2020

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Normal is Over(rated) – For Now

Velvet Chainsaw

This is a guest post by Joy S. Davis, CAE, based on an email she sent to me after reading Lisa Block’s recent post, “I Am Sorry, But We Are Not All Fine.” Joy is Managing Director, Member Products, for the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Not too long ago, I gently asked my Executive Director to stop opening her weekly columns to members with a depressing reminder of COVID-19 and how weird things are right now.

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How to start online meetings on time

Conferences that Work

Is it possible to routinely start online meetings on time? Yes! But first…. Think about the last three meetings you attended. Raise your hand if all of them started on time. Anyone? Anyone? Why don’t scheduled meetings start on time? The reason that almost no scheduled meetings (in-person or online ) start on time is that we provide one single time for meetings to both open and start.

Meetings 432
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How have you adjusted your business to be ready when events begin to open back up?

Eventmobi

As different regions begin to relax “stay at home” policies, businesses have begun the process of reopening. We asked event professionals from all over the map how they have modified their businesses to accommodate the new considerations brought on by the pandemic. My goal has been to take a deep inhale, pay attention to what has been happening, and to see what the proper pivot needs to be in the event world.

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COVID-19, in-person meetings, and wishful thinking

Conferences that Work

This is not an easy post to write. The pandemic’s impact on lives and businesses has been devastating. COVID-19 has virtually eliminated in-person meetings: our industry’s bread and butter. In order to overcome the many significant challenges created by the coronavirus, the meeting industry has made valiant efforts to rethink in-person meetings.

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Elevate Your Event Experience to the Next Level

In order to create a successful event, you must: Optimize Event Website and Registration Process Utilize Social Media Platforms Effectively Implement Targeted Email Campaigns Harness the Power of Video Content Benefit from a Mobile App Download now and learn how to simplify this process with Eventpedia.

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Our 2020 Inside Look Report

Picatic by Eventbrite

In 2020, virtual events took off in a big way. As the world went into quarantine and our ability to gather in person stalled, event creators and attendees found new ways to connect on Eventbrite. Even as in-person events have begun to return to the platform, we’re finding that the success of virtual gatherings has […].

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More Trending

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Stop treating adults like children at your conferences

Conferences that Work

Please stop treating adults like children at your conferences. (For an exception, see the end of this post.). With children there’s an argument for broadcast-style learning. Schools originally developed as establishments for improving the efficiency of oral communication of information. They did this by bringing many students together, so they could learn simultaneously from one teacher.

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Anthropologie Is Finding Success With Online and In-Person Events — Here’s How

Picatic by Eventbrite

Throughout the pandemic, event creators have worked hard to adapt to changing circumstances and develop unique content that engages people while keeping them safe. Brands have leveraged Eventbrite to organize and communicate their events while experimenting with new strategies. Since March, virtual events have become all the rage, and now they’re here to stay.

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5 Tips to Guarantee Engagement at Your Virtual Event

Velvet Chainsaw

To design a virtual event with the participants in mind, you need to create an engaging, interactive experience that provides relevant content and promotes knowledge sharing and networking value—often the missing link in our new virtual reality. In this short video , we give you five tips to ensure that you’ll achieve amazing and impactful engagement with your next digital event.

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The meeting industry new normal

Conferences that Work

Many event professionals are hoping and waiting for a meeting industry new normal. The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated our businesses. We want to believe that, at some point, in-person meetings like the ones we’ve held for decades will return. Yes, there are a few world regions where cases of infection are currently very low. Such areas are already holding local in-person events, but safe inter-regional meetings are not possible.

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Unlock the Secrets of Event Marketing Masters

The greats learn from the greats. Set yourself and your team up for success with tried and tested strategies and insights from event marketing geniuses at Vanta, Partnership Leaders, Quantum Metric, Rocketlane, and Explori.

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How To Find The Perfect Speaker for Your Event

Attendease

Speakers can easily make or break an event. If you have a presenter who doesn’t understand who they’re talking to, or who can’t keep the audience’s attention, you’re wasting everyone’s time (and possibly their money). Conversely, if you have a speaker who has a compelling topic and knows how to deliver it with clear takeaways, you’ll have a happy crowd who will leave positive reviews for your event, and tell others.

