Event Manager's Outline
Leading a live PresentPLUS program is easy. But managing the entire special event experience can be more involved. And the bigger the event, the more detailing is required.
At PresentPLUS, special events are our business. That's why we are happy to share these tips with you for planning your event. And if you would like to contact us about our PLUService Team of event specialists, we're always ready to take care of business.
Primary Questions
Purpose: What is this event all about?
Different events come with different objectives. Is this a strictly
informational presentation or motivational? Is there a high degree
of technical learning required on the part of the attendees? Is
it a sales pitch? We encourage event planners to identify and
focus on what they see as the key components of their distance
event.
Content: What is being presented?
Is this a time-specific event, or possibly a challenging corporate
message re downsizing? Will you want to learn about your audience
as much as they need to learn from you? These types of questions
can help you select how to use audio, graphics and interactivity
to achieve your desired results.
The Audience
Audience Makeup: Who's coming?
Will the audience be composed of employees, customers, shareholders,
trade group members, students or media? Understanding the relationship
of the audience to the presenting organization helps shape the
overall plans. The higher the value of a program (such as shareholder
briefings or media campaigns) the more effort must go into the
details. It's one thing to miss a detail on an informal employee
program, quite another to leave a bad impression with important clientele.
Marketing: Attracting and inviting attendees.
Is this an open public event, or a private one? Is it a "must attend" event as directed by the boss, or a "we'd love to have you" event requiring a marketing approach? Are the invitation targets obvious, such as the CFO's of your current clients, or more vague such as directors of communication for large companies east of the Mississippi? Plan lead times and marketing materials to match these needs.
Registration: Tracking the audience.
Event size and audience makeup will determine the registration system options. Do you need to collect advance attendee info? Who will keep the master registration list? Are credit card or other payments involved? Is security an issue? Will the registration mechanism be online forms, e-mail, fax or phone?
Participant Management: Confirm and prepare.
Depending on the audience and the purpose of the presentation, participant management could be as simple as a single e-mail with the time, date and presentation passcode. For very special audiences it could be worth the effort to include an advance personal contact to confirm readiness for each attendee, and follow up notices in advance of the program.
Creating the Program
Graphics: What's the look and who's doing it?
PowerPoint offers a quick, flexible platform for designing graphics.
You can easily create your own templates, drop in photos and add text. But putting your images front and center in a virtual environment means that they will be the number one representation of your company or service. We encourage customers to carefully consider their choices with respect to color, font, layout, use of text and more. Be sure to proof your slides carefully and run a dress rehearsal with a critical eye, to see them in the same way that
your audience will.
Interactivity: What can the audience tell you?
The interactive features in PresentPLUS provide several key benefits. First, they can help you understand audience opinions on topics of relevance. Second, they can provide you with demographic profiles of your attendees. Third, they can help you keep your presentation focused on the content that matters the most. Finally, you can test your audience's knowledge or retention of the program material through online testing. And keep in mind that interactive programs give the audience an increased sense of involvement as well.
Presenting: Who's on stage?
PresentPLUS allows for multiple co-leaders in diverse geographic locations. Experience has shown that presenters (especially newcomers) perform best in the single role of delivering content while allowing co-leaders to manage attendees, handle polling, respond to chat messages, etc. Since PresentPLUS is so easy to use, only a minimum of training and dress rehearsal time is usually required, but we provide unlimited free dress rehearsal access and presenters
should spend enough time to be comfortable with the medium.
Record & Playback: Did everyone attend? If the live presentation did not have 100% attendance, or if there is an additional audience for the recorded version of a presentation (such as a shareholder's
briefing) it may be useful to archive the content for later password-protected
access. The easy functionality and low cost of recording events makes it an attractive way to extend your presentation's reach.
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