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The Universe of Events

Chapter 007

← Ch. 6 : Promoting Your Event
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Ch. 8 : The Post-Event Strategy →
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On-Site Best Practices

It's the big day.

With any event comes a lot of planning, strategizing, and organizing (see chapters 1 through 6), but in the end it all comes down to what happens on the day-of (by the way, congratulations - your hard work is about to pay off!).

 

In this chapter, we dig into the most important aspects of the on-site and check-in process, which includes:

• Running the door
• Checking guests in
• Badge printing
• Guest communication

• Your on-site team

Being an event planner on the day-of the event is hard enough. These tips are here to help make the process as easy as possible so you can avoid running to the green room to cry (hey, we've all been there).

Step 1: Make sure your event is inclusive.

As event planners, we always want to ensure every guest has an amazing experience. Jeffrey Huang (Sr. Manager, Employee Engagement at Salesforce) shares firsthand tips for making your events inclusive and welcoming to all sexual orientations and gender identities. Check ‘em out here.

event check-in and registration

The Check-In Process

Check-in is one of the most crucial parts of an event. Think about it: if your check-in process is quick, seamless, and efficient, your guests will walk in already having had a great experience with your brand.


But if there are hold ups at the door, fumbling around for name badges, or endlessly flipping through guest lists, your guests may walk in flustered, annoyed, or worse – not impressed by your event right off the bat. Let's try to avoid those angry tweets...

Say goodbye to long lines...

Splash's Host App makes check-in easy with one swipe, so you can quickly capture attendance info while automatically syncing your event data across devices and to your CRM in real-time.

Community-Building:

From professional networks to new friendships, events naturally connect people. Every guest is a potential Twitter fan, newsletter subscriber, product user, website visitor, or customer. Use your events to bring people together around a cause, a brand, a new product, or just a time to meet and mingle with new faces.

Common event types: community meetups, user groups, happy hour/cocktail party

Brand Awareness:

Events are a great way to get your brand’s name out there (and associate it with a memorable experience). If you’re looking for the press’ attention, make sure you invite the media (and/or influencers in your industry) to ensure you’ll be seen, heard, and noticed within the community.

Common event types: community meetups, user groups, happy hour/cocktail party

Sales:

Events give you the opportunity to connect with prospects in-person, and also let you to create the ideal environment (whether it be a lively and interactive experience, or a more professional setting). Whether you have a 90-day sales cycle or are looking to drive more in-store sales from a retail event, in-person events can benefit every stage of the sales process.

Common event types: community meetups, user groups, happy hour/cocktail party

Customer Engagement:

Your customers are your number one priority, but how often do you get to actually spend time with them in-person? For some businesses, the post-sale is often more of a focus than getting new customers. Your event goal might simply be to drive engagement with the people who are already using your product, receiving your services, or following your brand (for example, an exclusive event for a retailer’s loyalist members).

Common event types: VIP dinner, user conference, roadshow/field event

Education:

Many people turn to events to expand their knowledge and connect with other professionals in the industry. If your company focuses on a certain profession or has a deep understanding of a particular topic, you can establish yourself as a thought leader and bring people together through panels, workshops, and other educational events.

Common event types: hosted conference, product training, satellite event at industry conference

Recruiting:

Bringing people together to meet and mingle is a tried and true way to connect companies with potential employees. Job fairs and networking events are the classic recruiting styles, but even industry conferences have become a breeding ground for talent looking for their next role, and brands have found success throwing VIP events specifically targeted to top talent.

Common event types: happy hour/cocktail party, educational seminar, sponsored event

Growing Professional Networks:

Some businesses throw events to attract business or channel partners, advertisers, or press.

Common event types: hosted conference, product training, satellite event at industry conference

Rallying Around a Cause:

Events and fundraising have gone hand in hand for centuries. Many companies can find a charity that meshes well with their mission, making it possible to have an impact on both a worthy cause and a business objective.

Common event types: happy hour/cocktail party, partner event, community meetup

Lead Generation / Net-New Names:

While this isn’t the most common or effective way to use events, you may be looking to drive net-new leads from your events. These are people who are brand new to your database. Sponsoring large industry events or partnering up with another brand are two great ways to expand your audience network.

Common event types: hosted conference, satellite event at industry conference, partner event, sponsored event, tradeshow booth

Running The Door

While this may sound straightforward, there are a lot of small details to consider when it comes to the door (especially if you’re throwing a big event).

 

Here are some key questions to think about ahead of time:

•

How many people do you need running the door? (We recommend one door staff member for every 50 guests)

•

Do you need security? (Yes, most likely.)

•

How long will you need the door to be staffed?

•

Will your door staff need shifts?

•

How are you going to organize the lines?

•

Will you need a separate entrance for VIPs?

Door Tip:

Start door duty an hour before the event. Some guests may arrive early, and you want to make sure there’s someone there to greet them when they do.

If your event doesn't have any different tiers (VIPs, press, etc.), organizing the line at the door can be pretty simple.

 

Things get a little more complicated once VIPs get involved.

