selling their lists to earn extra income. 

√ You can also promote the event with broadcast faxes and e-mails. Be cautious when doing so. Unsolicited advertising is not only intrusive, it can give the event a bad reputation and may even cost you money in fines, etc. I do send e-mails; however, it is to lists I have created through the several associations I am involved in. If the event is for a nonprofit or service organization, you can create your lists using volunteers.

√ Check out local high schools and colleges for students who need service hours. Offer them service hours in exchange for inputing the information into your database.

Follow these Eight TIPS and see how many more people attend!