Are You Leaving Out Your Sponsors And Vendors?

Do you know your event app adoption rate? In a recent conference where we provided on-site app management services, our overall app adoption rate was 83%. While high, we dug a little further into the stats (which you should be doing after your event to determine your actual event technology ROI), we noticed that the app adoption rate among attendees was actually 93%! The adoption rate among sponsors and vendors was 50%, which pulled the overall rate down. If not reported accurately, this has a negative impact on the ROI of the event technology being used.

Unfortunately, this is a common scenario as sponsors and vendors are being left out. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest reason is lack of communication combined with the perception that the app is only needed for attendees to see the conference sessions and schedules. If your sponsors and vendors only appear for the trade show and break times, they generally assume they don’t need the app. What they don't know is that they are missing out on all of the added social interaction throughout the conference that your event technology now provides. 

Looking at the big picture, this can also lead to larger impacts on the overall event experience, as sponsors and vendors may feel disconnected and not actively involved in your event. Flip this situation by leveraging your event technology!

Sponsors and vendors are often left to fend for themselves during an event, focusing on their own marketing and goals. If they do not understand how to interact with your audience, the vendor-attendee experience may default to the typical forced sales pitch, which can negatively affect the overall feel of your conference. While you can’t change the business practices of your vendors and sponsors, you can help them interact with attendees more fluidly by involving them more, and actually treating them as attendees themselves.

While the main focus of the planner is generally the attendees, it is important to not forget the sponsors and vendors! Remember - without them, the meeting or conference may not even happen! As important as they are, once the event begins and sponsors and vendors are on-site and set up, they are usually put on the back burner, as attendees and conference details take precedent. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, your vendors and sponsors need some love, too! If you want them to keep coming back, it is your responsibility to include them in the conference, and make them feel welcome and part of the group.  You can put steps in place for the conference to be successful for them, not just the attendees.

Event technology today brings so much more to an event than just an online schedule. It brings numerous ways for attendees and sponsors to communicate, connect, and form relationships with each other that go far beyond a sales pitch behind a table with giveaways! Here are a few ways you can use your event technology to help ensure the sponsors and vendors feel included and truly part of the conference:

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Identify.

Ensure that each sponsor attendee also has an attendee profile in your event app. This will allow the vendor to participate in the Activity Feed and interact with other attendees on a personal level by posting and/or commenting during the conference.

NOTE: Make sure you have clear Terms of Service regarding app usage. These should include banning any selling or non-approved advertising or promotion of a product in the Activity Feed, and keep sponsors posting on a personal level only. You should have a designated moderator to ensure the rules and Terms of Service are followed, with the ability to remove any unwanted posts that may appear.

Market.

Create a marketing plan that allows sponsors and vendors to purchase a specific amount of ad space throughout your conference app and emails. These can be sold à la carte or integrated into modern, up-to date sponsorship packages that include benefits in your event technology. Depending on the technology you use, there are also ways to provide statistics on ads that were run through the event app, giving sponsors with more ROI evidence to defend their purchase (and future purchases!).

NOTE: You should have a designated person managing, maintaining, and monitoring these ads, especially if they appear during the conference for a set amount of time.

Include.

Consider ways that your group can integrate the sponsors and vendors into your gamification plan. Whether it’s scanning codes, lead retrieval, or providing prizes for interaction, they should be involved. Providing customized discussion rooms, online activities, or even specific session tracks for sponsors and vendors will help them become more involved and connected to your event. Customized messages, sent directly to sponsors and vendors, can also be managed through your event app during the event, inviting them to specific events, providing information, or to simply check in on them.

Educate.

Just as you should provide instructions to your attendees about the event app, you also need to provide instructions to your sponsors and vendors. Don't assume they know how to use the app to benefit themselves to the fullest. Providing sponsors and vendors tips on how they can leverage the app will help them become more involved and ingrained with your event. Stats show that sponsors and vendors are not taking advantage of everything you have to offer to them. Help them with ideas of how to properly use your technology to engage and interact with your group.

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While attendees are usually the main focus, it is important to attract and retain sponsors and vendors each year. By maximizing your event technology already in place, you can help them have the best experience possible, feel welcome and included, and help ensure they will be back again next year!

What Actually Is Gamification?