Organizing Lines for VIP Events

When VIPs are involved...

VIP events require an extra level of perfection (after all, it's really them that matter at the end of the day). Our best advice is to have an entirely separate program for your VIPs.

 

Here are our tips:

•

Have VIP guests come to a specific door

•

Give VIPs a separate arrival time (at least an hour early)

•

Give VIP guests a different color wristband, lanyard, etc.

•

Have VIPs meet you somewhere in advance to pick up their VIP bracelet

Here’s an example of a VIP door set-up that has worked well for our customers (it's best when the VIP line is hidden enough that GA guests won't wander over - trust us, it happens a lot):

running the door VIP events

Once your boxes of lines are created, think of the flow as a conveyor belt. Have 3 different people working this rotation in shifts with these 3 stages:

1.

Security: a physical person checking for 21+

2.

List/Wristbands: a person to ask, “Are you on the list?” and attaching a wristband

3.

Counter: someone to keep track of the number attendees/space/capacity and the "feeling" of packedness

Make your VIP event run as smoothly as a duck. Don't know what we mean? Get more expert door tips specifically for your VIP events.

Need to save manpower at the door?

You can put Splash’s Host App in Kiosk Mode and let guests register or check themselves in (hint: less door staff required = more time to mingle with guests inside).

Bye Clipboards, Hello Check-in App

The last thing you want at the door is a long line, angry guests, and a frazzled staff (thank u, next).


Enter: an event check-in app. We know that no event is perfect, but a check-in app helps eliminate or alleviate a lot of the hassle of the check-in process.


Don’t believe us? Here’s why we think every event organizer should use a check-in app:

1.

It helps streamline the check-in process. With a check-in app, you can check people in with a single swipe – making the process extra speedy and efficient.

2.

You can capture walk-ins and last-minute guests. Did someone forget to RSVP but still showed up? You got this. A check-in app allows you to capture on-site registration and even print name badges right then and there.

3.

You’ll never lose data again. Stop sifting through old business cards the next day. Collect data and sync it with your system of record (like your CRM or MAP) in real-time. 

Your check-in app can also act as a single point of communication for your team, and you can also alert your guests of any last-minute changes in real-time (more on this below).

Are you a Splash customer? Our Intro to the Splash Host App (iOS) course walks through how to optimize check-in, walk-in registrations, and more.


Are you team Android? Intro to the Splash Host App for Android is also available.

On-Site Badge Printing

Picture this: you spent hours pre-printing and organizing guest badges for your event, only to realize that when you're actually looking for someone’s badge, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack (the pressure!).


But don’t worry, we’re here to help you avoid that nightmare. With on-site badge printing, you can print someone’s name badge the instant they check-in – no shuffling through piles of badges or awkwardly writing them by hand required.

on-site badge printing

This gives guests more time to enjoy your event, and you and your team more time to connect with people inside. Win-win?

Ready to be a badge printing pro? 

Our Intro to Badge Printing course has all the info you need to set up your devices and format and print name badges on the spot.

Communication With Your Guests

The behind-the-scenes of your event may feel hectic (spoiler: it definitely will), but you never want your guests to feel like they don’t know what’s going on.

 

And while we can’t help you prevent a torrential downpour or stop your keynote speaker from unexpectedly getting the flu, we can share some tips to help keep your guests informed.


Here are some of our favorite ways to do it:

•

Set up information signage or visuals: provide your guests with on-site information right when they walk through the door. Set up signage or TV visuals that remain in the same place and provide relevant information for the event (i.e. a map of the venue or breakout session times) that they can refer back to at any moment.

•

Send instant updates to their inbox (see example below): need to send your waitlisted guests an email about your event reaching capacity? The easiest and surefire way to do this is to use the Splash Host App and send a text email to guests directly from the app.

•

Post on social media: for most events, the first place guests usually check for real-time updates is your Twitter profile. You can leverage your social media channels to post updates as they happen, and include an event hashtag that people can follow along with.

 

An example of sending text emails through the app to update your guests:

text emails from host app
text emails from host app
text emails from host app

Our Intro to the Splash Host App course walks through how to optimize check-in, walk-in registrations, and more. Are you team Android? Intro to the Splash Host App for Android can be found here.

You can put Splash’s Host App in Kiosk Mode and let guests register or check themselves in (hint: less door staff required = more time to mingle with guests inside).

Pro Tip:

Keep in mind: when talking to your event team, things not only have to move quickly, they also have to be under the radar. Because no one wants to be that person speaking into a walkie talkie at the front door about a security mishap inside of the event (awkward!).

Need to save manpower at the door?

You can put Splash’s Host App in Kiosk Mode and let guests register or check themselves in (hint: less door staff required = more time to mingle with guests inside).

Need to save manpower at the door?

You can put Splash’s Host App in Kiosk Mode and let guests register or check themselves in (hint: less door staff required = more time to mingle with guests inside).

Say goodbye to long lines...

Splash's Host App makes check-in easy with one swipe, so you can quickly capture attendance info while automatically syncing your event data across devices and to your CRM in real-time.

