Posts Categorized: Meetings Technology

kchopson

How Tracking Your Live and Virtual Conference Attendees Can Help Your Bottom Line

Conference Attendees

In the mad rush to get ready for a conference, it is easy to ignore one of the most important metrics of show – namely, who actually attended. Planners often overlook this metric because the registration revenue is already in the bank so, in their overworked mind, it is not particularly important knowing who actually showed up. This is a major mistake because knowing your attendees from your no-shows is very important for your planning, marketing and bottom line. There are two things you should take into account when getting ready to verify your attendees. Know the difference between Attendance... Read more »

kchopson

Questions to ask your Event Management Software Provider for your Hybrid Conference and Trade Show

Trade Show Exhibitors

It is an understatement to say that event planners have been in quite a whirlwind since early 2020. Having mastered face-to-face events, planners had to quickly learn and properly implement 100% virtual conferences. Now as the pandemic is easing, there is now another transition to hybrid events. This change not only results in another steep learning curve, but it also requires a reworking of the particular technologies that should be deployed for a hybrid event. What is a Hybrid Event?What is a Hybrid event? It is not just streaming live feeds from F2F or posting recordings as was done in... Read more »

lbradford

How to Conduct Virtual Roundtables with Zoom Breakout Rooms

VirtualEventsZoomEventRebels

Do many of your sessions include roundtables? Often, roundtable sessions follow this format: One or more speakers lead the session At various points, speakers break the attendees into small groups to discuss a problem or question After a short time (five to ten minutes), the speakers bring the small group discussions to a close and reassemble the entire group This collaboration makes roundtable sessions a popular and powerful way of providing instruction and helping your attendees think through difficult challenges. In a face-to-face environment, you would see roundtable attendees seated at tables of 8, 10, or 12. These tables become... Read more »

lbradford

How to Prepare Speakers for Your Virtual Event

Retro microphone and notebook computer, live webcast on air concept

Lights, camera, action–if only it were that easy to present a virtual event! We’ve put together a list of 8 tips to help prepare your speakers for their virtual debut. 1. Create a speaker tool kit. Put together a packet of information for your speakers so that they know exactly what to expect: Include a calendar with any deadlines and practice sessions clearly noted. Provide access to any branded conference materials such as PowerPoint/Google Slide templates or virtual conference backgrounds. Send download and installation instructions for any conferencing software they will need to use. 2. Give equipment and setup suggestions.... Read more »

kchopson

How to Save Your Event and Time with Automated CEUs using Zoom and Virtual Conferences

VirtualEventsZoomEventRebels

After working very hard to put on a great virtual conference, the nail in the coffin for the planners’ exhaustion is often the issuing and collation of meeting related surveys and CEUs. If the work is performed using paper and/or spreadsheets, the resulting toil is usually a mountain of tedious and error-prone management of forms. The work is labor and time-intensive and, consequently, unnecessarily expensive. The good news is that EventRebels Online Registration and ERCEU CEU management software has a direct integration with Zoom Meetings and Webinars that makes it easy to track who attended your Zoom meeting and issue... Read more »

kchopson

Zoom Best Practices Help Keep your Virtual Meetings Safe

Zoom

As the Coronavirus pandemic spread and face-to-face meetings became impossible, people flocked to video conferencing products. A massive surge in use was particularly notable in the already popular Zoom video conferencing platform. In just a few weeks Zoom went from 10 million to 200 million users.  People flocked to Zoom because of its free trial, low pricing, great functionality and ease of use. The widespread usage of Zoom has opened up many possibilities for the package, including its use in virtual conferences. However, Zoom’s rapid rise in popularity has made it a target for hackers.  A series of security and... Read more »

kchopson

What to Look for in the Best Event Management Software

What to Look for in the Best Event Management Software

  Planning a large-scale event? You need event management software. Designed to handle various aspects of event planning with easy-to-use digital tools, event management software allows event planners to plan better events with less headaches and hassles. However, not all event management software platforms are created equal. Some are geared toward specific aspects of event planning, while others focus on entirely different areas. Some are easy to use; some are not. Some are expensive; some are not. In this guide, we break down what to look for when choosing the best event management software for your needs. Choosing the Best... Read more »

