Marketing an event is all about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time, and if there’s a medium that has withstood the test of time—it’s definitely email. While it’s among the oldest channels out there, almost half of marketing specialists consider it is still the most powerful channel to hype up your event.

We’ve compiled a set of tips you’ll find useful when promoting your event via email. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Optimize for Mobile

The fact that some countries are now “mobile-first” is proof of the overwhelming acceptance of portable devices around the world. Chances are your email will be read on a mobile device. Therefore, missing out on a considerable percentage of potential attendees just because they can’t read your email properly could hamper the results of your hard work.

Related: 8 Essential Email Writing Tips

There are a few basic principles that you should follow to be able to successfully optimize an email for mobile:

  • Don’t use too many images
  • Experiment with responsive templates
  • Try opting for buttons instead of links
  • Ideally, use an email marketing service such as MailChimp, Drip, or others that are designed to create emails for both web and mobile.

Engage with Visual Content

Rather than using too many images, consider opting for a GIF. We’re living in the “attention economy,” after all. Businesses need to fight for the awareness of their clientele that is suffering from a continually shrinking attention span. Some reports suggest that incorporating a GIF in your email will bump your engagement rates by a quarter or more.

If your event features an artist or a band, why not make a GIF from one of their most memorable performances? The internet is full of video-to-GIF converters. Give it a try!

Reflect your Audience

The event you’re advertising for is a perfect descriptor of the target audience you’re advertising to. Specific groups will often attract people of specific interests, ages and other psychosocial aspects. Why not take advantage of this data to write an email copy that will suit your potential customers?

You may want to adapt the entire email to appeal to your target audience, including color palette, optimal length, calls to action and so forth.

Consider Sending a Last-Minute Batch

Remember, the short attention spans we mentioned earlier? Well, chances are your prospective attendees have read your email, but got distracted with some urgent task at work or simply forgot about it. Don’t hesitate to send out a batch of emails 24 or 48 hours prior to the event to remind them about it. That might awaken the interest in many people and motivate them to visit your event.

Conclusion

By implementing these straightforward tips in your email marketing campaign, you’ll be able to considerably increase the number of people attending your events at no cost and with minimum effort. We hope you find them useful. Good luck!

Daniela McVicker is a seasoned writer and an editor for Top Writers Review. Her goal is to help other marketing professionals use recent trends and research to communicate better with clients and customers.

Earthquakes as strong as 4.7 magnitude hitting Northern California this week are a reminder to the whole nation to freshen up on safety drills—especially if you’re someone who thinks you should stand in a doorway (experts agree, it’s a bad idea). Wherever you are hosting your next meeting, checking with the venue ahead of time for earthquake preparedness needs to be on your safety list. Giving attendees information ahead of time about what to do in case of an emergency could help avert chaos. If your space doesn’t have its own safety procedures in place, the ShakeOut drill manual for businesses is a good place to start.

Earthquake Country Alliance, a statewide partnership of organizations committed to improving preparedness, warns not to let past experiences give you a false sense of safety. You may have experienced an earthquake, but don’t confuse a 3-point-something jostle with the full throttle of a big shake—the kind seismologists say many quake-prone counties are due for. The best practice is to act immediately as if the quake will be big, not to wait until shaking worsens.

Remember: Drop, Cover and Hold On

The proper procedure is to drop, cover and hold on. Drop to your hands and knees, cover your neck and the back of your head with one hand, and hold on to a nearby desk or table. If you are within a few feet of a desk or table, crawl underneath it to protect yourself from falling objects.

Faulty Methods

Let’s review what not to do, as listed by the Earthquake Alliance:

  1. Do not run outside or to other rooms during shaking.

If you’re inside, stay inside and practice drop, cover and hold on. If you’re outside, stay outside, but quickly get to a clearing if you can safely do so—the exteriors of buildings, windows, power lines and trees pose the most threat.

  1. Do not stand in a doorway.

The old advice to get in a doorway proliferated due to a photo from the aftermath of the 1906 Earthquake which showed a door frame as the only standing structure left of a collapsed house. This would be good advice—if you lived in an unreinforced adobe house or an old wooden-framed house. In modern buildings, the doorframes are no longer the sturdiest structures. If you’re inside, crawl under a desk or table to protect yourself from falling objects.

