Before You Send Out Invites...
Questions every event planner should consider before they send out invites!
Planning an event can be super overwhelming. There are so many details and things to consider when planning an event, but have no fear! Here at Pink Social Strategies, we are experts when it comes to planning and throwing a successful event. To help you start off your planning process, we’ve come up with a few questions that every event planner should ask themselves before they dive headfirst into throwing an amazing event.
Why?
The driving force behind your event is your ‘WHY’. Think about the moment your idea for this event was hatched—what was it that drove you to plan an event? Once you have your ‘WHY’ in mind, take the time to draft a short mission statement about the event. This will be helpful for you when deciding on details for the event (e.g. things like colors, caterers and other pertinent pieces of your event puzzle, etc.), and will leave you with a handy blurb to share with attendees once they arrive.
Who is your ideal attendee/guest for this event?
A significant aspect of your planning stage will be to narrow down your audience. Ask yourself: who is my ideal audience, and why? Knowing who you want to cater to is essential to ensure all your attendees have a great experience.
What do you want your guests to take away from your event?
People attend business events for a multitude of reasons. Some are interested in honing their craft in a particular field. Others, come to be inspired to start in a new field, in addition, to those who are there to simply meet new people and take the opportunity to network and engage with like-minded others. Or maybe they are attending for all of the above. Your job right now is to decide: what do I hope my attendees will take away from this event?
This isn’t a trick question! The answer could be as simple as I hope the attendees of my event will leave with the knowledge of how to x, y and z…
How do you want your attendees to feel?
Feelings matter. You want your attendees to enter the space you’ve created feeling good, welcomed and ready to be inspired. Ask yourself: what positive feelings have I experienced when attending an event in the past, and which of those feelings do I want my event to embody?
Where do you picture your event taking place?
Pink Social Strategies has a wide range of community partners that we work with to make sure that your event is located in a space that reinforces the feeling of hospitality and creates an ambiance of creativity and inspiration for your event guests. When thinking about where you will hold your event, ask yourself: what kind of space would best accommodate the number of attendees you have in mind, the varying abilities of your attendees and your budget for the event.
Whether you’re a newbie in the event coordinating game or a seasoned pro, I hope these tips are a great starting point to get your event off to a running start. Need Help? We would love to speak with you and help you coordinate the event of your dreams! Feel free to contact me at april@pinksocialstrategies.com.
#EventRecap: The Forum on Justice and Opportunity
On Thursday, we had the honor and pleasure of working with Episcopal Community Services to plan and execute their signature event, The Forum on Justice and Opportunity. The sold out event was held at WHYY and featured impactful panels, breakout sessions and a thought-provoking keynote address delivered by Dr. Beth Babcock of EMPath.
Custom Social Wall created by Antoinette Minor
In addition to the keynote, Dr. Babcock facilitated an Academic Masterclass, Nisha Patel (Robin Hood Foundation) led a discussion on the narrative and misconceptions of poverty with Neal McLaurin (One Step Away), Sabrina Vourvoulias (Generocity), Cassie Haynes (Resolve Philly) and Meeka Outlaw (MindSet). The Co-founders of Leapfund Karen Schoellkopf and Caroline Mcandrews led an informative workshop on the Benefits Cliff. Following the keynote address, Dr. Babcock was joined by moderator Ashley Putnam (The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia), panelist Arley Styer (Episcopal Community Services) and panelist James Paige ( Community Council Health Systems).
While planning this event, we wanted to make sure our attendees left empowered to continue the conversation and take action. We also added a few surprises to keep our attendees engaged and enjoying themselves. Antoinette Minor of TYP Social created a custom interactive social media wall, Purposeful Pops provided custom pops and Illustrating Progress provided live graphic recording. Check out pics and videos below!
Crafting an Experience with Intention from Start to Finish
Throughout the chapters of this book, Parker makes it abundantly clear that the focus of event planning needs some serious shifting: away from things and towards people.
If you’re like us here at Pink Social Strategies, you don’t want to simply throw an event—you want to thoughtfully craft a memorable experience for you, your client and guests. We recently read (or perhaps listened via Audible) The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker, a book that has us inspired and ready to change the way we gather and plan out spaces for guests to come and feel welcomed and most importantly, cared for.
