Paper lists and expensive scanners are not the best way to check in large numbers of attendees or set the tone for your event. Did you know that the tablet or mobile phone you use daily can efficiently check guests in and out of your events in real-time? When paired with the right Event Check-in App, it’s easy to create a fast event registration and check-in flow for your attendees.

In this article, you will learn:

• What you can do to speed up your check-in process
• How to reduce hardware costs 
• How you can use check-in data to better measure event ROI 

Plus, check out the bonus tip on how to get creative with your check-in data and extract powerful insights using AI! 

Use an Event Check-in App to Speed Up the Process

Long lines at the registration desk are a common frustration for attendees at everything from conferences and trade shows to free events. Typically, delays are caused by event staff checking in attendees with printed lists. This might not make a huge difference at the smallest of events with under 40-50 attendees. But, at larger events, manually checking names off a list one by one will slow down the process and create a poor first impression. That’s why planners need easy-to-use check-in technologies that move attendees out of the registration hall and into the main event experience.

EventMobi’s event management solution includes a user-friendly Event Check-in App that lets you quickly scan attendees in and out of your event and sessions. All you need to do is point the in-app camera at the QR code on an attendee’s physical or digital badge (digital badges are found in the attendee profile in your event’s mobile app!).

An attendee’s unique QR code includes all the information captured at registration—including attendee type, which allows your check-in staff to quickly distinguish between guests with different levels of access. For instance, speakers can be directed backstage before their presentation without having to explain what their role is. Likewise, your staff can recognize VIPs, sponsors, and other important guests immediately at check-in to prevent confusion or potential delays.

If an attendee doesn’t have their badge handy, simply type their name into the app to check them in. EventMobi’s Check-in App is lightning-fast, which means it won’t disrupt attendees as they enter your event and move through sessions. It also produces valuable data, making it easy to measure session performance and award CE credits. In the future, you also have the option to include a QR Code Google Form in the promotional materials for your upcoming event, like posters, flyers, and banners, to achieve faster event check-in.

To make check-in and check-out even faster, create a self-scanning station for your attendees by downloading the Check-in App onto tablets and enabling the service kiosk mode.

EventMobi’s Production Services Team Manager, Ryan Sturno, demonstrates how to get started setting up your event check-in app and create a streamlined self-check-in kiosk with any tablet. 

Reduce Check-in Hardware Costs with an Event Check-in App

Many event teams have tighter budgets than ever, so it’s important to invest in event technology that will reduce costs. Typically, the expense of rented badge scanners is prohibitive for many events. But, when your team’s mobile phones or tablets can be used as scanners, you can affordably increase the number of staff checking attendees in and out.

EventMobi’s Event Check-in App works on any mobile device that can read QR codes. Add staff email addresses to the check-in feature in EventMobi and an access code will be automatically emailed to them. If you’re working with external staff, there’s no need to worry about data privacy. The access code only grants them access to the front end of the Check-in App, so your event data stays safe.

The EventMobi solution also includes an easy-to-use Badge Designer and cost-effective Pre-Printed Badge Ordering—offering yet another opportunity to reduce hardware costs and make badging the least stressful part of your event. With Pre-Printed Badges, you can place your order through the EventMobi platform, so all of your attendee data is automatically synced and ready to print. Simply select the number of badges you’d like, review your quote, and enter your address, and your laminated, ready-to-wear badges will arrive at your venue within 5 business days!

Recommended Resource: Are you looking for cost-effective, easier ways to build and manage your events? Watch 8 short videos to learn how to deliver events in any format that engage attendees and offer sponsors more value.

Watch Now

Measure Your ROI Better by Tracking Attendance with an Event Check-in App

Accurately reporting on in-person events as a marketing and engagement channel is a challenge for planners. Registration software can’t tell you what happens onsite! But, by leveraging an easy-to-use check-in app with powerful analytics in the backend, you’ll get valuable details about the event attendee journey.

As attendees scan in and out of sessions, you’ll see where—and for how long—they chose to spend their time at your event. This is important for awarding CE credits and reporting on sponsored session ROI. This data will come in handy when you need to prove the value of your event to potential sponsors next year! Use it to highlight attendee demographics and report on engagement by measuring time spent in sessions.

BONUS: Use AI to Generate Reports with Your Check-in Data

Did you know AI can help you generate different types of reports based on your check-in data? Say you’re responsible for member education at your association and need to award CE credits. Instead of manually calculating time spent in sessions for every attendee, you can ask an AI tool like ChatGPT to tell you how long attendees spent in sessions so you can allocate credits accordingly. Check out the video from our VP of Product Marketing, Thorben Gosser, who breaks down how to do this step-by-step.

Thorben Grosser demonstrates how you can use ChatGPT to bulk-calculate attendee time spent in sessions.

Create the Best Event Check-in Experience for Your Guests

What happens at check-in will set the tone for the rest of your event. Paper lists and expensive scanners will slow down the check-in process—not the best start for your attendees! EventMobi’s Event Check-in app will help you get your guests faster, save money on hardware, track session attendance, and measure event ROI. Plus, you can feed that data into an AI tool to get even more insights if you need to.

Interested in learning more about EventMobi’s Check-in App and onsite features? Book your personalized demo today!

Book a Demo

The post Get Your Guests in Faster with an Event Check-in App appeared first on EventMobi.

Breakout sessions are key to facilitating important conversations, networking, and skill-building. They break up the pace of the conference day and diversify the attendee experience. 

Read on for 37 creative conference breakout session ideas to add to your next conference program!

What Are Conference Breakout Sessions?

Conference Breakout Sessions are a key opportunity to break larger groups (E.G. panels, workshops) into smaller groups, to facilitate networking, conversation, and exercises.

Breakout sessions can be implemented into a session agenda for all kinds of reasons, like: 

And more! Regardless of the reason, breakout sessions are great ways for attendees to connect.

How Do You Make a Breakout Session Interesting & Productive? 

When you plan your breakout session with your goals in mind, opportunities for creative implementation may jump out of the woodwork and surprise even you!

Here are our tips for crafting a dynamic session that offers even higher value to participants.

Get feedback before the event

You don’t have to plan in a vacuum! You never know where other people’s feedback might take you.

Some people to ask for feedback could include:

• Experienced facilitators. Do you know someone who’s organized a great breakout group or two in their time? Ask what helped make their experience great—and what to avoid.
• Experts in the field. Running an educational breakout session? Ask seasoned experts in the field what they wished they’d learned earlier in their career.
• Your conference attendees. If you can poll attendees before they arrive, ask them what experience they’re hoping for! Questions could include what skills they hope to build and what their ideal conference structure looks like.

Select the best format for your session

The right format for your breakout conference session depends on what your session aims to achieve!

For example:

• Skill-building. These sessions might allow attendees to practice the skill in mind. For research, sales, or pitching, a three-minute thesis format might fit the bill!
• Leadership. A leadership session could involve role-playing exercises or a roundtable discussion with prompts.
• Teambuilding. Strengthening bonds takes time—and it can be fun! Your session could focus on skill-sharing and collaboration. An escape room is a great example.
• Networking. Attendees need an interactive format to connect with each other. Consider small groups with conversation prompts, speed networking, or experience sharing.
• Relaxation. Sometimes attendees just need a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the conference environment. Consider guided meditation, a breathing exercise, or a quiet collaborative activity.

There are also ways to vary how attendees participate in sessions. For example, interactive conference session ideas could include gamifying your session to encourage greater participant engagement.

Set clear expectations

When you set goals for your breakout session, you not only provide yourself with planning guidelines—you also have built-in attendee participation guidelines.

Be sure to convey your goals to your breakout groups before they begin.

Keep the breakout on topic

With so much happening at conferences, it can be easy to wander off-topic! Appointing facilitators within each small group is a great way to make sure the session moves in the right direction. 

Give your facilitators a hand by providing an outline or other facilitation tips. Even a few sample segue phrases could help keep the group on task. 

Designate the right amount of time

How much time do you have available for a breakout session? Make sure that participants have enough time to warm up to their group, get into it, and figure out—if relevant—what they’ll share on the other side.

Too short, and the breakout sessions won’t be productive. Too long, and breakout session participants might complete the task and disengage.

Calculating the right amount of time may require some trial and error. “Three-minute thesis” events make it quite easy to estimate timelines, but a more collaborative and constructive event might need more flexibility.

Everybody deserves a chance to speak, so don’t forget to factor in the number of participants in each breakout group!

Use the right space or event tech

From the in person setting to the virtual space, your environment and tools set the tone for your breakouts.

For in person, is the room big enough, or too big? Does each breakout group have their own space? Does everyone have the tools they need (whiteboard, pens, paper, fidget toys, seating), and, if relevant, privacy?

For virtual, do you have event tech that lets you easily set up and run virtual breakout rooms? Do your facilitators know how to use it, and is there troubleshooting available for your participants?

Figuring out your needs before the event gives the session itself more time to flourish.

Mix introverts and extroverts

The trick to any well constructed group is balance. Group strong talkers with strong listeners for a dynamic conversation full of insights and different ways of processing information.

Create an inclusive event

An important question to consider when planning your breakout session is: how easy is it to alter or accommodate the setup depending on participants’ abilities and needs?

For example:

• If there’s a strong visual component to the session, is there an alternative way for people with low vision to participate?
• If there’s a strong physical component, how can mobility needs be accommodated?
• If there is a strong verbal component, is there a visual accommodation (like captions) for people with audio processing disorders?

After all, the last thing you want is for someone to be unable to enjoy the event you’ve so thoughtfully put together!

Create safety measures

Attendees come from a variety of backgrounds and each may have varying levels of comfort at events.

Safety measures help all participants feel empowered to participate in breakout sessions, where event staff might not be present to help moderate uncomfortable situations.

These can include:

• Providing facilitators with de-escalation or segue skills. If tensions rise in a breakout group or if someone says they aren’t comfortable, facilitators should feel empowered to quickly address the tension and/or move the conversation along.
• Code of Conduct. A comprehensive code of conduct that attendees are required to agree to beforehand holds everybody to the same standard and protects you from any attendee misbehavior.
• Security. Invest in hired security so that you can focus on running your event and supporting your facilitators. That way, any in person disruptions can be professionally addressed. 
• Moderation. In a virtual setting, it’s important to task one or more people with moderating the digital space and managing breakout room assignments. With EventMobi’s GoLive! Production Services Team, you can even find expert support for your breakout sessions. 
• Incorporating illness-prevention protocols. Recommending and providing masks or ensuring your venue implements air filtration helps you create an inclusive event. Disabled and immunocompromised people may feel more comfortable coming to your conference and breakout sessions! Plus: no one likes con crud.

