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5 Ultimate Free Event Management Website Templates that You Should Consider

If you are running an event management company, you know how difficult it can be to do so without a website. You need an appealing site that acts as your first point of contact. Here are qualities of a good marketing website:

Good appearance: You need to incorporate two or three main colors that blend into the mood associated with your business. People associate events with pomp and color. Give it to them.

Easy to read content: Internet users prefer to scan through content before settling on something to read. If you insert text that is too overwhelming for online users, you will lose them.

Graphics: Graphics help make web pages look appealing. It is boring to find a page that only consists of long stretches of text. Use graphic images to create visual variety to the people visiting your website.

The process of creating a website can wear you out. In addition, considering that you are start-up, you are looking at a very tight budget. The good news is that there are high quality WordPress templates that you can download and use free. As a matter of fact, you can even customize them to suit your needs. Below are five freely downloadable WordPress themes:

1. Match

The theme is ideal for use by people who run wedding blogs and websites. This is the best template considering that weddings are quite popular. You can tweak this template to promote your events, weddings included. It comes with a custom menu, images, and several formats for posting your content. There is also a custom background. Download this template from https://wordpress.org/themes/match.

2. Church 

This highly responsive theme suits websites of any kind. It comes with features such as logo upload, menu, header, footer and background. All of these are customizable meaning you could alter them according to your wishes. Download Church WordPress theme from https://wordpress.org/themes/church.

3. Influence

Think of a painter who needs a canvas to work on. That is exactly how this freely available WordPress theme works. It provides you with space to share content, photos and even videos. Its design is responsive. One particular feature you will like is the home page slider. Click on https://wordpress.org/themes/influence to download this template.

 4. Enigma

The beauty with Enigma is that it runs perfectly on all the main web browsers. It comes with five widgets, two page templates and four page layouts. The fact that this template is flexible means that you will find it appropriate for events management business. There is also a place for adding social media links, which are a must-have for promoting events. Download it on https://wordpress.org/themes/enigma.

5. Catch Kathmandu

If you are looking for an elegant template that will also run on any mobile device, this is it. Catch Kathmandu has a highly customizable design. To change the display to your likes, all it takes are a few clicks. There is a lot of room for text and visual images. Download this responsive theme on https://wordpress.org/themes/catch-kathmandu.

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What is Event Marketing - 7 Ultimate Tips for You

What is Event Marketing? “7 Ultimate Tips for you”

The Event Marketing is the most important aspect for you as an event planner. After working with number of event managers like you, we decided to come up with the list of tips that you must use together to create an impact an impact in publicizing your event. This will be really helpful for you.

Tip #1 Market on Facebook & Twitter and other Social Media channels

Create a Facebook event for sure and try to invite as much relevant people on the event as you can. You can even put the Event Tickets Link if you create an event through your Facebook Page (not your personal profile). Posting in relevant Facebook Groups really helps. If you have your own relevant Facebook group it’s ultimate as when an admin posts in the group, every member gets notification which is not in the case if you are posting in others’ group as a member

Introducing a hashtag for your event really gives you a lot of coverage on twitter which has an audience of very techsavvy and active people. For example, one of our customers’ event #SMWMumbai was trending on Twitter and because of that it caught attention of national media 

Tip #2 Have an active Blog through out the Year

You might be having an annual event/conference/monthly meetups or may be you organise parties. It doesn’t matter! 

You must have an active blog through out the year which is very informative for your audience. Through that blog you should show to your audience that you care for them and want them to grow.

For example, one of our smart customers GopherCon India 2015,  India’s first Go-programming conference interviewed all the influencers of Go-programming throughout the world and published those interviews on their blog. This really helped go-programming enthusiasts understand about this programming language. 

This creates your cult in your segment and not only that, it builds up your trust among your target audience. Lastly, it helps you coming on the top of Google Search.

Tip #3 Marketing on relevant Event ListingWebsites

Search with the keyword on Google, what your customer would like to search when he wants to go for an event which is relevant to your event and see which websites come on the top of google search when you search that keyword.

You have to make sure that your Event is listed (preferrably featured) with your event registration link on those top 20 websites which came on the top of Google Search. Why? Millions of people search on google and you have to show up!!

Tip #4 PR on relevant and Active blogs & Print Media

You must know who all are the top blogs/ bloggers in your industry. You must reach out to them and request them to write about your event on their website. Honestly, it’s one of the best ways to get people register for your event and also one of the best ways to creating buzz in your segment. If you are organising a conference in travel segment, what will you do? You will ask those top travel bloggers and magazines to write about your event.

