Today’s meetings and events are quickly evolving. Why the change? Event technology has played a huge role.
Technology gives us all the information we need to make more informed decisions. It helps us plan and manage events more productively, drive attendance, better engage attendees, offer more benefits to exhibitors and sponsors, manage costs, and prove event ROI to key decision makers. Technology is even changing your attendees’ expectations. Today, they’re expecting modern and seamless experiences at every touch point before, during, and after your events. The landscape has transformed, and event organizers who can keep up will see long-term success.
The Right Event Management Technology for You
How can you find the right event management technology? The options can be overwhelming and not all solutions are created equal. Finding the best fit depends on your organization, your events program, needs, and long-term goals. That’s why we created our free Event Management Buyer’s Guide.
Whether you’re an event professional, marketer, or executive, our goal is to help you navigate the event technology waters, so you can make all the right considerations before investing in an event technology provider. So, what questions do you need to ask and what considerations do you need to make? We lay them out in the first part of our four-part series:
How user-friendly is your event management system?
The balance between functionality and accessibility of your technology solution is important. Again, the right fit is a crucial component. Many providers claim their system is easy to use, and while that may be true, it may also mean that there is limited functionality in general that perhaps cannot satisfy many common event management needs.
Although learning more sophisticated systems require a greater time investment, the additional functionality and accumulated time saved on automation can be staggering when you understand how to use the system. In addition, the best providers offer modern and approachable technology with robust support and professional services, working with your team to optimize results.
Can you help us source venues for our events?
One of the most foundationa, and critical, steps to planning an event is sourcing the perfect venue. From searching for venues that fit your criteria and submitting multiple RFPs to chasing down venues and negotiating pricing, this process can be lengthy and complex. Being able to assist with venue sourcing is an indication that the provider appreciates the entire event lifecycle and has a holistic view of your event management needs.
What event marketing and promotion tools do you have?
The core of a strong event strategy is having targeted marketing campaigns and effective promotion tools. Your event management system should offer the marketing power you need to drive visibility, attendance, and engagement. This includes the ability to create customized and automated email communications depending on contact type and those contacts’ interests and needs. A provider’s email marketing tool should be robust enough to let you send differentiated messages for each audience type and to automatically individualize event invitations and other email communications. Mail merge fields allow you to personalize contacts’ names, organization information, and other key event data. To optimize the success of your event marketing, everything should have a personal touch.
Can you help us budget our events and track spending?
For many event and procurement professionals, budget management and spend tracking for meetings and events is difficult, inaccurate, and time-consuming. However, its vital and unavoidable. A robust and reliable budget management tool in your event management system is key to accurately collect budgetary information, track savings, demonstrate event ROI, and make better business decisions.
How customizable is the attendee registration process?
Potential attendees want to feel like your event is tailored just for them, and as an event organizer, all touch points of your event should reflect your organization’s branding and design. You need the control to ensure brand consistency across your registration process, emails, your event website, your mobile event app, name badges, and more. Creating this relevant event experience requires customization, starting with your registration process.
Great personalization means being able to first identify whether each visitor to your registration website is a VIP, existing client, prospective customer, or partner. Your provider should then be able to pre-populate contact information and customize the registration process based on attendee type. Sophisticated event management tools allow you to create dynamic registration paths and pricing based on preset attendee criteria.
Select the Right Event Management Technology (Part 2)
Download our free Event Management Buyer’s Guide to learn all the considerations you need to make before purchasing event technology.