What Are Some Good Conference Breakout Session Topics?

Hosting the best conference breakout session will depend on what kind of conference you’re hosting!

To start brainstorming ideas, focus on your goals for the session.

Not sure of your goals? Ask yourself:

• What are people learning? Are they building skills, or gaining knowledge? Another way of framing this is what conference-goers want from the breakout session—whether that be industry info or professional skills.
• What are people sharing? Again—will they share skills, or knowledge? Another way of framing this is what conference-goers have to offer the breakout session.
• How do you enrich the existing programming? Will you provide attendees with new skills, new knowledge, new connections? Will you build on or deviate from existing conference programming?
• What tools will facilitators use to drive discussion? This could include technology like slideshow presentations or facilitation tools like brainstorms and mediation skills.

With your goals clearly established, it’ll be easy to align your conference breakout session ideas with your attendees’ interests! 

Looking for breakout session examples? Attendees at a leadership conference might benefit from a breakout session that allows them to share leadership experiences and problem-solve. Or, at an academic conference, a three-minute thesis competition could encourage academic inspiration and learning.

How To Structure a Breakout Session

Breakout sessions are more than just the main event! Here’s one structure to help make your sessions feel social and natural—and to build connections between your participants.

• Provide a framework or outline. This helps you share your goals for the session with attendees. Make sure participants know what’s expected of them—and how to time the components of the session.
• Appoint breakout leaders/facilitators. Identify leaders before breaking into groups, or ask the groups to elect one amongst themselves. Ideally, your leaders will volunteer!
• Facilitate introductions. This is a great time for an icebreaker question, or even an activity if time permits! Have participants offer one fun fact about themselves, or ask what made them smile in the last week.
• Dive into the activity. The reason everyone’s here!
• Wind the session down. Provide some light guidance on how groups should wrap the session amongst themselves before returning to the main room.
• Reunite and share findings. Everyone will be eager to share what they learned! Have a plan for how best to discuss the conference breakout session once everyone’s come back together.
• Ask for feedback on structure. Find a way to collect feedback efficiently, such as through live polling, then implement those suggestions in the next session you host!

Now you know what should be included in a conference breakout! If you’ve set goals for your sessions and planned around them, odds are that your breakout session’s structure has already started taking shape. 

Now, let’s explore 37 interactive conference session ideas to help guide your next event.

5 Collaborative Discussion Conference Breakout Session Ideas

A conference breakout session that focuses on discussion can be a great way for attendees to connect, problem-solve, or brainstorm.

If you’re hoping for attendees to come away with some bright ideas, try one of these breakout session ideas:

Roundtable 

Roundtables are a classic breakout session. A roundtable discussion allocates time for small groups to discuss a specific topic or prompt. Generally non-hierarchical, these sessions can be a great chance to give quieter attendees dedicated space to share their thoughts. 

Case study discussions

Looking to solve a problem? Assigning a case study to your breakout sessions allows your attendees to put their heads together and focus on the solution. When you reunite as a room, you’ll have many new ideas to consider. Many hands make light work, after all!

Brainstorming and ideation

Big dreams need space to breathe! Your attendees have a lot to offer, but the conference setting doesn’t always enable collaborative ideation. Creating breakout sessions where participants can use their creativity will result in fresh suggestions and help everybody feel heard. 

Goal setting

First comes the brainstorm, then comes the plan! Whether it be to set individual, team, or organizational goals, your attendees can take a hands-on approach to the future of your event topic by participating in a breakout meeting centered on goal-setting.

Book discussion

Running an event where a key text or book is central to the attendees’ interests? It’s easy to skip over the individual reading experience when in a large group, so this is where the breakout session shines. Provide prompting questions so that each group has a place to start chatting. 

5 Presentation Conference Breakout Session Examples

At a busy conference, not every attendee will get the chance to speak at length to a large audience. But that’s no reason to assume your attendees can’t share knowledge in other ways! 

Here are 5 ways to offer presentation opportunities through breakout session examples:

Three minute thesis

A staple of academic conferences, three minute thesis sessions allow presenters to share their thesis in a short, concise manner. Your participants can either register and prepare their pitch beforehand, or even sign up on the day-of and deliver a quick talk. 

Demo or showcase

Sometimes the best way to understand a product or new idea is to see it in action. If you’re looking to give attendees a closer look at a product, tech solution, or another tangible item, holding breakout sessions can give better access to individual attendees and a chance to ask and answer key questions. Ultimately, this can be the difference that makes a sale! 

Debate

Common conference session formats don’t allow for much back and forth between presenters. Through breakout sessions, your presenters can have more freedom to converse on their topic of choice. Or, you can create a team-building exercise and separate attendees into groups to strategize around preset topics. Return from the breakout sessions and let the debate begin!

Lightning talks

Even the most interesting conference presentations can feel monotonous after a long day. To break up the rhythm of lengthy conference sessions, use a series of lightning talks. Invite attendees to share their expertise for 5-10 minutes each and you’ll be surprised what you learn!

AMA

Engaged attendees will always have questions that don’t get answered in a main conference session. The solution? An AMA—or Ask Me Anything—where attendees get direct access to conference speakers or other experts in a field. Relatively unstructured, these Q&A sessions allow your presenters to speak in greater detail based on the interests of attendees in the room. 

7 Skill Development Conference Breakout Session Ideas

Many attendees hope to develop professional skills when they attend a conference.

Whether they’re looking to learn something new or to brush up on old skills, here are 7 breakout session ideas to give attendees a way to improve their skills at your conference:

Workshop

Most workshops consist of facilitator(s) and attendees focused on a specific topic. With one or several experts leading, workshops can include interactive as well as presentational components. The best workshops give attendees key takeaways to apply after the session!

Worksheets

For many, the best way to remember information is to write it down! Give participants worksheets to fill out in response to prompts during the conference breakout session, or have registrants fill them out beforehand to prepare for discussion. You can pair this idea with others on this list!

Training session

Training is crucial to the operations of any organization, no matter the size. And attendees from across different organizations can benefit from learning similar skills to bring back to their teams! A group setting can provide training where attendees have time to ask questions, while also efficiently working through material. 

Roleplay

Practice makes perfect, and what better setting to practice in than during a breakout session? Get creative by presenting attendees with a hypothetical scenario they might encounter professionally. Then, invite attendees to play out those conversations! Afterwards, your attendees will feel better equipped to tackle the real thing. 

Mentorship session

There are many ways to learn, but nothing is quite like having a mentor in the field take time to speak to your specific concerns. Keep the headcount in these breakout sessions low so attendees get individual attention. You could even consider using an event app that makes booking 1-on-1 meetings easy for attendees and mentors alike! 

Skill sharing

Every attendee of your conference brings something new to the table. Create a breakout session where each participant has a chance to share their skills, perhaps around a theme or organizational need, and your attendees will empower each other with knowledge. 

Peer learning

Similar to skill sharing, some attendees will have skills that other attendees are seeking! Rather than bringing in outside experts, tap into the knowledgeable people in the room and encourage them to lead a peer learning session. This can also enhance team cohesion and help peer leaders keep their skills sharp.  

3 Networking Breakout Session Ideas

Did you know 80% of professionals consider networking to be crucial to their career success? 

Conferences are a great place to form new and lasting career connections, so breakout meetings created for networking helps make that process even easier. 

Speed networking

A bit like speed dating, speed networking sets up participants in small groups of two or three to chat and connect. After about 3-5 minutes of conversation, participants will rotate to new groups. You can provide prompts to guide conversation, or leave things open for attendees. 

Drop-in networking café

A long conference day means hungry, thirsty attendees. Why not combine refreshments with networking? Set up a seating arrangement that encourages new connections, or take an extra step and include prompts at your café tables! 

Icebreaker games

Who says networking can’t be fun? Whether during a dedicated session or at the start of each breakout group, you can introduce games that facilitate connection between participants. From two truths and a lie, to a participant bingo, there are many games that encourage conversation.

6 Casual Breakout Conference Session Ideas

Sometimes what your attendees need after information-packed conference sessions is to unwind.

As a bonus, casual sessions passively tick a lot of boxes that other kinds of breakout sessions explicitly develop!

Help your attendees recharge with these 6 conference breakout session ideas: 

Meditation

Nowadays, employee wellness is more important than ever. In a quiet space, set up your attendees with a meditation instructor to take them through a 15-minute guided meditation between sessions. The peace and quiet will refresh your attendees and they’ll emerge ready to focus on the rest of the day!

Trivia

Always a hit with a crowd, hosting a trivia game is an easy way to lighten up your breakout sessions. If you want to make things fun and educational, you could break attendees into small breakout groups to answer trivia themed around a talk they just attended. 

Game room

Set up a leisure space at your conference venue with small areas for different games, and you’ll have an easy way for attendees to relax. You can include board games like Charades or Werewolf at different stations to encourage participants to collaborate on teams.  

Creative activity

Regardless of your field, creativity is a valuable skill to cultivate. Give your attendees a way to use their creative energy by providing arts and crafts materials or a canvas and paints. Participants will have a tangible reminder of their time at your conference and get to see the creative side of their fellow attendees! 

Scavenger hunt

Send teams on a scavenger hunt throughout your event venue to get attendees moving. You can even use event tech to help gamify your conference breakout session and encourage attendee engagement! Just make sure to think up a valuable prize for your winners. 

Independent work time 

Do your attendees have work to finish even as they attend your conference? Create a space and time for coworking so that they can focus on work, then let everyone check in or share for social accountability throughout the session. Working alongside others can be very motivating!

9 Virtual Breakout Session Ideas

At your next virtual or hybrid event, try using these 10 virtual breakout session ideas to keep your breakout session attendees engaged: 

Virtual lunch & learn

Give your attendees the option to break into small groups that learn as they snack on their lunch! Introverts might spend some time to themselves, but this is a great way to let your high-energy con attendees keep engagement up through rest time.

Virtual Ask Me Anything

Honestly, a lot of the breakout session ideas we listed above can be repurposed for virtual! But expert sessions like an Ask Me Anything can sometimes be MORE valuable online…because your experts aren’t limited by geographic location.

Show & tell

Screen sharing makes showing off projects, experiences, or past events way easier than in person. Make use of the fact that your attendees have all their work at their fingertips, and create show & tell breakout rooms where they can explore real experiences together.