  1. Do not get in the “triangle of life”.

You may have seen the viral emails advocating the “triangle of life” procedure to surviving an earthquake. Official rescue teams do NOT advocate this method; the process seeks to protect you from a pancake building collapse, but statistics show that injuries and deaths are much more often caused by falling and flying objects.

Shakey States

While Alaska, California, and (surprise?) Oklahoma are the top states for quakes in recent years, don’t assume that living elsewhere means no cause for concern. Shifty Northwest plates are a looming danger, as experts say a mega-quake is 20 percent likely to happen in Northern Oregon in the next 50 years. The Midwest has also seen heightened quake activity in recent years, and places like Tennessee, Kansas and Utah all have cities in possible danger from future quakes.

There’s an App for That

Luckily, there’s nothing tech-forward thinking can’t revolutionize, from food delivery to protection from natural disasters. Enter MyShake, a Berkeley University app designed to help detect early earthquake activity through your phone’s sensors and to deliver warnings. Simultaneously, it records quakes to improve its cautionary systems and record valuable data for scientists. It’s not just safety for the Sunshine State, either, but is meant to develop into a global system.

Attendees have more choices than ever for spending their most precious resource—their time. They want to know that the return on the experience at a conference will be both educational and entertaining. Planning an event in a city that is pioneering advances in everything from technology and sustainability to F&B and wellness is one way to ensure your event is relevant. A meeting in Las Vegas can elevate the appeal of your next event while simplifying the workload.

Wisdom in Crowds

Las Vegas is the world’s leading destination for business travel for good reason. Las Vegas is equipped to host large-scale events and a diverse number of smaller meetings simultaneously. The destination is home to approximately 150,000 hotel rooms in some of the top resort properties, providing an incredible value proposition for travelers.

McCarran International Airport (LAS) offers 1,000 daily nonstop flights from U.S. and international cities, making Las Vegas a fantastic option when considering time and budget. And, since Las Vegas is a 24-hour town, business travelers can maximize their time on the show floor without missing out on the incredible offerings available throughout the destination.

More is Better

It’s an incredibly exciting time to host an event in Las Vegas. In addition to the Las Vegas Convention Center expansion and renovation, continued investment in the meeting and convention industry remains strong in Las Vegas with nearly 3.5 million additional sq. ft. of meeting space coming online in Las Vegas within the next five years. Large-scale convention and exhibit projects throughout the destination include the recently completed 250,000 sq. ft. MGM Grand Conference Center expansion. Projects slated for completion in 2020 include the 550,000 sq. ft. Caesars Forum, 430,000 sq. ft. Wynn Las Vegas meeting space expansion and the 315,000 sq. ft. Expo at World Market Center.

Innovation in Action

As the home of CES, the largest consumer technology show in the world, Las Vegas is synonymous with innovation. A significant testament to Las Vegas’ resolve to elevate standards in technology and hospitality is the recent approval of LVCVA’s agreement with Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to design, construct and operate a people mover for the Las Vegas Convention Center via a loop of underground express-route tunnels that could carry passengers in autonomous electric vehicles at high speeds.

In September, LVCVA launched ‘Lili’ as a tool for meeting and planners. Lili is a chatbot that utilizes artificial intelligence to engage visitors on vegasmeansbusiness.com to assist with their planning and booking needs. Many of the properties include emerging tech in their amenities, including Vdara’s autonomous indoor robots Fetch and Jett, Caesars Entertainment’s virtual concierge Ivy, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ text messaging service Rose and Aria Resort & Casino’s digital tablets to control conditions in the guest room.

Recently, LVCVA celebrated new developments in its partnership with Tencent and WeChat with the announcement of a new mini program on the WeChat Go platform. The launch of the “Smart Event Smart Travel” WeChat go campaign is aimed at enhancing the Chinese business traveler experience by communicating using China’s largest social media platform.

