Originally posted by Ryan Pinkham (https://blogs.constantcontact.com/resources-planning-events/)
In my town, spring and summer are a busy time for local events.
Walk into any business, check your inbox, or log onto Facebook and you’ll see posters, invitations, and notices about upcoming activities.
The other day, I received an invitation to one of my favorite local restaurants, which hosts monthly wine dinners throughout the spring and summer months. At these events, attendees have the chance to try new menu items, sample wine, and gain some valuable information in the process.
One of my girlfriend’s favorite businesses — a local yoga studio — hosts yoga retreats, and even offers special classes on the beach!
One of the things that both of these businesses do well, is offering attendees the chance to sign up for their events in advance.
I’m admittedly not the most organized person. Being able to sign up and receive reminders prior to the event, helps make sure I never miss a chance to attend. It also provides benefits to the business, because they can stay organized and make sure they are prepared for the event.
This is just one part of what makes their events so successful.
To help you plan, promote, and run more successful events, we compiled a list of 50 helpful resources.
Whether you’re planning your first small business event, or are looking to get more from your upcoming events — this list can help.
We’ve organized these resources into categories to help you quickly find the information you need to succeed.
Planning your event
Making your event a success, starts with coming up with the right plan. You don’t want to commit to hosting an event, until you understand all of the things that need to be done to make it successful.
Here are a few resources to help with your event planning:
1. Are You Ready for Event Season?
2. When the Price of Free is too High
3. How to Reach and Teach Through Educational Events
4. 7 Events You Can Run to Grow Your Business Right Now
5. Things You Don’t Want to “Overlook” When Planning Your Next Event!
6. Consider the Five Ws for Your Next Event
7. Event Planning Tips for Small Businesses
8. Event Planning: How to Set Your Event Up for Success [Speakeasy Podcast #31]
Promoting your Event
To create a successful event campaign, you need to come up with a strategy that incorporates your different marketing channels — like email, social media, mobile and web.
For a lot of small businesses, event promotion will start with email, which you can use to send invitations, save the dates, reminders, and event follow-ups.
But you’ll also want to level your different social channels, to generate buzz and get people talking about your event.
Then, there are things like online event directories which will help you reach potential attendees with very little work.
Use these resources to help you create a more effective promotional plan for your next event:
9. How to Build Excitement for Your Event
10. 6 Ways to Promote Your Next Event
11. 5 Easy Steps to Get More Guests for Your Event
12. 3 Tips For Designing The Perfect Event Invitation
13. Be Our Guest! 5 Tips for a Better Event Email Invitation
14. 6 Reasons Why Your Next Event Needs a Homepage
15. How a #Hashtag Can Help You Graduate to More Social Events
16. How to Create a Hashtag to Build Engagement at Your Event
17. Event Promotion: How to Get the Most Out of Social Media [Speakeasy #33]
18. How to Promote Your Event for Maximum Exposure and Attendance [Speakeasy Podcast #32]
19. Event Directories Give You Something for Nothing
20. Events on the Go: Make Your Next Fundraiser Mobile Friendly
21. 7 Ways to Promote Your Events with Video
Managing event registrations
Online event registration tools have really changed the way small businesses think about running events. While in the past, running an event meant spending hours keeping track of phone calls and managing a guest list by hand — today, you have the ability to manage all of your information in one place.
Use these resources to perfect the online registration experience:
22. 10 Reasons for Collecting Registrations for Your Next Event Online
23. 7 Reasons Why You Should Be Using an Online Event Management Tool
24. Value of Capturing Demographic Data During Event Registration
25. Are You Offering a Memorable Experience Before, During, and After Your Event?
26. A Simple Strategy for Asking the Right Questions Before Your Next Event
27. How Collecting the Right Information Can Make a World of Difference at Your Next Event
28. 10 Ways to Ensure a Smooth Online Event Registration Process
Making sure everything runs smoothly
When you’re doing everything right to get people to your event, the last thing you want is for something to go wrong at your event to damage the experience.
While unexpected setbacks are bound to occur, there‘s no reason for easy-to-avoid problems to stand in the way of making your event a success.
Consider these resources when finalizing event details:
29. How You “Sound” Can Make or Break Your Event!
30. Event Tech Tips for Small Businesses and Nonprofits
31. How to Give Your Event Guests the Celebrity Treatment
32. Death to Stupid Black Lines on Your Projection Screen
33. How Green Should You Make Your Event?
34. Unlocking the Secrets of Event Lighting
35. 6 Ways to Save Money on Event Entertainment
36. Event Certificates of Insurance: How to Avoid Getting Covered In You Know What
37. Small Event Budget? Get Smarter About Your Design Choices
Following up and collecting feedback
You did it! You planned the most successful event of the season; you promoted it effectively, filled the room, and delivered a memorable event experience.
Guess what? You’re job isn’t done yet.
Now, you need to follow up with attendees to see how things went. For some events, you might want to collect feedback with an online survey. For other events, your follow-up may be as simple as sharing photos on social media, or creating new content about the event experience.
Consider these resources for completing the event process:
38. 5 Ways to Develop Social Media Content In Between Your Events
39. 3 Ways to Get Attendees to Come Back to Your Next Event
40. Pardon My Eavesdropping, But Are You Enjoying My Event?
41. Event Feedback: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly — It’s All Critical to Your Success!
Event success stories
Now that you have the resources you need to make your event a success, you can gain inspiration from other business owners who have used events to grow their business.
42. How a New Business Created a Marketing Strategy and Climbed to Success
43. Three Steps to Hosting the Biggest Industry Conference in Three Years
44. Getting 3,000 Guests with a $4,000 Marketing Budget
45. This Bookstore Uses Online Registration to Let the Wild Rumpus Start
46. A Harlem Mom Schedules Playdates for 200
47. How Nonprofits Can Boost Volunteer Attendance by 50%
48. How One Store Made Wine Tastings a Little Less Stressful
49. Manage Your Event Like a Pro — It’s All About the Details!
50. How to Market Your Networking Event the Right Way
Ready to get started?
Find out how Constant Contact can help you manage your events, and run campaigns to help you reach new customers and do more business.