Tip #5 Partnership with relevant organisations This is also one of the top ways to get relevant and quality people registered for your event. For example if you are organising a startup event, the best way is to partner with active startup communities (like TiE, Nasscom, etc) and offer their members a discounted prices. Also provide them a logo on your event banners as your event partners. This is definitely going to work for you!

Tip # 6 Online and Offline Paid Marketing You might have observed that all of the above ways of Event Marketing are totally and free and don’t require any use of money. So, you must levarage them and create your cult.

The one of the good ways is to do paid advertising on Social Media, Websites and offline channels by fueling money. You need to play smartly in that and optimize your ads according to the right keywords and target market. Tip #7 Email Marketing 

This has been a traditional way of marketing but honestly speaking email blasting to a purchased database doesn’t work, it will hamper your branding and the conversion rates will be almost 0. You shouldn’t use a purchased email database. It’s looks pretty easy that you will database of lacs and you can blast an email and reach everyone. 

First the people you have sent mail don’t know you, and second nobody likes to receive emails from any random person. The best way is to build you own audience (database) through your blog subscriptions and past attendees. It’s hard but the fruits are delighting!

Conclusion:

I would suggest you to actively try all of the above Free to do marketing activities and create your trust among your target audience which will lead to more customers.

Blog by:

Sanchit Malik Twitter: @maliksanchit

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How being a Successful Event Manager can Change your Life

When was the last time you attended a successful event? It could have been a fundraising gala, a sports event or even a party. How did you feel mingling with people and seeing everything moving methodically without fail? As thrilling as it was, did you know a professional team made this possible?

Welcome to Event Management 

 An event manager is the person behind successful events such as the London Olympics to smaller events you see at your local college. If you aspire to a career in event management, then you have to be ready to sweat and work in overdrive. 

There is so much involved and so many people you have to supervise for your event to succeed. It calls for creativity, passion, energy, organizational and people skills. However, there are myriad rewards in organizing a successful event. 

Life Changing Experience 

Once you make a mark in event marketing, things will start falling into place. If you are starting off in this industry, you can expect life changing experiences including:

Higher demand: Doors will start to open once people learn you organized that successful fundraising gala at the local university. For this to happen, you must have created a marketingstrategy for the event to create a buzz especially on social media. 

Higher ROI: There is no denying that this industry requires very high investment and before you break-even, it takes time. With a successful event under your belt, your phone will not stop ringing with people requesting your company to take over their events. With this success comes more money and a chance to start making profits.

Become a trendsetter: For your event to become so successful there must be something you did out of the ordinary. Other event organizers will turn to your event for tips and any opinion from you will be republished over and over again. Nothing feels as good as influencing a whole industry. 

Chance to expand: If you have been a small operation in your city, it is time to spread you wings and play on a larger field. With resources, this is easy as you can connect with bigger players and create a network by leveraging on the positive publicity. 

A learning experience: As you get more exposure, you are bound to learn about the industry. You will not be that rookie wedding organizer but a reservoir of knowledge as you continue gathering more skills. You will be able to incorporate the latest technology in your company to ensure more effective event marketing.

If you are to make your big break in event management, you must be ready to think on your feet. It is crucial to keep learning about new trends in the industry in order to try and leverage on them to succeed. 

You should not be afraid of taking chances because this business is all about flexibility, creativity and innovation. If there is a problem during an event, make sure you use it as an opportunity to become better.

Are you ready to become the next top honcho in event marketing? Get out of your comfort zone and push the boundaries; you never know what you can achieve until you try.  Related Links (Track Back):

Looking for your Big Break in Event Management? Take Cues from the Most Successful Events Thinking of Becoming an Events Manager? Here's What You Need

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5 Tips to Keep Your Attendees Buzzing About Your Event on Social Media

So, you have organized what you think will become the event of the century? Everything is in place and all you need is for guests to enjoy and later spread the word about it. You can already foresee your big break in event management coming through and you can’t help but get excited. 

Are Your Really Ready?

The question is; are you really ready to go to the next level? If you have not incorporated social media into your event’s plans, you are in for a non-starter event. Why concentrate in social media? Just look at any event and count how many people are on their smartphones and tablets. 

The numbers simply reveal the power of social media in today’s marketing. A study published on the Huffington Post conducted by Pew Research Centre shows 40% of Facebook users are on mobile, 74% of adults online are using social media sites and 19% of adult internet users are on Twitter. 

5 Tips on Capitalising on Social Media for Your Event 

Now that you appreciate why all guests at your event is on their gadgets, it is time to get in on the fun and let everyone know about your event management genius. Here are five ways of doing it:

Keep it Live and Real-time

 When the conversation about the event starts, you need to be in control. After getting a few pointers of what guests are saying, it is time to keep the conversation going. You have to be consistent and your personality must ooze confidence such that people want to get feedback from you. This personal touch is a classic way of connecting with people on social media.

