Bring back the good old days

Back in the day, filling stations had petrol pump attendants.

Never heard of them?

When your car needed petrol, you’d pull into a filling station and be greeted by an attendant who’d operate the pump for you.

Self-service filling stations became the norm and the much-loved pump attendant was consigned to history. Fast forward to the present day (well 2016 to be precise) and Shell introduced pump attendants to 300 filling stations in the UK.

Why?

Simple really, it’s great personal service, gives people a choice and makes them feel good.

Mitingu is primarily a self-service events platform. However, we understand that sometimes a busy event organiser doesn’t have the time to do everything. The event site is critical to the success of their event, so handing it over to someone to do it for them means it’s one less thing for them to worry about.

That’s why we decided to give Mitingu users that choice. Our managed service takes your content, images and brief and we turn it into an event site that helps you get the right people to your event.

"Interesting" chat down the pub

The first 15 minutes of chat whilst I’m down the local on a Friday night is the very short window of time when my friends and I talk sensible stuff.

The longer we’re in there, the more likely it is that the conversations will go just about everywhere and anywhere.

None of my mates work in the software industry, so it’s always a bit of a challenge how I explain what Mitingu is in as few words as possible without boring them onto the next pint.

Whilst they’re pretending to be interested they normally ask “What does Mitingu do?”

Basically, it creates event sites that allow people to say that they are going to an event. It then sends personalised emails like reminders or event updates. A bit like when they register to go to Glastonbury (the world famous music festival, not the town) for their tickets and then get reminder and update emails. The only difference being that Mitingu focuses purely on business events.

That’s normally where I leave it. Eyes are glazing over and there’s much more interest in the guest ale that’s on that week.

Let's talk about you

You wouldn’t drive around in a Mercedes with a Ford badge would you?

There’s a number of legitimate (and legal) reasons for not doing so, one of them being it’s really confusing to the outside world.

Ok, it’s a bit of a far fetched example, but hopefully you get my drift that the branding is important and keeping on brand makes a difference. We then get to the next question…

Why would you run an event registration page/site diluting your brand with someone else’s?

There are of course some valid reasons for doing so, such as if you’re running a joint event with a partner business. However, if it’s your company’s event then why wouldn’t you want the first event touch point be all about your branding? Not the software provider’s logo, URL or one of those nasty “powered by” tag lines. They are all about the software provider and not you.

Here’s the bit about why you should use white label event software to manage all of your company’s events! Like many event software start ups, we set out on a path to be the “go to” provider for event registration and comms. Reality and common sense prevailed and we decided to focus our efforts on providing a white label solution specifically for the business events sector.

It gives a great impression about your business both internally and externally if you are using your “own” events software. That’s what white label gives you, your own software, minus the cost and resource to develop, maintain and support it (that’s where we come in).

Your brand is at the centre of everything we do. Not a Mitingu logo or “powered by” in sight… your domain and branding aligned with your brand guidelines.

How much does it cost? At the risk of sounding like a politician unable to give a straight answer, we’d like to think it’s more a case of what it could generate in terms of increased brand awareness, event attendees aligned to your brand and ultimately more business for you as a result. But a more direct answer is the cost is aligned to your requirements, making it cost effective whatever the weather!

Find out more about our white label here and let’s start talking about you.

"If you build it, he will come" - Field of Dreams

In the film it rang true. However, in the world of tech startups, in my experience, this is a load of bollocks!

Unless you're either very lucky or you (your investors) have very deep pockets it's one hell of a hard slog.

You can build the best product with what you think has a great feature set and user experience and fool yourself into thinking the enquiries will come flooding in. Alas! This ain't gonna happen, all you’ll hear is the sound of silence.

For it to be a success, reality has to take a hold. Get the message out there, network, market and sell (that doesn’t mean shove your product down someone’s throat, it means ask the right questions that unearth their problem to which you may be able to offer a solution). Get out of your comfort zone (I have done writing this) and use platforms like LinkedIn for sound advice and ideas, speak with people you respect in business who have been there and done it, do whatever you need to do, but don’t do nothing.

We created Mitingu because we saw an opportunity to offer businesses a piece of software that made building great looking event sites and comms on brand without any technical knowledge required. It’s taken us over 4 years (some great, some bad) to get proper traction and we’ve only just begun. If I’d known then what I know now would I do it again? Who knows? Maybe not, but one thing I won’t do is give up.

