Member engagement comes in many different shapes and forms –  how you can get attendees involved in your conference communications strategy? Here are a few examples:

What’s in a Name?: Rather than having your staff rack their brains for a name for your show daily, why not have some fun with it? Change the publication’s name every year – and create a contest that invites members to submit their suggestions, and then open voting to the top 4 or 5. Now you have a great publication name AND a story for page one of the first issue of your show daily!

Author Committees: Whether you invite or hand-select attendees, create an authors’ committee that turns a handful of attendees into journalists. This approach has worked for a number of our scientific meetings – they will take great pride in the final product! (Note: Honorariums, complimentary registration and/or travel reimbursement are often offered to the authors.)

Bloggers: You may be surprised about the number of bloggers writing about topics related to your association’s area of focus. Click here to learn more about one association’s official blogging program.

Official Tweeters: Take a look at your most active followers on Twitter, and spotlight their activity before, during and after the conference. Encourage your followers (and lurkers) to follow these “official tweeters.” It will generate buzz among a wider audience. Go a step further and include a short profile of each tweeter in your show daily, and then ask them to tweet out the link!

How does your organization encourage attendees and members to get involved in association communications?