The process of planning and hosting an event can seem a little daunting at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it if you follow our guide.
There are a few things that are worth bearing in mind if you’re to run a successful chapter event or conference. You’ll want to think about the purpose of your event, first and foremost. Your event budget too is hugely important. Not only that, you’ll need to keep logistics in mind, as great organization is key to the success of any large event.
Note: You might find that national has guidelines on running chapter events and conferences already. If so, these will provide a great starting point for you.
When planning the budget for your event, the first task you’ll need to do is check your chapter’s yearly allotment, as well as any funds that the chapter has incoming, and any policies your association might have in regards to event budgets. This will help you forecast the budget and consider the money you will earn from ticket sales, registrations and sponsorships.
Establish a system of prices for members and nonmembers in order to promote your organization’s membership. Event tickets or registration prices should differ for members and nonmembers.
If you’re not sure where to start, we’re here to help! The following questions provide a great starting point when it comes to discussing your event with your chosen conference venue.
Many venues offer promotional services at events, so they should be able to assist you in promoting your sponsorship program through platforms such as digital displays, video walls, WiFi logins and mobile apps.
Your event manager should be able to help you design the space to optimize networking. Speak to your event manager about what you’re looking to achieve from the event, and ask them how you can make this event different and unique to pique your members’ interest.
If your event includes outside vendors or booths, it is important to offer a smooth experience. Verify the shipping logistics of the venue and share them with your exhibitors and members.
You could promote:
Many organizations offer a common event registration tool, which is used by all chapters for events. Typical registration services include EventBrite, which enables event managers to take easy at-the-door payments via card reader, as well as services like SignUpGenius, which gives you the option to include payment and donation tools for guests. If you use BrownPaperTickets you won’t face any fees when selling tickets, either. Other tools which are worth looking into include RegOnLine, a great tool for building and promoting events and HTML form builder WuFoo.
Tools like these can prove invaluable as they make registration a breeze, and provide complete visibility on attendance for the entire organization. However, if your organization does not provide this, you’ll need to think about how you’d like to manage registration at your event.
Consider the following:
When staffing an event, you get the same questions over and over. Where’s the bathroom? What’s the WiFi password? But we heard an entirely new set of questions—and compliments—during Association Component Exchange (CEX), the one-day conference for component relations professionals (CRPs) we co-host Peggy Hoffman and Peter Houstle of Mariner Management.
We fielded questions about the giant letters spelling out CEX at the front of the room and compliments on our bathroom survival kits. The questions kept coming even after getting home so we decided to share our CEXy event discoveries with you so you can file them away in your chapter event planning ideas folder.
As attendees walk into the venue, help them transition from their usual busy mode to a relaxed mindset. As your guests, they can rely on you to take care of their needs, including their need to figure out where they’re going.
We use floor stickers from Sticker Genius to welcome and direct attendees to registration. The stickers don’t get lost amid other meeting signage, although some hotels and event venues may restrict you to certain locations.
We know some attendees made a pit stop before coming to the registration table because they raved about our restroom survival kits. You’ve seen similar kits in nice hotel and restaurant restrooms, but we believe ours was even bigger and better. Our kits included…
We kept everything contained by grouping items in cups and displaying it all on a tray with a cute sign. These kits echoed the tone we wanted to express to attendees: we’ve got you covered, relax and enjoy your day.
Every year, our custom name badges are printed by Conference Badge. They integrate with Eventbrite, our registration site, so all the attendee data exports over. You can get badges printed with a custom design or order an on-site printing kit. They have free 3-business day and paid 2-business day shipping.
When you have a theme you love, conference decor is an easy and enjoyable task. In 2019, the CEX theme was “Show Your Chapters S’more Love.” Here are the sites we relied upon for our camping/hiking-themed table and room decorations as well as swag bag items.
Once we decided to go with a camping/hiking theme, we created an inspiration board on Pinterest to save and share ideas. We found ideas by searching for:
You’d be amazed at what you can find on Amazon, or maybe you wouldn’t. We used some of the same searches that worked on Pinterest, plus specific phrases for items we wanted like “camping props,” “plush stuffed moose,” and “faux bear rug.” We ended up with:
Since we couldn’t figure out how to tie the hiking/camping theme to our regular backdrop, we rented a greenery backdrop and displayed the custom neon sign on top of it. Find a rental company that handles weddings—they should have what you need.
We used Fat Head to print our bear, hiker, and small animal cut outs. For special moments, encourage attendees to put their head in the cutouts. You may have to model this behavior first so they take notice.
Our giant C-E-X letters were a hit. We purchased 4-foot 3D cardboard cutout letters from Shindigz for the front of the room where they became a backdrop for photos, selfies, and other tomfoolery.
For extra pizazz, we put removable wallpaper on them. You can find that type of thing on Amazon, Target, or Wayfair. However, this craft project took our team several hours to put together. Build in that extra time or make it a micro-volunteering opportunity for crafty members.
Another fun event challenge is coming up with ideas for unique, reusable, and non-junk swag items. This year’s Happy Camper reusable grocery bag included:
Our preferred swag provider is Woodward Movement, an awesome local (Detroit) business. Ask for Desiree Marx and tell her Sarah sent you. She will find whatever you need.
Our buffalo plaid swag bags were from Bagmasters. I like to peruse their website for swag ideas and themes too.
Okay, I didn’t consider us part of the decor, but maybe we were. The Billhighway team all wore matching buffalo plaid shirts—just like the swag bags—so attendees could easily spot one of us if they had a question or concern.
