As event planners, we’re always looking for ways to make things easier. Event planning is a big job, with a lot of responsibility and a lot of hats to wear, but almost everyone involved in the events we plan has access to a tool that can make it easier on all of us: a cell phone.
Both event planners and attendees alike can use cell phone in many ways to make events safer, more effective, and more efficient. Here, we cover just five of those ways.
Send Event Reminders
Our events run more smoothly when we have an accurate count of attendees. Everything from how much food we prepare to how many chairs are set out are dependent on this number. If our estimate is poor, we waste time and money.
Sending out event reminders is a great way to gently remind attendees to RSVP. What’s more, these event reminders can convey last-minute information and instructions to attendees to make everything run more smoothly.
Whether you’re hoping to convince attendees to RSVP, remind them of a closed venue entrance, or let them know that no liquids are allowed inside the building, a mass text or voice call could be just the tool for you.
Develop An Emergency Communication Plan
Most event planners for large events have some idea of what they would do to keep attendees safe in case of an emergency. But do they know how they would share those plans with attendees?
Emergency notifications via mass text message or voice broadcast are another way to make an event run smoothly. Messages outlining what to do in the case of the most probable emergencies can be recorded in advance and then sent to all attendees at the push of a button. This makes sure that all attendees are notified simultaneously and instantly, even if they’ve stepped away from the main conference room.
Set Up A Hotline For Event-Related Questions
Anyone who’s orchestrated a large event knows that problems and questions will arrive. Many of these are simple, and can be answered with a word or a sentence.
Unfortunately, using staff to address this kind of issue can problematic. A physical help desk can cause bottlenecks. Instead, event planners can create text or voice hotlines where attendees can call or text in questions via shortcodes or vanity numbers. Any staff member with access to the inbox or voicemail can respond as soon as they have an answer.
Optimize Your Event Website
A solid 63% of all web traffic originates from a mobile device. This means that any online material that we expect attendees to read or have access to must be mobile-friendly.
Ensuring that attendees can access online information in a readable form means that our attendees arrive with fewer questions. It also cuts down on the number of people who need information during the event itself, assuming most attendees can look back from their phones.
In fact, event planning is a particularly key area of importance for mobile sites, since very few people have access to a full computer when traveling, whether it’s to the next building over or a different country.
Gather Feedback
It can also be beneficial to use cell phones to gather feedback during and after each event you plan.
In some cases, this can be done with a hotline, similarly to how you would gather questions and concerns. Phone polling and text surveys, though, can help collect and analyze answers to specific questions.
Compiling feedback more quickly allows us to act on it more quickly. This means that each event should be better than the last as we make changes based on what we learn. It also allows clients to know that we’re serious about taking feedback into consideration and always improving.
Conclusion
It isn’t hard to make your events more efficient using a cell phone. And because the vast majority of attendees already own cell phones, it isn’t expensive, either. This single tool can be used in many ways, making them the Swiss army knife of the event planning toolbox.
With a simple subscription to a mass messaging or calling service, you could be well on your way to safer, happier event experiences for you, your team, and your attendees.
