The reason that we, as event organizers, plan events is to make our attendees happy. We want to make sure that we are meeting their needs and ultimately getting a positive ROI. One tactic that event planners have been starting to utilize is crowdsourcing.
By enlisting help from either attendees, sponsors, or the community, the event planner is creating a unified event experience. There are multiple ways that you can include crowdsourcing into your event. From the sessions, to the theme and the overall content, get the tips for making your event one for the people!
Session speakers and topics
There are many ways to handle speaker/topic submissions and review processes. For example, etouches offers eSelect which is made to easily handle a variety of selection processes. It allows external reviewers and committees to easily evaluate submissions. But what if we take it one step further and let attendees choose what topics they want to learn about or speakers they want to hear from before they even get to the event? Someone might come out of the woodwork with a new and fresh speaker or topic that you have never even heard of.
Event theme & design
Event themes may be a little bit tricky to come up with sometimes, especially if you've been in the business for years. Themes may get recycled and as an attendee, why would you want to attend an event you feel like you have already been to? You can use a survey tool such as SurveyMonkey or etouches' eSurvey module to poll your attendees on what they thought about past events and suggestions for future ones. Attendees can also have input on the entertainment at your events, ways to go green, food options, venues etc.
Social media
A really good way to expand attendee engagement and to get some free promo at an event is to offer an incentive to attendees who take the best picture or videos at your event. If you offer a prize for the best picture or video, most of your attendees will join in on social media which could get huge traction online during and post event. This is also your opportunity to see your event through your attendees eyes while capturing content for future promotion. You can see what they liked most and what they want to see come back. By taking some of the best moments from your events you can create a 'wrap-up story' and send it to your attendees post event or use it to engage future attendees.
Why not create the event that your attendees are looking for? After all, they are the reason you are hosting the event. Get more tips on crowdsourcing and event management at blog.etouches.com
