Open Forum

Happy Wednesday everyone! Let's kickstart with our next edition of the Tip of the Week discussion! In the world of B2B events, effective communication is the name of the game. Any breakdown can lead to issues that can potentially impact your future events.

Every event has three key stages: before, during, and after. Effective communication throughout each step helps to create a comprehensive and impactful experience for everyone involved.

Information to Communicate  Before the Event

Your per-event communication should cover the following essentials:

• Presenter Information
• Event Schedule
• Communication Channels
• Food and Beverage Arrangements

Pre-Event Communication Tools

Technology has made pre-event communication easy and reliable. Consider the following options for your event communication strategies leading up to your event:

• Event Website
• Email Marketing
• Social Media
• Mobile Event App
• During the Event

Information to Communicate During the Event

When the day of your event finally arrives, effective communication remains just as crucial, although it takes on a slightly different form. As attendees and staff navigate the event, they will have questions and concerns that must be addressed promptly. Delayed responses can quickly lead to frustration and may even impact your event's success.

Communication Tools to Use During the Event

Here are some helpful event communication tools you can utilize during your event.

• Mobile Event App
• Live Polling
• Push Notifications
• Social Media
• After the Event

One of the most important things to do after the event is over is to thank everyone involved in your event's success, including your event team, vendors, and attendees.

Communication Tools to Use After the Event

After your event, there are various tools that you can utilize to communicate with your attendees and gather valuable feedback.

• Post-Event Survey Feedback
• Email Marketing Follow-Up

Read in Detail: The Ultimate Guide to Event Communication

Questions for you:

1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event?
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication.

As always, feel free to drop your suggestions in the comment section below!

#CventTip

#Creating/ManagingEvents

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Megha Jetley
Assistant Manager
Cvent Marketing Department
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1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event? Pre-event we just use emails since much of our events are personal/by invite only.
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication. Not putting too many details in one email. We usually have a lot of know before you go info but we find it best to do one BIG summary emails for those who want it but also scatter info out across a few other distinct emails for really important things cause otherwise people miss it.

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Rachel
NJ
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We are on the same lines as Rachel.

Our promotional emails are through our organization.
I sometimes do a soft registration launch by inviting a few people to register early through a cvent invite.

Some of our sessions require 3rd party e-waivers or additional information so I will use session emails. One when they register and additional emails as the event gets closer.

I try to keep them short.

During the event we send the agenda for the following day as well as session emails reminding attendees of anything they need to know.
Some events require entrance at staggered times and I will use a data tag for the time to address that.

We also send a few texts to attendees using their Cc: email address. I create an email address using their mobile number and cellphone provider. Not a great solution, but it works.

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Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2023 08:41
From: Rachel Sigley
Subject: Your Guide to Event Communication

1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event? Pre-event we just use emails since much of our events are personal/by invite only.
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication. Not putting too many details in one email. We usually have a lot of know before you go info but we find it best to do one BIG summary emails for those who want it but also scatter info out across a few other distinct emails for really important things cause otherwise people miss it.

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Rachel
NJ
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To add on to the KBYG emails:  I've also begun adding a page on the website with all of the KBYG information.  Attendees complimented they only had to keep referring back to the site instead of finding the email when they were ready to pack.   Hoping that an enhancement for Cvent will be coming where once we build it in Event Builder, we don't have to duplicate the information into Attendee Hub and it would flow through!

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Michele Runge
Housing & Registration Manager
HPN GlobalUnited States
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2023 08:41
From: Rachel Sigley
Subject: Your Guide to Event Communication

1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event? Pre-event we just use emails since much of our events are personal/by invite only.
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication. Not putting too many details in one email. We usually have a lot of know before you go info but we find it best to do one BIG summary emails for those who want it but also scatter info out across a few other distinct emails for really important things cause otherwise people miss it.

