What a great year we had! After launching our blog last year, it continues to grow in scope and has become a great resource on conference communications for the meetings industry. As we plan out our posts for 2016, we wanted to look back at our most-read posts in 2016:
Digital Marketing: It Starts with Print Social media, email and the Internet deliver news to a wide audience very quickly. All it takes is a few keystrokes for photos to populate to a Facebook page or a story to appear on a blog. But where does the content for these mediums start? With print.
Are You Printing a Program Book Because You Think You Have To? With rising printing costs, a transition to mobile apps and frequent schedule changes, is a program book still the best “go-to” your conference can offer? CustomNEWS has a suggestion for you. Combine your program book and show daily to create an updated onsite resource that not only has the latest schedule information that attendees need, but also showcases conference news (session previews and recaps, attendee interviews, photos and association news).
Show Dailies Showcase Content The primary objective of a show daily has been the dissemination of news and information to onsite attendees. But a show daily is also a communications vehicle that can be shared with a wide audience to increase a conference’s ROI and also generate content to use throughout the year. Show content has a shelf-life far longer than the conference at which it was shared.
#FOMO: Your Show Daily Can Help! FOMO – fear of missing out – is a phrase often used in commercials. But it also has a lot of relevance in the meetings industry. Are you creating enough buzz from your conference that will have those not attending rethinking their
decision? Non-attendees can read about session topics and keynote speakers in promotional materials, maybe browse the exhibitor list as well. But without a way to capture a conference’s happenings, how are they going to know they missed out?
Going Paperless? Wait, Read This! “Going green” shows that you respect the environment. But, by eliminating print pieces:
- Will attendees still be informed and able to access the information they need to make the most of your conference?
- Are you eliminating advertising & sponsorship revenue opportunities?
- Could you be relying too much on attendees to buy-in to your digital initiatives before they are ready?
Link Share Friday – Show Daily and Email Newsletter Links Our Link Share Friday posts are back – today we’re sharing links to some of our recent projects to highlight the many unique offerings of a show daily. Each of these issues was also promoted in a daily highlights email sent to conference attendees.
Better Together: Do Print and Digital Create Stronger Conference Communications? Last year I wrote a blog post about how your vendor-partners can work together to bring more to your conference. As we continue to expand our network, we’re doing more to connect with other vendors that have services that our products complement, i.e. the conference mobile app. With increases in app usage rates and the rising costs of printing a traditional program, is there another option out there? Other than just not printing anything of course. Yes – the show daily.
Before You Kick Print to the Recycling Bin… With mobile app usage approaching record levels and exhibitors cutting back budgets, have you thought about eliminating print publications at your event, such as the traditional program book? Are you hesitant to add something new, such as a show daily? We agree, print’s role in the meetings industry is changing, but we don’t see it disappearing.
Social Media and Show Dailies: Working Together Social media can be time-consuming, but also offer free publicity, engagement and excitement – ever walk the halls and hear an attendee report that the conference hashtag is trending? They are excited – and it raises overall perception of your conference.
Photos Are Worth More than 1,000 Words As a meeting planner or association executive, are you aware of the many benefits of hiring a professional event photographer? Your convention is the perfect opportunity to gather dynamic imagery that will enable you to market your organization on multiple levels. Once an organization has made the investment in professional on-site photography, it would be a shame to waste those dollars by not taking full advantage of the many uses for your images.