With 3 years in the bag as Events Manager at Wired Sussex, it’s safe to say that I've organised a fair amount of events for the digital, media & tech community in Brighton & wider Sussex.
As well as planning and managing our own events, I'm also here to offer advice and support to Wired Sussex members organising events for our sector. Recently, in addition to queries around how the community can utilise Wired Sussex to help promote their events, I've had a number of queries ranging from venue suggestions to on ‘on the day’ best practice.
So, I thought it would be useful to pull together some of the key elements for consideration when planning an event, along with best practice tips to help make your event(s) run smoothly and successfully. Here we go....
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VENUE
There’s an abundance of event venues across Brighton and wider Sussex to suit a whole range of events, from informal meetups and speaker events, to exhibitions and full conferences.
If you are low on budget and have a speaker at your event, have a look at utilising spaces above local pubs – often you’ll be able to negotiate free (week night) exclusive hire within the expectation of a certain amount of takings behind the bar. And if you are a small group, perhaps you could use an area at the back of a pub for informal drinks and networking?
For the more structured events (and generally speaking, those with a budget!), personally I'm a fan of unique and versatile venues of which Brighton has many. Other than our home, The FuseBox (free of charge to use if available), we’ve also used 68 Middle Street, Komedia, Emporium and The Basement to name but a few, accommodating between 30 – 150 people.
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INVITES & REGISTRATION
There are lots of free online tools available such as eventbrite amongst many others, enabling quick, easy and efficient ways to invite people to your event(s) and monitor and manage registrations.
Having a go-to event page for meetups enables you as an organiser to gouge how much interest there has been in your event(s) and makes it easy for you to share and promote your event through your channels.
If using a tool such as eventbrite, it’s really helpful to publish the name/company of registered attendees and display the remaining number of tickets available for the event; this can encourage people to sign up quickly to secure a place at event, and also enable them to see that there is demand for the event by looking at who else is due to attend.
Displaying registered attendee names/company names also encourages more networking opportunities at your event(s), as people get a feel for who will be there and can identify people that they’d like to talk to, prior to the event.
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PROMOTION
Our online events calendar promotes creative, digital, media & tech events in Brighton and wider Sussex. It’s free and easy to use the calendar, and you can submit up to 6 recurring events at a time.
The events calendar sends automatic emails out to over 1200 people each week, so it’s a really great way to help spread the word of your event(s).
You can post details of your event to our Members LinkedIn Group and I’d also recommend posting it to other relevant LinkedIn groups too.
And if you’re a member of Wired Sussex, you can post information about your event to the Member News section of our website.
If you run or are planning to run a regular meetup group, our Local Networking Groups page exists to inform the community of what’s going on locally. Just drop me an email and we’ll add your meetup details to the page.
Do tweet us @WiredSussex with information and updates on your event(s) – if they’re in our calendar we’ll do our best to share these with our Twitter network to help spread the word.
If you want the online community to be talking about your event, use an event specific hashtag - just make sure that it's not too long and also that it's relevant.
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PRE EVENT
Email out to attendees to remind them about the event. This helps to reduce drop-off rates (for free events in particular) and also lets people know where they are going and times.
We send out regular emails to our event attendees, with information updates and running orders/format information in advance, so that people know what to expect and what they will get out of attending.
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ON THE DAY
Whilst the location of your event may be clear to you as the organiser, it’s not always obvious to attendees. Do consider signage (even a handwritten sign for the no budget occasion) and never assume that people know what you know.
Welcoming attendees is really important – it can be a little daunting for newbies to a meetup when there’s no obvious point of contact on arrival at the event.
Obviously for the smaller and lesser resourced events, it can be challenging to have a designated person ‘on the door’, but it can add a lot of value in both welcoming people to the event and making new contacts, as well as being able to introduce people to one and other as the event gets into full swing, so worth trying to accommodate if possible.
Name labels – who doesn't love a peel-ey name label! Whilst not always the most attractive addition to a low cost event, name labels can make a real difference and encourage people to chat to new people and also identify people that they’d particularly like to speak to. If networking is one of the main aspects of your event, this is definitely something to consider.
One thing that is particularly important to me is a clear running order so that attendees know when they are due a break, when they can grab some food or drink amongst other things.
A visible running order isn't so important for an informal networking event, but for an event focussed on speakers, little details such as this, can make a real difference.
Oh, and of course, refreshments are really important. Always ensure that there is water available at your event and that it’s clear where to access this – particularly at a conference or speaking event!
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POST EVENT
As well as thanking people for coming to your event, a post event email is the ideal time to send out further relevant information to attendees. It’s also the prime time to let people know about what’s going to happen next and when the next event will be (if relevant of course).
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Now obviously this isn't an exhaustive list, but hopefully this should give the newer event planners in the community an idea of things to accommodate within the event planning process. Any comments/thoughts/feedback welcome! It would also be interesting to hear your challenges with organising events locally, so feel free to share these.
Do get in touch if you are looking for any further advice on running a local event – happy to help!
In the meantime, keep up to date with digital, media & tech meetups and events via our community events calendar and be the first to hear about upcoming Wired Sussex events by signing up to our events mailing list.