Interactive brainstorming

One of the best ways to drive a new strategy home is letting people put it into practice. Give your breakout rooms some time to brainstorm how they’d put their new skills to work in a sample scenario, or work towards an actual project they have on hand. Then they can present their new findings using a virtual whiteboard or similar tech!

Virtual games

Heard of scribblr? Letting attendees have a moment to break out into smaller groups focused on ridiculousness and fun can help them bond and connect, when virtual events can feel less engaging on an attendee-to-attendee level.

Script-based roleplay

Want to challenge some new skills? Give your attendees a script to walk through a scenario, and put them in breakout rooms of 2-4 individuals. One person will be on-script, one person will respond, and the others can provide feedback. Then they can swap roles!

Questions & discussion

A tried and true standby, send breakout groups off with a list of questions for them to discuss. Want to keep things moving? Make sure you get the group to assign a group leader as soon as they start, to shorten those awkward silences.

Poll-based topics

Are some participants feeling quiet? Live polls are a wonderful way to democratize session decisions and collect attendee feedback in a virtual setting. Then, once you’ve let them choose their breakout session topics, send them off to discuss and return!

Speed networking

Put groups together and let them chat for 2-5 minutes, before swapping who they’re chatting with. This works best if attendees can also book time with one another on the event platform you’re using (psst: EventMobi does this!).

Conclusion

Whether your conference is academic or professional, in-person or virtual, your breakout sessions are sure to impress attendees when you plan around your goals and structure the sessions according to their needs. 

Running virtual breakout sessions? It’s so much easier with the right technology partner. With EventMobi, you can:

The post 36 Conference Breakout Session Ideas & Examples appeared first on EventMobi.

With the right plan in place, you can:

But how can you come up with an effective strategy that encompasses all these different marketing channels? When should you use digital marketing and when should you go traditional? How do you make sure your association stands out from the crowd?

We’ll answer all those questions and more! Read on to learn about: 

• The type of marketing your association should do
• The 8 steps you can take to build an actionable strategy
• How to use digital & community marketing to market your membership program
• How to use event marketing for your association
• And several association marketing tools to add to your arsenal!  

What Type of Marketing Should Your Association Do?

Your association marketing strategy shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all! Focusing on every single goal possible will just spread yourself—and your team—thin. Depending on your organizational goals, your marketing strategy may differ. Here’s some priorities to explore!

Member acquisition

If your organization is in its early growth phase, this can be your marketing strategy’s main goal. If your association has already grown its membership, you might want to focus a greater percentage of your energy on retention rather than acquisition.

Make sure your acquisition marketing strategy highlights the membership value. Upon landing on your website or any other marketing materials, your target audience should immediately know:

• Who you are, and your values
• How to sign up
• What they get (member benefits!)
• What your biggest wins are (annual conference? Huge networking night? Great gala?)

Get familiar with the language (tone, voice, style) your audience uses, and meet them where they are. Find partners, run events, create a social community, leverage SEO and paid media, and create a website that is built to convert potential members.

Member retention

Retaining members is essential to your organization’s sustainability. You want to nurture the successes from your acquisition efforts!

In this case, your membership marketing strategies should focus on fostering consistent, ongoing member engagement to encourage loyalty. You can do this by:

• An easy-to-access member-exclusive content space
• Member appreciation and spotlights
• A reliable, easy-to-read newsletter (paper or digital!)
• Consistent emails advertising your programs and opportunities
• Offering ongoing networking and mentorship opportunities
• Hosting a must-see job board for members to find new opportunities
• Running certification and continuing learning programs
• Using retargeting campaigns to advertise ongoing programs to members
• Running regular member feedback surveys and sessions
• Implementing automated member renewal programs
• Tracking member engagement and behavior, and comparing that to churn

Your members’ needs are #1, and should be at the heart of your organization’s retention priorities.

Sponsor acquisition

As a crucial revenue stream for associations, sponsorships definitely deserve their own marketing strategy! An effective sponsor acquisition strategy should:

• Identify and target the right sponsors (depending on your sponsorship program)
• Have the right sponsorship packages
• Create an outreach strategy that blends your needs with your sponsors’
• Effectively manage sponsor fulfillment resourcing
• Communicate your sponsors’ wins back to them

Make sure you know your sponsors so you can provide them with the best sponsorship packages. A great way to work with their priorities is to offer different sponsorship levels (or even à-la-carte benefits!) for different sponsors.

Brand awareness

A strong brand can do wonders for both your acquisition and retention efforts. The more people know and trust your brand identity, the more likely it is for them to:

• Become a member
• Stay a member of your association
• Help attract new members (through word-of-mouth, for example!)

The right brand marketing strategy makes everything else easier. Start by establishing:

• A mission and vision statement
• Organizational values
• Your look/feel (logo, colour palette)
• Imagery style

And then roll out a consistent brand identity on all your public-facing channels. After that, it’s all about the right partners. Make sure you know how to write a press release, develop media contacts, and run awareness campaigns.

Revenue goals (dues and non-dues)

To optimize your revenue streams, you may need to choose whether you’re investing in promoting your dues or non-dues revenue growth.

Maybe you can’t increase membership cost because it’ll push away current and future members, which means you’ll need to depend more on your non-dues revenue sources.

Some ways to increase non-dues revenue include:

• Charging for exclusive content or resources
• Selling branded merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, etc.
• Getting sponsors for events
• Offering ad space on your website, mobile app, or events

You can implement your marketing efforts using digital or traditional/community channels, or both! We’ll explore this in more details in the next few sections.

How To Build an Association Marketing Strategy

Now you should know which goal(s) your marketing strategy targets. Ready to create one? 

Follow these 8 steps to build an effective marketing strategy for your association:

1. Define your mission and/or vision

Your association’s mission and vision statements help guide your strategy. This means that your marketing strategy and campaigns should strive to reflect your mission (what you are) and make your vision (your ultimate goals) come true. 

Don’t have a mission or vision statement yet? No sweat—here’s an example to get you started.

Most associations only have mission statements. The American Heart Association’s (AHA) mission is “to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.”

Of course, you could still come up with a vision for your association, and it could change over time. For example, The AHA’s 2024 vision is “to advance cardiovascular health for all, including identifying and removing barriers to health care access and quality.”

All set with your mission and vision? Now you can build your strategy!

2. Create your brand

The sooner you build your brand, the better. After all, we know that a strong brand helps immensely with getting and keeping members or sponsors.

Make sure your brand elements (logo, fonts, colors) are consistent across your marketing channels. Let’s revisit the AHA’s website:

Notice how the website strategically uses the red-black-white palette. The logo is also in those colors—plus, it’s relevant and impactful. The torch and heart not only emphasize “heart health”, but reflect how the AHA is a leader in their field. 

3. Define your member personas

You know your members best! Think about who they are and what it is they’re looking for. Take this persona, for example:

Name: Candace

Description: Candace is a 25-year-old marketer working in a SaaS company. She works from home, and goes to her local café for a change of scenery from time to time. She enjoys using her free time to learn new skills or volunteer for her local animal shelter.

Demographics:

• Gender: Woman
• Age: 25
• Location: New York, NY
• Education: Bachelor’s degree
• Job title: Social media specialist
• Income: $70,000
• Relationship: Single

Pain points:

• Needs: opportunities to improve her copywriting skills
• Motivations: results of her marketing efforts (new customer sign-ups), and acknowledgement from her boss

If you’re hosting a copywriting conference, Candace will most likely be attending.

Creating personas like these can help you understand…

• Who your members are
• What motivates them
• What they need
• And how you can give them what they need.

And: you can do the exact same thing with your sponsors!

4. Find out where your members are

Let’s revisit Candace. Where do you think we can find her?

As a social media specialist, Candace is very familiar with different social media platforms. She’ll be on major social channels the majority of the day.

Using paid social ads and creating a social media campaign on a platform relevant to late-millennials (E.G. instagram) is a surefire way to advertise your conference to Candace.

Same thing applies with your members. Being present where your members are—both online and offline—will bring them to you. This could mean social media platforms, industry forums, networking sites, or niche publications. This could also mean your local cafe, subway station, or community event.

5. Examine your competitors

Examining your competitors lets you know what they offer and how they’re marketing their products or services. That’s how you’ll know how to make your association stand out from them.

When researching your competitors, look into:

• Their products or services. In particular, the unique selling points (USP) of their offerings.
• Their target audience. Are they the same as yours, or do they differ?
• The problems that their products/services solve for their target audience. Does your audience have the same problems?
• Their marketing efforts—both online and offline. Identify what works and what doesn’t work for them.

6. Market across channels

The channels you need vary depending on your sponsor or membership marketing strategies. For example, if you’re marketing your membership program, email is a great channel to both recruit new members and keep current ones. 

According to the 2022 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report:

• 48% of associations chose email as the channel attracting the most new members
• 79% used welcome email(s) to onboard new members
• 48% used monthly email series to engage more tenured members
• 82% chose email as the channel generating the most membership renewals

In terms of member recruitment, the two most impactful channels—besides email—are association-sponsored events/meetings (30%) and member referrals (28%). But don’t forget about your website, paid media, paid social, SEO, partnerships, and PR, too. Just make sure to prioritize based on results.

Once you’ve chosen the channels and implemented the tactics, make sure you…

7. Get feedback and analyze results

Regularly check for feedback from your target audience to know if your marketing strategy works. You can:

• Monitor your social media channels
• Conduct quantitative research (e.g. surveys)
• Conduct qualitative research (e.g. focus groups, online feedback tools)

Of course, to optimize your marketing strategies, you need to analyze their results as well. Check out this section for different analytics software to use for your association marketing strategy.

8. Automate everything

Don’t stop at the analytics report. Go one step further: use marketing automation tools to streamline your processes, save time and effort, and increase the efficiency of your association marketing.

Automation can include email marketing workflows, member onboarding sequences, event registration processes, and more! If you’re organizing an event, for example, you can use lead retrieval software to make it easier for exhibitors and sponsors to collect attendee data. Those are potential members you could be following up with!

Digital Marketing for Associations: The Essentials

Plan on having a digital association marketing strategy? Consider these channels:

Website

It goes without saying: your website’s important. It’s where magic conversion happens! It’s also the first checkpoint for your brand’s visual identity.