Visualise that Hashtag

Now that every event has a hashtag, you have to make your event stands out by sharing visuals of the event using the event’s hashtag. It is crucial to stream live visuals of the events as it goes down. For this, you need a credible team that appreciates the power of hashtags in modern communication and use tools like Eventifier, SnapCastr for it.

Egg Them On

You need to let the attendees appreciate the contribution they are making without sounding desperate. Tell them to keep sharing about what touches them in the event as it continues and after. For this to happen you can use analytical tools to show them how big their simple tweets and retweets are influencing media interest in the event. Mentioning a few of the best contributors will motivate more to follow suit.

Make your Hashtag Visible During an Event 

One of the greatest blunders in event planning and managementis making assumptions. Just because most of the attendees are technology savvy, doesn’t mean everyone knows your hashtag. This is where a blend between old school and new media. On your banners and other visuals around the event venue, make sure you have printed the hashtag lest anyone forgets. 

Keep them Going 

This is an ingenious way of making sure they never run out of juice. Provide charging ports and place drinks nearby to draw them towards the location. They will definitely recharge their devices and get back to sharing. 

Someone said social media is word-of-mouth on steroids. This means everyone who needs to know will be in the know within no time and with negligible cost on your part. Who said event management is hectic? The right word is exciting. Go on and create some event buzz today. 

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How Event Planners Choose Venues

Choice of venue for any event is perhaps the most important decision that an event planner has to make. It’s the reason that every year, there are dozens of trade shows held with only one end in mind - to bring event planners and venue hosts together. Both parties understand the importance of capturing the attention of the event planner and on what it means for business.

This is where hosted buyers programs come in. They have various packages like inclusive travel and accommodation packages, lavish private events and VIP lounge access among others, provided the planner shows willingness to book appointments.

Nevertheless, what exactly is likely to sway your mind as an event professional towards one venue and away from another?

Technology certainly helps

No industry has been unaffected by technological advancement and with venue search engines and review websites for different venues and destinations around the world, you will be spoilt for choice right from the comfort of home. 

Some companies have even taken it a notch higher and created an automated Request for Proposal (RFP) procedure. It gathers information on what an event planner wants and gives venue hosts a chance to respond to each stipulation.

Personal interaction is a major seller

Despite the technology boom and the various marketing channels out there, it might interest you to know that most event planners rely on personal reviews from trusted peers more than anything else, when it comes to selecting venues. Yes, this is over and above all search engines, blogs, venue listing and review websites and trade magazines as well as all advertising channels. 

This means that as an event planner looking to promote your event, you are more likely to believe what a fellow event planner says about a certain venue, and it could tip the scale for or against a venue, no matter how good it looks on-screen and paper.

Meeting Room information has the final say

The importance of meeting room information in the decision making process offers a further glimpse into the workings of an event planner’s mind-it has a huge bearing on the final decision for or against a venue. It is bigger than the attractions, ambience, service, past experience, peer reviews, accommodation standards and technical support and yes, even the cost of the facility.

It is always a popular school of thought that cost determines everything. However, findings from the International Special Events Society (ISES) have thrown that far out the window. This might be a useful tip for venue owners and marketers out there – invest in your meeting rooms and advertise them well; that is what’s going to get you that yes!

Last word – why should it matter so?

That the venue of an event is of great importance is not a fact under debate. Unlike regular professionals in various industries, the most unexpected of factors sway event professionals. But what’s all the fuss about selecting a venue anyway?

You may not know this if you are new to the industry, but the choice of venue for any event will have the largest effect on the overall success of your event or lack thereof, as well as your budget. 

It can make or break your event, which is why event professionals experience much pressure as regards this decision. It is certainly not made easier by venue owners who are investing in offering extra services to clinch the deal – catering and technology, audio visuals etc. They only serve to add to the weight of the decision to be made.

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Better the Devil You Know? When to Change Your Event Technology

The rapid evolution of event technology brings more choice to event professionals than was ever thought possible before. However, shifts in technology carry an inherent risk, which is why some professionals seem determined to stick with the tried and tested methods rather than venture out to the latest fad.

The next few paragraphs will examine the up and downsides to changing technology. First, we must settle the facts that there is virtually no facet of event planning that is not affected to a degree by technology. From apps to QR codes and trade show management to sales and marketing, there’s no end to the reach of technology in event planning.

Nevertheless, because technology is never constant and any upgrades require significant investments in time and money, it is important to know when to upgrade, since it’s a question you will face periodically until the end of your career. 

  How do you feel about new technology?

Does it excite you? Do you get a rush when you hold a new gadget with all these amazing features or do it make you want to crawl into your bed and never come out? 