A Competitive Mindset

If you can dream it, you can do it in Las Vegas. The destination is rapidly evolving as a top sports city where opportunities to create memorable group experiences are endless. The city has a long history of hosting high-profile sporting events such as boxing, National Finals Rodeo and NASCAR. The addition of new teams and venues including the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, Las Vegas Lights Football Club, Las Vegas Aviators at the Las Vegas Ballpark and the highly-anticipated arrival of the NFL’s Raiders franchise at the developing Allegiant Stadium has only added to this enthusiasm. Esports is another rapidly-developing market segment supported by large-scale event venues in Las Vegas, including the HyperX Esports Arena at Luxor Hotel & Casino and Millennial Esports in downtown Las Vegas.

Some additional options for groups include the introduction of outdoor event spaces, which allow guests to rejuvenate and expand their experiences beyond the walls of the meeting space. With more than 320 days of sunshine annually, Las Vegas has become popular as a place to embrace the great outdoors.

CSR Made Easy

Several Las Vegas-based trade shows have developed environmentally conscious programming for attendees. Some events, including IMEX-America, which hosted 14,000 event professionals at Sands Expo Center, encouraged exhibitors to sign a pledge detailing green initiatives. Other groups have worked with vendors to assure booth materials are donated or recycled when the show floor closes.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are also of great importance to many events taking place in Las Vegas. Whether it is National Hardware Show donating $25,000 to Veterans Village and supplies to Opportunity Village or National Automobile Dealers Association helping to reopen an Auto Skills Center at Nellis Support Teams, LVCVA can connect event organizers with local agencies to develop meaningful programming that engages attendees.

Elevated Culinary Opportunities

As the Entertainment Capital of the World, it stands to reason Las Vegas is also a natural fit for some of the world’s top culinary talent. In addition to attracting top restaurants, many properties offer custom dining packages and experiences to meet event needs of all varieties. Options range from developing a creative conference menu inclusive of a wide range of dietary needs to group dining experiences that may place attendees in the kitchen, creating exciting meals or seated at an elaborate table scape on an iconic Las Vegas stage. You may even have the opportunity for attendees to mingle with celebrity chefs. Tour operators offer intimate dining experiences showcasing several restaurant properties and Las Vegas landmarks.

Las Vegas is a destination rooted in hospitality and reinvention. Whether attendees arrive for their first visit, or their first visit in a while, they will be amazed by the development, innovation and opportunities taking shape in southern Nevada.

When the going gets tough, event professionals with an ownership mindset get going. Attendees at Smart Meeting Northwest at the year-old Hotel Interurban in Seattle learned how to shift from a victim mindset to that of a thriver by adopting the attitude of and being a powerful giver.

The day started with Dr. Dan Diamond, a former street mime who now works as part of a disaster emergency response team deployed to places such as Haiti and New Orleans. He explained that to be effective in a life-or-death situation, such as a flood or live shooter incident, you have to be committed to helping others. Victims and bystanders aren’t the story. Those who cultivate an action mindset change the dialogue in their head, which shifts emotional attitudes and manifests better results.

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That same attitude is what marks effective teams. “If only 10 percent of a team has that engaged, ownership mindset, it can go viral and change the culture of the organization,” he said.

“That commitment to investing in the lives of others is what makes you unstoppable,” Diamond concluded.

Planners and suppliers proved their action mindset on the 19th floor one-on-one meeting rooms, overlooking the mountains. They shared descriptions of inspired meeting spaces in locations near and far, made new friends and left with a curated swag bag full of ideas.

More: Spring into Action with Your March Smart Style

Smart Meetings CEO Marin Bright, who is celebrating her 10th year of bringing the industry together in a focused and fun format, displayed her own #neverstop attitude in the after-party on the roof as she invited everyone to the next Smart Meeting at Omni Frisco in Texas in April. There is no rest for the committed event professional.

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You could fly all over the country visiting properties and talking to CVBs, read multiple books on career development and book meals at the best restaurants. Or you could attend a three-day Smart Meeting National event in Las Vegas as a hosted buyer.

More than 150 event professionals met at Planet Hollywood this week for an inspiration infusion in the form of one-on-one meetings to talk about new places to bring groups, gain advice from top business coaches and have elevated networking experiences. Here are some nuggets of wisdom gleaned from Smart Meeting West National.