To optimize your website, you can:

• Make sure your tagline clearly communicates what your association is
• Include clear benefits of joining your association (e.g. answer the question “what’s in it for me?”) 
• Make sure your website reflects your brand well
• Use a user-friendly CMS (e.g. WordPress, Webflow, etc.) to host your content
• Read up on UX, or user experience, design
• Incorporate analytics tools (e.g. Google Analytics) to your site to track performance
• Include clear CTAs to explore programming or sign up for a membership

For a great example, check out PCMA’s website! It’s super easy to learn, connect, sign up for events, or join the association.

Email

Email is essential for both member acquisition and retention. To have an effective email marketing strategy, you can:

• Segment your audience according to your member or sponsor personas
• Send emails regularly to keep members engaged
• Send different types of emails (e.g. newsletters, event invitations, industry updates)
• Personalize your emails (e.g. address receivers by their names)
• Create reports that let you track success against each email’s goal (e.g. member renewal emails)

Organic search (SEO)

Invest in creating high-quality, informative content that speaks to your members’ needs. This can also help position you as a thought leader in your industry.

To improve your association’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), make sure you apply SEO best practices to both your content and your website.

Social media

Organic social media is the second most popular channel to recruit new members, and for good reason. With social media, you can:

• Engage with your potential and current members
• Attract new members to your association
• Build a community
• Cross-promote different valuable content

And more! 

Paid advertising

Paid digital advertising can help with your member or sponsor acquisition. To expand your reach and drive targeted traffic to your association’s website and events, consider using:

• Paid search (e.g. Google Ads)
• Paid social media ads (e.g. Facebook Ads)
• Display ads 

Online community

With an online community, you can keep your members engaged year-round. They can connect, collaborate, share knowledge or opportunities, and more. This fosters engagement and strengthens the sense of belonging within your association.

Continuing education

Offering educational resources or certifications helps attract and retain members. In fact, 36% of associations believe members join their organization for the continuing education/professional certification!

You can also make this a non-dues revenue stream for your association.

Superpath, for example, offers Superpath Pro—a $500/year membership where you get access to:

• Structured courses on content strategy, management, reporting, hiring and more
• Exclusive content on strategy (including examples, templates, and checklists)

And tons of other perks!

Digital events

Digital events are essential to your member and sponsor acquisition strategy. These events double as networking opportunities—which is actually the most common reason members join an association! You can also establish yourself as a thought leader with these events.

Examples of digital association events include:

• Webinars
• Online networking events
• Hybrid conferences
• Virtual trade shows

Make sure you find the right event tech partner. For example, EventMobi’s platform is built to host annual conferences and become an online community center for year-round events and meetings.

Other Marketing Strategies for Associations

Digital marketing isn’t the only channel you can use to market your sponsor or membership program. Consider the following approaches for your association marketing strategy:

Referrals

Referrals or member-get-a-member remain in the top 3 channels that get the most new members. To encourage member referrals, you can offer incentives like:

• Membership dues discount for first year or multi-years
• Gift or premium
• Product discount, coupon, or voucher
• Conference or convention discount

Partnerships

Establishing partnerships is another tactic you can look into. This can help achieve your marketing goals, and offer more value to your members. You can collaborate with complementary organizations, industry influencers, media publications, or sponsors.

Merch & swag

Selling brand collaterals like merch and swag contributes to your revenue goals—and acts as marketing tools for your association. It’s a win-win!

Media sponsors

Besides traditional sponsorships, you can also look into in-kind sponsorship with media partners. Building partnerships with local newspapers or industry publications will help grow your brand visibility. This is also a great way to promote your association’s events and initiatives.

In-person events

In-person events have regained their popularity post-pandemic. No matter what industry your association is in, you can organize conferences, seminars, or networking events to:

• Bring your members together
• Foster personal connections
• And advertise your association’s brand and expertise

Member benefits

Let’s revisit Superpath and Superpath Pro. Besides the courses, Superpath Pro members also have access to monthly 1-1 calls and a private Slack channel. These benefits are clearly communicated on the Superpath Pro landing page.

Like this example, make sure the value of your membership is crystal clear on your website and other marketing materials! This could mean exclusive resources, discounts, professional development opportunities, networking opportunities, and more.

How To Use Events To Market Your Association

Events are a popular channel to engage members, attract new ones, and build brand awareness. In fact, most associations report increased attendance at virtual events over 2022! To market your association using events, consider these aspects:

Event branding

Have a solid event branding strategy to:

• Make your event memorable
• Set clear expectations for attendees
• Create meaningful connections
• Introduce new folks to your organization
• Distinguish you from competitors

Experience design

For new members, your event is their first impression of your association. For existing members, it’s a core value add for their experience. Ensure every interaction your audience has within your event is well-designed and smooth-sailing, with your members in mind.

Networking

Create networking sessions or 1-1 meetings within your event to help attendees connect, build relationships, and meet their goals.

Session value

Organize educational sessions to offer valuable insights and actionable takeaways for your attendees.

Partnerships

Collaborate with other associations to co-host sessions, take turns speaking at one another’s events, or cross-promote events.

Thought leadership

Position your association as a thought leader by featuring influential speakers and subject matter experts in your events.

Member retention

Use your event to connect with existing members and provide exclusive benefits like special discounts, early event access, VIP experiences, and more.

Member acquisition

Provide incentives to attract newcomers like a discounted membership fee or product discount.

PR

Develop press releases and reach out to journalists to generate buzz and excitement for your event. If you’re providing any community value, make sure to get in touch with local news: they’re always looking for new stories!

Word of mouth

Encourage attendees to share their experiences with a referral program or referral incentives for future events.

Ready to make your association’s next event a marketing success? EventMobi can help you attract members and sponsors alike with our event management software for associations.

Learn More !

Association Marketing Software to Help Execute Your Marketing Strategy

To ensure the success of your strategies, here’s some handy association marketing software you can use:

Analytics marketing software for associations

The upside of digital marketing for associations is that you can get a clear picture of how your marketing strategy is working, as long as you use the right tools. To ensure you’re reaching your marketing goals, track key analytics using the following software.

Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is a browser add-on for Chrome & Firefox that shows search volume, CPC and competition on multiple websites.

Pricing starts at $1/month for the Bronze plan.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console helps you measure your site’s search traffic and performance, fix issues, and optimize it for Google Search results.

Pricing: Free

Google Analytics

Google Analytics helps you track and report your association’s website traffic, as well as your mobile app traffic and events.

Pricing: Free

Email marketing software for associations

As a key membership marketing strategy, email marketing is crucial to every association! Use these email marketing tools to craft attractive emails, segment your audience, and track engagement rates.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email and marketing automations platform for growing businesses and organizations. 

Pricing: Free. Paid plan starts from $13/month.

Hubspot

Hubspot is a CRM platform which offers a suite of marketing tools, including email marketing.

Pricing differs between individuals & small teams (starting at $0/month) and businesses & enterprises (starting at $800/month).

Emma

Emma is an email marketing platform for marketers with any level of technical skill. Features include analytics, email editor, automation, segmentation, user permissions, and brand controls.

Pricing starts from $99/month.

Association management software

Association management software can do more than lighten your administrative load—it can also be an excellent marketing tool! Use these tools to: 

• Collect your member information in a database for easy reference
• Monitor member behavior to inform your future strategy
• Track retention campaigns to ensure your strategy is working
• Maintain continued engagement and contact with your member base

Glue Up

Glue Up is an all-in-one engagement management platform to streamline operations for associations, event organizers, agencies, and more.

Pricing starts at $125/month.

YourMembership

YourMembership is an association management platform to help organizations manage membership activities, boost member engagement, and increase non-dues revenue.

Pricing: Contact sales

WildApricot

WildApricot is an all-in-one management solution for nonprofits and small to medium-sized associations.

Pricing starts at $60/month. Discounts available for 1-year or 2-year subscriptions.

Association Event Management Software

The right event tech partner should cut down administrative work, get you the analytics you need, and make navigating your events super easy for members. Look for:

EventMobi

EventMobi is an all-in-one event management platform that helps associations of all sizes. The platform makes easier to create, hold, and market association events. EventMobi can help you:

• Customize and automate your event email marketing
• Create branded event websites that convert
• Design a smooth attendee experience from registration to post-event surveys
• Track your event’s social media footprint to maximize your reach
• Promote you and your sponsors through banner ads and sponsored messages
• And more!

To learn more about EventMobi’s services for your association, you can request a free demo. 

Book Now

The post How To Build an Association Marketing Strategy: 8 Steps, Channels & Tools appeared first on EventMobi.

The right ideas = the right sponsors. And having strong sponsor support can mean the difference between a good event and a great one. After all, with the right sponsors, you’ll not only receive financial support but also:

• Establish valuable partnerships
• Enhance your brand visibility
• Add credibility to your event

And so much more!

Of course, it can be tricky to get the right sponsors. But if you offer the right incentives, your chances multiply! So let’s explore 66 creative event sponsorship ideas that will help you secure sponsorships for events of all kinds.

How Do You Ask a Company To Sponsor an Event?

But first… how do you find your sponsors? If this is your first time, don’t worry—it’s not so hard once you know how to ask for sponsors for an event. And if you’ve got quite a few sponsorships under your belt, you might find something new to consider! 

Follow these simple steps to increase your organization’s chance of securing sponsorships:

1. Identify your needs

You might start by asking: how do I find sponsors for an event? Instead, try asking yourself: what part of my event requires financial support? 

Maybe it’s venue rental, marketing expenses, speaker fees, technology requirements, accessibility support, or catering costs. Make a list of what you can cover and what you need your sponsors for, and then…

2. Determine what you can offer

Make sure you learn what sponsors hope to achieve through your collaboration and define your offerings.

According to a 2022 survey by The Partnership Professionals Network and Dynamic Benchmarking, one reason sponsors’ objectives aren’t achieved is because associations don’t know sponsors’ goals. In fact, only 21% of sponsors achieve their objectives “most of the time”!

So how do you make sure your sponsors are in that 21%? Generally speaking, by offering to become sponsors, companies seek to:

• Create business development and growth
• Foster brand exposure and differentiation
• Be portrayed as thought leaders

To help your potential sponsors achieve these goals, you could:

• Feature sponsors’ educational content in your event
• Offer lead generation opportunities
• Organize networking lounges

And more.

3. Create sponsorship levels

Got your offerings ready? Great. Start categorizing them into different sponsorship levels. This allows sponsors to choose the option that aligns best with their marketing/business objectives and budget.

For events like conferences, trade shows, or festivals, sponsorship levels can include benefits like:

And tons of others.

4. Build your sponsor package

With your sponsorship levels ready, you can now price and build your sponsor package.

