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Looking to expand your marketing efforts by introducing video to your event campaigns? Video is one of the best ways to promote your association to a new audience as well as to remind your members of the value that you provide to your industry. However, learning new technologies can be an intimidating experience, especially when you’re going to use those results to publicly market your association.

Don't fret! Check out these tips to follow before, during, and after your video process to help keep you on track.

One of the most difficult aspects of event planning is actually getting people to register and attend. You’re putting so much time and money into this. You need to make sure the ROI exceeds that.

So how can you drive awareness and registrations for your association’s next event? Here are 14 ideas:

Networking.

If your eyes roll (and your stomach drops) upon just READING that word, you’re not alone. Many people understand the importance of networking, but they still dread it.

We get that - and we’re here to help! If networking intimidates you and you’re never really sure what to ask/talk about, here are 20 questions to keep in your back pocket:

With every conference or trade show comes the topic of event swag. What should we give out? What’s fun and unique? What’s AFFORDABLE?

Sure, there are the tried-and-true items: t-shirts, water bottles, koozies, phone chargers, etc. (And don’t get us wrong - those are all great!) But we wanted to put together a list of fresh ideas; items your attendees may not come across quite as often.

Now a major note here: Some of these items may be more expensive than others. And we completely understand that price is a factor here. But that said, some of these can still be given out in smaller quantities: to your VIP attendees, to your sponsors, to your speakers, etc. So, still worth some consideration.

Ok, now without further ado, here are 11 unique swag items for your association’s next trade show:

Conferences can feel extremely busy not only for those who are executing it, but for attendees as well. When they’re bouncing in between sessions and trying to grab a quick lunch, your post-session survey is often the last thing on their mind.

That said, attendees do want to share their thoughts! We just have to make it as easy as possible. Making sure that your questions are quick and to the point is key for gathering feedback when the content is fresh in their mind. Take a look at these tips and example questions:

So you’ve done your research and decided that a conference app would be a beneficial addition to your events. Now that you’ve settled on a platform, it’s time to start populating the app with information!

It can seem overwhelming, but the good news is that you likely have all of this information already. It’s just a matter of getting it all in one place for a quick and easy app development process! Here’s a list of things to gather when you’re ready to start building out your conference app:

Speakers are a BIG part of your association’s event. They play into why people register and what attendees will ultimately take back home with them. (A pretty big responsibility.)

That said, you want to leverage your speakers to the best of your ability (to attract members and drive registration rates). To do that, it’s important to ask your speakers for a few key marketing materials. Particularly…

Events are likely one of your association’s primary benefits. They’re key for engaging members and providing them with value (the value they’re going to assess when renewal season rolls around).

That said, how are your events currently performing? What’s attendance like? What’s engagement like? What kind of feedback are you getting post-event?

Chances are, there’s room for a little improvement. To take your events up a notch - and really provide your members with a valuable, memorable experience - consider putting together an attendee journey map. The map should highlight what your attendees experience at every stage of the event planning process: before, during, and after your event.

Association and chamber events are an important piece to the member engagement puzzle. That being said, there is always a LOT to manage. That’s why we built your membership management software (whether that’s MemberClicks or WebLink) with the features to make managing events - large or small - a whole lot easier!

No matter which of our products you use, these tips can surely help you out:

Getting your members opinions will always be paramount to executing a successful event. But that feedback shouldn’t come into play only after the event is over! The real secret to using member feedback to its fullest is to be constantly talking to them about what they want to see - before, during, and after the event.

Here are a few ways to gather and use member feedback that will grow event attendance and engagement, year after year!