Tips & Tricks

Being an event planner is never easy. With all things depending on you to make an event successful, the process can be beyond stressful. It isn’t an exact science and one wrong move can be a recipe for disaster. However, when done right, it can be fulfilling and help you achieve a good reputation This is the reason why more and more people are trying to enter the business of event planning.

But even though event planning depends on the different styles and strategies of an event planner, you can always have a successful event by keeping in mind these 6 things:

1.Be Organised
You can never be a superstar planner without your organisational skills. This is very important especially because you need to handle more than one thing at a time. By being organised and having your own system, you can prevent yourself from getting overwhelmed by the whole process and better cover even the tiniest details that’ll make your event successful. 

2. Be Open-minded and Prepared
Anything can go wrong at your event. No matter how religiously you’ve planned to make it a success, there are times when things just don’t work. Instead of being discouraged, you should be prepared. Brainstorm with your team on the potential issues and challenges that may arise and always have an alternative course of action to ensure that everything will be smooth sailing from start to finish.

3. Practice Creativity
No two events are the same. A good event planner should be able to go beyond what’s expected and deliver exceptional results while at the same time, make the event memorable. Without creativity, an event can easily flop. You may be able to sell tickets and welcome your expected audience, but if the event is uninteresting, no attendees would want to stick around. This wouldn’t be a good thing to the exhibitors and can even impact your reputation in the end. If you’re running out of ideas, research, research, and research. You can also attend workshops and seminars so you’ll never get left behind on new event planning trends.

4. Choose the Right Team
No man is an island, and with everything going on in event planning, you need all the help you can get. This is why you should hire reliable sets of hands – people who know what’s at stake and people who’re willing to work hard to make things happen. This isn’t always easy but it’s achievable. Take note of those who can deliver and make them your constant in event planning. Choose wisely because at the end of the day, your team is the key to your event success.

5. Build Wide Networks
No matter how credible an event planner you are, achieving success in event planning isn’t a walk in the park. Sometimes, what makes it attainable is the influence of people you know and it’s what many event planners are missing out on. They don’t build significant contacts that could’ve otherwise made their job in the industry easier and more productive. Whether these people can help you reach your target market or help you associate with the suppliers you need, it’s important for an effective event planner who’s aiming for a successful event to build a wide network.

6. Pick the Best Event Solution
There’re many event solutions readily available out there to create a seamless process for event planners. They offer different tools and features that help in attaining your goals from start to finish. They even allow event planners to have access to data that can help them monitor the success of their event. The only challenge is picking the best one that can cover what you need and to deliver successful events. It needs to be complete and easy to use while meeting the needs of not only the organisers but the exhibitors and attendees as well –  just like what O2OEvents can offer.

Start making every event a success by keeping in mind the 6 things above. Make sure that you’re covered and enhancing both the exhibitors and attendees experience by getting O2OEvents as your digital partner. You’ll be covered starting from pre-event, on-site, and post-event with a package tailored for you. Aside from that, you can also get  24/7 support that’ll never let you down. Contact us to request a demo today.

People attend meetings and events for the opportunity to learn and network. So, event planners should always take note of this. If they want to engage their attendees during the event, they must make sure that they open up lots of opportunities for learning and networking with other people. How can they do it? Here are some tips to take on-site engagement experiences to the next level.

Before the Event

Successful event planners know that engagement happens even before the meeting itself. That’s why they must provide avenues for learning and networking prior to the event.

1. Make noise on social media
   Engage your followers by asking questions, making polls, and doing live chats to learn more about them and what they expect from the event. This information will help you facilitate on-site meetings that are more personalised. Use the same hashtag and keywords in all your social media accounts so that it’ll be easier for those who’re interested to find out more about the event. It’ll also help you track the progress of your social media engagement.
   
   
2. Awaken their interest
   Post relevant media content on your website and social media accounts. If you already have their email addresses, you can send them news and updates regarding the particular industry that they’re interested in. This will peak their interest and make them anticipate the event. It’ll also encourage them to book an on-site meeting with exhibitors to further cultivate the topics that interest them.
   
   
3. Use the right tools
   We can’t stress this enough. In all aspects of your event management, you must always use the right tools. Did you know that it’s now possible for your exhibitors and attendees to meet each other online even prior to the event? Make sure you introduce them to each other through the best event management platform there is. You can post their respective profiles and there’re smart matchmaking apps that can determine their perfect match based on their submitted data and online behaviour. They’ll then be notified of their match and encouraged to connect with each other and if things work out, they can arrange an on-site meeting to close their transactions. With the right platform, meaningful connections are made even before the event happens.

During the Event

It’s during the event that exhibitors and attendees meet face-to-face.  Make sure you make it a remarkable experience for all parties.