kchopson

Event Management Software 2020 Trends

Event Management Software 2020 Trends

It’s a new decade, and the event management software industry is booming. An increase in the number of large events and attendees — coupled with the rise of online, app-based technologies — has contributed to higher standards in the event planning market. This has resulted in an increase in the number of event software platforms, particularly those that can be used on mobile devices. Among the event industry trends 2020 is showing on the horizon, event management software market growth is perhaps the most marked. In this guide, we dive into event management software growth while touching on several other... Read more »

kchopson

Four Ways to Integrate Your Membership CRM with Your Online Registration Form

Many professional trade organizations offer preferential conference registration pricing to their active members. This is an important technique to encourage membership growth by providing a clear, tangible value to being a member. In fact, your online registration form is a great way to grow your membership. The trick is finding the correct combination of software products that make it easy to validate active membership during the online registration process. Unfortunately, many online registration software products do not provide an easy way to validate membership. However, there does exist online registration software designed for membership organizations. Such products use a number... Read more »

kchopson

How to Use an Event Check-In App Helps Simplify Onsite Registration

Conference organizers have numerous occasions to make strong impressions on attendees. From an A-list keynote speaker, to a great online registration system, your guests take notice and draw conclusions about your event. Yet, there’s one process that often gets overlooked: Check-ins. Day-of registration and the check-in process offer organizers a chance to start a conference or tradeshow off on the right foot. Guests feel welcomed, their first impression isn’t a bad one, and they have more time for exploring and interacting. Want to create a faster, more efficient check-in process for your event? You might consider an event registration app.... Read more »

kchopson

Seven Ways to Protect the Privacy of your Event Attendees

GDPR phone

Privacy is a top of mind concern for many organizations these days. High profile data breaches, the new European GDPR law, and the upcoming California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) has made it imperative that all organizations protect the data of their customers. Securing and protecting the customers’ privacy is not just the job of the IT department – it requires the effort of all employees with access to the organization’s data. Meeting planning departments are no exception to making privacy a top priority. As we mentioned in Why Would Hackers Attack Your Conference? there are many reasons why planners can... Read more »

kchopson

EventRebels announces a round-trip iMIS Integration Solution

The iMIS membership management software product is one of the most versatile CRM products available to associations. However, when an association wants to use third-party event management software for managing its conferences and trade shows, it can be very difficult to move data from iMIS to and from the event software package. EventRebels has had a long-time web-service integration to pull data from iMIS for the purposes of validating memberships and driving pricing. Now as part of our partnership with Association Technology Solutions (ATS), EventRebels announces a full-round trip solution of EventRebels to/from iMIS systems. The solution is part of... Read more »

kchopson

Six ways to Improve Event Attendance without Busting Your Budget

ways to improve event attendance event rebels

When tasked with boosting event attendance, planners often worry that a large budget is needed to reach new goals. Fortunately, there are many ways to deliver a big boost to attendance without breaking the budget. Many of these methods use tools you may already have or require just some minor shifts in how you think about your event. 1. Use Past Registration Data The data collected from previous year’s events presents a treasure trove of valuable insights. Perhaps the most useful way to delve into this data is to look for common categories of attendees. Not only can you group... Read more »

kchopson

EventRebels Mobile Lead Retrieval App Video

EventRebels’ Mobile Lead Retrieval App Video ERLead is a lead retrieval app designed to allow exhibitors the ability to scan leads directly with their smartphones or tablets at a fraction of the cost of traditional lead retrieval hardware rentals. We’ve created a little video for exhibitors to show how easy it is! Contact us if you would like to find out more!    

kchopson

Why Strong Email Campaigns Increase Conference and Trade Show Sales

After launching a trade show or conference, your next goal becomes increasing registrations and sales. Here’s a secret: To maximize your success, you need the right mix of event management technology. For starters, both a user-friendly online registration platform and a trade show exhibitor management tool ensure your show starts on the right foot. But beyond that, there’s one tool that’s missing from the event technology mix – an email marketing solution. Email is one of the most popular marketing channels in the U.S. – used by more than 42% of marketers, according to data from Statista. That means there’s... Read more »

kchopson

From Call for Abstracts to Schedule to Mobile Event App: How Event Management Software Can Make it Easy