Because everyone needs to be loved

I thought I’d share a recent customer service experience that I had and a separate one that my partner had.

I’m a member of a health club and regularly use the gym now I’m north of 40! My family are also members there so we pay a fair old chunk to them every month. I walked in recently and there were three members of staff talking amongst themselves in front of the reception desk. No problem there, it’s important to get along with your colleagues. However, not one of them said hi, all I got was a quick glance. It made me feel pretty insignificant and not really valued as a member. It also made me think that if there were another gym in the area to the same standard then I would have moved to it. However, there isn’t so I just have to lump it this time! They delivered disappointment.

My wife recently went into a well known global retailer and had the complete opposite experience. They qualified if she was just browsing or needed some assistance. When she told them she’d like some assistance they took her to one side, went through the range, bought her a glass of bubbly and helped with fitting and choosing the right items. She spent some well earned money in there and left feeling a million dollars! They delivered happiness.

It’s pretty simple, everyone needs to be loved. It’s not just about getting people’s money, it’s about giving them a great experience which delivers value for that money, recognition and happiness.

We want our customers to feel loved and we’ll make it our mission to achieve that.

Have a great day and go make someone happy!

Falling in line is good for your brand

Mothers’ Day was fast approaching so John decided to login to Moonpig (other custom card builders are available!) and get to work on creating a special card for his mum with the personal touch.

The colour palette in the tool allowed him to choose from a huge range of colours and he eventually went for a deep pink and lilac combo because his Mum likes them. He also had a large range of fonts to choose from and he went for Montserrat for the heading and good old Arial for the main body.

Needless to say, when John’s mum opened the card there were smiles all round. She felt good which made John feel good too.

Now that he was a graphic design guru, John decided to use his new talent at his day job as an event manager for ABC Consulting. He was responsible for putting together a registration web site, for a conference ABC was organising.

John logged into his account on his ABC’s event site building software and got to work. A few hours later he was done. He’d created a “masterpiece”. With a flourish of confidence, he pressed “go live” on the site and sat back.

He checked it an hour later to see how many had registered. No-one. 

He tried again an hour later. Still no-one.

The next morning, he rushed down to his laptop on the kitchen table as soon as he woke up. Still nothing. He felt a sense of mild panic. This wasn’t going to plan.

When he got to work that morning, he asked a couple of friends in confidence what they thought was going on. The penny dropped the moment his friend Jack asked:

“Whose event site is that?”

It hit him like a ton of bricks. He’d designed the site he thought looked great. He hadn’t built an ABC Consulting site. He hadn’t used any of the brand colours, styles of fonts that ABC uses. He had gone off piste and unleashed his new inner graphic designer.

It was a nice looking site, but it didn’t look anything like ABC Consulting. That confused site visitors who left rather than sign up.

John felt an idiot. He’s learned a simple lesson the hard way.

It’s your well-known brand that attracts your punters. Not your new design skills. Brands remain powerful by people being disciplined about their use. That’s what a company’s brand guidelines do. They are there for a reason.

At Mitingu we’re a bit obsessed about great looking event registration sites. We spend all our time trying to think of better ways to help you create awesome registration sites for your events. Unlike John, our tools will help you keep communications and style on brand, every time.

If you can bear to put your inner graphic designer to one side for a few minutes, come and have a look at our next generation event editor. It will help you build great looking branded event sites, so your events will sell out faster than an umbrella salesman at a wet festival.

Take a look at the new editor

6 New Ideas on How to Engage Attendees on Your Next Event

Event marketing is a seriously powerful tool for all marketers. Various reports estimate that Millennials will account for 75% of the UK workforce in ten years and that they will spend around half a million pounds on live events. As you can see, events are a quite a thing nowadays and they will only become more popular in future. But, what is a number one priority of events? Well, one of the most important aspects of events is the engagement. It’s really important to keep your attendees engaged. And people are always looking for new ways to keep the folks engaged at an event. So, let’s take a look at fresh 8 ideas that deal with engagement.

Social photo booths

Do you know what a social photo booth is? Well, have one at your event and you will see tons of photos appear online and they all ‘advertise’ your event. Social photo booths allow attendees to take photos, videos and even create GIFs. They can share those photos on their social media accounts. However, the stuff they share will be branded. And guess whose brand that will be?