Most of us can be found somewhere in between the extremes – curious but reticent.Communication Studies professorEverett Rogers divides everyone into 5 groups in order of receptiveness of new technology: Innovators (3%), early adopters (13%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%) and finally Laggards (16%).

New technology it brings with it the challenge of having to learn new systems, which makes it hard for some people, even if the new way is easier and better. It is helpful as a professional to know your own approach and more so that of your client’s organization and event attendees and then make a decision based on that.

What are your goals?

Technology is always a means to an end. You want to take some time to evaluate the goals for your event promotion endeavor or meeting and what the most important deliverables are, and then decide on what best technology will most cost-efficiently bring you to those goals.

Examples of some goals you might include saving time or money, error reduction, increase in sales, building networks, improvement of customer experiences etc.

How much will it cost to upgrade?

This is not just in financial terms, but you should consider everything in between, from the time the old technology is removed to the time the new one is fully in place and operational. Commonly, the following will be the stages in between:

Research into the new solution and implications of implementation

Installation and personalization to fit your specific needs

Learning how to use the new technology yourself

Test, debug and train users on the new technology. If your attendees will also be users, you have to consider their learning curves as well.

What good will the change does?

Implementing new technology can be a very long and winded process, so why should you go to the trouble? Here are three main reasons:

If you have problems with the current provider or system – too many mishaps, bugs, or general disturbances

If you want to stay ahead of the pack – technology goes stale very fast, and every new generation brings innovations one would be better off with.

If implementing the new technology will cost you less money and provide you with better service.

Finally, if you decide to switch, be kind enough to inform your vendor about concerns you have had with the old system where you can. 

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Looking for Your Big Break in Event Management? Take Cues from the Most Successful Events

There is no denying that event management is one of the most lucrative professions in modern times. As the world becomes global there is need for people to meet regularly in events ranging from fundraisers, galas, parties, sport’s events, roundtables to product launches. 

Event Marketing 

However your event’s success is only as good as the marketing blitz that goes into it. You have seen events that are glamorous but because no one hyped them they fail to attract enough people. To veer clear off such situations you need to learn from the most successful events in our lifetime. 

Avoiding Event Organizing Pitfalls 

The importance of learning from history cannot be gainsaid and greats from Cicero to George Santayana emphasized the same thing in their time.  As an event organizer you do not exist in a vacuum and in most cases you have to borrow ideas from other gurus. 

Here is a look at some notable events that you can customize to fit your clients’ needs:

Sydney 2000 Olympics

It is no wonder the media including London The Timesdared readers to suggest an event that had ever been so successful in the history of mankind. It all goes back to planning because since winning the bid back in 1993 the machines started grinding.

The preparation team led by Jacques Rogge and thousands of volunteers and workers worked harmoniously to give the world the greatest Olympics ever. As an event organizer the uniqueness and glamour that accompanied this event must be inculcated in your mind. It all boils down to preparation and teamwork.

Sundance Film Festival- Utah, USA

Whether you love film or not you must have come across this event especially in seminars examining the best organized events. It featured over 50,000 attendees to screen and watch American movies and documentaries from independent producers. The glitz and organization seen during the event makes any aspiring event marketer sit back and watch.

Oktoberfest in Munich 

This is the most popular beer festival in the world that takes place between end of September and beginning of October in Munich every year. It offers immense fun for everyone but for the event organizer in you look at the creativity in designing activities around the festival. There is everything for everyone.

International Jazz Festival in Montreal Canada

So much smooth music, so much glamour in Montreal. With over 500 concerts featuring more than 2,500 artists this event in late June draws visitors from the world over. 

Surprisingly year in year out the event manages to offer well-choreographed activities because preparations for the next event start once the current festival ends. 

International Film Festival at Cannes, France 

When Naomi Campbell was hosting a birthday party this year it was held in Cannes. This is because of the glamour that oozes from this city. The film festival is the highlight around May redefines what is good in movies. 

There are myriad more events that show the essence of events management including the Light the Night Walk against Leukemia, South Beach Wine and Food Festival, Burning Man Festival in Nevada among many others. 

The most intriguing aspect of all these events is the event marketing energy that is used to make them a success. These events host thousands of visitors and challenges are myriad yet each year they work creatively to overcome them. 

It is all about resilience, innovation and creativity and the question is do you have it? 

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Thinking of Becoming an Event Manager? Here is What You Need

It is glamorous, exciting, and adventurous; that’s what you might think of a career in event management and to a large extent this is true. However it is also one of the most stressful, hectic and demanding professions you can choose. The synergy between these two aspects makes event management irresistible. 

What’s in it for you?

