Help for Event Planners

Event planning is all about the details. And keeping track of those details can be a challenge – not to mention very time consuming! This month, The Expert Speakers would like to pass along some of the tools that we have either used ourselves or heard about from others that might make your job easier. Here goes!

1. Super Planner (http://howardgivner.com/super-planner-iphone-app#content) is an inexpensive mobile application specifically designed for event professionals. It helps track food and beverage counts, room configurations, staffing needs, AV, and more. This app won the 2011 Special Events Magazine’s Gala Award for Best New/Innovative Event Product/Technology.
2. Track references to your event using Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts). It’s free and allows you to set up multiple alerts on the keywords or phrases you’d like to track. Note that you can use key phrases by enclosing the phrase in quotes and exclude certain words by using a minus (-) sign before them. You can also check out the Alerts feature on Social Mention (http://www.socialmention.com).
3. Add a live stream of mentions about your conference to your website using Social Mention’s Real Time Buzz widget. (http://socialmention.com/tools).
4. Accept credit cards at your event without a bank merchant account using your mobile device. Square (http://www.squareup.com) that provides a card reader that turns your mobile device into a credit card machine. They charge a per-transaction fee plus a percentage of each transaction.
5. If you need to share large files with other planners, try DropBox (http://www.dropbox.com). This tool offers free file sharing for up to 2GB of data or professional plans are available. This tool gets around many company email limitations.

We hope that some of these tools will help make your job easier. Check back at the end of July for a few more ideas! And remember, if you need a speaker, call The Expert Speakers at 919.850.0605.

The Importance of Value

I was talking with a VP from a small financial company yesterday. She mentioned that she had considered attending a three-day industry conference in July but had decided against doing so, even though she felt that she should attend for the networking opportunities. When I asked why she had decided not to go, she said that the session descriptions were not very detailed and she simply couldn’t justify time away from her busy job without proof of the value of the event.

The reality is that most business people are extremely busy and must prioritize – this still applies for even short networking/business events. Personal development and training opportunities tend to be pushed down the priority list to begin with. Add on top of that an event where value has not be communicated, and it is tough to justify a decision to attend the event and pay not only the registration fee but the travel expenses. And when you consider getting three days behind and having to play catch-up when you get back to the office, the conference suddenly seems less appealing.

The lesson learned here for anyone planning an event is that communicating value can be the most important thing you do. While many companies have cut budgets for events and travel, most are willing to pay IF the employee is able to justify the expense in terms of benefit to the company. And if you are looking at attending an event, I recommend before you even ask about going that you outline the benefits that you (and the company) will receive if you are allowed to attend the event.

Do you have a good event story to tell? We’d love to hear about your conference and event experiences!

Planning an Event? Using Internal vs. External Speakers

Whether you are planning a client conference or putting together an employee retreat, you are probably working to line up speakers and fill the agenda. How do you decide when to use internal or client speakers versus hiring an outside speaker? Here are a few tips:

1. If you do an annual client conference and you have internal resources that are subject-matter experts AND are good speakers, add them to the agenda. Okay, you should probably ask them first!


2. Have a client who is knowledgeable AND a dynamic speaker? Invite him or her to speak.


3. We recommend you mix up internal and external speakers – it adds depth to the agenda. Do make sure you have a large number of sessions that add value for the attendee. They should leave the event thinking they got more than their money’s worth!


4. Bring in an outside keynote speaker to either do a motivational address or hire an expert speaker to talk about industry trends that your attendees might not have learned. Get them excited about the future and thinking about what your firm should be doing now to plan for the future!


5. If you are doing an employee retreat, you may also want to bring in an outside speaker—either on some specific topic as an educational speaker or as a motivational speaker. It’s a change of pace from listening to the same internal folks year after year, and can bring new perspectives. It can also tell employees that you think they are important.

No matter what, do your research on your presenters—nothing is worse than an interesting topic delivered by a boring speaker! Tell us about the best (or worst) speaker you've ever heard. We'd love to hear your story! If you have questions, feel free to contact us at info@theexpertspeakers.com.