Drop the Ball

Devin Henderson

When you are learning to juggle a soccer ball, the first thing you need do is drop it. Try kicking it once, then pick it up and kick it again until you can do this thousands of times, as speaker Devin Henderson demonstrated on stage.

The same is true in the events industry. Expectations are changing fast and to stay relevant, you have to try something new. That requires starting ugly and picking up the ball as many times as you drop it. If you do that enough times, you can turn that undesired outcome into a mic drop moment—a success that shuts down the competition and establishes you as a master.

Henderson had one more piece of advice for event professionals: “To operate at the highest levels, you need a coach and a competitor.” A coach cheers you on and a competitor challenges you to do better. A competitor could also turn into a collaborator, so be open was a message at SM National.

Get Off the Struggle Bus

Speaker Judson Laipply—the first person to go video viral when he posted his performance of “The Evolution of Dance”—also lauded the benefits and inevitability of encountering challenges. “We all spend time on the struggle bus, but that is OK, because that is how we learn and grow,” he said.

Laipply advocated for making the best of bad outcomes by being positive when you get stuck on what he calls “the struggle bus.”

“Life isn’t always the party you hoped for, but while you are here, you might as well dance,” he said.

Make the Effort Worthwhile

Adopting a positive perspective was also the focus of insights shared by career coach Phill Nosworthy. “Only you can make work worth it,” he said. “You have to understand why you go to work to know whether it is worth it.” For event professionals, that could mean delivering elevated experiences or introducing new ways of learning.

Whatever fulfillment means to you, you have to converge the skills, substance, knowledge and application to achieve the best results. “Knowledge acquisition alone is not growth: You have to be able to apply it,” he said. “Without, application, acquisition is procrastination.”

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Smart Meetings founder and CEO Marin Bright with Carolyn from Visit Park City at the 2019 Smart Women In Meetings Awards.

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What better way to celebrate the transformational work female event professionals do every day than to bring them together for an educational and inspirational summit in Las Vegas? Smart Meetings did just this at Planet Hollywood in a day devoted to learning about new ways to communicate, connect and care for themselves and others. 

Perspective Matters 

Conflict resolution coach Amilya Antonetti started off the Smart Woman Summit by sharing tools that attendees could use to communicate with those who process information differently. In a world made up of visual, auditory and kinesthetic processors, being able to understand how other people are motivated and operate can help guide how you leverage their unique abilities.

“We are all wired differently, but if we understand each person’s strengths, we can more effectively work with them,” she said, explaining the results of her Holistic Intelligence Quotient (H.I.Q.).

All Well

To be effective over time, you also have understand what your body is telling you. Dr. Rachel Abrams (“Doctor Rachel) explained that you have to be in balance with yourself, nature and others.

“Being in the right relationship with yourself can make you healthier, more successful and more relaxed,” she said. Living in your whole body—not just from the neck up—will allow you to have more joy, intuition and resiliency.

Shared Learning

In a room filled with women performing at the top of the events industry, it only made sense to give them space to learn from each other. Haute Dokimazo, a group that facilitates spontaneous think tanks—crowdsourced breakouts voted on through sticky notes—led discussions on everything from sustainable meetings to mentoring and prospecting.

Celebrate Women

After an empowering day of learning, the networking moved to Paris Las Vegas, where the Smart Women in Meetings winners were feted in a glittering awards gala. Then Smart Meetings founder Marin Bright challenged these accomplished leaders to go out into the world arm-in-arm to be change-agents for good with this quote:

“Many of the attendees had already expressed their commitment to level-up by putting their goals in writing on an intention tree. Powerful examples included: “Be relentless in pursuit of my goals,” “Be a positive influence and never stop learning” and “Reignite the humanity in events.”

Smart Meeting Speaker: ‘Gig Economy’ Requires Multiple Ways of Engaging People
Olga Mizrahi

Independent workers are increasing at a dizzying rate, and to succeed, it’s becoming all the more important for them to find multiple ways of engaging people, emphasized Olga Mirzahi in her keynote address at Smart Meeting South Central National in New Orleans on Sunday.