If you want to become an events manager then you will be walking into a billion dollar industry. In fact a report on the U.S. News & World Report 2012 rated this profession among top 50 careers in the world. 

You will be working in an industry that according to US Bureau of Statistics (BLS) is set to grow by 16% up to 2018.  Take for instance that over one million events were held in the US alone according to a study by the Market Probe International Corporation to realize the potential. 

Can You Make the Cut in Event Management?

Now comes the hard part because to make it in this profession you must have really thickskin. Other than training there are inherent qualities that you must possess including:

Flexibility 

Everything can change in a second to make the most organized event a chaotic jumble. You only need to go back to history and look at big events which turned chaotic because managers were not willing to work creatively and fast. If you cannot think on your feet this is probably not your forte.

Organizational Skills 

A study done by the International Institute of Event Management (IIEM) picked organizational skills among the top ten qualities every event manager needs. The criterion in picking this as a crucial quality rests in the fact that you will be operating like a show director in a show performance.

In essence everything must fall into place at the appropriate time which calls for adequate skills. Everything must flow seamlessly and such choreography will surely determine the success of your event.

Technology Savvy

In today’s highly sophisticated world you need to have deep insight on the latest technology. This will not only make your event a delight to attend or watch but it will also make management easier. From communication tools, display, presentation and other technologies you will need to be skilledinuse of these tools.

People Skills

Every events guru cites this as a basic requirement because you will be dealing with people. You have a team to run and communication will either break or make your event. As such the ability to connect and build relationships cannot be gainsaid. It might seem easy but remember you will be under immense pressure.

Passion 

It is easy to learn time management and organizational skills in school but passion you must possess innately. An event manager must be enthusiastic about success of every event however minor. This is the only remedy for intense pressure and challenges that come with this job.

If you want to have an event akin to the glamorous Harper’s Bazaar New York fashion Week Party at the Plaza 2014, you must also be keen to detail, creative and energetic. It is true event management can be learnt but as the gurus say most of it is inside you; go on and let it out. 

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How to Make Sure That Your Event Goes off Without a Hitch

Event planning can be pretty stressful but when everything goes off without a hitch and people leave having enjoyed themselves, it is certainly worth all the blood, sweat and tears. The main thing about having a successful event is planning: How well you layout the course of the event before its starts and after it ends determines how well everything is going to go. So, yes, they were right when they said failing to plan is planning to fail.

Beyond planning, there are a few other tips and tricks you need to keep in mind in order to throw a pretty grand soiree.

Know your client

Who are you planning this event for? What are their expectations of the event and of you? Make sure you have a very honest conversation with your client to make sure you absolutely understand what they need from you. Ask the right questions to get all the information you need because the event will reflect on them, so take the time to know and understand them.

Know your guests

What kind of event are you planning? Who are you expecting to attend? What is the majority demographic? If you are having children over, you certainly will not hire an orchestra for entertainment. If you need to, do some research on them and find out what they would like.

Invitations and/or advertising

The success of an event can only be gauged if people actually attended it, right? So based on the kind of event, send out invitations early in advance and request for confirmation of attendance. Otherwise, make sure your advertising is done aggressively months in advance so that as many people as are available can come.

Timing is everything

Make sure you have all your service providers contacted and booked at least 3 months in advance if you are going to have more than 100 people over. Even if they are fewer than that, a month’s notice is advisable so that you can avoid any surprises on the material day. Make sure you have the terms clearly spelt out, agreed upon and signed (no gentleman’s agreement here).

Delegate and concentrate

You are not a super hero and even then no one super hero possesses every kind of power there is. The point here is, maximize your energy in the area of your strength. If you are great at setting up the floor plan do not struggle with talking sound and technology. Get a team you can trust around you and delegate. Many hands make the work lighter, I promise.

Troubleshooting

You always have to have a back-up plan. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. If you are having an outdoor event in the summer and then there is this sudden summer storm, what are you going to do? What if the power goes out during a concert? You need to anticipate problems to a certain degree and prepare as much as possible to mitigate them. 

This list hardly exhaustive, but itshould get you started on your way towards having a very successful event.  If you would like help planning for your next event we will be glad to help you!

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How to Bring Back Your Last Event Attendees to Your New Event

The thing about hosting an event is that you always want to keep the number of attendees up. It is, after all, one of the signs of a successful event. One of the best and easiest ways to do that is to bring back the people that attended your previous event. In fact, studies have shown that it is much easier to retain a client thanit is to get a new one.

The previous attendees will not only provide a reliable basic number of attendees for your event but they are also a way of marketing your event for free and bringing in more people. The concept here is word of mouth. If the past attendees liked your event, they will probably tell a friend or two to join them the next time round, hence, increased attendance.

