We all know events require a lot of work. With the heavy event season now over for the first quarter, we’ve picked up a few tips and tricks from the variety of events we attended while achieving 1,500,000 domains in our spare time. From startup world happenings like Startup Weekend and 500 Startups demo days to channel events such as World Hosting Days and ICANN, here are several tips we’ve compiled from our experiences to help you make the most of your next event!
Capture the crowd
Consider what would be useful and appealing to the attendees so you can be sure to select the right giveaways, create a meaningful social strategy and grab their attention. Nothing beats a quality giveaway that’s useful to your audience – it’s assurance that the item will live on beyond the event! (And that means a small piece of your brand will travel home)
Pump up the energy
Don’t be ”that person” who’s sitting behind the table at a fantastic booth twiddling thumbs and yawning. Don’t make yourself unapproachable by looking uninterested – instead, bring your best and brightest energy with you (even if it requires a shot – or three – of espresso). Keep the energy high and plan to engage as many people as possible. After all, this is your chance to make your brand shine while you’re face-to-face with current or potential customers!
Get Social with social media
You go to industry events to interact with people and represent your brand in a high-touch way but why not extend the relationships you’re sparking up at your booth? Encourage the people you meet to have some fun with you on the social media front. Urge them to take pictures to share with a specific hashtag, tweet at you or any other clever social tie in that will allow you to later follow up. Maybe in order to get one of the great premium items you’re giving away they have to take a photo with the item and tweet it at you. You’ll be surprised how many people are eager to interact with you beyond the booth (especially if a cool and meaningful giveaway is involved)!
We hope these tips come in handy as you plan future events! If you’d like to see some of these tips in action, check out our South By Southwest 2013 Photo Diary Recap… or keep up with us on Twitter to meet us at a future event!