So how should you price your package? You want to look at:

• Your organization’s needs
• What your sponsors can afford to pay
• What competitors are offering
• What the overall cost of your event is 

Every event is different, but make sure you’re meeting industry standards!

To add even more options for sponsors, you could also offer à-la-carte benefits. These allow companies to sponsor a specific element of your event. 

5. Find potential sponsors

If you’ve organized events with sponsors before, make sure you look into your current sponsors first. If not, take a look around your space. What are sponsors for similar events? Which potential sponsors are out there still?

Think specifically about how you can appeal to the sponsors you’re considering! 

Got your list of sponsors? Awesome. Now, you can…

6. Collect contact information

Try to start with the person responsible for handling sponsorships at your company of choice. After all, you don’t want to spend time crafting emails just to have them land in the wrong inbox!

Often, you want to reach out to someone from the marketing department. Some job titles to look out for include:

You could look into the company’s website to see if there’s any contact information there. If not, Google and LinkedIn are your friends! You can also use tools like Hunter.io to find the email of the person you’re trying to reach.

7. Send your first touch

It’s time to make a good first impression. Craft a compelling sponsorship proposal email or letter that communicates:

• What your event is about
• The sponsorship opportunities available

And most importantly: the value and benefits sponsors will get in return for their support.

Ideally, you’ll have all the details of your sponsorship package ready on your website or in a PDF. You can link potential sponsors to that site or attach the file in your email. In either case, your email should clearly communicate the benefits of sponsoring your event.

8. Follow up

Obviously: don’t send and forget! Once that first email’s out of the way, make sure you have a follow-up system to secure sponsor support and keep leads hot.

You should give potential sponsors ample time to review your proposal. This means several days to a week, tops. After that, you can follow up with a phone call or another email to discuss the opportunity further. You could address potential objections in this second email as well!

9. Communicate, communicate, communicate!

Maintain open lines of communication with potential sponsors throughout the whole negotiation process. If they come back with a question, try to address it as soon as possible—ideally, within 24 hours.

At the same time, don’t overcommunicate. If you’ve already followed up twice and haven’t received any responses, chances are they’re not interested. That would be the best time to call off the chase! Bombarding potential sponsors with tons of calls and emails will just make you seem desperate and unprofessional. Worse, you’ll burn a bridge with those companies by doing so.

What To Offer Sponsors for an Event: 12 Benefit Ideas

So how do sponsors benefit from events? Well, sponsors see many benefits when sponsoring events. 

Consider incorporating the following sponsorship benefits ideas to make your packages compelling:

Opening/closing ceremonies

Feature sponsor logos during the event’s opening and closing ceremonies. For a step up the sponsorship levels, you could also invite a sponsor’s representative to speak during these sessions.

Signage

Display sponsor logos on banners, posters, and directional signage throughout the event venue. Going virtual? Feature your sponsor logos on banner ads!

Event badges

Include sponsor logos on event badges or lanyards provided to attendees.

PR/media coverage

Include sponsors in press releases, media interviews, and event-related articles.

Reception

Provide sponsors with an exclusive opportunity to address attendees or host a branded reception.

Marketing collateral

Display sponsor logos on both online and offline marketing collaterals. These could be event brochures, flyers, the event’s landing page, and so on.

Session introductions

Boost their brand exposure by allowing sponsors to introduce speakers or sessions.

Social media

Feature sponsors in pre-event, during-event, and post-event social media posts and campaigns.

Certificates

Recognize sponsors with certificates of appreciation or achievement.

VIP events or benefits

Provide exclusive access to special events or benefits for sponsors and their guests.

Gift bags

Include sponsor-branded items or promotional materials in event gift bags. That way, your attendees will have a physical reminder of your sponsors even after the event is over!

Website

Showcase sponsors on your event website! You could feature their logos, company profiles, and links to their websites.

26 Event Sponsorship Ideas for Events of All Kinds

Hosting an in-person, hybrid, or virtual event? This is a great opportunity to get creative! But if you’re having trouble getting started, these 26 out of the box sponsorship ideas will help attract your ideal sponsors:

Workshop sponsorship

If you’re organizing a workshop or if it’s part of your event, you could partner with companies that offer products or services relevant to the workshop’s theme. Sponsors could show their expertise by:

• Introducing and explaining the workshop
• Providing educational resources
• Having a representative run the whole workshop
• Sponsoring payment for a workshop speaker in their network

Awards sponsorship

Are you hosting an award show? Having sponsors can help underwrite the cost of the awards. In return, your sponsors can present the awards to gain visibility during the ceremony.

Event technology sponsorship

You could partner with tech companies to boost engagement for your event. In return, offer them branding or feature their logos in:

• Social media wall
• Cell phone charging lockers
• Interactive theme gaming (like Jeopardy!)
• Your mobile event apps

Psst—EventMobi sponsors some associations every year. Get in touch if you think you’d be a great fit. We usually work with associations that support event and meeting planners and organizers!

Media sponsorship

For media coverage, reach out to media outlets or publications targeting your event’s audience! In exchange for their promotion, provide sponsors with advertising space or exclusive interviews.

Expert speaker sponsorship

For companies interested in establishing their thought leadership, you could offer:

• Speaking opportunities
• Prominent branding during sessions featuring sponsored speakers

Stage sponsorship

Provide sponsors with brand exposure throughout your event by featuring their logos on your event stage or naming the whole stage after them. As a highly visible sponsorship opportunity, a stage sponsorship can be how to get corporate sponsors for an event!

Research sponsorship

Does your event feature groundbreaking research? You can partner with organizations interested in making a difference! Provide them with opportunities to take part in, facilitate, or present research findings.

Booth sponsorship

Your sponsors could exhibit their products or services in a designated booth area! Go above and beyond and provide them with branded signage, promotional materials, and lead retrieval systems.

Registration area sponsorship

The registration area is a great way to introduce your sponsors. Display your sponsors’ logos and branding while attendees check in and get event materials. 

Lounge sponsorship

Offering comfortable lounges for attendees? You could provide sponsors with the opportunity to brand and decorate these spaces. Bonus points if they provide food and beverage options.

Wifi sponsorship

Ever logged in to a branded Wifi network at an event? Your attendees will thank you for the connection, and your sponsors get event-wide visibility! 

Merch sponsorship

You don’t have to shoulder the cost of merchandise production yourself. Collaborate with sponsors to create branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, tote bags, or water bottles.

VIP sponsorship

Offer exclusive benefits and experiences to sponsors, such as access to VIP lounges, reserved seating, or private networking events.

Happy hour sponsorship

Happy hour and cocktail receptions are great for networking and sponsor branding. Allow sponsors to host a session so they can network with attendees and gain exposure.

Keynote sponsorship

Work with your sponsors to support keynote speakers! In return, offer them branding opportunities during these presentations.

Contest/giveaway sponsorship

Partner with sponsors to create engaging contests or giveaways. You can even use their products or services as prizes.

Charging station sponsorship

Events can be a battery drain! Set up charging stations throughout the event venue, branded with your sponsor’s name or logo.

Accessibility sponsorship

Collaborate with sponsors to provide meaningful accommodations! They could cover the cost of sign language interpreters, closed captioning services, or assistive devices. This is a great opportunity for potential sponsors to show their commitment to accessibility. 

Q&A sponsorship

Here’s a chance for companies to directly interact with attendees: sponsoring Q&A sessions or panel discussions. Offer a moderation role to your sponsor for some valuable face-to-face time! 

Lanyard or badge sponsorship

Display sponsor logos on event lanyards or badges worn by attendees.

T-shirt sponsorship

Offering T-shirts to staff or attendees? Collaborate with sponsors to produce event T-shirts featuring their logos!

Venue sponsorship

Need a venue for your event? Partner with companies interested in hosting your event and offer them branding opportunities throughout the venue. 

Brand activation sponsorship

Boost your sponsors’ brand exposure with booths, exhibitions and interactive experiences.

Social media sponsorship

Even if you’re in person, don’t forget about social media! Connect with influencers so they can feature your event in stories, posts, and activate their audience in support, pre-, during-, and post-event. 

Volunteer sponsorship

Allow sponsors to support and engage with event volunteers to show their commitment to community involvement. They could sponsor a branded pizza party, volunteer gifts, or a green room snack station.

Program sponsorship

Offer sponsors the opportunity to advertise in the event program! They could also have a dedicated section to show their products or services.

5 Association Event Sponsorship Ideas

Associations have specific needs and benefits to offer sponsors! When you’re planning your next association event, consider these 5  unique sponsorship ideas for association events:

Mentorship program sponsorship

Partner with companies that prioritize professional development, or are leaders in your space. They could offer mentorship opportunities to association members.

Certification program sponsorship

For sponsors interested in supporting certification programs, you could offer them branding opportunities during certification ceremonies or training sessions.

Member perks sponsorship

Engage sponsors to provide exclusive discounts, perks, or benefits to association members. This is an easy way to highlight their commitment to the industry!

Annual conference sponsorship

Hosting an annual conference? You could offer sponsors branding opportunities, speaking slots, and networking events. For the right sponsor, you could even let them sponsor the whole event.

Special events sponsorships

Develop sponsorship opportunities for your association’s special events, such as networking mixers, gala dinners, or educational workshops.

10 Virtual Event Sponsorship Ideas

Looking for sponsorship ideas for your virtual events? Look no further. And psst: these work for your hybrid events, too.

Webinar sponsorship

Your sponsors could present webinars on relevant topics. If you’re using an event management platform like EventMobi, you could also:

• Highlight your sponsors with banner ads and sponsored messages during these sessions
• Create sponsored live polls

Online certification sponsorship

Partner with sponsors to support online certification programs! You could offer them branding opportunities during certification courses or exams. Alternatively, you could look for a learning management system sponsor to host your certifications and courses.

Virtual booth sponsorship

Wondering how to display sponsors for an event when it’s virtual? Provide them with virtual exhibition booths! Here, they can showcase their products or services, interact with attendees, and collect leads. You could offer 1:1 video meetings for their booths as well!

Gamification sponsorship

Gamification is great to engage your attendees while offering sponsors brand exposure at the same time! With an event management platform like EventMobi, you could promote your sponsors through gamification by:

• Offering branded challenges
• Staggering gamification points to match sponsor investments
• Using scavenger hunts to deliver leads to exhibitor and sponsor pages

Sponsored refreshment gift cards

Offer sponsors the opportunity to provide attendees with virtual refreshment gift cards! It’ll let your virtual attendees feel like they’re getting hor d’oeuvres delivered directly to their home or office. Besides visibility, this helps create a positive association for brands as well.