The question is, therefore, how do you get the previous attendees to come back (and maybe even bring someone new along)?

Evaluate

You need to hear from them what they like and disliked about your event. The best way to do this is hand out a questionnaire at the end of your event for them to make comments while the event is still fresh in their minds. 

Go through them carefully and take them into consideration for your new event. In fact, you could write something related to the improvements you have made based on their comments on the next invitations so that they feel heard and respected. You’ll earn major points with them here.

Special treatment

Make your previous attendees feel special by offering them the first chance to register for your event, or even giving them a small discount on the fees related to this second event. This could be as easy as sending to them invitations on their emails first before publicly advertising the event, that way they have a sense of belonging. Both means have been proven to work effectively for many events and they should work for yours.

Stay connected

Beyond the post-event survey and before the new event, make sure you keep the conversation going. Stay connected to your attendees through social media, that way, they will always have you in mind and when the next event comes it will not be like building a whole new relationship with them.

The trick is to keep them talking. Ask them questions about the previous event, post interesting pictures related to it, see what they enjoyed the most and what they would expect from the next event. Whatever you do, just make sure to keep the conversation going.

Fresh, relevant content

You can determine this based on their comments and the target of your next event. Since they have already attended your eventbefore, make sure there is something new that they are coming to experience in the next event. If you are doing something continuous, make sure to link the two event’s content perfectly for that continuity. Overall, they have come for a ‘show’ so make sure to give them something better than the last one.

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How to conduct a successful webinar?

Couple of years ago, I started conducting webinars. I very distinctly remember the first time I was doing it – I was scared. Primarily because I had never done it before and was scared if anyone would come to attend it and even if some people attended it, whether they will like it or not. Since then, I have gotten a little better at it. In no way I am an expert but I do believe that if I knew a few thumb rules, I might have done a little better. When the kind people at townscript asked me to share “What have I learnt”, I was a little sceptical about the entire thing but then I thought – may be there is someone else who is just starting out and might be benefitted from it. So, if you are an expert or even experienced (more than 5 webinars is experienced in my opinion) – this post will not help you much. But if you are not, then read ahead. And if you are, please use the comment section to guide me and other people who are just starting out.

  POSITIONING:

The most important thing in my opinion is to position to webinar properly. Make sure you have a descriptive name which connects with the attendees. I run a few video based online courses for students preparing for CAT and various other management entrance exams. I never call my webinars as webinars but as “online classes”. “Class” is a term that students relate to. It is easier for them to understand. You need to understand your audience for the positioning your webinar or webcast properly. May be “webinar” is a term that they have not heard of and hence would not be comfortable subscribing for it but calling it a “class” gets lot more sign ups. Similarly, you can call it a “workshop” or a “lecture” or a “training session” – basically something with which the audience can relate. 

VALUE:

Irrespective of the fact that whether the webinar is a paid or free – someone who is attending it is investing time in it. You need to provide value to that person. The value has to be in terms of content. I have seen a lot of people give webinars which are basically sales pitches and that discourages a lot of attendees. Please ensure that anyone who sits through the webinar gains something from the session. That is the only way they are going to attend your next one. Whatever value that you are planning to provide, ensure that it is visible and highlighted on the sign up page. Just having a descriptive title is not good enough. 

MARKETING:

Probably the most important aspect of a successful webinar/webcast is the marketing that you do for it. Unless people are aware of it and sign up for it, your webcasting is not going to be successful. Some of the standard things which you can do is – create an event page on Facebook. Share information about the webinar via twitter, facebook, etc. Send out emails to anyone who you think might be interested in it. Do keep in mind that visibility of facebook posts and tweets is not that high. If you have 1000 followers on twitter, your average tweet will not be read by more than 50 people. Encourage people to comment on your facebook post mentioning the webinar as that gets the facebook post a lot more visibility. Promoting that post might not be a bad idea either. There cannot be a cheaper way to advertise it. Do have social share buttons on the sign up page as well. Sometimes, people sign up for the webinar and then forget about it. To ensure attendance, send them at least 3 reminder emails – one couple of days before the event, one on the morning of the event and one couple of hours before the event. 

CALL TO ACTION:

Be very clear with what you want the audience to do. May be you want them to sign up to buy your product or try out your app. Ensure that you give the attendees something over and above the standard offer that you have on your website. For example, you can give out discount coupons or free trials or extended validity – it can vary from product to product but there should be something extra for them. If possible, have two variants of “offer” that you have for the attendees. The better offer is valid only for an hour after the webinar is over and the other one is valid for the next two days. A lot more people will accept your first offer than the second one. It is because the offer is fresh in their mind and they get the feeling of missing out on a good opportunity if they don’t do it within the first couple of hours. Once the webinar is over, send out information about the second offer to not just the people who attended the webinar but to everyone who signed up. By doing this, you are essentially increasing your target zone. Your conversion rate might drop but your overall numbers would be higher this way. 