1. Liven it up!
   Set up an encouraging space for learning and networking. Provide attractive exhibition stands, video walls, make sure that the space is well-lit, and give them designated areas for networking. You can take it up a notch by providing good music, some food and drinks, and put couches and lounge chairs to encourage attendees to talk to each other. You can also play games and contests to get the attention and interest of the audience. There can be live product demonstrations and opportunities for the attendees to try the products directly.
   
   
2. Make it personal
   You should have enough data during the pre-event preparations to know what your attendees want and expect from the event.  Your attendees are there to meet big brands, see the innovators behind the latest technology, and get an actual demo or feel of the products – make their experience something that’ll stay with them long after the event is over. There should be personal interactions. Create a bond between the brand and the buyers. Attendees shouldn’t be talking to screens, booklets, or product brochures. Make sure there’s someone who can assist them when they have questions and concerns regarding the products on display. Assign a person who really knows what he or she’s talking about so that attendees will be satisfied with the information that they get. You can also give them opportunities to try the products and ask them about their experience.
   
   
3. Make it relevant
   People go to an event expecting to know the latest developments in the industry. Offer something new to make it a unique experience for them. There’re many exhibitors that’ll try to get the attention of the attendees but only the relevant ones will get noticed. Showcase new products that’ll catch the interest of the audience.  Once you have their attention, let them know the uses of your products and how they can benefit from them. Make good use of everything within the space provided so that you can give as much information and accommodate as many people as possible.

It’s important to engage your attendees before and during the event. Make sure you open up all opportunities for them to learn and network with each other through the strategic use of resources. Make the most out of this experience so that everyone will leave the event happy and eager for the next event.

Gone were the days when you had to go out of your way to buy or get your ticket events at designated ticketing outlets. Today’s digital world has made event marketing so much easier and more convenient for both the organisers and attendees. Now, all organisers need to do is make an event website, promote the event, sell tickets on the website, and track the number of attendees. But O2OEvents has taken things a notch higher by making ticket selling a seamless process.

Here are our top 4 tips for your easiest ticketing process yet!

1. A Customised Website for Your Event
   There is no better way to sell event tickets than by having a website where they can easily get it from. The last thing potential attendees want is the hassle of looking for designated ticketing offices or falling into a long line that may interfere with their usual business day. By having a customised and specific website for your event, you’re already making it easier for your customers to buy tickets.
2. Convenient Payment Processing
   The key to successful ticket selling is to enable a payment system that allows payment methods. A few clicks, and customers should be good to go. The hassle of looking for partner stores only to pay for tickets purchased online defeats the purpose of seamless and convenience and usually, this results in lower sales. No matter how inviting the event is, if the payment option esults in inconvenience to the customer in terms of payment, then this can cause them to feel discouraged from attending.
3. Secured Payment Option
   Security is a very important feature in choosing an event solution. Without this, individuals will not risk their credit cards or debit cards which can result in lower ticket sales. Potential attendees would not want their card to be compromised so this should be a priority especially for online sales.
4. Powerful Ticketing Engine That Can Accomodate Any Event Size
   No event planner wants to fall short while selling events tickets, whether online or offline. It should be able to accommodate any events size depending on the organisers. It shouldn’t crash because not only will it affect the profitability of the event, but its success as well.

A customised website, secure and convenient payment and a powerful ticketing engine can make all the difference! After reading this blog, we hope these tips will help your next event.

O2OEvents has developed a software with state-of-the-art features that provides event organisers a ticketing system where they can sell tickets, take payments, print tickets, track sales and number of attendees, all in one platform. Before, all of these were already possible but organisers and attendees had to go from one site to another to complete the whole process.
But O2OEvents software has revolutionised event management. This event software makes everything so easy to accomplish because all features are available in one platform!

For event planners who want access to a seamless ticket selling process, request for a demo today. Make your every exhibition and conference a success.

An event is organised with only one goal in mind – SUCCESS. From day one of the event planning, organisers should visualise having a successful event. But what is a success? How do you know if an event is a success or not? This is where key performance indicators play a big role. During the conceptualisation and planning process, organisers should set and define key performance indicators for their event to help them in monitoring and evaluating the success of their conference or event.

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measurable variable that determines if an event has met its objectives. It’s important that event planners are clear about what they want to achieve right from the start. Once the correct KPIs are set and other event plans have unfolded, it’s a must for organisers to monitor these KPIs to check if they are on the right track. If the numbers show that they are a little off track, then they can make the necessary adjustments to make sure that goals and objectives are met.

Here are some important KPIs in the event industry:

Ticket Sales

The number of tickets sold indicates if your event marketing has been effective. More tickets means more attendees for the event and a bigger market for the exhibitors.