Modernise everything

In the world of marketing, it’s all about standing out from the rest. One way to stand out is to do things differently than the competition. Forget the old ways and invest in event software. There is specialised software nowadays that will not only make life easier for you but it will also amaze your attendees. There are apps that provide you with most of the dull work such as sending out invites, messages and even providing analytics. You will look more professional and your attendees will see something they never saw before. In turn, that will make them want to see more. It combines beautiful and useful.

Comparison wall

By introducing comparison wall at your events, you will find out what your attendees deem to be important. These walls can be used for anything and everything. They can be used for your attendees to have fun so this could also count as a corporate event entertainment idea but you can also be a bit sly and elicit important info from the attendees. Say that you want to figure out what their event must-haves are. Just put messaging style clouds and start each one with ‘My ideal event must have…’ This is a great way to find out what your event lacks and what you might have even overlooked.

Campfire

Would you be open to the idea of starting a campfire at your event? Don’t worry, it’s not literally a campfire. Look, the times of speakers and rooms full of people listening to one person all the time have passed. You have to invest in new speaking formats to spice things up. For example, a campfire session is a good idea. These are led by a facilitator who runs the discussion with one or more experts. Each session should last somewhere around 30 minutes. These sessions feel more real and they are more engaging.

Live performance

Playing people’s favourite tunes over the speakers is okay. However, having a band fire things up brings your event to a whole another level. These live performances provide your attendees with a chance to jive to the music and enjoy the atmosphere. With live performances, the atmosphere is always great and more authentic. Especially when compared to YouTube over speakers and ads constantly interrupting playlists. When you get your attendees immersed in a throwback to their favourite songs, their energy will stay high and you will keep them engaged for longer periods of time.

Fun contests

People are competitive by nature. So, a little bit of friendly competition can light up the atmosphere quickly. Your event will be electrified if you introduce fun competitions like scavenger hunts or pub quizzes. Make the competition about your event’s theme. However, you have to make sure it isn’t boring. It isn’t all strictly business. Contest should be fun but you should also remember that the aim here is to promote your brand. On top of that, there are awesome apps out there that let attendees answer questions from their smart devices and they also get to see their answers on screen in real time. Impressive, right?

Conclusion

 You have to keep things fresh if you want to be better than the rest. Always look for innovative ways to boost your events. Remember that your rivals won’t sleep on all the novelties in the world of event marketing. Make sure that you don’t fall asleep too. So, go over these ideas once again and give them a go as soon as an opportunity arises. You won’t regret it and your attendees will appreciate your effort.

Reasons to white label

White label - Goods or services that are produced by one company, then purchased by another company to rebrand and sell as their own.

Mitingu is a white label event registration and communications platform. We think there are far more benefits to white labelling than going out there and developing your own software. Here are a few:

1. Get to market/implement quicker - the software is already developed, so it’s normally just a case of branding and basic configuration and it’s ready to launch;

2. Reduced costs - we cover the costs of development, all you’d ever need to cover is any specific customised features that you may require;

3. Less risk - development and testing is done prior to release to live, giving you peace of mind that the software works and you are are not being used as software testers;

4. Resellers and agencies can sell the software as their own knowing that we are there in the background to support them. This also creates another revenue stream and enables you to concentrate on business development rather than software development.

Mitingu gives our clients their own white label platform with their own admin and event page URL, web/email templates and the option to create customised reports per account or across the whole platform, giving event organisers the information they need in one place.

For corporates

• Your own branded interface and templates

• Your own admin interface and event URL

• Unlimited sub accounts for different departments, offices or event categories

• High level and event level reporting

• Different user levels

• Access to API to integrate with CRM, ERP systems etc

• Consistent themed event sites and emails available in multiple languages

For agencies/resellers

• Your own branded interface and templates

• Your own admin interface URL and separate event URLs for each client

• Unlimited sub accounts for different clients

• High level and account level reporting for each client

• Different user levels

• Access to API to integrate with CRM, ERP systems etc

• Themed event sites and emails for each client available in multiple languages

To find out more about the Mitingu white label please fill out the quick form here or contact us at hello@mitingu.com

12 Tips to Build Brand Loyalty at Your Event

Online and print marketing can both build up your fan base, but live events offer your audience a unique chance to experience your brand for themselves. By meeting you in person, they are more likely to forge a meaningful connection with your company, which in turn will translate to sales. Almost three-quarters (74%) of customers say that their impression of a business improves following an event.