I hope you would have benefitted by this post. As said above, I am not expert on this but if you have any other suggestions, do let me know via the comment section. 

Read Also: How to host your webinar? _______________________________________________________________________________________

About the author:

Ravi Handa, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, is the founder of www.handakafunda.com He has been teaching CAT aspirants for 8 years. He has taught at IMS & TIME at senior faculty positions, and currently runs an online CAT coaching course for CAT 2014.​

[townscript]

Update: Two new features to ease your processes

Our quest to make event organisers’ life hassle free is going on. It’s our dream to make a completely Do-It-Yourself super fast platform for online event registrations management.  Following that we have introduced 2 new features.

New Tab in the dashboard  “Transaction”: 

Till now you have been getting mails as soon as we transfer money in your account. But how to keep track of how much money we have transferred in your account?  Yes, now we have introduced a new Tab “Transactions” in the dashboard, that will help you out in keeping track of money that has been transferred in your account. 

As shown in the pic, you can check out details of all the transactions for all the events that have happened through Townscript. You can also keep track of the amount of money which are supposed to send to you. It will really ease your process of keeping track of your accounts.

Support “Help Desk”: (support.townscript.com)

This is something which we always wished to launch to give you the best customer service at Townscript. This help desk will help you out in self help and much more.

What all you can do with support helpdesk?

Knowledge Base: In the knowledge base, you will get all the information about the platform. If you face any problem or you want to know more about the platform in detail, you can check that out in the knowledge base

Generate Ticket for Help: Now, we have introduced a new channel for generating help. Apart from calling us anytime for support, you can even generate ticket for help, we will reply you back within 12 hours. We love to support you. 

Discussion Forum: We make what makes you life easier. You can generate feature requests, report problems and much more in the discussion more. It can also be really great for us to discuss about new happenings in the event industry.

Other updates:

Supporting more banks for Internet banking: We are now supporting more banks for net banking. Major banks like SBI have been introduced.

Our quest to make it one of the most awesome event platforms is on. We are coming up with some awesome new features soon. Will keep you updated.

Thanks!

Post by:

Sanchit Malik (@maliksanchit)

Read also: Update: Launching Discount Features

[townscript]

Proofhub - An Online Project Management Platform

Event Management has never been easy, it is laborious and ingenious work. If the coordination between event organizers is marvelous with convenient event planning and management then any event can be a successful story.

We were researching about cloud based platforms to make your way of organizing an event more accessible and manageable, we came up with Proofhub. ProofHub is a web-based project i.e. event management software to plan, organize and deliver projects of all sizes faster.

Features of Proofhub-

1) Discussion- You can discuss anything related to your events with your event organising team members, you just have to invite them by email. You can share ideas, file, document at a common platform and everybody will see them.

2) Todo List- You can make a todo list and assign the task to the concerned person. There is an option to show  the percentage of task completion so that everybody aware of the progress of work. You can also make a private todo list and assign it to selected group of your event.

3) Events & Milestone- You can Add tasks, events and milestones into your ProofHub calendar to make sure that important activities never get missed. You can sync your proofhub calendar with any outside calender.

4) Files- When files are scattered across the shared drives or when they are lost in the inbox, productivity suffers. You need one central place to find, store and manage your files. ProofHub’s file sharing makes it remarkably easy to upload, share or view files of all sizes at one central location.

5) Proofing- With many people involved on the same event, many versions of event designs are always in circulation. ProofHub's proofing tool is the best way to approve, track and manage the approval process as it is designed to help teams channelizes suggestions and feedback for design improvement,

6) Chat - You can chat with anyone associated with your event just like you do on facebook or google.

7) Personalize- You can make the platform more personalized by changing the theme that suits you the best. You can also add logo and custom domain of your group.

This all were the major highlights of the platform. There are many more features like making notes, time tracking, change language or a safe place to store more important document of your event.

There may be many other software which are furnishing  the same features but the USP is all of them being at same platform.

We at townscript recommends you to use Proofhub for the mainframe before your next event.

[townscript]

How to live stream your event on YouTube using wirecast

[townscript]

SlideDog- A Multimedia Presentation Software

No matter how good you and your presentations are, it will only have value when you present it in an appealing way to your audience. Many a times we make our presentation slides in PowerPoint, Prezi etc., and during the presentation if we want to show some video, statistic or PDF we have to minimize one software and maximize to another one.

What problem SlideDog addresses?

1)   Changing the presentation software during the presentation is always time consuming and troublesome.

