Hosting a Kick-Ass Event: insight from the pros

Guest blogger, Sarah Kennon, graciously filled in this week to review a panel of organizers sharing insider tips about hosting events. Read on…

“How To Host a Kick-Ass Event”, a Sandbox Suites co-working program organized by Sasha Vasilyuk, co-founder of the organization, featured three highly successful bay area event facilitators: Edith Yeung from BizTechDay; Myles Weissleder from SF New Tech, and Cassie Phillipps from SNAP Summit. Check out the great tips from folks really practiced in the art of organizing!

What to Consider When Choosing Tools for Event Promotion?

Myles advises: When choosing a tool, leverage all the tools out there, not just one. Find your audience where they already are. Myles uses Eventbrite for sales, Facebook and Twitter for promotion, noting you can’t extract email addresses from a service like Meetup, which he sees as limiting community development for membership-building organizations. The challenge, according to Miles, is to consider what is right for you and realize that it takes time to grow an event audience.

Cassie advises: For events which pull in a sizable audience, it makes sense to use tools like iContact. When her event list grew to 1,500 people she began using this tool. She uses Eventbrite for sales and Meetup for expanding her mailing list and gaining exposure to new faces, but doesn’t find the RSVP stats to accurately forecast attendance.

Edith advises: Keep looking to extend the value of the tools you have available. Edith is constantly experimenting with PR methods, so, for example, she might ask a question to be answered along with the invite to elicit engagement and information gathering prior to an event. Like Myles, she sees a strong need to understand the people you’re serving however you can.

How to Find the Right Location?

Myles advises: An atmosphere that loosens people up really helps to make an event successful. His organization’s venue choice evolved from corporate office space at CNET (which they outgrew) to the Metreon (which they found expensive) to Mighty because the atmosphere is just right for his events. He thinks it helps when there isn’t an audience charge for the venue itself — especially if it’s a bar where you’re bringing an audience who will pay for drinks. In addition, he finds it enormously valuable to poll people after events to take advantage of audience feedback.

Cassie advises: Take advantage of weekday events! She advocates knowing your budget well, and then, when approaching bars and office spaces, to realize quoted prices can be negotiated down to free most of the time because often the space isn’t being used. So, don’t fall for what hotels typically start out quoting, sometimes 35% to 40% higher during an initial conversation –interesting! Cassie also emphasizes thinking through the event format in relation to the space — e.g. do you need something quiet because you’re holding a panel discussion or a place where lots of ambient noise will create more of a party atmosphere?

Edith advises: Take into account what your audience is most likely to appreciate as much as you can. The events Edith organizes frequently take place at the Metreon because this audience of mostly small business owners value the proximity to downtown and public transportation which she took into account early on.

How to Find Speakers?

Cassie advises: To find speakers, use Google and your own networks. She also recommends asking for a personal introduction email to speakers since it provides some needed leverage to get them interested. In addition, she encourages being clear about what you can cover. For example, her group does not pay speakers, but they will provide room and board if people fly in for an event.

Myles advises: When bringing speakers in, it’s smart to realize the value of your own audiences. Speakers, in other words, often see his venue as an opportunity to demo to a large audience of colleagues, and pay him. Seen from the point of view of exposure prior to and after certain events, the expense of the fee ($300) is really just money invested wisely.

Edith advises: Understand what you’re offering speakers, because often, there is the promise of learning for both the speaker and your organization. In fact, sometimes she invites people who have skills she would like to learn. She adds that having reviewed the value you’re adding, you can better express the potential of the event to the speakers. A good place to start is asking yourself: What kind of an audience am I bringing them? Why is our conference the best place that they can participate?

How to Set an Event Price When You Want to Encourage Attendance?

Cassie advises: To get an accurate account of attendees requires some additional steps. For example, he day before and event, Cassie will send out an email to the RSVP list telling them the event is sold out and asking people to respond if their “Yes” has become a “No”. She finds this yields a very accurate response rate.

Other tricks to try:

Raise the price as you approach the event date as a way to get people to take action early and combat the natural tendency to wait until the last minute to commit.

Give some twitter support for people who sign-up.

Myles advises: Charge money if you want people to show up. Even a small fee such as five dollars gets attendees feeling they’ve got to get into the game. He recommends getting people excited about attending. Some ways to do this are:

Publish the RSVP list and giving away a chunk of tickets up front to immediately create the sense of a party that will draw others in.

Leverage Twitter a couple of days before the event to give special pricing. He uses wufoo.com as a form builder.

Edith advises: Set a fee! If there’s no fee, people tend not to show up even if they say they will.

Other tips with promise:

Don’t take shortcuts.

If you believe in your stuff, stand by your pricing and don’t give in. If people keep at it, you can always Include the option to apply for scholarship.

Use Google forms.

Good related content like a blog post escalates interest.  Create it!

How to Manage Day of the Event Unknowns?

Myles advises: Find an organizational partner.  Myles partnered with Justin.tv to live stream the event. He attested to inevitable glitches initially, but worked them out with his team to a glowing response . Myles also underscores the fact that the things that you might consider catastrophic as an organizer often go unnoticed by attendees.

Cassie advises: Be flexible since speakers will inevitably cancel, and events regularly go differently than what you expect.

Edith advises: Be approachable and be flexible.