Speaking to planners and suppliers at The Jung Hotel, Mizrahi—an instructor in digital marketing at the University of California, Irvine CE—said that surveys show that the independent workforce, which now consists of some 27 percent of the American population, could increase to 50 percent by 2020.  She noted that tech is the enabler of independent, or freelance, work, and that millennials are leading the way, with 47 percent of them freelancing.

Related: Most Millennials View Business Travel as Perk

She cited a McKinsey Global Institute Study that showed that for every primary independent worker who would prefer a traditional job, more than two workers hope to shift in the freelance direction.

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Referring to her new book, The Gig is Up, Mizrahi characterized this marketplace shift as the “gig economy,” which is made up of project-based, on-demand services that can be provided by anyone, anywhere.

In this competitive new economy in which old jobs are increasingly becoming obsolete and freelancers are becoming much more important, it’s essential for independent workers to put the best version of themselves front and center to compete.

More: The Independent Planner’s Guide

“There are all kinds of ways to tell your story,” Mizrahi said. She described three categories of media that can be employed.

  • Single media, in which a single story is delivered by a single media (a book, for instance)
  • Multimedia, in which a single story is delivered in more than one format (a book made into a movie, for example)
  • Transmedia, in which a single story is broken into multiple story elements and delivered within multiple media. Audience members may contribute additional story elements (such as a story made into a movie, and an interactive website and webisodes).

“I want to empower you to tell your story and how you or your event are awesome,” Mizrahi said.

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When 200 event professionals gathered at the newly expanded and renamed JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort on Paradise Coast in Florida, they left with an enhanced LinkedIn network and strategies for dealing with stress by laughing at the things you can and disrupting everything else.

More: 4 Ways to Spice Up Your LinkedIn Profile

Look for the Woo-Hoo in Life

Speaker Tim Gard set the stage for the group by encouraging attendees to shrug off the things you can’t change that go wrong at an event (such as rain at an outdoor reception) with a mental “bummer.” He advised that for the rest of the program, participants find the joy in them and celebrate with a “woo-hoo.” From boarding flights to managing partnerships and relationships at home, Gard suggests everyone “find the fun.”

Make Yourself Relevant

New ALHI President and CEO Michael Dominguez has his own suggestions for disrupting in the face of a changing economy. “You don’t have to blow everything up, just modernize it to stay relevant,” he said.

Steal Tricks from Experts

Jeff Haden, author of The Motivation Myth, has interviewed top performers in every field for his TED Talk and concluded the secret to success is to live an unexamined life, contrary to what Socrates may have said. “Figure out the couple of things you do that matter and keep doing them consistently,” he said.

Find the Best Partners

Smart Meetings is legendary for connecting top planners and suppliers in efficient, fast-paced meetings that lead to triple-digit numbers of RFPs changing hands. In addition to making these valuable connections, attendees got a first look at JW Marriott’s $320 million expansion, including adult-only Paradise by Sirene, with 94 guest rooms served by a beach butler and virtual concierge. The addition brought the total number of guest rooms to 810 and added an upscale tapas restaurant and rooftop pool. The expansion also included 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space optimized for light and flow.

Next door, attendees visited Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort & Spa, which recently completed a $60 million renovation, including the installation of the Gulf Front Great Lawn. The two-phase reimagining included all 310 guest rooms and 12,000 sq. ft. of meeting space with a warm, beach vibe.

 

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Smart Meetings founder and CEO Marin Bright

After a decade of bringing event professionals together to share strategies and learn about new ways to wow attendees, Smart Meetings pushed the format to pack in even more meaningful networking and sharing. The first Smart Meeting of 2019 was on Jan. 23 at Fairmont San Francisco, and attendees got a peek at some of the improvements being rolled out this year.

Access to New, Exciting Spaces and Ideas

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View from the top! Aka the balcony at Fairmont San Francisco during Smart Meeting Northern California. That's the top.

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Mahalo for invigorating one-on-one appointments.

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A very SF Giants' spread!

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A little bit of Morocco, a lot a bit of fun in the billiards room at the Fairmont.