Speakers 370
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Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay

Gallus Events

Something exceptional is happening in Edinburgh and the whole events industry is on trial. Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay events have put the industry under the spot light, and the light has reached some very dark places. There is an old tradition in Scotland called first footing. My dad was the perfect “first footer”, tall, dark and handsome, the neighbours would say.

2019 360
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Interview of a Digital Event Manager (DEM)

GEVME

COVID-19 has already changed the face of everything concerning social events and gatherings. While many companies resort to software like zoom to have virtual conferences or meetings, how can one take an entire social group of thousands of people virtual, and how do you manage such an event? It is quite evident that the need for a better-skilled event organiser is required, but what does that role look like.

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Why EventMobi + Zoom is the Winning Combination for Virtual Conferences

Eventmobi

Zoom has seen a huge rise in popularity during 2020, to the point where its name has become synonymous with video conferencing. So for many event planners looking for the right tool to host a virtual conference, Zoom is the first thing that comes to mind. But while Zoom offers the ideal infrastructure for running video meetings and webinars, in order to host a full virtual conference with complex agendas, attendee networking and sponsor visibility, planners need a more customizable virtual event

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How to Get Speakers, Exhibitors, and Attendees to Promote Your Event With Video

In this best practices guide, you’ll learn how to tap into the cost-efficiencies of advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing with video. Examples include speakers providing a preview of their upcoming sessions, exhibitors creating “please stop by” invitations and attendees creating “looking forward to seeing you” introduction videos. Learn about best practices and programs created by leading companies and associations including ASIS, AUVSI, SuperZoo, National Restaurant Association, World of Concret

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Virtual Events Are Not the Enemy — Superspreader Events Are

EventMB

The event industry is facing an existential crisis that may continue for several years. While many insiders bicker online about the value of face-to-face versus virtual, the task of going back to live events becomes more challenging. The culprit? Superspreader events. Let’s be honest. If you work in the event industry, it is not a […]. The post Virtual Events Are Not the Enemy — Superspreader Events Are by Julius Solaris appeared first on [link].

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Expos Don’t Work Well in a Virtual Environment

Velvet Chainsaw

Virtual Expo Truths. Nearly every conference and trade show professional is searching for that perfect virtual platform or pricing model for replacing lost expo revenue. I’ve got bad news for you. Virtual expos will never be able to come close to replacing the revenue generated from your face-to-face expo. Here’s some of our learnings: 1. Corporate Booth.

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Invest in Your Speakers to Grow Your Value Proposition

Velvet Chainsaw

The bread and butter of conferences is concurrent education sessions. Keynote speakers and main-room experiences are pivotal for bringing the community together and sharing key messaging, but attendees expect—and deserve—transformational learning (change in ideas, attitudes and behaviors) from curated, relevant and problem-centric educational sessions.

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Conference Innovation While Traveling at Warp Speed

Velvet Chainsaw

Navigating change during a crisis is not for the faint of heart. During my career leading association event teams, I regularly recalibrated and redefined team member roles in order to drive innovation and improve our meeting experiences. Not every effort was a rousing success but attempting to inject new conference elements made us more nimble, creative and smarter as a team.

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Download Now: 2022 Virtual + Hybrid Event Platform RFP Template - Enterprise Edition

Download 200+ new RFP questions for hybrid and virtual event technology success. After 10,000 downloads, the SpotMe Virtual + Hybrid Event Platform RFP Template is the ultimate procurement tool for event technology. This template is ideal for companies looking for a vendor to fulfill their specific virtual + hybrid event platform needs and requirements!

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Leading Through the Pandemic: Generosity + Empathy = Future Brand

Velvet Chainsaw

This is the first in a series of blogs posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Over the past 30 days, the VCC team has helped dozens of conference and show organizers with their decisions on how to respond to the pandemic. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we wanted to share some of what we’ve learned to help you with your disruption response and planning.

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Go Forward, Cancel, Postpone, Wash Your Hands, Rinse … and Repeat

Velvet Chainsaw

The disruption to the live events industry due to the Pandemic COVID-19 is unprecedented and impossible to escape. With the mixed messages coming at us from so many different perspectives, it is difficult to gain clarity. What we may believe personally is sometimes in conflict with the practices organization and business leaders decide to follow. So what is the right path?

