Like many of you, our team regularly attends conferences, presentations, tradeshows,  and seminars, many which feature talented speakers who share valuable content. Yet at times event organizers underutilize social media tools that would increase the event’s exposure and reach a broader audience.

Organizers are tasked with a laundry list of responsibilities and this aspect is easily overlooked or viewed as a “nice to have” rather than a “must have” service. To prevent this situation from happening at your next event, we’ve created a checklist to efficiently ensure maximum impact, engagement and reach.

• Create a unique hashtag for the event and clearly display it, encouraging the attendees to use it when posting about the event.
• Publicize a live tweet stream of the event through the organizer’s Twitter account prior to the event start date, so that those unable to attend can follow the top takeaways and participate in the conversation and sharing. This may seem counter intuitive to organizers who charge for events, but the sharing and ultimate reach of the posts will boost participation for future follow-up events.
• Enable a wifi service for your guests, if cell service is a problem in a venue. Many venues block cell signals which significantly impacts social coverage of an event.
• Ensure that Twitter handles for presenters are clearly marked throughout the presentation (at the bottom of each slide)—not just at the beginning or end.
• Package posts that presenters can use to promote the event prior to the conference dates on their own personal or company social sites and in eblasts, email signatures, websites, etc.
• List the conference on all local online calendars.
• Establish a specific check-in with Foursquare so that when attendees arrive they are not just checking in at the conference center, but also checking in at your event name at the conference center.
• Have an event team member who engages with social participants through the conference, thanking them for engaging, sharing their posts, etc.
• Help your attendees stay focused on the presentation by being the first to post content. Attendees following along with the event hashtag will be able to easily retweet or share your posted content rather than typing out the highlights on their own. This also gives your account a boost in exposure as your content is shared.

Successful social media promotion can enhance your event’s attendee experience and reach the audience members who were unable to attend in person. It is an excellent way to elevate the impact of your event. By utilizing these tips, you will see immediate interaction among followers, potential customers and others. Instead of making this a day-of afterthought, plan out and implement these tools.  By doing so, you will see immediate interaction among followers, potential customers and others, which will increases brand and name recognition.

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