Sponsored contests

Engage sponsors by creating sponsored contests or competitions during the virtual event. You can use their products or services as prizes.

Virtual community space sponsorship

Establish a virtual community space where attendees can network, connect, and share ideas. With EventMobi, this space could offer sponsors:

• Branded live stream sessions, webinars, and live product demos
• Dedicated sponsor Video Libraries
• Virtual Exhibitor Booths complete with 1:1 Video Meetings
• Sponsored event game challenges
• Banner ads and sponsored messages

Virtual event app sponsorship

A mobile app makes virtual events easy to navigate and keeps attendees connected. With EventMobi, you could help boost sponsors’ visibility through your event apps by:

• Using banner ads to highlight your top-tier sponsors
• Promoting networking with virtual exhibitor booths
• Leveraging live polls and surveys to gather feedback
• Introducing sponsors through Sponsor Profiles
• Connecting sponsors with attendees through 1:1 Appointment Booking

Social media filter sponsorship

Social media filters are an easy way to promote your event while featuring your sponsors! Collaborate with sponsors to create branded social media filters or frames to use during the virtual event so your attendees can rep your event in style.

Virtual happy hour sponsorship

Just like with an in-person event, sponsors could host happy hours or networking sessions for virtual events from the comfort of their own spaces. 

Trade Show Sponsorship Ideas

Trade shows provide valuable opportunities for businesses to showcase their products and services. Take a look at these two event sponsorship ideas for trade shows:

Trade show session sponsorship

Allow sponsors to present educational sessions or workshops. Provide branding opportunities during these sessions to help your sponsors demonstrate their relevance to the industry.

Trade show technology sponsorship

Collaborate with sponsors specializing in event technology solutions. They’ll have a chance to present their products and services to exhibitors and attendees.

6 Sponsorship Ideas for Fundraising Events

Fundraising events rely heavily on sponsor support. To best secure sponsorships for your fundraising events, consider these sponsorship ideas:

Auction item sponsorship

Invite sponsors to donate high-value items or experiences for fundraising auctions. Then you can provide branding opportunities for these sponsors during the auction.

Silent auction sponsorship

Get sponsors to cover the costs associated with organizing a silent auction. Offer branding opportunities during the auction and recognition for their support.

Gift matching sponsorship

A matching gift program is an effortless way for nonprofit donors to maximize donations! You could partner with companies that offer gift matching programs to multiply the impact of donations received. Best of all, this will also encourage your audience to donate to your cause.

Volunteer recognition event sponsorship

So many fundraising events wouldn’t be possible without volunteers. Why not collaborate with sponsors to host a special event or ceremony to recognize and appreciate event volunteers?

Donation station sponsorship

Your attendees need a place to actually donate to your cause. Give sponsors the chance to brand and support donation stations at your fundraising event!

Cause marketing sponsorships

Your cause is worthwhile, and you can find sponsors who know that too! Cause marketing allows your organization to connect with a corporate partner who wants to demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility. 

How to Thank Sponsors for An Event: 5 Ideas

Expressing gratitude to sponsors is crucial for building long-lasting relationships! Here are a variety of ways to show your appreciation:

Personalized thank-you letters

Send personalized letters to sponsors to thank them for their support. Take the time to highlight the impact their sponsorship had on the event’s success in these letters! If you want to go the extra mile, handwrite them and get them signed by your organization’s leaders.

Fulfill on sponsor benefits

Your sponsors have held up their end of the bargain, so make sure you put together a sponsorship fulfillment checklist and start checking off those boxes! Keeping sponsors in the loop at every step is another great way to build trust, and you can sweeten the pot with analytics (E.G. how many people liked a sponsored post, viewed a banner ad)

Reception thank you

Host a special reception or dinner to thank sponsors. This is an opportunity for them to network with other key stakeholders as well!

Post-event report

Track and report on the ROI of your event and sponsorship efforts. This helps sponsors know how their support has paid off and can encourage them to collaborate with you again. 

Some event management platforms allow you to track and report on your analytics. EventMobi, for example, offers different ways to measure your event analytics like:

Whether your event is virtual, hybrid, or in person, your sponsors will have a clear idea of the benefits of your partnership.

Extra benefits for repeat sponsors

Offer additional perks or benefits to sponsors who consistently support your events, such as discounted sponsorship rates or priority access to future opportunities.

Get Your Dream Sponsors With These Creative Event Sponsorship Ideas

By now, you should have all the tools you need to:

• Effectively approach potential sponsors
• Create attractive sponsorship packages
• And offer compelling benefits that align with sponsors’ marketing objectives

If all goes well, you’ll form strong relationships with sponsors who can provide ongoing support for your organization’s events!

To best offer sponsors what they deserve, you need a versatile event management platform like EventMobi. Every year, EventMobi helps thousands of attendees meet & engage with awesome sponsors, in-app and on the event floor. We offer…

…and everything else you need to create sponsor value that will help your events flourish.

The post 66 Creative Event Sponsorship Ideas to Help You Secure Your Ideal Sponsors appeared first on EventMobi.

Lead Capture Company Portal

The Lead Capture Company Portal, part of EventMobi’s powerful Lead Capture feature, empowers your event exhibitors to fully control their lead capture process by managing their onsite staff, adding custom qualifying questions, and exporting leads. 

EventMobi Lead Capture is part of the new Onsite apps and features developed to help event organizers manage critical aspects of their in-person events from a single platform. In addition to Lead Capture for your Exhibitors, you can now use EventMobi for Event & Session Check-in and Badge Design & Printing. 

Cookie Consent

EventMobi has improved how you take care of consent management for cookies across your XYZ—If you live in a region such as the EU where data protection laws require cookie consent, you now have the ability to display a cookie banner for your attendees to comply with GDPR policies.

Recommended Resource: Looking for detailed information on consent management for cookies ?

 

Learn More

Companies Section Updates

The companies section in your Event Space has been completely redesigned. With a more responsive, intuitive interface and a new layout, your sponsor, partner, and exhibitor listings and profile pages are even more beautiful.

Zapier Integration

You can now use Zapier to connect EventMobi with 5000+ popular apps, including Mailchimp, Hubspot, and Survey Monkey, so you can automate your work and have more time for what really matters: creating incredible event experiences. The best part? No coding is required. Learn more here.

Looking for easier, more cost-effective ways to manage your events ? Book your personalized demo of EventMobi’s Event Management Software platform today!

 

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The post April Product Updates: Lead Capture Portal, Enhanced Company Profiles, and More… appeared first on EventMobi.

About the CMEE

For over 25 years, The Canadian Meetings + Events Expo (CMEE) has brought together meeting planners of all kinds – independent, corporate, or government – with event suppliers. As the biggest and longest-running meetings and events show in Canada, the CMEE gives event planners the chance to discover and meet with 200+ companies, gain relevant industry knowledge, and source new event ideas.

Meet the Person Behind the Magic

Melissa Arnott oversees the successful delivery of tradeshows and conferences, including the CMEE, at Newcom Media Inc. As an experienced trade and consumer show executive, Melissa has been the show manager of the CMEE for nearly 6 years.

CMEExpo 2022, Toronto, Canada, August 16-17

Event Goals and Challenges

Event Goal

To connect meeting and event professionals with new suppliers offering a range of event planning products and solutions for venue sourcing, special event and incentive travel planning, and event management-related products and services, including technology.

The Challenge

CMEE 2022 was the second event held in-person after the COVID-19 pandemic. As health and safety restrictions had eased, registrations were back to pre-2020 levels. The organizers wanted to ensure event stakeholders made the most of the show by making it easy to navigate the show floor, find educational sessions, and network with one another.

“We discovered EventMobi a few years ago and immediately found that they were just easy to work with and they also enhanced our user experience, both on the exhibitor side as well as the attendee side.”

– Melissa Arnott

How the CMEE Successfully Connected Event Planners With Suppliers

“When we’re planning the event, we plan with the attendee experience in mind all the time. So what the App does is make us very aware of what the experience is going to be. So EventMobi is really enhancing that experience, again, both on the exhibitor and the attendee side.” – Melissa Arnott

The CMEE used the following unique features offered by EventMobi’s Event App to deliver an amazing and unforgettable event experience:

Event App Highlights

1. Interactive Agendas

Education sessions and workshops at the CMEE are designed to provide planners with powerful insights and learning opportunities to deliver better events and progress their careers. Each CMEExpo Education Workshop is pre-qualified with the Events Industry Council so that planners’ time spent at the CMEE can go towards receiving or renewing their Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation.

Using EventMobi’s Interactive Agendas, attendees were able to quickly sort sessions by date, time, and type, and add their favorites to their personalized agenda to ensure no important workshops were missed.

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3. Interactive Event Maps

With 200+ exhibiting companies, it can get tricky for attendees to locate an exact supplier on the show floor. With Interactive Event Maps, event planners could pinpoint or search exhibitors for easy wayfinding, as well as see what is in the surrounding area.

“I did check out the floor plan and that was nice how you can zoom in and see, and it has the street layouts and everything. So that was really helpful to find.” –Olivia Popofsky, Marketing Coordinator, Event Attendee

“My favorite feature would be the map. I find it’s very easy to navigate. If I need to find an exhibitor on the show floor, I can click on the exhibitor and it’ll tell me exactly where to go.

– Samantha Nagy

Results

1. Increased Engagement Between Event Planners and Suppliers

With 563 Challenges completed and 59,700 total points collected, the ‘Play to Win’ gamification challenges were a clear favorite among spirited attendees. These statistics, paired with anecdotal feedback collected onsite, demonstrate that this engagement feature created an exciting and memorable attendee experience while driving relevant traffic to exhibitor booths.

2. A Positive User Experience

Reactions from CMEE 2022 attendees were extremely positive.

“People are going towards technology. And as much as we used to love those big, thick show guides that we carried around and, you know, probably injured our shoulders, the Event App is right in their hand and they can use it. They can change their experience as they go.”

– Melissa Arnott

Users noted that the Event App was visually appealing, offered easy access to important information and updates, and simplified navigating the event.

“It was my first time using it actually, but I like the color way of it, and it pops where it should. So it’s been really easy and nice on the eyes.” – Olivia Popofsky

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The post Case Study: Canadian Meetings + Events Expo 2022 Uses the Mobile Event App to Drive Engagement With Exhibitors appeared first on EventMobi.

About Mambu

SaaS. Cloud-native. API-first.