Events that connect with an audience are referred to as “experiential marketing.” They can take the form of festivals, concerts, pop-up shops, conferences, lectures, and exhibitions – in fact, almost any kind of event can be used to engage with your market.

The most effective events cultivate a sense of loyalty in attendees. Here are a few practical ways you can grab your visitors’ attention and leave a positive impression:

1. Generate excitement before the event  

Announce your event at least a few weeks in advance. Tell followers across each of your platforms where and when it will take place, and when they will be able to purchase tickets. Giving people the opportunity to sign up for notifications is a good way to encourage them to join your mailing list.

 Tell your visitors why they should attend; what’s in it for them? For example, if you have invited any notable speakers or plan to run any exciting contests, highlight it in your marketing materials.

2. Give your visitors a sneak preview of upcoming products or services 

Reward visitors for turning up by staging some kind of “big reveal.” For example, if you are a clothing brand, showcase a few of your new designs for the upcoming season. When you make them feel special, attendees will come away with positive memories of your event, which in turn will foster brand loyalty.

3. Engage your visitors’ senses

Let your guests see, touch, hear, or taste your products. The more senses you can engage, the better. Set up as many interactive displays as possible.

4. Stage a competition

Giving away prizes serves two purposes. First, it provides a good excuse to collect visitors’ contact details, which will aid your marketing efforts in the future. Second, offering a desirable prize encourages visitors to think of your brand as generous and fun, two attributes which will increase their loyalty.

5. Be generous with your freebies

Even if they have paid to get in, attendees still tend to think of gifts and merchandise as a bonus or “added extra.” Branded items that they will want to keep, such as fun toys or useful items such as pens and notepads, will remind them of the event long after they get home.

6. Localize the experience

“Always ask yourself whether your event is catering to your local market,” advises the CEO of PickWriters. Do not assume that just because an event was well-received in one city that it will be met with a warm reception in another. This requires a thoughtful approach. For example, you may need to translate written content, including signs, be sensitive to cultural norms regarding dress codes and greetings, and avoid casual references to controversial issues during talks and demonstrations.   

7. Offer a touch of luxury

Make your visitors feel special, and they will look back on your event with fondness. For instance, you could offer a limited number of passes to a VIP area, or sell tickets to a Q&A session. They will tell their friends about the great time they had, which will further improve your brand’s reputation.

8. Showcase your brand alongside others that target your market

Inviting your competitors to an event would be counter-productive, but what about teaming up with a brand that appeals to a similar demographic? In doing so, you’ll attract a broader crowd who will get the opportunity to experience your brand along with well-established favourites.

9. Invite speakers from outside your company to share their knowledge

If you are running a B2B event for professionals, recruit speakers to run workshops or give demonstrations. These should give attendees actionable strategies they can use in their business. Your guests will feel as though their time at your event was well-spent, and will respect your brand for caring about issues that affect them.

Hiring external speakers also equates to free publicity, because they will probably let all their clients and social media contacts know that they are taking part in an event.

10. Recruit enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff  

If even staff are indifferent to your brand and bored by the event, your visitors will notice, and this won’t inspire their trust or loyalty. If possible, send company employees to oversee the event, rather than workers from a PR agency.

11. Make it easy for visitors to share their experiences

Set up a hashtag for your event, and encourage your visitors to use it. Hashtags let your guests share their photos and questions they may have for you. Make sure someone is responsible for responding to social media posts throughout the event; a quick, friendly reply or acknowledgement will generate goodwill. You can also use hashtags to organize contests. For instance, you may run a competition whereby the 100th person to upload a tagged photo of themselves at the event wins a prize.

12. Livestream your event

Reach out to those who can’t get to your event by livestreaming it. Set up a video feed that gives viewers a sense of the event atmosphere. Be sure to broadcast talks, demonstrations, and Q&A sessions. Your viewers will appreciate your efforts, feel engaged with the event, and may direct other people to your stream via social media. Encourage viewers to submit live feedback and questions.