We recently had the opportunity to be a guest blogger for Prevue, a company providing experiential, high-impact experiences for meeting and incentive planners. In addition to guest blogging, we also have the privilege of presenting at upcoming event in Palm Beach - Transforming Meetings Summit. Since we will be pulling back the curtain and showing the attendees the inner workings and behind the scenes details of the gamification and technology being used at the event, we thought it might be good to first discuss what gamification actually is.

Gamification is one of the hottest phrases in the event industry today. We’ve all heard it, but what does it actually mean? Gamification is a concept of applying game mechanics, such as points, badges, and challenges to non-game activities. The success of your game depends on how well the combination of these game mechanics work together and create an overall engaged attendee experience. It is a process to entice your attendees, keep them engaged with your event from before it starts until after it ends, and to help build and strengthen your brand.

While it sometimes does include an actual game to play, gamification is a broad term used to describe methods being employed to attract and engage your audience. It may be simply earning points when attendees engage with the app by posting updates, checking in with sponsors or sessions, or providing feedback. The main reason behind gamification is not just for attendees to have fun, it can be a way for you to achieve your event goals!

There are many types of gamification options available for planners that can be integrated into an event. Some examples include:

• Earning points
• Earning badges
• Winning prizes
• Answering trivia questions
• Completing challenges
• Going on a scavenger hunt
• Checking in to sessions or sponsors
• Completing surveys

Adding an individual game into your event does not mean you are covered because you now have “gamification” at your event. If this is just a random game, it will not automatically be successful. You need an implementation plan - a customized gamification plan. All of the pieces of your gamification plan need to become a seamless part of your event, and something that your unique audience will enjoy and embrace as part of the event, not just a gimmicky add-on.

When implemented properly, the concept of gamification is an effective strategy to connect and engage with your attendees, achieve your event goals, and create an overall deeper event experience.

2017 - The Year of Specialized Event Planners - The Example

As we wrote in our bit last week, event planners are needing more and more specialties, and some have even begun to break the mold and create specialized event planning services. We realized we may need an example of what we were talking about - just to hit home a little more. Let's do a technology example, since that is where we have the most experience.

Picture this:
The event technology market is exploding and expanding at a furious pace. While some event planners love technology, they just don't have enough time in the day to dedicate to learning everything new that comes out and utilize that technology to it's fullest potential. Other planners are very uncertain about technology and don't know where to begin. Herein lies the problem. Some event technology companies sell the shiny new gadget to the tech-savvy planner that doesn't have the time to use it, or completely overwhelms the planner that doesn't understand it. Feel familiar?

In the end, the technology becomes a headache for both types of planners! It winds up not being implemented smoothly or fully, and attendees ultimately have problems and complaints. Yuck! This leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth regarding the technology.

Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is beginning to see this specific trend as well. Below are some survey results they recently captured regarding technology use and event planners:

• Only 8% of event planners feel they are making the most out of their event technology
• Only 21% of event planners are confident about buying event technology solutions
• 60% of event planners say that it is not always easy to understand the capabilities and benefits for event tech from vendor communications

In most cases, the technology is actually not the problem. The problem lies in the understanding and implementation of it - and having the time in the day to do it all. This is how the times are changing. Fields like event technology have become so much more specialized and advanced from just five years ago. It takes more time and expertise to keep your event technology running smoothly and effectively. Using event technology is already a balancing act. Many attendees want to use it and enjoy it, as it has become a part of their everyday lives, but they have had so many negative event technology experiences in the past, they don't want to "try again". It is important for event planners to change that attendee experience into a more positive one.

As event planners that specialize in technology, Power Event Group assists you at any level necessary, whether it be consultation or by serving as your white labeled event technology department where we act as employees of your company. We are prepared and ready to handle the initial sourcing/contract conversations, the overall event technology design and build-out, communication with vendors and attendees, on-site implementation/monitoring, and even on-site staffing of an attendee Technology Command Center/Help Desk for any attendee needs. While we are there supporting and handling all of your technology needs, we are able to give back to you the most precious gift - time! How much is your time worth? How much more could you do with that extra time?

Regardless of your feelings towards it, event technology is not going away. It is up to the passionate event planners (and event technologists like ourselves) to help build a new atmosphere of event technology that attendees enjoy and embrace. The way things are now regarding event technology is not working. It is holding the industry back. You are not in this alone, though. We are here to help. We are here to help change the current status quo regarding event technology and turn it into an experience where attendees leave your event saying, "Yes! That is the way technology is supposed to work!"