It isn’t easy to create a plan for effective event communication, but the effort and time it takes are worth it. It is important to have clear lines of communication between those involved with the event including vendors, team, and attendees.
This guide is going to outline the best practices that will help maintain communication between the interested parties before, during, and after the event.
Importance of Communicating in Event Management
Once you schedule the event – the times and dates have been set in stone – you have to deliver. This is why you need to effectively communicate with those involved with the event planning. When you build an event communication plan, it lets everyone involved to have a clear expectation of the tasks they need to handle, which is going to increase productivity. One of the most important things when working in event management is productivity because there are a lot of deadlines and time constraints you have to deal with. Your event can easily fall apart if you don’t have effective event management communication.
Below are some great tips that help in communicating effectively in event management that is going to help you avoid a lot of stress and headaches when organizing events.
Before the Event
From the moment the event is thought up, to the minute it begins; it is important to make sure that the team and any potential attendees are appraised on all important details. There are some important pre-event details that need to be conveyed and easily accessed.
Important Pre-Event Details that need to be communicated
The following are some of the bare minimums that need to be communicated before the event;
Name of Presenters: This is going to keep everyone involved with the event informed. This information is also great because it drums up excitement from those attending the event.
Event Timeline: Attendees will be interested in knowing when and where certain activities and presentations within the event are going to take place so they can plan.
Communication Methods: You need to make sure the communication channels have to be defined clearly. For hybrid, in-person, and virtual events, communication can happen through digital methods like apps before the event.
Food and Drink Considerations: If there will be food and drinks at the event, you need to let the attendees know. It is important to share this information with those attending so they can know whether they need to eat beforehand or not.
Pre-Event Communication Tools
Technology has made pre-event communication easier and more reliable. Below are some of the options you can consider for communication before the event.
Event Website: This is the first place people are going to visit when looking for more information about the event. You should make sure the site has links with all the information attendees might be interested in. The event communication tools need to funnel attendees to the site.
Email Marketing: One of the best ways of reaching a wide audience is through email. You need to make sure the event communication strategies have email marketing so it provides updates to those attending the event.
Social Media: It is a good idea to market your event on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter. Keep in mind that the different social media platforms have different user bases with unique demographics. Knowing how to effectively use those social media platforms is going to help you reach a wide audience.
Mobile Event App: This is a versatile tool that can help in effective communication for everyone involved with the event. When you have it, you can create surveys, polls, and group chats that make it easy to engage with the audience throughout your event. It also makes it easier to make modifications.
During the Event
Once all the pre-event communication tools are in place, and D-day arrives, communication is still very important but it just changes a bit in form. At this point, there can be no delay in communication because people can easily be frustrated if they cannot get the answers to their questions during the event.
Important Information to be Communicated During Your Event
You should ensure a clear system of communication regarding the event’s timeline. It is important for team members to know where they need to be and when they need to be. This is going to include things like social media announcements posted when each presentation is starting.
Below are some of the tools to consider when it comes to communication strategies concerning the attendees.
Communication Tools During the Event
Mobile Event App: You should stress on the benefits of downloading the event app to your attendees. Having an app is going to help a lot regardless of the specifics of your event. The app is going to help you during the event and also those attending.
Live Polling Survey: Getting real-time feedback during the event is great because it lets you make some changes on the fly and deal with any issues that come up during the event. You can easily do that using a mobile event app.
Push Notifications: Whether the event is in-person, hybrid, or virtual, event, attendees can be distracted and miss a presentation when there is no way of sending them a push notification.
Social Media: social media is an important tool that is going to help you before the event, but it is still helpful during it too. You are going to decide what you need to post there like real-time updates or live-stream portions of the event on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. The integration is seamless because of social media.
You may want to consider an emergency notification system depending on the nature of the event.
After the Event
There is important after-event work needed after the event is done.
Important Details to be Communicated Post-Event
You should thank all the people who were involved with the event from the vendors, your event team, and event attendees. Everyone who attended the event is going to appreciate it when you do this. It is also a good idea to capitalize on the information you managed to gather during the event in many ways using the communication tools at your disposal:
Post-Event Communication Tools
Survey Feedback: Even though you have collected a lot of information during the event, you should let the attendees answer the survey questions after the event. This is going to let you know more about your event by looking at what went well and what needs to be improved in the next one.
Email Marketing Follow-Up: You shouldn’t allow the communication channels to dissolve because the event is done. It is a good idea to have regular communication with the attendees. You can do this by sending up a follow-up email. This is going to make it easy for you to reach out to them when you have future events or share further information about the concluded event.
Final Words
Event planning can be stressful because there are a lot of moving parts at any given time, but communication with your clients and team can make things easier. Communication is an important aspect of being a good event planner. There are a lot of different things that will help you succeed with event management. It is more than good communication with those involved with the event, it is just one of the many pieces that need to come together and make the event a success. Becoming good at communicating the right angle with different parties is a skill that takes time and practice, but it is something worth putting effort into. It is going to improve your event management skills and you won’t have to stress that much. It is a must to incorporate effective communication. You will notice an increase in productivity if you communicate better.