Professional Facilitator and author, Priya Parker’s latest book The Art of Gathering, centers on gathering intentionally and artfully. She emphasizes the importance of having not only engaged guests but also an equally engaged host when it comes to gatherings. She also argues that engagement doesn’t have to begin once the crowd reaches the door but can start as soon as the theme of the event has been constructed. Parker believes that how a guest feels entering and leaving a space, is probably the most crucial element for hosts to consider when planning out an event.
At Pink Social Strategies, we want to help you create a space that encompasses these elements and more. To do that, we’ve summed up a few of our key takeaways from Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering in the hopes that the way you view event planning will transform to create events that leave your guests awed and inspired.
Be present when hosting. Yes, you and your team have worked tirelessly to make this event happen and now all you want to do is sit back and relax while it all unfolds. While we hear you and encourage you to take it all in, we also want to remind you that you are still needed to make this thing a success. Make sure there is someone on the team who can remain available for guests if they have questions or comments at any point during their experience. By staying visible throughout the event, there will always be a helpful resource to guide frazzled first-time attendees and mitigate any confusion should there be an unexpected turn of events.
Provoke thoughtful and engaging questions before guests even arrive by sending out the theme of the event and a relevant article via an email to welcome them to the space. This provides guests with the assurance that there is true thought and intention being put into your event in addition to the effort to build excitement for the activities to come.
Make room for connections beyond your event. All good things must come to end, as they say. Help your guests continue to connect even after the event is over by creating a space for further engagement and discussion. Facebook groups are a fantastic way for people to connect and discuss a shared experience. What better way to keep the momentum going for your event than by having guests continue to chat about what they learned and took away from it?
Throughout the chapters of this book, Parker makes it abundantly clear that the focus of event planning needs some serious shifting: away from things and towards people. It’s time we realize that the most important aspect of an event isn’t the photo booth, or the floral arrangements, or even the food—it is the sincere human connections that are fostered through an intentionally crafted experience.
3 Impactful Ways to Increase Attendee Engagement at Your Next Conference
Moral of the story is: don’t be afraid to switch things up and try something new. In order to be innovative or a change-maker, you will have to take risks 100 percent of the time.
Keeping your attendees engaged during the next conference you plan is essential to making it a success. Having happy attendees makes for a positive and exciting space for all (as well as a happy client). As the times change, so should your event strategy and approach. Conference guests should leave excited to bring back what they’ve learned from the event (aka practical value) and anticipating the next one. So, what sorts of things can you implement to boost engagement at your next conference? Here are a few unique ideas to strengthen attendee engagement that aren’t played out and will delight even the antsiest of guests:
Make your sessions a discussion, not a lecture.
We’ve all sat through a boring lecture before, at one point in our lives. We all know how off-putting it can be to be forced to sit quietly while someone presents information to you for 30 minutes or more. Change up the way your sessions are run by incorporating as much dialogue from, not only the presenters, but the guests in attendance too! People process information best when they are an active participant in their own learning—allowing room for questions, debate and open dialogue. Try incorporating a throwable microphone, like the ones at Catch Box. Having a toss-able sound piece gives presenters an easy (and fun) way to engage the audience and really make the experience more conversational.
Send your guests off with swag that doesn’t suck.
Swag bags are basically grown up party favors. Make sure your attendees leave feeling like they’ve just come from the best party ever by finding unique and useful parting gifts to include in your conference swag bag. Portable phone chargers and phone pop sockets are, and will continue to be, all the rage amongst the millennial and Gen Z crowd—and they can be customized with your company/organization’s logo for future reference! It’s really a win-win. Fidget spinners and moldable dough (or silly putty) make great swag for long conferences, satisfying even the most fidgety of guests.
Amp up your networking opportunities.
Happy hour…again? Yawn. Most conference attendees want to meet new people, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick to the status quo when it comes to planning your networking events. Why not try an activity that really gets your attendees up and moving, and more importantly, meeting one another?
Thinking about a conference on health and wellness? Why not throw a morning 5-mile run that allows participants to get their blood pumping while also meeting some fellow runners and wellness gurus?
Interested in spicing up your next foodie conference? Get your guests cooking by hosting a cake decorating lesson or an Italian cooking class where they can meet other wannabe chefs.
Why not facilitate a “speed-networking” experience that lets people meet others in a more intimate setting?
Not only are these ideas a fun way to get other attendees connecting, but they are fantastic ways to boost engagement and give your event social currency. Moral of the story is: don’t be afraid to switch things up and try something new. In order to be innovative or a change-maker, you will have to take risks 100 percent of the time.
XOXO,
April
CEO and Founder
Pink Social Strategies