Obtain, and analyze, visitor feedback

Always conduct a post-mortem after the event, using both qualitative and quantitive data. Ask yourself these questions: Did staff receive positive formal feedback during the event? Did visitors share their experience on social media? How many people attended? How many sign-ups or purchases did you get? Overall, did the event live up to your visitors’ expectations?

If you held a conference or B2B event, you could use brief follow-up surveys to encourage attendees to give formal feedback afterwards. Whatever your industry, remember that consumers want to be heard, so give them the chance to tell you what they really thought of your event.

Elisa Abbott is a freelancer whose passion lies in creative writing. She completed a degree in Computer Science and writes about ways to apply machine learning to deal with complex issues. Insights on education, helpful tools and valuable university experiences – she has got you covered ;)

6 Event Planning Apps That Will Actually Save You Time

If you are a marketer, if you are doing something related to marketing and event planning, you surely have to know that things in this industry are dynamic. The trends can change in no time, you have to anticipate it all and your schedule is hence really busy. Of course, when your schedule is busy, you always look for ways to save time. Because time is money, right? Well, if you’re having difficulties hosting and planning events, or you’d just want to make your life easier and save yourself some time, take a look at these six useful apps that will help you do it.

Basecamp

Is it time to brainstorm ideas with your team? You guys want your event to be perfect but it’s kind of hard to gather around and stay updated? Well, have no fear, Basecamp is here to help. Basecamp is essentially a project management app, it is easy to use and hence quite user-friendly. Create task, assign them to your employees on the go. Basecamp will keep you posted by automatically sending notifications to your mail. You’ll know exactly what happened and when. It’s efficient, the interface is great, it looks nice and it is quite affordable.

Evernote

Don’t let your ideas slip your mind ever again? Something awesome came to your mind about your upcoming event, something that will make it better but it slipped? You can’t remember it anymore? Well, if you have Evernote, you’ll be able to write everything down on the go, this app allows you to capture, organize and share notes. There will be no need for you to plow through your bag looking for notebooks, folders, etc. Amenities that come with Evernote are numerous. You can save idea files, guest lists, vendor quotes, menus, to-do lists, etc. Basically, you can save everything important on Evernote.

Doodle

Event planners have heard of this app. That is guaranteed. If you haven’t, listen up. Doodle is an app that links to your calendar and always keeps you one step ahead of your appointments. There are numerous features that save time and make your life easier. One of them is called MeetMe and that feature will allow you to accept personal meetings online. If you need to arrange a meeting with a client, this app will enable you to do it quickly. Doodle really is one of the best apps that help with event planning out there. Be sure to check it out.

Zapier

Are you tired of repetitive tasks? Did you know that event planners use more than 4 tech tools to help them with event planning? Well, consider every app from this list since every single one is good in its own way. The story isn’t different for Zapier. Zapier lets you automate repetitive tasks, you can create automated workflows (they are called Zaps). That’s how you deal with time-consuming work. You hate pulling attendee contact info every time from the scratch? Zapier can automatically get that contact information for you when you connect your CRM to your email marketing tool. Useful, right?

Smartsheet

Do you like spreadsheet-style event management? If so, you’ll adore Smartsheet. This app really redesigns spreadsheets. It’s like classic spreadsheets but only 2.0. You will have the benefits of tracking projects, assigning tasks, your sheets can be edited through Outlook. Your team members will be easy to contact, you can easily hold discussions about the event or current planning stage. Event planning has never been easier with spreadsheets, umm, smartsheets. It is worth taking a look at.

Planning Pod

This app is one of the most robust event planning apps out there. You can do promotion, check-in, you can really manage your event through this app swiftly. There are 30+ implemented into this platform and there is really no surprise that this app exudes efficiency. Of course, it is not free but you can have a free trial before committing. Planning Pod puts focus on placing your most important info into a centralized dashboard. This way you’ll stay on track while you plan your event. It saves time, boosts productivity, makes communication with team members easy.

Conclusion

We are living in the age of technology, take advantage of it. It’s there to make our lives easier. Well, make your job easier and become a valuable asset at the same time.

5 Tips For Failsafe Online Event Promotion

All live events begin with an online presence. The majority of companies – 89% by one estimate – utilize some form of online marketing. You also have plenty of approaches, from social media to email newsletters. Diversify your approach to broaden your outreach. Here are some best practices for organizing an event marketing campaign.

