Picture it: Your business or organization is throwing the party of the year. The guest list includes all of the most important movers and shakers in your industry. The event is perfect, in every way imaginable.
You used a ton of marketing muscle to promote the event, to fill the seats and have all of the VIPs in attendance. Now that’s it over, should you get a jumpstart on planning for next year?
Maybe.
But, before diving in headfirst to the planning process, how about making the most of your post-event content? Think of it like this: You wouldn’t host a birthday party and not thank your guests for attending. Likewise, for a business or organization event, you want to thank those who came – and let everyone else know what they missed.
The sky is really the limit for promoting and keeping the buzz going after the event.
Here’s a page from my notebook while covering my client, SCORE Bucks County’s second annual Women Building Businesses event.
- Film it
I shot footage of a snippet of keynote speaker J. Kelly Hoey’s keynote address and posted it on SCORE’s Facebook page while the event was underway. This helped to show people who may have missed the event what it was all about and why it is beneficial to attend.
- Photograph it
I took a mix of speaker photos and audience photos to help capture the feeling of the event. I also made sure to take headshots of speakers and images of attendees standing and asking questions to show how interactive the discussions were. The day after the event I created an event album on SCORE’s Facebook page. Each photo was captioned and organizers were tagged where appropriate. I used one of the images for a new Facebook cover photo also. (more later on creative ideas for event photos).
- Record it
I took copious notes throughout each of the talks. I also interviewed a few attendees to hear their thoughts on the event and what they liked. The notes helped in writing a post-event article for distribution to the local print and online media publications. Photos of each of the speakers and audience photos brought the article to life. The story and images were also posted on SCORE’s Website and included in its monthly member newsletter. In addition to the article written for the member newsletter, I wrote testimonials and included headshots of SCORE mentees talking about how the nonprofit organization helped kickstart or grow their business.
For any event your group is organizing, I suggest shooting event video, photographs and, if possible, jotting down notes for a post-event article. As well as the post-event promotional tools I have already mentioned, some of the photos were also used in email marketing efforts directed at those who attended. Each organization is unique. You may find some things work better than others and, depending on your audience, different promotional challenges may work better.
Are you in need of ideas for how best to cover your event? Are you looking for assistance reporting on your business or organization’s event? Email Theresa@KatalinasCommunications.com to arrange a consultation.
