Event planning is a process. Experiences is the best teacher, but that takes time. Given the access to information in today’s generation, not everyone wants to spend a year to acquire the knowledge they are able to get in a few minutes on the internet.

As an event planner myself, I know the struggle of keeping up with the trend to avoid of being labeled “outdated”. The event planning field can change in a blink of an eye, and I’ve prepared 2 valuable lessons for you that have changed in the event planning industry over the past year.

Cheers to saving a year of your time, here are 2 things you wish you knew a year ago about event planning! *Beware of cheesy Halloween puns throughout the blog 🙂 

Go “EXTRA” on marketing

Putting in more effort really does show great results. The most successful events out there often have the best marketing game. Since it is Halloween, let’s creep it real. You can have the best event ever, but if you’re not getting it in front of enough of the right people, then it’ll just be “another event”. It’s time to take off the basic witch outfit and change into something spooktacular.

However, there is a catch.

Many event planners go overboard with their “extra” on their event marketing, and end up losing their balance. It’s unlikely that you’ll get anyone from Texas to come to your event in Boston. Be sure to keep track of the big picture while perfecting the little details. The 4 demographic keywords that you’ll need to watch out for are the job title, company, industry, and location. Don’t waste your time on marketing towards the wrong audience.

How to be “extra”?

In addition to the usual marketing mix of having multiple channels of promotion, you can crack down on the little things that go directly in front of your potential attendees. Some examples include images or posters you share online; to the hashtag you use to get people pumped about your event. The free Event Hashtag Generator is an excellent tool to save you time while giving you a pool of great hashtags to choose from.

Event apps are worth the investment

I have personally connected with many event planners, and they’re feedback about event apps has been great. After all, event apps exist is to help event planners. Not only will it replace the outdated paper copies of agendas or speaker information, but it will also visually look classier and trendy. Wicked awesome.

Event apps allow attendees to network much easier, instead of having to carry handfuls of business cards, all they would need to do is connect on the app without the worry of losing the business cards. One thing that not a lot of people know about event apps is the amount of traffic it brings to your sponsors. Paper banners or posters have no game against the instant access your attendees have of your sponsors.

Most event apps, like Socio, allow the event organizer to send notifications to attendees. The event planner will no longer have to scream over the microphone to make an announcement. Other things an event app may have to offer are the gamification of Q&A, polling, or drawings.

With an event app, you’ll be able to make sure your attendees have fun at your event.

Boo to you from our crew and have a frank-tastic Hal-O-Ween!

Do you want to learn how an event app can benefit you? Stop in for a spell and schedule a demo here!