1st #EventPlannersTalk live – How to promote events using social media

Wow where shall I begin! First of all I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who came to the first event and made it happen!

#EventPlannersTalk chat started back in August 2014 as a monthly chat to bring the event community together on Twitter and talk about all we are so passionate about – events management! Seeing the community grow and the range of topics we can cover, from 2015 I started hosting the chat on a weekly basis on every Monday from 9-10pm GMT (Except first Monday of each month when #EventBlogChat takes place) and it kept gaining momentum – so that was a natural decision to bring the online community into the physical space and keep the discussion going also face-to-face!

The first Twitter chat was about “how to promote events using social media” and that is one of the reasons why the first event was about this topic, too. Second reason was to discuss topic attendees will be able to learn and implement strait away in their daily job. And this objective was clearly fulfilled thanks to your questions.

What makes the event unique is that the event life-cycle is extended and after the event we can keep the discussion going also on social media – where everyone can get involved. It is all about sharing, collaboration and networking!

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

How did the event go and bits of my planning process and collaborations:

Speakers

Speakers are greatly important for the event and I looked for speakers with hands on experience in the events industry and social media but also who can share views from the B2B environment. All the events I have attended so far hugely focused on B2C and therefore I saw a need looking into how corporations use social media, too.  We had a line-up of three fantastic speakers – Dana Rowe Chief Marketing Officer at TweetWall Pro, Caleb Parker CEO of meetingrooms.com and Richard Waddington Chair and investor of MICEBOOK and EMA, an association for in-house corporate event planners. They shared their experience combined with good case studies.

For the Q & A session we used Sli.do which allows asking questions anonymously and the audience can also vote which question they want to be answered first. Questions followed from the very beginning and it was very engaging, interactive and we had some fun. Some of the questions will go towards the event follow-up #EventPlannersTalk Twitter chat.

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

Venue

Finding a venue in London is a real challenge. Last November I met Clare from meetingrooms.com and it turned out to be great partnership and they supported me with finding the right venue. Couple of venues were shortlisted and the one that was most suitable was the Kingsway Hall Hotel. Their central location, size, modern facilities, free wi-fi and flexibility to have cash bar on the night in the room were the right fit for the event.

The team at the Kingsway Hall Hotel was extremely helpful and professional. The hotel is very central, just next to the Holborn tube station.

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

Sponsors

Starting an event from scratch is a challenge because you don’t have data and analytics to show to potential sponsors. I would like to thank to the fantastic people who believed in this concept and made it happen and supported with all the necessary tools:

Evolero – have provided me with the website. It is extremely easy to use both for attendees and organisers. There are many functions you can use as an organisers and you can manage your events with one simple log-in. They have provided me with the professional membership for up to 10 events per year and I can’t wait to use it for future events.

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

Post – event analytics by evolero 

TweetWall Pro – have supported the event by providing an interactive Twitter wall showing the buzz around the event. Everyone can engage and follow top news – both online and offline. Other interactive features include gamification and post event analytics.

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

We added a small gamification element in the end and the lucky winner Caitlin won a box of macaroons from GC Couture

Sli.do – provided the Q & A platform on the day. It is an easy way to engage everyone and get instant feedback. Here are the top five questions that have been asked.

© The MICE Blog - event management blog

Meetingrooms.com – thanks to their know-how and strong partnerships with venues in London they supported me with the venue search and found the venue which corresponded perfectly to my event needs.

Again thank you everyone and see you soon for #EventPlannersTalk Twitter chat on 9th March about work-life-balance. Event follow up chat will take place on Monday 23rd March featuring questions from the live event.

More post-event impressions

You can view Storify summary here.

Feature on KweekWeek.

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