‘Social media for events series’ Part #1: Tools for planning, organising and inviting key people to your event

17 Jun 2010

‘Social media for events series’ Part #1: Tools for planning, organising and inviting key people to your event

This month we bring you a new series on 'How to use social media for business events'.

Part One: Tools for planning, organising and inviting key people to your event

It’s no secret that people across all demographics – and most countries – now use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites for pleasure, and as a highly effective way of doing business. What you may not know about (but can’t afford not to) are the great social media techniques and tools available for planning and promoting your conference, meeting or convention, as well as creating buzz during and after the event.

In part one of our guide, we look at some exciting tools you can use to make planning, organising and inviting key people to your event faster, simpler, cheaper and more effective.

Social media tools for planning your event

There is a lot to think about when planning a business event – from logistics and locations to agendas and communicating. Some tools you can use to make the job easier include:

Doodle.com: Overlap the meeting schedules of the people in your event planning group to organise times when everyone is available.??
Skype: A fast and cheap way to conference call and brainstorm about the event via video or audio through your internet connection.
PBworks: A bit like a Wikipedia for business where you can share information, add notes, edit documents and organise content about your event.
Airset: Assign tasks and meetings using a shared calendar with scheduling, reminders and the ability to publish on the web or send to mobile phones.

Social media tools for inviting and contacting key event attendees

Before you promote your event to the world, there are certain people your event can’t do without such as important guests, key speakers, colleagues, business partners, etc. Some of the social media tools that can do wonders here are:

PBworks (again): To keep and publish information on your event such as guest lists, speaker lists, and more.
A blog: Create and post event updates to a blog to keep everyone in the know. You can launch one for free, but it’s worth getting some basic design work done to make the blog look professional and reflect your event brand.
Facebook Events: Set up a branded page, it’s one of the first places attendees will search for information. Later on you can also post videos, twitter feeds, blog posts to the page and open a forum for discussion.
Eventbrite: Customise your event registration, invite people to your event, receive RSVPs and even promote your event on social media.

Don’t be scared of social media – get involved!

While many of these tools – and even some of the words – might sound daunting, remember social media is all about making IT easy – for everyone. If you can set up a Facebook account, you’ll have no trouble with any of the tools we’ve suggested above.

Even better, most of these suggestions are either free or cheap to use. With all the benefits they can bring to planning and organising an event, perhaps the only scary thing is thinking about what might happen to the people who ignore them!

In the coming weeks we’ll look at Part 2, Social media tools and techniques for promoting your event.

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