Why put on an event?
In the July / August issue of InPublishing, Liz Moseley, MD Good Housekeeping / Good Housekeeping Institute, came up with as good a reason as any: “There are women who would spend more money if we created a product to allow them to buy it; we learned that from the launch of GH Live.”
Publishers who don’t host events for their audiences are leaving money on the table.
In our upcoming September / October issue (not on the mailing list? Register here), we are running an events special, to be followed by a webinar in November (more details to follow).
To whet your appetite, I thought I would pull out some snippets from some of our previously published events-focused articles:
- “Consumers value hands-on involvement at events because it offers them a more enriching, educational, and interactive experience.” (Serving up a more engaging experience, by Rachael Bosshardt)
- “Live Events 2.0 is content-driven, customer-focused and digitally-sophisticated, based on information provision, community hubs and robust RoI metrics.” (Here comes Live Events 2.0, by Jim Bilton)
- “The aim of the 365 community model is to keep your audience engaged at all times. While they wait for your next event, they can enjoy webinars, check out upcoming and past events, and meet other members in organic ways.” (Event trends: 5 minutes with... Steve Russell)
- “Not all events-led businesses can make an easy transition from one-off pay as you go events to a subscription or membership business model. You must know your audience, bring in a dedicated team and invest the time to develop a product that meets a genuine business need. But the prize of high renewal rates clearly justifies the effort.” (Building recurring revenue from an event business, by Carolyn Morgan)
- “With hybrid, as much thought needs to go into planning the virtual as the in-person elements. For instance, during an awards dinner, what are your virtual guests going to be doing while your in-person guests are tucking into their three course meal?” (The best of both worlds, by James Evelegh — reviewing a presentation by Nikki Clare)
- “If you are programming a virtual event, you have to work even harder to make it engaging. Keep your sessions short: 20-40 minutes not a full hour. Mix up the formats — keep presentations to not more than 10 minutes, and include panel discussions, interviews and live Q&As to keep remote delegates engaged.” (Virtual events — a best practice guide for publishers, by Carolyn Morgan)
- “Don’t make your award shortlists too, err... short: there is a direct correlation between the length of shortlists and table sales. So, within reason, best to go long.” (Running successful events: seven tips, by James Evelegh, based on an interview with Gary Clement and Tom Howie)
- “What to do when people who’ve said ‘yes’ then say ‘no’? Stuff happens, people do pull out. “No problem, thanks for letting me know, smiley face emoji” is entirely the correct response, but doesn’t do justice to that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. Reserve lists are essential, but a potential hazard too. At what point does a seemingly friendly invite get interpreted as a relationship-ending insult?” (The art of hosting, by James Evelegh)
- “If you are not doing this already, introduce VIP buyer programmes and one-to-one meeting services to all your events.” (Putting on successful events in 2023 and beyond, by Tim Willoughby)
I’m delighted to say that some of the above will also be contributing to the Events Special. I look forward to hearing what they have to say...
You can catch James Evelegh’s regular column in the InPubWeekly newsletter, which you can register to receive here.