These all describe Mambu’s market-leading banking and financial services platform.

Virtual Event Technology

Mambu used EventMobi’s:

• Event Space
• Full-Service Registration

Meet The Person Behind The Magic

Participants

Attendees included internal employees from
across the world.

Event Objectives

Mambu had two primary objectives for their February 2021 “We Own This” Virtual Kickoff Conference:

• To share their 2021 company strategy and vision
• To build community, unity, engagement, enthusiasm

Planning The Event

To celebrate their new status as a unicorn startup and share the 2021 company strategy, Ioana Grapa, Global Events Lead at Mambu was tasked with the mandate to plan and run “We Own This”, a global internal kick-off event.

They’d never run an event of this scale virtually and, as a team, looked at a total of 40 platforms before selecting EventMobi. Ultimately, EventMobi was one of the only vendors with proven event expertise and met Mambu’s data privacy regulations.

“It was important for us to go with someone who has been in the industry and who knows a bit more about the event world. Reputation was important when choosing an event platform.”

— Ioana Grapa

Leading Up to The Event

Ioana knew that their employees had attended many other virtual events, and she didn’t want to settle for “another platform, another link.” Instead, she and her colleagues brainstormed internally to create a unique, fully-branded experience that encouraged attendee engagement.

EventMobi Event Success Manager Pirkko Sprengel assisted the Events Lead with project management,
onboarding, best practices, and queries. Ioana was particularly impressed with the turnaround speed when it came to collaborating with EventMobi on the platform.

The EventMobi Event Space offers versatile live streaming, video conferencing options and native streaming options, which allowed Mambu to work with their audio-visual provider of choice, a third-party production studio in Amsterdam.

“Putting everything into a Virtual Event Space requires a completely different mindset,” Ioana shared. “We wanted to be very daring and creative and come up with some cool interactive elements. I liked the fact that we could fully brand the space with our identity. The platform itself looked great with our colours”.

How Mambu Used The Event Space to Build Community

From broadcasted panel discussions and keynotes from well-known industry leaders, employees shared that the event felt like “watching their favourite TV show with their family.” Ioanahad also brought in a live illustrator whose screen was visible throughout the day while he worked on visualizations of key points in the event content.

Throughout the event, the Live Session Chat was buzzing, and attendees were firing off questions to ask panelists via the Q&A feature; in short, achieving Mambu’s goal to build a sense of community.

Event Space Highlights

Live Stream Broadcasts

To showcase keynotes, panel discussions, and other individual presentations from internal and external presenters.

Session Chat

“We were quite curious to see how well it would work, but the chat option was amazing. It was buzzing all the time; I think in part because it was an internal event, and everyone was comfortable to have fun and banter,” shared Ioana.

Q&A

To collect questions from the audience to ask panelists, and upvote which ones to prioritize.

Live Polling

To ask attendees which songs they wanted the DJ to play during breaks.

Virtual Event Analytics

“For us, it was useful to see who joined which session,” Iona added.

“We Own This’ was one of the best, most beautiful events I’ve ever run; it just worked really, really well. The feedback we got was amazing…from speakers, attendees and the production team. It was a complete success.”

— Ioana Grapa

Measuring Event Success

95% of invited employees logged in and were present throughout the entire event.

When asked how to advise other planners on how to pull off such a unique event, Ioana reiterated the importance of being creative about the event format and willing to take risks. She emphasized: “Planners need to stop associating live events and virtual events because they’re two completely different formats and require different approaches.”

Ioana’s Recommendations

1. Start the live stream by playing some music to build up the excitement.
2. Front-load the day with the most important, coolest sessions. “You need to start with this momentum to catch your audience’s attention.”
3. Incorporate different interactive elements throughout, “otherwise they will just drop off and not come back throughout the day.”
4. Consider a shorter format and changing up the session format. “Attention spans are shorter in a virtual Event Space, so it’s key to have a nice rhythm between different styles of sessions.”

The post Case Study: Mambu Turns Virtual Kick-Off Event Into a Global Celebration appeared first on EventMobi.

About FMX

FMX is one of the world’s largest trade conferences for animation, effects, games, and immersive media and is organized by the Animation Institute of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.

Virtual Event Technology

FMX used EventMobi’s:

• Event Space
• Full Data Management
• GoLive! Production Services

Meet The Person Behind The Magic

Participants

Participants included international professionals and students from the fields of animation and special effects.

Event Objectives

FMX had two primary objectives for their May 2021 conference “Reimagine Tomorrow”:

• To promote exchange within the industry
• To offer a high-quality program with prominent speakers

Planning The Event

FMX has been held annually on site in Stuttgart since 1994 – but the 2020 event had to be cancelled at short notice due to the pandemic.

“We weren’t able to crank out a professional online conference in just six weeks. Zoom calls and poor image quality, that’s not us. The discussions with EventMobi then led to us saying we’ll do it.”

— Mario Müller

A new attempt was then made in 2021. Originally conceived as a hybrid event, FMX ultimately took place
entirely online. The team was supported by the creative agency Langenstein Communication, who in turn suggested EventMobi as the technology provider. The FMX team’s goal was to mirror online much of what normally took place on-site in Stuttgart. They were encouraged by the fact that comparable industry conferences had already mastered the switch to a virtual format.

Preparation of The Event

To get to know the features of the EventMobi platform in detail, the FMX team received one-on-one training from Event Success Manager Pirkko Sprengel. Before and during the event, she was available to answer questions and give tips to the organizers.

When setting up the virtual Event Space, the adaptability of the open EventMobi platform proved to be a major advantage. The chosen registration provider, XING Events, was already included in the package as a standard integration, so that participant data flowed seamlessly from the ticketing system into the EventMobi backend.

The high-profile program, featuring many industry greats, required special protection so that video links, for example, could not be shared with third parties outside the platform. That’s why Mario and his team opted for a custom integration of the Kaltura video player. In addition to the security factor, the tool also offered the high image quality that the visually-oriented professional audience expected.

All the stops were also pulled out when it came to design. CSS was used to design the virtual Event Space portal completely in the FMX branding. This function is included in all EventMobi packages by default. The program overview of the website was integrated via iframe to implement the desired appearance 1:1.

“We were very pleased that the EventMobi team was professional and always responsive. The fact that customer support was included in the basic package and that you knew right away who to contact with questions was something I liked.”

— Mario Müller

How Attendee Participation Was Encouraged

The extensive program at FMX was split 50/50 between the two central goals of the event: networking among professionals and students, and sharing knowledge. An important cornerstone of the conference has always been the atmosphere among the visitors – “how easy it is to talk to each other, have a beer together or approach speakers,” says Mario.

It was clear to him that the exchange within the industry would take on a somewhat different form online. The EventMobi platform offered many opportunities to get into conversation – for example, during Q&A sessions with speakers or via the participant Live Chat.

Highlights of The Event Space

Live Chat

In the public chat, participants were able to talk about the current lecture and engage in an exchange with the moderators or speakers.

Zoom Integration

The existing integration of Zoom and EventMobi made it easy to implement video chats between speakers and participants. As an alternative to Zoom, EventMobi also offers Interactive Breakout Rooms directly within the platform.

Private Messages & Appointment Booking

“The fact that you could write to others directly via the participant list and invite them to a video call was very cleverly solved and a practical additional benefit,” thinks Mario.

Successes of The Event

The switch to the virtual format was a major challenge for the team which made Mario all the more pleased with the consistently positive feedback from those involved. “The presentation and implementation of the platform went absolutely great,” he enthuses. “People were really satisfied with the outcome.”

For once, it was possible to attract Hollywood celebrities as speakers who had never been able to come to the on-site conference in Stuttgart before. Mario’s highlights were visual effects legend Douglas Trumbull (2001 – A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner) and Victoria Alonso, Executive Vice President of Production at Marvel Studios.

“We were able to run the entire FMX 100% on the EventMobi platform. People were happy about that and we received a lot of positive feedback.”

— Mario Müller

The post Case Study: How FMX Wowed a Demanding Audience at Their First Virtual Conference appeared first on EventMobi.

Hero Conf:

This two-and-half-day annual conference takes place in the US and UK. The event provides over 600 marketers with professional development and education related to paid search and advertising, and networking opportunities with the biggest and brightest in the industry.

Hanapin Marketing

Hanapin Marketing is a leading US-based advertising agency. They’re experts at developing strategies and execution for acquisition-focused paid advertising and social programs.

Meet the Person Behind the Magic

Audrey is a team of one and Jane-of-All-Trades, managing the planning and execution of Hanapin Marketing’s two annual conferences. Ensuring the organization achieves their event goals is her critical responsibility and success is evaluated using event analytics.

Event Goals

Hero Conf’s overarching goal is to position Hanapin Marketing as a thought leader in the paid advertising space, and increase attendee retention. To improve, the team focused on achieving the following goals to prove the success of the event:

1. Provide a top-notch attendee experience

The overall design of the event, including the Event App, needed to be structured in a way that provided easy access to information. The audience is very data and analytically oriented so it was important for users to be able to have a straightforward experience and easily find information.

2. Provide interesting programming

To offer the best programming, Audrey needed to understand which topics and speakers were of interest to attendees. With this insight, she would be able to design scheduling around the needs and wants of the audience.

3. Increase brand awareness of Hero Conf and Hanapin Marketing

To increase the awareness of the conference and link it to Hanapin Marketing’s corporate brand, the Event App needed to be designed in a way that promoted the brand without being overbearing.

Why Hanapin Invested in an Event App

Hanapin Marketing first started using EventMobi’s Event App technology in 2014 after experiencing how it worked at another event. Given that the event caters to a digital-first audience of marketers and advertisers, Audrey knew they were expecting event technology solutions that would keep attendees informed and up-to-date throughout the event.

“Since our attendees are tech-savvy, we felt that giving them a printed program with all the session descriptions and speakers was becoming antiquated. We wanted to add value to the event and the attendee experience by putting it into an event app.”

— Audrey Brown

How Audrey Got Buy-In from Leadership

When Hanapin Marketing first introduced an event app into their event experience, the biggest challenge Audrey faced was convincing the leadership team why dedicating event budget was worth the return on investment.

“I was able to convince leadership that the company would see significant cost savings through the elimination of printed material. Also, I demonstrated how the Event App would enable us to improve retention and enhance the overall event experience. Those benefits held a monetary value to our team as well.”

Trying to get buy-in from your executive team?

Read this guide for tips on how to create a compelling pitch!

