This is a guest post by David Thomas. He has been wowing audiences worldwide as a leading corporate magician. The most popular of these variety show packages are now available as Shows In a Box Corporate Entertainment, pre-produced spectacular productions for the special event markets.
As an event planner or coordinator, you need to be prepared to deal with any situation that comes your way – before and during the event. Without warning, your event can be derailed in the planning process, or you could hit a snag during the event itself.
No matter what type of event trouble you’re facing, here’s how to get things back on track and avoid disaster:
1. You’re Going to do the Same Thing you Did last Year.
This event planning disaster happens long before the date of the actual event. If you’re going to do the same basic thing you did the year before, why should your attendees even show up? In order to create a successful event, you need to think outside of the box and bring in some new elements, no matter what the event.
You can try a different theme, new entertainment or a different location. Look back over the feedback you collected from last year and take note of what really stood out to attendees. (If you didn’t collect feedback, be sure to fix that this time around!). Start looking for event planning inspiration online and on industry blogs, and brainstorm with your planning team about things that make your event fail.
2. You haven’t received as many RSVPs as you expected.
Your event could fall flat if you don’t solve this problem right away. The solution is to do a marketing blast that will not only remind invitees of the event, but that will also get them excited to attend.
You don’t want to pester attendees – but you do want to show them why your event can’t be missed. You should take a two-pronged approach via email and social media.
Send out a series of helpful (and promotional) articles to your email list. This series shows that you offer great content, and gently reminds them that you have an event coming up. Use topical content from event speakers or VIP’s to peak the interest of perspective attendees. This can be easily set up to even be automated through email systems like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact. Be sure to use a strong call to action to RSVP using strong colors.
You can also repurpose the same content on your blog, and promote those posts and articles on social media. Do some social media outreach as well, and engage with your audience. Point all of this new traffic back to an event landing page that emphasizes the benefits of your event and encourages sign-ups with strong calls to action and imagery reinforcement.
3. You’re getting negative reviews on social media or elsewhere online.
Social media – and social media monitoring – are integral parts of corporate events. You should create a twitter hashtag (#) for your event and assign someone to engage the audience and monitor the conversation. If you start to get some negative feedback on your official stream, it’s important to take action right away.
Have your outreach person respond immediately on social media and let the party know that they have been heard. All eyes are on you – so be sure to act fast. Reach out and find the individual in person, if necessary, and try to make their experience better in any way that you can. Once the problem is resolved, make sure the community at large knows things have been fixed.
In addition to these “disaster management” tips before and during the event, you can also avoid problems in the future through good follow-up with your event attendees. Pay close attention to their feedback and make notes for next year. By engaging your audience during the event and listening to them afterwards, you can not only avoid having a disastrous event, but you can turn things around in successful and memorable ways you may not have even imagined.