------------------------------
Rachel
NJ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2023 08:41
From: Rachel Sigley
Subject: Your Guide to Event Communication

1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event? Pre-event we just use emails since much of our events are personal/by invite only.
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication. Not putting too many details in one email. We usually have a lot of know before you go info but we find it best to do one BIG summary emails for those who want it but also scatter info out across a few other distinct emails for really important things cause otherwise people miss it.

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Rachel
NJ
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Pre-Event Communication - Logistics for in-person events is always appreciated.

For instance:

Parking location and rates

Which building entrance to use

ADA accommodations available

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Hallie Loeb, HMCC
Event Operations Specialist
CDW United States
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The hardest part with email communications through Cvent for me isn't the content but that many of our communications are blocked or go into spam. We can ask companies to whitelist Cvent and all of their domains and IP addresses but many don't want to do it. So, as a work-around for emails to certain companies that we know are blocked, we add an email address field to our invitee template called "Internal email to copy" so that person can forward the email to the invitee. While it isn't perfect and includes manually forwarding emails, it does appear to work. On large events, this can be a lot of man hours forwarding all event related emails.

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Jill Campbell
Cvent Specialist
Chubb INA Holdings IncUnited States
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I sometimes look at my email reports and for the ones that did not open the email I email personally. Very frustrating that so many emails end in spam. Even my own addressed to me are buried in spam. Doesn't matter that I have Outlook set to accept all email using the planner address. In my online confirmations I include, check your spam folder.

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Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-10-2023 10:03
From: Jill Campbell
Subject: Your Guide to Event Communication

The hardest part with email communications through Cvent for me isn't the content but that many of our communications are blocked or go into spam. We can ask companies to whitelist Cvent and all of their domains and IP addresses but many don't want to do it. So, as a work-around for emails to certain companies that we know are blocked, we add an email address field to our invitee template called "Internal email to copy" so that person can forward the email to the invitee. While it isn't perfect and includes manually forwarding emails, it does appear to work. On large events, this can be a lot of man hours forwarding all event related emails.

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Jill Campbell
Cvent Specialist
Chubb INA Holdings IncUnited States
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1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event? Normally email communication as our events are mostly invite only. For virtual events, social media postings and email marketing
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication. To share relevant internal communication with stakeholders, we create a webpages with limited visibility and accessible by weblink only.

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Maria Pedrosa
A: Event Planner
W.L. Gore & AssociatesSpain
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1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event?

We use internal email marketing as our primary channel since our events are internal

1. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication

Take time to put together a details communications schedule in advance, it helps keep up everyone on task, especially as you get closer to the event when everything starts to get a little more hectic!

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Bouran Qaddumi
Sr. Manager, Training
Church's Chicken
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I just love your posts like this, Megha! So helpful!

1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event?
   1. Email to a targeted list
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication.
   1. Not a hack, but be sure that ALL information regarding the event is finalized before you start to build your Cvent event. It's much easier than having to back and edit the web page and several versions of emails. 

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Lori Wildman
Marketing Director
DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc.United States
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1. Not a hack, but be sure that ALL information regarding the event is finalized before you start to build your Cvent event. It's much easier than having to back and edit the web page and several versions of emails. 

Ah, one can only dream. :)

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Steven Schlossman
Jack of all trades. Master of none.
BMW Car Club of America
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-13-2023 09:31
From: Lori Wildman
Subject: Your Guide to Event Communication

I just love your posts like this, Megha! So helpful!

1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event?
   1. Email to a targeted list
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication.
   1. Not a hack, but be sure that ALL information regarding the event is finalized before you start to build your Cvent event. It's much easier than having to back and edit the web page and several versions of emails. 

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Lori Wildman
Marketing Director
DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc.United States
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Hi Megha,

1. Which communication channel do you use most often when planning your event? Emails and website
2. Share your best hack that always works for you when you plan your event communication. Personalization! 

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Katie Dreifus
Registration Manager
PwC Management Services LPUnited States
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