1. Don’t Neglect Keywords
Contrary to what many people are saying, SEO is not dead. All online promotional content should be optimized with two to three longtail keywords. The keywords should include an industry term followed by a geo-location. If you’re hosting a tech conference in London, for example, then the keywords would be “tech conference in London,” or “IT conference in London.” Use the Google Keyword Planner to discover lucrative keywords in your niche.

Include your keywords in all written content, including blog posts and in the description of video content. Adhere to the basic SEO rules. Include the keyword or a close variation of it in the title, in at least one H2 title, and enough times in the body of the text to achieve a 5% keyword density.

2. Show Off Your Social Proof
Never heard of social proof? This is online content from your followers that you share with other
customers. This can be a post that you retweet, a testimonial, or a customer’s Instagram pic from a previous event. Social proof shows that other customers and event goers are active brand advocates. Showing off social proof may motivate others to follow suit. Just as you expect followers to spread your content, the reverse is also true.

The easiest way to show social proof is by reposting other people’s post. You can also get more creative and include a video compilation or slideshow of the posts.

3. Use Retargeting Ads Often
Retargeting ads are way underutilized. If you’re unfamiliar, these are ads that are shown to followers that went through a portion of the sales funnel process but fell short of purchasing a ticket. These people expressed some level of initial interest and are more likely to convert if you reach out to them again.

Retargeting ads may be directed towards those who, for example, clicked on the RSVP page link in an email newsletter but did not secure a ticket. The message in the ads should also apply FOMO, or the fear of missing out principle. FOMO are messages that convey a sense of urgency. An example may be “Only 20 tickets left,” or “Ticket discount offer ends in 12 hours.”

4. Get Creative with Ticket Sales
Don’t just set a ticket price and sell them via event page with a purchase link. Look for creative ways to part with them. How else can you sell or give away tickets? Consider these methods:
• Early bird pricing
• Discount for bulk purchases
• Give them away to those who perform a favorable action, such as refering X number of buyers

• Discount pricing for loyalty and VIP members
• Give them away in a social media contest, either as the winning prize or to everyone who participates.

5. Use a Social Media Wall
Online promotion continues even once the event is in progress. Even though you’re no longer selling tickets at this point, you still want to spread social media mentions. This helps spread brand awareness and helps promote any products you may be pushing at the event.

To drive in-event social media discussion, incorporate a social media wall. This is a digital signage that shows social media posts from various networks as they’re posted in real time. Seeing live posts should prompt other attendees to join in and submit their own tweets or Instagram posts. Encourage all posters to include the event hashtag with every posting.

The Web provides so many angles for approaching your event promotion. Achieve optimum results by exploring multiple methods and tweaking your strategy to improve analytics.

Dan McCarthy is an Event Manager at Venueseeker, an event management company based in the UK. Dan has 6 years of event project management under his belt. He has worked on many successful events, and currently, he shares his knowledge by writing on the company blog. Follow him on Twitter @DanCarthy2.

How events can help grow your print business

Before I began my journey with Mitingu, I ran a digital print business. About 8 years ago I had doubts about the longevity of print... how wrong was I ?! Print is the perfect physical communications tool and combined with technology and complimentary digital channels, the only limit to what you can do with it is simply one’s creativity.

There are lots of printers out there that have the technology and skill to make their clients’ communications come alive. The issue is there are far fewer who actually tell their clients and prospects what they can do and how they can help improve marketing ROI and cost efficiencies (via print on demand).

This is where running onsite, local and national events come into their own. It gives the print business the opportunity to inform, add value and raise awareness of what they can do and how they can help.

If you are one of those printers out there that thinks you don’t have the time or budget to organise one event, yet alone a number of regular events, I completely get that because I felt exactly the same! When I finally got round to organising an event (an open house), it opened my eyes to the opportunity. We attracted existing clients and some prospects who until that point we hadn’t managed to have a conversation with. We found out their actual pain points and got the opportunity to demonstrate how we could help them. The event gave us the opportunity to strengthen existing relationships and build new ones.

The great news is that it doesn’t have to cost lots of time and money to organise and manage a professional event for your business.

Mitingu can help printers or any type of business with event marketing, registration and ongoing communications from one platform. Here’s how… 

1. A mobile responsive event registration and marketing site - your branding, your URL..not ours!

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2. Event emails - invitations, booking confirmations, reminders, survey requests...personalised, branded and relevant to each recipient.