Door Tip: 


Your On-Site Team

We covered putting together your event marketing team (which includes an on-site lead, venue manager, and production manager) in Chapter 3, but what about who to put at the door?

 

Sure, you may be tempted to put just anyone at your door. But how an attendee, or more importantly, a VIP, interacts with your staff can make or break their experience.

 

This might sound like the opposite of what you should do, but you need to get the best on your team running the door – whether it’s the director of communications, your best salesperson, or a marketing executive. These are the people who know the VIPs and customers over the outsourced staff.

Team Communication

Just as important as communicating with your guests is communicating with your team. Before your event, think about how you're going to communicate with your event staff on-site. Here are some of our best team communication tips:

1. Establish a go-to form of communication with your event staff

Whether it’s with walkie talkies (our least favorite method), in-person syncs, group texts, or Slack (our favorite method), your first priority should always be to decide which communication channel you and your staff will be using on-site.

Pro Tip:

Keep in mind: when talking to your event team, things not only have to move quickly, they also have to be under the radar. Because no one wants to be that person speaking into a walkie talkie at the front door about a security mishap inside of the event (awkward!).

2. Always be in contact with the door

If there’s a place where you never want to underestimate communication, it’s at the door. You should always, and we mean always, be in contact with the team that’s running the door at your event.

3. Connect your sales team to prospects faster

No one likes walking into an event without feeling welcomed. The instant an important guest walks through the door, your sales team should be right by their side, greeting them with their favorite drink.


So, how do you make sure your team knows who’s at your event? Here are three ways we love to do it at Splash:

•

Set up our Host App to automatically send push notifications the moment your clients, prospects, or VIP guests arrive.

•

Integrate Splash with Slack, and automatically send customizable, real-time updates on who’s checked in straight to a designated Slack channel (that way you can flag key prospects, and ping account owners).

•

Integrate Splash with Twilio via Zapier, and send SMS event notifications to your Sales team when guests RSVP to an event (you can map to a specific event or list).

slack event integration

4. Identify the main point of contact for external partners

Unfortunately, it happens often – partners, speakers, or sponsors will arrive at your event with no idea where to go, where to set up, or what to do. Before your event, don't forget to provide them with one central point of contact so they can easily communicate with your team on-site.

Want the full rundown on day-of communication best practices? Our Director of Education, Zach, walks through 7 ways to streamline on-site communication with your team and your guests.

Title of Chart Goes Here!

Hosted

One-Day Conference (54%)

Product Trainings (46%)

Business Partners (45%)

Sponsored

Industry Trade Shows (54%)

One-Day Conference (43%)

Business Partners (41%)

"

With sponsorships, we realized quickly that we weren’t maximizing the potential of our events. After all, by hosting our own experiences, we’d have more control over everything: from the messaging on the signage to the design of our event pages to the content presented on-site.”


- Amy Barone at Tableau

How to Expect the Unexpected?

Unfortunately, you can’t — it’s impossible to predict problems like bad weather, traffic, talent not showing up, or electrical issues.


The best possible thing to do is to think of everything that could go wrong (this will get easier the more experience you have) and put a contingency plan together. Then, make sure your team knows about it.

 

Want to make sure you cover your bases? Learn from others' mistakes! Here are the biggest mistakes event planners made in 2018 included forgetting about gratuity, taxes, and printing costs. 

Celebrate all your hard work... then dig into all the ways you can engage with your guests way after the event is over.

The biggest mistakes event planners made in 2018 included forgetting about gratuity, taxes, and printing costs. See other common flubs.

The biggest mistakes event planners made in 2018 included forgetting about gratuity, taxes, and printing costs. See other common flubs.

Real World Example:

Ready to be a badge printing pro? 

Our Intro to Badge Printing course has all the info you need to set up your devices and format and print name badges on the spot.

Real World Example:

Check-in tip:

Did you know that you can check people out of your event in our Host App? This can help you gauge capacity numbers, but also, provide better event engagement metrics in your reporting.

Real World Example:

Start door duty an hour before the event. Some guests may arrive early, and you want to make sure there’s someone there to greet them when they do.

Real World Example:

How many people do you need running the door?
We recommend one door staff member for every 50 guests. 

Real World Example:

Door Tip:

Start door duty an hour before the event. Some guests may arrive early, and you want to make sure there’s someone there to greet them when they do.

Real World Example:

Step 1: Make sure your event is inclusive.

As event planners, we always want to ensure every guest has an amazing experience. Jeffrey Huang (Sr. Manager, Employee Engagement at Salesforce) shares firsthand tips for making your events inclusive and welcoming to all sexual orientations and gender identities. Check ‘em out here.

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01 : Your Event Strategy
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02 : The Guest List
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03 : Managing Your Team
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04 : Event Production
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05 : Building the Event Page
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06 : Promoting Your Event
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07 : On-Site Best Practices
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08 : The Post-Event Strategy
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09 : Data and Technology
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10 : Measurement and ROI
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