Actual Number of Visitors

Ticket sales and registration are one thing but making sure that your target audience actually goes to the event is another. Organisers should take note of the total number of check-ins as usually there is a discrepancy between the number of tickets sold and the actual number of visitors. They should look into possible reasons for this so that they can make adjustments for
the next event.

Attendee Satisfaction

You have sought your attendees and they have turned out during your event, you also want to know how satisfied they are about how things were handled and the value that the event meant to them. Listen to their feedback and actual ratings about the event. Another thing you need to
take note is the number of participants who actually engaged and turned into a consumer for the exhibitors who took part in the event.

Exhibitor Satisfaction

The event is not just about the attendees but about the exhibitors as well. It would be valuable to know how pleased they are about the event management so that you can retain them in your next events. Did they have high engagement? How did it turn out? How much profit did they make and how many meetings translated to actual sales? It also helps to conduct a survey after the event to see their suggestions, recommendations, and overall comments about the exhibition.

Social Media Metrics

The interest and awareness about your event and the brand that you are promoting can now be measured through social media. Find out how many mentions your event has garnered and the level of engagement you have achieved in various social media sites. The more engaged people are in social media about your event means you have gotten their interest and made them aware of the brand that you are promoting.

Revenue Versus Expenses

Truth is, the whole event management process is an investment. You have put money and resources into it. On the other hand, most events measure their success with the generated revenue – this is to find out if the investment has been worth it.

Now that your KPIs have been set, where do you get the data that you need for you to measure these factors? Not too long ago, data collection and analysis were a tedious process but one that organisers cannot do without. You have to collect data from different sites and figure out what you can do about them for you to obtain a significant insight that is aligned with your
parameters. At O2OEvents, our platform has been designed to eliminate this cumbersome, complicated, but very necessary task.

With O2OEvents, you can have access to data analytics and dashboards to help you monitor the KPIs for your events in a timely manner. Other tools include:

• A dynamic resource that has the capacity to learn about users with artificial intelligence and the capability to provide solutions to your event management concerns.
• Data management that includes acquiring, validating, storing, protecting, and processing relevant data to ensure its accessibility, reliability, and timeliness to the users.
• Data management platform which is an essential tool for organisers in monitoring their KPIs before, during, and after the event.

Talk to us, your digital partner in ensuring the success of your event.

Think about your car’s dashboard. It provides you with important information and possible issues about the status of your car such as if the engine is too hot, or the pressure on one of your tires is too low. Just like your car’s dashboard, your event dashboard gives you an opportunity to have a quick look at important information regarding the key performance
indicators that you have set for your event.

But did you know that organisers are not the only ones who should have their own dashboard? Both exhibitors and attendees should have theirs too, to aid them in their needs during the event. Organisers, exhibitors, and attendees all have their roles to play and a dashboard will help them interact accordingly to make any exhibition or conference a success. This is the reason why organisers should choose their event solutions wisely.

Check out the benefits of each dashboard below:

For Organisers

• The dashboard can help organisers manage all enquiries and all other activities related to the event.
• It shows important numbers regarding interactions, meetings, recommendations, and other engagements.
• A platform that gives an idea on who among the exhibitors and attendees have scheduled meetings simply by looking at the dashboard area.
• A reference for important data analytics to help organisers understand what is going on in each aspect of the event management.
• With this dashboard, an organiser can immediately have real-time access to information that will tell them if they are meeting the indicators of success or they need to provide on-site troubleshooting to address issues that came to light.

For Exhibitors

• A dashboard that enables exhibitors to promote their products accordingly and to gain exposure to translate leads to sales even before the event.
• A means for exhibitors to manage the enquiries that they receive from interested buyers attending the event.
• A way to access the visitors’ profiles to help give them an idea regarding the interests of the attendees.
• A platform where exhibitors can take product orders and schedule meetings with visitors.
• A channel that helps exhibitors ensure a successful connection with the attendees.

For Attendees

• A dashboard for attendees can serve as an instrument for them to know more about the event.
• A medium for seamless interaction with the exhibitor or the organisers themselves if necessary.
• A place for creating connections not only with exhibitors, but also with other attendees.
• A marketplace where customers can pre-order and check out the products so they can be more informed on-site.
• A means for customers to get notifications, important reminders, and updates about the event.

In event management, information is power. The dashboard updates all the information automatically so users can be sure that they get real-time statistics and analytics. Each user can manage all their activities in this event software – eliminating the need to check emails, SMS, and other sites just to retrieve all this information.

O2OEvents provides every event planner user-specific dashboards that can be customised to accommodate the need of every member.

Talk to us and find the solution for event management that you have been looking for. Request for a demo today.