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3. Attendee management - plan ahead by seeing who’s coming and what they hope to get out of the event (use the registration form to get valuable information such as that).

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4. Analytics - see important metrics like registrations versus invitations, email response rates and total bookings and revenue (if you’re charging people to attend).

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5. Integrated payments -take card payments online as part of the registration process.

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6. Share on social media - helps to generate registrations and interest in your event.

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7. Check-in - a professional way to check attendees in via an iOS and Android app. Their status is upgraded in the event admin attendee list, so you know who has made it on the day and who hasn't.

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8. Surveys - your chance to collect more valuable attendee data to help you understand their pain points and how you can help them. It's also an opportunity to get their honest feedback on the event which can be used to refine the next event so it's even better! 

Print has a great future, especially if it utilises technology such as web to print and cross media marketing software. 

Events could be one of your business’s biggest opportunities to get the message out there and we’d love to help.

Delegate Data: Two of the biggest reasons to utilise it

I recently read a really interesting article on how a major UK retailer could and should utilise the customer data they collect to increase footfall into stores and drive more revenue through their online store.

It got me thinking about how event organisers could utilise the delegate data they collect to both enhance the event experience and share wider within their organisation to help build profiles of both existing and prospective clients.

1. Enhance the event experience

The event registration process gives you a perfect opportunity to collect all the information you need to ensure you’re creating a great experience for each and every delegate. That experience may have already been kicked off with event invitations or promotional material. The registration process can fine tune that experience to make it really relevant to the individual delegate. For example, if you already have some basic information about them, this gives you the opportunity to tailor their registration process. It goes without saying that if you know their name, email address, job title etc, then you shouldn’t be asking them to tell you again, their event registration form should be pre-populated with their details allowing them to edit easily if necessary.

A good registration process and effective event communications such as email and SMS leave the delegate with a great impression before the event has even started.

At Mitingu we know that abandonment rates at registration stage drop significantly when intelligent registration forms are used.

What does that mean?

Make and keep it relevant, not unnecessarily long. Mitingu allows the event organiser to create intelligent forms, personalised to the individual that only requires them to answer questions that are relevant to them. Mitingu filters based on what we already know as well as what they have just told us. If you’d like to see how, get in touch and we’ll quickly run you through how it works.

 

2. Build delegate profiles and share with the wider business

When a delegate registers to attend an event, they are generally more than happy to share additional information that they might be more cagey about sharing in the initial sales process. There are a number of reasons to attend an event, but most delegates will go to learn something new and/or network to benefit them and their business.

If a delegate is keen to attend an event, they know part of the registration process is to supply information about them and their business so it’s a good value exchange.

If you’re asking questions about their annual budget for products or services that fall into your business’s category, who is the decision maker, their buying cycle and preferences of how they like to be contacted, then it makes perfect sense to share this information with the wider business.

Likewise, if they complete a post-event survey then all of that data could and should be shared with the business to build the profile and turn a prospective client into an actual one or develop an existing client into an even better one.

The quickest and easiest way to do this is to integrate your event registration platform with your business’s CRM platform...we can help there too!

Alternatively, if an integration doesn’t fit in with your immediate plans, with Mitingu it’s easy to export the exact information you need and upload into your CRM.

We recognise the importance of delegate data which is why we have created a platform that makes it so easy to utilise data to enhance the event experience and build profiles of your delegate for continued use.

6 reasons to make business events accountable

Making events an accountable part of the sales cycle and culture has always been an issue for businesses. Believing any opportunity to meet customers or partners face-to-face, or bring employees together at a corporate event has always ‘felt’ like the correct thing to do. Time and time again budget holders were left questioning and unable to answer what the return was. The set up, management, delivery and measurement so often fell short of being properly planned and integrated into wider internal and external customer sales and experience strategies. But that is all changing.

There is now a growing recognition and a desire amongst corporate event managers and other lines of business (sales, marketing, procurement, finance, HR teams etc.) to be much smarter in the way that events are run, and how they can prove accountability to the business. Here’s why:

1. Businesses need to differentiate to win. Real world face-to-face interactions (via your events) allow these points of differentiation to be delivered, experienced, captured and capitalised upon.