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Monetizing Your Virtual Conference When Competing with Free

Velvet Chainsaw

If you’re inbox is anything like mine, you could spend a good portion of our day consuming webinars, virtual events and networking in Zoom or Facebook Messenger Happy Hours. We’re on content overload and it’s only going to get noisier as the pandemic lingers. The dynamics that we’re seeing impact conferences and their business models are very similar to the Freemium movement we experienced way back in 2009.

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Introducing Our New and Improved Online Events Tools

Picatic by Eventbrite

Online events aren’t just a temporary way to gather — our research shows they’re here to stay. In a survey, 71% of participants said they would continue to attend online events, even when COVID-19-related restrictions are lifted. Event creators have even been able to expand their audiences with online events, reaching more people globally. Because […].

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Dominate Your Local Market With These 4 Reputation Management Strategies

Speaker: Adam Dorfman, Lindsay Harrison, and Erin O'Brien

Did you know that 4 out of 5 consumers use local search and 88% use smartphones for those searches? With that in mind, I think it's safe to say your online presence is the silver bullet of your business. Think about the revenue you could be missing by not prioritizing local search optimization. Fortunately, there are a handful of steps you can take right now that will immediately impact your business's pace in local search, and we're happy to share them.

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Conference Go/No-Go Decisions in a Pandemic

Velvet Chainsaw

This is the second in a series of blogs posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. Scenario Planning. Where lead time permits, work through at least three scenarios – optimistic, pessimistic and somewhere in the middle.

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9 Ways to Support Event Venues and Organizers through COVID-19

Picatic by Eventbrite

With gatherings across the country canceled due to COVID-19, event venues and organizers have been some of the businesses hit hardest by this pandemic. We’ve seen theaters sit empty, sports teams pause mid-season, and events like the Olympics, music festivals, and TED conferences get postponed. As we miss out on our favorite annual events and […].

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Please don’t call them virtual meetings

Conferences that Work

I’ve been noticing a strange trend, ever since COVID-19 caused just about all bread and butter meetings to vanish. Suddenly, people are calling the meetings we’re holding these days virtual meetings. In the immortal words of Bob Newhart. Stop it! Virtual. I’m sorry, but when I think of a virtual meeting, this comes to mind…. …together with content like this….

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Keywords and Ad Words: Use SEO and SEM to Make Your Events Stand Out

Picatic by Eventbrite

If you want to elevate your organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or paid SEM (Search Engine Monetization) capability, we’ve got two surefire ways to do it. Choosing the right keywords is critical to the success of your paid search campaigns, and there are excellent tools to help you achieve the desired balance of relevance versus […].

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5 Things Businesses Need to Know to Thrive in a Post-COVID World

People are itching to get back into the world. 54% of consumers say they plan to dine out at a restaurant at least once a week this year. As COVID-19 restrictions ease, the competition for their business is stronger than ever. Download this eBook today to learn how your restaurant can be prepared!

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4 Common Mistakes You’re Probably Making While Producing Streaming Virtual Events

Picatic by Eventbrite

A global pandemic has made 2020 a rough year for live performance, but not an impossible one. Venues, performers, and fans have collectively come up with a socially distant solution: streaming everything under the sun, including punk concerts, Shakespeare, and drag shows. Collectively, these audacious live performances have provided some good news: Livestreaming an event […].

2020 397
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Does the Perfect Virtual Event Platform Exist?

Velvet Chainsaw

The answer, based on my unscientific survey of a dozen association leaders, is a resounding no. Planners are wading through recommendations from colleagues, trusted vendors and online forums to find the best platform for their needs. And it’s a murky and often frustrating experience. While there are many excellent solutions out there, none are “perfect” and many are adding features and improvements on a regular basis.

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[WEBINAR] What a Difference Strategy Makes: Behind the Scenes of American Psychological Association’s 2020 Virtual

Velvet Chainsaw

A virtual experience successful beyond their wildest dreams? You bettcha. Hear from two key executives from the APA on how they strategically turned a challenge into an opportunity to bring their community together like never before. They themed each day around relevant content, particularly via general sessions, and turned networking on its ear. Exhibitors?

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