2)   Audience come to know about the stuffs in your pc like Desktop wallpaper, Desktop folders. Many of us are not comfortable with sharing stuff like that.

Some event enthusiastic people understood the problem and made a platform called SlideDog.

How does it work?

Slidedog is basically an online presentation tool in which you can combine almost any media to one seamless file.

You can merge PowerPoint presentation, Prezi, PDF’s and many more elements into one easy to create play list.

You don’t have to switch softwares during the presentation.

No conversion of files in another format & no downgrade of file quality. All your elements show in their original formats, and display just like you’d expect them to. Once the playlist is loaded, your content plays back as though it’s just a one seamless file.

You can regulate the presentation from your smartphone, tablet or secondary computer as it is a cloud based platform.

With Slide Dog’s Live online Sharing of presentation content, your audience can follow your slides on their own devices through a SlideDog’s generated link. One click and they can see current and previously seen slides. They can even ask questions, answer polls, and give feedback.

You can take real time feedback or conduct polls during the presentation. Moreover to engage the audience, you can add a live chat or discussion.

Pricing?

You can download the basic version of this multimedia software free from SlideDog’s website and for upgraded version with more features you have to pay a minimal amount.

We at Townscript recommend you to use this presentation tool for your next event.

[townscript]

Snapcastr amplifies your event audience engagement

All event organizers wish to engage their audience during the event and want to make their event an immense success. As we have already discussed with you about Eventifier- A Tool to keep track of what's being said about your event. While researching in the similar space we came up with the ‘Snapcastr’.

It’s an event tool that tracks all of your event related posts on twitter and Instagram by a particular hashtag(also known as event hashtag). You can collectively see them on a big screen during the event or at a personal computer after the event.

Imagine How great all this experience would be ?

When one of your attendee takes a selfie outside your event venue and tweets it on twitter with a hashtag. Now when he walks in and he sees his picture on the big screen near the main stage.

When your attendee wants to say something about the event, he tweets and on very next moment it displays on the big screen during the event.

When your attendee sees photograph of a friend on the screen and comes to know that he is also attending the event.

When you conduct a poll during an event and  you can see real time simulation in different options on a very big screen

When you tell your sponsors that you will show the logo of their company on the most alluring spot during the event.

When after the event you go home with your family and see the photographs of the event, comments all at one place.

Unique Features of ‘Snapcastr’

Moderation- Moderate the quality of the content that would be displayed on the screen.

Analytics-  Know your audience!  the event dashboard in their app allows you to track different types of metrics in real time.

Interactivity- Utilize an sms platform to conduct polls and be in touch with audience throughout the event.

Revenue Generation- Maximize your revenue opportunities by incorporating ways to highlight your sponsors, as well as providing unique and interactive advertising.

All the above points are related to engaging your attendee during the event and it’s the best way to improve event experience.

We at townscript recommend you to use this type event management and engagement software Snapcastr at your next event.

[townscript]

Update: Launching Discount features

Launching Discount Features:

Since we launched our new 3-step event registration page creation flow, your feedbacks have been great.  Townscript is now definitely an easy to use online event registration and ticketing platform. 

We are continuously working hard to improve your user experience. 

Continuing to the process of improving our product, we are taking Townscript platform to a next level by launching three types of discounts.

I am going to explain you all the types of discounts with an example. We will take an example of a ticket of INR 15,000 as shown in the screenshot below. 

1) FLAT DISCOUNT:

In the flat discount, you can give “x” amount of discount for “a” period of time and the price of the ticket will get reduced by x amount for a duration of time.

As in the above example of flat discount:

Discount amount is INR 1000 and is for a period of almost three months.  Discount is only for 10 tickets. 

So, the new ticket amount will be INR 14000 for this duration of time as shown in the image below.

    2) CODE DISCOUNT:

In Code Discount, you can give the same discount for same duration of time to only specific people by giving them discount codes. 

As in the above example, the discount code is “FIFAWORLDCUP14”, anyone who has this discount code will be able to redeem INR 1000 discount.

So, the new ticket will be created as show in the below screenshot.

After the attendee fills the discount code “FIFAWORLDCUP14” , the price will get reduced to INR 14000 as shown in the image below. 

  3) GROUP DISCOUNT:

In Group Discount, you can give the same discount for the same duration of time to only specific people who book in groups. As in the above example, if someone buys between 5 to 7 tickets they will get a discount of INR 1000 / ticket

In the screenshot below, the attendee selected quantity 5 and got INR 5X1000 total discount. 

We are launching these 3 types of discount features after taking feedback from our event organisers. This will be very beneficial for the organisers to do their event management and planning.

Try out these features by creating an event on townscript: Create Event

Post by: Sanchit Malik (@maliksanchit)