Your Content is Vital to the Success of Your Influential Event

Today we will be talking about Why Your Content is Vital to the Success of Your Influential Event. We’ll cover how to create content for your live event that both satisfies your attendees and markets your brand.

You’ve done the pre-event marketing and have a room full of attendees, but you’re not done yet. Now it’s time to give them what you promised in your pre-event marketing. It’s time to address that burning desire you’ve been discussing.

There is a saying in the book industry: The first chapter sells your current book, and the last chapter sells your next book. The beginning of a book is like the pre-event marketing; it’s what gets people interested and convinces them to buy the book to continue reading. The last chapter is the event itself. If that last chapter ends in a cliff hanger, leaves the readereB wondering what the heck just happened, or in some other way fails to complete the promise of the beginning, readers are not going to buy the next book in the series. If you don’t deliver the promise you made during your event, your attendees won’t pay to upgrade or attend future events.

When you host a live event, people get to know you. When you deliver what you promised, people trust you. Marketing is all about getting your ideal client to know, like, and trust you, so when they need a service your business provides, you’ll be the first person they call. To do this, make sure you are engaging your audience both on and offline during your event.

Engaging Online During Your In-Person Event Create a Hashtag:

A hashtag is a keyword people can use on social media to see pictures, comments, and more about and from your event. Encourage people to use your hashtag to tweet about their experience during your event by posting pictures, quotes, and ah-ha moments. This will make their followers curious and excited about you, so they may want to attend your next event! You could offer a prize for the best tweet or post during your event. This is a great way to inspire your attendees to share their experience online (and market for you). Don’t forget to mention how much fun you are having on your own social channels during the event.

Email Follow Up:

This is where you say thank you and ask for feedback on your event. You can use the feedback both to improve your future events and as testimonials to use in future marketing. Remember to include a call to action in your email. What do you want people to do next?

Engaging Offline During Your In-Person EventShine:

This is where you get to shine as a presenter. Be enthusiastic. Let your passion for your field and subject show. In a previous blog article I talked about dressing for your brand. Be sure to where cloths that represent you, your business, and your brand. Event organizers often get caught up in preparing the content for and working out the logistics of their event and forget to take care of themselves. Build in time to present your best self.

No Scripts:

Try not to read from a script. This is impersonal and makes some people wonder why they paid to come to an in-person event when they could have just paid for a copy of the script you’re reading. It’s okay to use notes, handouts, or slides to help you remember everything you want to cover, but don’t hold a piece of paper in front of your face and read verbatim. You attendees came to see you.

Slides:

Make sure your presentation slides ar on brand. Choose colors, templates, fonts, and images that align with your ideals and speak to the message in your marketing. This is where you fulfill the expectations you’ve set and deliver the information you promised. At the end of your presentation, give your audience their next step. What else can they get from you? How can they contact you?

Handouts:

What type of handout will best suit your audience and add to the experience you are trying to create? If you’re teaching a workshop, a workbook might be best. If you’re giving a keynote speech, you might not need any handout. Make sure your handout aligns with the kind on in-person event and have it ready to go in both print and digital formats. You can print staple-bound handouts on Lulu Press for under $2 per book for 30 books. Be sure to include your logo on all of your handouts, so attendees will remember where they got the information.

Do the Work Now to Enjoy Your In-Person Event

For both on and offline content, make sure you are delivering valuable information to your attendees and engaging them. They could have paid for a book or slide-based webinar or some other impersonal way to get the same information. Instead, they chose to come and see you and participate in a group event. Make it worth their time, money, and effort by providing a lively experience and delivering on your promise.

Don’t wait until the last minute to create your presentation slides or print your handouts. This is asking for problems. What if your computer crashes, your kid gets sick, or the printer is closed? Give yourself plenty of time to prepare your content, so you have time to spare for issues like these.

This is the experience you and your audience have been waiting for! Be excited. Let your energy fill the room, and have fun. Take pictures, tweet, and chat with your attendees. Be social. If your content is ready to go, you can relax and enjoy yourself. You won’t have to worry about the handouts not printing right or running out of things to say because you have practiced and prepared.

Creating good content for your live event means meeting those expectations we’ve been talking about setting in recent blog posts. What burning desire have you been speaking to in your marketing? How are you going to address that at your event? This is your moment to shine and show your attendees you are a genius in your field and you can help them. Your content is vital to the success of your influential event. Prepare now so you can relax and enjoy yourself later.

I have a question for you.

Answer me in The Social Savvy Geek Show Insiders Facebook Group!​

What kind of content do you create or plan on creating for your in-person events?