Mobile Event App

One of the most time consuming processes a conference planner can face is developing the program schedule.  If you have a call for abstracts, the process is further complicated by the need to conduct a peer review of the submissions. After the peer review process is completed, there is still the long task of coordinating the speakers and ultimately compiling the schedule.  After the program is built, you then have to push the schedule out to the attendees – real or prospective – to your website and, probably, via a mobile event app. If you are still using spreadsheets or... Read more »

kchopson

Everything you need to know to plan your reverse trade show

Reverse Trade Show White Paper

Make Your Reverse Trade Show A Success Follow these simple tips & tricks As attendee demand for a more personalized experience continues to grow, more and more event and meeting planners are turning to the reverse trade show model. We’ve taken all of our tips and tricks for planning a successful reverse trade show and compiled them in an easy-to-read white paper just for you. Click here to download our Reverse Trade Show white paper where you’ll find: What’s the difference between a reverse trade show, flipped marketplace, and hosted buyer model? How can you best prepare your reverse trade... Read more »

kchopson

Speakers want easy Call for Abstracts software

Papers Falling

Potential speakers for your conference are busy people. One thing they do not want is to receive the Call for Abstract as a PDF, print it, fill in the fields and then scan it and send it back. Not much better is getting a call for abstracts via survey software. Since call for abstracts are often long, the applicant may have to leave the desk for a while only to find that the site timed out and erased their work! Even if the form is filled out in one sitting, surveys cannot be updated – so if there is a... Read more »

kchopson

How Trade Show Management Software can drive Revenue and slash Expenses

Trade Show Map Example

Did you know there is an easy way to drive trade show revenue, dramatically cut labor and paper costs, while at the same time marketing your exhibitors to your attendees? This great technology uses an interactive trade show floor map to achieve all these amazing results. Here are some of the features of such software. For the Exhibitor The software produces a floor map of your show online with all the tables and booths. For booths that are available for purchase, exhibitors can simply click on the booth and buy on the spot. Anybody can see the list of current... Read more »

kchopson

Four Easy Sponsorships for your Mobile Event App

Dollar Sign Skeleton Key

Not only does the mobile event app make it easier for your attendees to navigate and engage with your meeting, it provides you a new channel for sponsorship revenue. Because almost everything in the mobile app can be tracked, you can provide great data to your sponsors. This data can a strong case for the ROI on their investment. The opportunities for mobile app sponsorships are many – here are four great possibilities. 1. Home Page Sponsorship The home page is the first page the attendee sees when the app has finished loading – it is the gateway to the... Read more »

kchopson

17 Reasons why a Lead Retrieval App is Better for Your Show

Lead Retrieval App

You have probably heard frequent complaints from your exhibitors about how expensive it is to rent lead retrieval units for your show. In contrast to inexpensive and easy-to-use lead retrieval apps, the old fashioned way of doing lead retrieval is cumbersome for many reasons: The lead retrieval units are expensive! Some of the reasons for these high costs are described below. Buying the old-fashioned units is typically done in an old-fashioned way, such as faxing or emailing a form with a credit card. By the way, this is also a violation of good credit card security practices. The hardware is... Read more »

kchopson

Mobile Event Apps – Communication and Engagement Are Your Keys to Success

Mobile Apps Android

What mobile event app should you use? The American Express 2018 Global Meetings Forecast has some interesting insights into this decision. The study had one planner stating that there is still some reluctance to use event apps because of the overwhelming number of choices. So this leads to another question – what uses of a mobile event app can best benefit the organization and the attendees? According to the American Express Forecast, the two most compelling reasons are communication and engagement. In the questionnaire, improving communications seems to fall into two camps: relaying day-to-day information to the event participants; and... Read more »

kchopson

GDPR and EventRebels – What We are Doing to Help You Comply

GDPR Secure Laptop

In our background article we discussed the new European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that went into effect on May 25, 2018 and what it means to meeting and event planners. One of the key takeaways from this article is that if you have just one participant who is an EU data subject involved in your event, your organization is impacted by GDPR. EventRebels believes that GDPR is a step in the right direction to protect the privacy of all Internet users. Despite the regulation being created specifically for EU citizens, we are structuring our software to allow... Read more »