How Hanapin Marketing Achieved Their Event Goals

1. Provide a Top-Notch Attendee Experience

Personalized Scheduling & Speaker Profiles

The schedule for Hero Conf was complex with four concurrent sessions, each catering to a different category of skills and training. Using the Personalized Scheduling and Speaker Profile features allowed attendees to view session and speaker descriptions. This enabled attendees to gauge which sessions were of most interest to them and build their own schedules.

“Allowing the attendees to build their schedule and view the session descriptions is really huge for the on-site flow. Also, being able to give folks easy access to the information they want, when they want it, without having to search too hard for it is really important to their overall experience.”

— Audrey Brown

Push Notifications

Using alerts within the Event App allowed Audrey to communicate last-minute updates, for example, scheduling changes. “We had a speaker that couldn’t make it last minute, so it was a fantastic way to mass communicate a change in the agenda,” says Audrey.

Live Polling and Q&A

Increasing engagement during speaker sessions was a priority for the organizing team. With Live Polling
and Q&A features, audience members were able to participate in the session and ask a question in a very easy and non-confrontational way.

Feedback Surveys

Before implementing the Event App, paper evaluations were used and the completion rate was extremely low.

“At the end of the conference, attendees don’t have time to sit down and give feedback. Having the Survey questions open for a week after the event and easily accessible allows people to get back to their office and fill out the survey on their own time. It’s higher quality feedback because it gives them time to refer back to the sessions and consider what they found most valuable.” — Audrey Brown

The Q&A feature was actually attendees’ most favorited part of the event app, based on feedback. Not only did it enable people to ask questions, but it also allowed questions to be upvoted by other attendees. For Audrey, this provided great insight into what content was important and of interest to attendees, as well as provided feedback to speakers.

“From the Survey feedback, people said the Q&A portion was one of the most valuable pieces to them. They appreciated the use of the app to submit questions and upvote. It’s so cool they found that worthy enough to call out.”

— Audrey Brown

2. Provide Interesting Programming

Session Feedback Surveys

For every session, the events team evaluated the speaker based on their content, presentation style, and audience feedback. This information is used as a guiding light when creating the programming for the following year’s event. The top ten highest-rated speakers got an automatic invite back so this incentivized session speakers to promote the feedback surveys in the Event App.

All of the feedback Hanapin Marketing collects also helps Hero Conf retain and attract the best speakers. “Our speakers absolutely love that they get individual session feedback. We believe in transparency, so we share the feedback—whether speakers get an awesome score or a poor score. I think that sets us apart from a lot of the other conferences. Our speakers feel we’re helping them with their professional development and career advancement.”

3. Increase brand awareness of Hero Conf and Hanapin Marketing

Customizable Event App Design

EventMobi’s Event App enabled Audrey to customize the design and increase the number of branded touchpoints with users. “I really love that almost everything is customizable — the splash screens, module buttons, banner ads, social links, just to name a few things. We were able to place our brand everywhere we wanted to.”

Results

Hero Conf achieves its highest attendee retention rate

Audrey and her team achieved an attendee retention rate of 45% for Hero Conf. “That is astronomical compared to other events. Aiming for 15% to 20% is pretty good. 30% is outstanding. So, us landing at 45% is validation that we’re putting on an event people want to come back to,” says Audrey.

Audrey attributes this to several factors:

• Easing communication streams with attendees via a branded event app
• Truly understanding what attendees want to learn by capturing more attendee feedback
• Creating valuable engagement opportunities between the speakers and audience with digital question submission and upvoting
• Retaining top speakers by sharing in-depth attendee feedback
• Creating a better overall experience for a tech-savvy audience
• Reinvesting event budget saved from printed materials back into swag and food and beverage for attendees

“I appreciated the use of the app to submit questions and the effort of the moderators to get to as many questions as possible.”

— Attendee Feedback

Audrey’s Top Tips For Using an Event App to Engage Attendees

Determine what you need in an event app

Audrey says when looking at investing in an event app, consider your needs and which features best fit those requirements. “Choose the vendor that’s suitable for your team and is aligned with your goals. Is the priority for it to be user-friendly? For it to be creative and offer gamification options? What kind of budget are you working with?”

She also notes to be aware of any data privacy or protection protocols that will be important to your company and/or attendees. “We have app security and users must accept the Terms of Use. If you run international events, in particular, looking for providers that have General Data Protection Regulation-compliance features will likely be important to you,” says Audrey.

If you need to sell the idea internally to your team, consider explaining how costs can be offset via sponsorship opportunities within the Event App and cutting back on printing. Audrey says it’s also important to highlight how efficiently you can collect attendee insights and feedback with the right tool.

Promote your event app by showing attendees the possibilities

Attendees may be shy to use features in your event technology or chat with one another. Audrey says planners should do the work of showing them the value first and inspiring them with how it can be used. For instance, have instructions for using features on collateral around your event and in presentations.

“We’ve always have general signage about the wifi and app downloads, and we promote as much as we can via email. Also, our MC in the welcoming remarks always calls out ways to download and use the app,” says Audrey.

A new technique they tried this year was placing individual promo cards in easy-to-access areas. “This year, we incorporated the app download instructions on our centerpieces in our general ballroom sessions. It was amazing! I spent significantly less time answering questions—and when you’re running around on-site, that’s really helpful,” says Audrey.

The post Case Study: How Hanapin Marketing Used Attendee Feedback to Increase Engagement & Retention appeared first on EventMobi.

Whether you’re planning an in-person conference, a virtual summit, or a hybrid event that combines the best of both worlds, the event app you use will have a huge impact on your success. 

If you’ve never used an event app before, you may not understand how transformative it can be. In this article, we’ll show you how EventMobi’s powerful event app helped 5 different organizations build standout events.

Diversified Communications ULC Cuts Costs by $8,000 using an Event App

Read the full case study

It’s easy for expenses to rack up when you’re planning a large-scale event. Often, one of the most costly components of an event is registration— printing badges and staffing a registration table is expensive, but it’s vital to get it right, as the registration experience will set the tone for the entire event. 

Diversified Communications ULC was gearing up to host their annual medical conference, known as Pri-Med Canada. They expected over 3,600 attendees from 200 different healthcare, educational, and pharmaceutical companies. 

With such a large audience, Diversified Communications knew they needed a high-tech event app to manage everything from attendee engagement to scheduling and planning. 

But they also saw a surprise benefit of using an event app: They were able to save $8,000 on printing and shipping costs, thanks to EventMobi’s event registration software. 

Instead of relying on printed badges, the company was able to import their attendees’ information into the event app, even while the app was still being designed in the weeks leading up to Pri-Med Canada. Event registration could then happen onsite; when attendees logged into their app for the first time, they could see all of their information already loaded into the program, including the sessions they’d signed up for. 

It wasn’t just the event planners who loved the event app. With EventMobi’s technology, the company surpassed their event app adoption rate by 155%.

GetWellNetwork Uses an Event App to Build Brand Reputation

Read the full case study

Technical difficulties can turn an excellent event into a nightmare—especially if the event is all about technology. 

The GetWellNetwork, which provides cutting-edge technology for healthcare organizations, knew they couldn’t afford to have any big tech issues during their GetConnected Conference, during which they showcase innovations in the healthcare tech space. 

The event organizers were on the lookout for an event app that could be the “brain” of the entire event. They needed a solution that would replace their paper handouts and program schedules, while also boosting attendee engagement and connecting their audience during the event. 

After doing their research, they landed on EventMobi as the best option to achieve their goals. And this decision paid off—literally. They saved tens of thousands of dollars on their event budget, while also hosting their most engaging attendee experience to date. 

On top of that, by using such a diverse and intelligent event app, they solidified their brand image as a leader in the tech space.

Real Property Management Uses Gamification to Enhance Networking

Read the full case study

Networking is at the heart of so many events, as was the case when Real Property Management was gearing up to hold their annual national conference. 

They went into the event wanting to break the mould, so they could surprise and delight their attendees, while also encouraging them to build their network inside the franchise community. 

“We needed to create a platform where attendees could communicate with each other better. We didn’t want to just leave it up to chance that they would interact,” said Tim Sedgwick, from Real Property Management. 

In the past, the company had used gamification to encourage networking, but it hadn’t panned out as they’d hoped in terms of ROI. But when they began using EventMobi’s event app, they saw a huge increase in the number of attendees playing the networking game. 

Sedgwick and his team attributed this to the event app’s ability to digify the gamification experience. Rather than relying on game rules printed on paper or announced out loud, they used the event app to give each attendee a four-digit code on their badge, which they could use to participate. People at the event could easily find the rules in the event app, and they could even watch a leaderboard to see who was winning.

Looking for detailed advice on designing an event sponsorship package that will be competitive in today’s market?
Download The EventMobi Sponsorship Strategy Guide to get started!

Venture Out Builds Community and Bolsters Communication with an Event App

Watch the full case study

When Venture Out plans an event, their top priority is making sure their audience feels welcome from start to finish. This is core to their mission of bringing together members of the LGBTQ+ community who share a passion for technology. 

The team at Venture Out knew strong communication was key to their event, something they’d struggled with in the past. Without an event app, they had to share important information about schedule changes and the location of events out loud—and anyone who wasn’t in the room when such announcements were happening would miss out. 

But with EventMobi’s event app, they were able to send messages and connect with all event attendees, simply by pushing notifications through the platform. 

On top of that, the seamless event registration allowed the event organizers to save time they would otherwise spend trying to keep track of everything. As a result, they could dedicate more of their time to ensure all attendees were enjoying themselves.

Hanapin Marketing Boosts Retention With an Event App

Read the full case study

Hanapin Marketing hosts an event for hundreds of marketers every year, and one of their main goals is retention—they want attendees to come to the event year after year. 

In the past, the company had seen a 15% retention rate annually, but with EventMobi’s event app, that figure skyrocketed to 45%. 

Hanapin credits the event app’s many features as the primary reason for this boost to their retention rate. With features like life polling and Q&As, push notifications, and personalized schedules and speaker profiles, they raised the overall quality of their event, which made it easy for attendees to decide to return the following year. 

“The Event App keeps the conference fresh, sleek, and ahead of the competition,” one attendee remarked. 
Hanapin also used the Event App to gather feedback through post-event survey questions. With more responses from their attendees, they could easily figure out what worked well at the event, and what should be improved for the next one.

If you want to see the most return on investment with your event, then you need the most up-to-date technology to provide a seamless, enjoyable experience for all attendees. 

The post 5 Event App Case Studies that Show the Power of Event Tech appeared first on EventMobi.