I bet you can’t wait to see what we wear next year! Please join us for CEX 2020 on October 26 in Washington DC. Registration will be open soon.
We’re not finished with our CEXy shares. Stay tuned for part 2 where we talk about our CEX workbook and app as well as hiking buddies, the CEX Experience Squad, and all the extra touches that make great sponsorship opportunities.
Our hiking/camping theme was quite noticeable in the CEX workbook we provided to attendees in the swag bag. Measuring 8-1/2 x 6-1/4 inches, the spiral-bound workbook has a sturdy cover and is tabbed by conference agenda items. This year, we divided the agenda into “trails” instead of sessions.
The entire workbook was filled with cute thematic graphics. Geez, I just love this workbook—can I say that out loud? Shout out to our amazing graphic designer, Paige Kooiker ! Each trail in the workbook was preceded by a hiking/camping-themed inspirational quote that related to the trail topic, like this one, “Go explore. Because it’s cheaper than therapy.”
The conference program and workbook featured “Trailblazers,” CRPs who shared chapter success and turnaround stories. All the trail names related to the theme, for example, trail 3 was titled “Earn Your CRP Badge: First Aid for Chapters in Crisis.” Trail 4 was a collaborative table exercise, “Choose Your Own Adventure: Campfire Chats & Stories.”
The workbook included information about the agenda, hosts, sponsors, speakers, and our Experience Squad—more on them later. We included tips for maximizing the CEX experience, and prompts for goal-setting and turning ideas into action. Throughout the workbook, we included additional prompts, spaces for notes, aha moments, and takeaways as well as questions to ponder.
Many of you asked about the conference app we used. Swapcard charged us $1.99 per attendee, which I thought was a bargain considering it included all the features we wanted in an event app: speakers, sponsors, agenda, my visit, attendees, and a link to the conference website. I especially appreciated having:
The app was user-friendly and easy to set up. The integration with Eventbrite made everything a breeze.
We couldn’t do CEX without Peggy Hoffman and Peter Houstle of Mariner Management, our CEX co-hosts. At the start of the day, Peggy introduced us to a great icebreaker—one that had a hidden purpose. Here’s how it goes…
Ask attendees to find someone they don’t know and discover something they have in common. Next, each pair looks for another pair and finds something they have in common. Finally, each quartet finds another quartet and the exercise is repeated.
You end up with groups of eight people—in our case, we called them hiking buddies. But, during the last trail, we told them they were accountability groups for putting ideas into action.
Sponsorships are a wonderful thing. Not only can they help defray costs, they’re also a great way to grow membership and support your chapter. Some organizations have a standardized sponsorship program for chapters’ use, so make sure you ask national whether there is one in place for you to utilize.
Many venues offer promotional services at events, so they should be able to assist you in promoting your sponsorship program through platforms such as digital displays, video walls, WiFi logins and mobile apps.
Provide a catered lunch, all-inclusive
10-minute presentation during lunch, including sponsor-provided collateral at each attendee seat
Sponsor registration for up to 10 students enrolled in related programs at higher education institutions local to the event
Scholarship named after the sponsor
Sponsor’s logo will be on all material promoting the scholarships
Sponsor’s representative may recognize recipients at the event
Display sponsor materials and interact with attendees
Tables may be located inside the event room
Number, location and size of tables will vary with venue
Provided catered breakfast, all-inclusive recognition at the service areas and from the podium
Full-color logo printed on all attendee and speaker badges
Badges presented in a magnetic badge holder or on lanyard
Recognitions in the Event Program with WiFi login credentials
Display collateral at the regional meeting ($1,000 value)
Podium recognition at the regional meeting chapter lunch
Opportunity to host the regional meeting welcome reception ($850 value)
Host a promotional table at the regional meeting ($400 value)
One complimentary event registration at the regional meeting ($25 value)
Place your branded collateral or swag at each regional seat or in bag given to attendees
Host a promotional table at the regional meeting ($400 value)
One complimentary event registration at the regional meeting ($25 value)
Place your branded, provided collateral (one piece) at each regional meeting seat or in bag given to attendees
Recognition in all chapter marketing collateral (emails, newsletters etc.)
Recognition at all chapter events and chapter sessions at the regional meeting
Recognition at all chapter webinars
Recognition on the chapter webpage
Included in the chapter email signature line
All Event Sponsors will receive:
To help new information stick and create memories that encourage attendees to return year after year, offer some fun experiences that tap into the senses. Even better if these experiences can become sponsorship opportunities.
We asked an influencer in the association space, KiKi L’Italien, host of Association Chat, to conduct on-site interviews with attendees. We created a special place in the corner of the room to make her ‘set’ feel more intimate yet still visible from elsewhere in the room.
KiKi, a former CRP herself, talked to attendees about the role of CRPs and why component relations matters. Interviews like these can capture the energy and thoughts of attendees and provide fodder for future newsletter, blog, and/or promotional video content.
Our hiking theme continued into our break with a DIY trail mix bar that offered a mix of healthy and sweet ingredients. Think about how you can turn break time into a sponsorship opportunity. Could a sponsor offer a theme- or break-related item that attendees can bring home to enjoy later?
Whether it’s coffee or alcohol, create a custom drink menu with beverage names that match your theme—another great sponsorship opportunity.
Our photographer wandered around throughout the day capturing candid moments. We share these memories on our conference website and plan to use them in next year’s marketing.
We hired a musician to create a custom song for the conference and perform it live at the end of the day. It helped that his workstation was near KiKi’s set so he could hear her conversations. He also stayed after the scheduled programming to play during happy hour.
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