2. Events can contribute significantly to the overall experience and perception customers, partners and employees have of your brand. By being joined up with business and sales objectives events become an integral part of their company’s purpose and accelerate opportunity and belief.

3. Without a strategy you're committed to and a plan to deliver against it, you are vulnerable. Knowing why, how and when you need to run an event will ensure it provides and delivers value to all.

4. The customer is at the heart of everything. Successful events are not run by a siloed department. They are an integral part of the sales cycle and experience process. The face-to-face opportunity events provide has relevance to every part of your business.

5. First class experience is expected as default. Providing a personalised experience to each delegate individually from the very first communication is paramount. The more you can demonstrate you understand their needs and preferences, the more relevant you will be to them and the greater their desire to engage and attend. You can also serve them better too.

6. Technology is an enabler. The right event management platform will enable your business to set-up and deploy an event in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. Intuitive to use, aligning to your brand for a seamless look and feel and providing relevant data and insight to enable you to deliver a great delegate experience on any device, pre event, during the event and post event, should be the basic criteria.

By aligning to business strategy, applying good planning skills, integrating with other business activities and colleagues and using the right technology tools and applications, any event can now feed both the attendee and the business with richer and more valuable experiences and outcomes. All of which can be measured and reported more accurately and effectively than ever before.

Tool up to win

Event managers that have a good understanding of their organization’s purpose and strategy will be better placed to make lasting and valuable contributions to the sales and experience effort and ensure all future events are correctly funded and attended.

Choosing and using the right event management technology to bring it all together, attract the right delegates and remove the uncertainty of event accountability is time worth investing. A simple gap analysis of how you currently run events versus how you must plan and run events in the future is a critical first step. With that knowledge, there is only ever likely to be a limited number of event management platforms and applications capable of meeting your needs. We understand that and this is why we built Mitingu.

Welcome to the new Mitingu

It’s been over eighteen months since we launched the Mitingu platform and we’re really enjoying the ride (albeit with a few bumps along the way)!

Photo: Priscilla Westra

Test and measure

It was always our intention to focus on the business events market and, on the whole, we’ve been pretty successful keeping to that. From the beginning we decided to offer two options to potential users:

1. Pay as you go - Sign up via the website and start creating events immediately

2. Private/white label - A customised version with no mention of Mitingu

Like any good business coach will tell you to do, we have tested and measured the success of each over the last eighteen months. What we have seen is over 80% of our business (and growing) is coming from our private/white label offering. With that in mind, from August 2016 we stopped offering the pay as you go service to new users (existing clients are not affected by this) and have decided to purely focus on what we now call Mitingu Enterprise.

Say hello to Mitingu Enterprise

We’ve been busy developing this behind the scenes and it’s ready for release! It’s still simple to use as we like to keep things that way, but has a few more bells and whistles to help make your events even better. We also realised when it comes to pricing, it has to be simple too, so we have three pricing options, all flexible and designed to accommodate specific needs.

Here’s a brief introduction to some of the features we’ve added so far:

1. Improved analytics, giving you a better oversight of your events

2. Event accommodation

• Manage capacity and allocation

• Help your attendees choose the right hotel by providing information as part of the registration process

3. See which breakout sessions and workshops are the most popular and manage allocation and capacity accordingly

4. Pre-registrations: Gauge interest and manage invitations for limited space events

5. Incomplete registrations: View and contact attendees with incomplete registrations to encourage them to complete their registration

6. Reduce form abandonment with intelligent single or multi-page registration forms and surveys

7. Enhanced tagging and filters, personalise and segment your communications

8. Multi-lingual event sites and communications

Events and attendees from all over the world? No problem, with Mitingu you can quickly and easily upload translations for one or as many languages as you need at the same time, This allows the delegate  to decide which language they would prefer to register and receive the subsequent event communications in.

At Mitingu, we are all about providing our clients with “their” event management platform. A place where they can create and manage great looking, branded and multi lingual event sites as well as  communications, whilst collecting information about their clients and prospects that they can use to improve event experience and build long lasting business relationships.

If you would like to take a look at the all new Mitingu then we’d love to show you. No commitment necessary, but good honest feedback essential! Get in touch with us here or email hello@mitingu.com and we’ll set something set up. Our standard demo takes no longer than 20 minutes unless you want it to.