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Once more, for emphasis.

 

Smart Meeting events were one of the first to offer high-energy, one-on-one appointments. These hyper-efficient meetings allow attendees to talk to lots of people who can help them up their game in a short amount of time. The connections are generated by a combination of emerging matching technology and high-touch concierge pairings.

 

 

The first batch of these high-level networking appointments unfolded against the backdrop of stunning interior and exterior views at the Northern California landmark destination property, so of course the welcome reception was held in a stunning, three-bedroom penthouse suite. Over truffled risotto and a signature cocktail, attendees got to know each other better without a large clock ticking in the background.

 

 

This exclusive space, which has hosted countless presidents over the years, featured a Moroccan-themed billiards room, library tower and patio views of the city as the sun set and street lights clicked on. Having access to rooms that few groups have stepped in before and recently remodeled spaces that will soon be in demand has become one of the trademarks of Smart Meeting events.

Digital Megaphone

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This year, Smart Meetings is adding new elements that allow more people to benefit from these valuable resources than ever before. Because only a limited number of people can fit into a penthouse or at one-on-one appointment tables, Smart Meetings integrated social media into the mix with Facebook Live and Twitter posts.

Marin Bright carefully selects vendors offering tips at these events and knows that our thousands of followers will want the updates and deals being presented on-site. Now it is possible for event professionals following along at home to gain insights on the words of wisdom from speakers and presenters. They can even comment, repost and share with their friends from the convenience of their phone or desktop.

Intentional Optimism

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Featured at our after-party: The Wine Militia, sending everyone home with their own customized bottle of wine.

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Featured at our after-party: The Wine Militia, sending everyone home with their own customized bottle of wine.

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What's fate got to do with it? Our tarot card station had attendees lining up for a reading!

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If you haven't been to San Francisco's Tonga Room... well, you should have been at Smart Meeting Northern California!

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Can't have wine without cheese, so we brought the whole Cowgirl Creamery to our attendees for a Taste of SF.

 

We all know that stress is one of the leading causes of disease and burnout. January’s speaker, Kay Frances, suggested that event professionals laugh their way to a healthy life balance. The author of The Funny Thing about Stress; A Seriously Humorous Guide to a Happier Life, explained that negative emotions should be visitors who help us reevaluate our situation, not full-time house guests. She suggests that instead of purging closets Kondo-style, planners should rid their lives of toxic people. “Choose to be with people who nourish your soul and give you joy,” she said.

More words of wisdom will be shared at Smart Meeting Southern California at Sheraton Grand Los Angeles on Feb. 28.

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All of us, at some point in our lives and careers, will face adversity—it’s inevitable. How we handle our setbacks determines our success. This was Justin Forsett’s message at Smart Meeting Southwest on Tuesday.

Speaking to planners and suppliers at Omni Frisco Hotel just outside of Dallas, Forsett—a 9-season NFL veteran—embodied the importance of determination amid adversity. His inspirational keynote address, “Greatness Grows Best in the Shadows: A Story of Perseverance and Hope,” told the story of Forsett’s climb from poverty and shame to a life of success and fame. He shared with the crowd all the ups and downs and lessons he learned along the way. As he noted, “How we get to the top is more important than being there. We get our greatest gains when we are being challenged. That’s when we grow.”

More: Four Things Successful Event Marketers Do

Forsett’s four ingredients for overcoming obstacles and creating success:

  • Excel at what you can control. Sometimes obstacles can feel insurmountable. Forsett understands that all too well. He advised attendees to stop asking why, and instead, ask how they might benefit from those obstacles in the long run. From there, “focus on what you can control and excel at it,” he added. “I was able to play NFL for 9 years, not because I was the biggest or the strongest or the fastest, but because I was able to excel at what I could control: my attitude, effort, preparation and the ability to make people better around me.”
  • Be prepared. Preparation helped Forsett excel. He noted that never giving up is especially important when you find yourself in the shadows. “I made a decision in the midst of adversity that I wouldn’t let those moments define me…I put myself in the best situation possible to maximize every opportunity,” he explained. He urged the crowd to “always compete at a high level,” using faith, heart and perseverance, and to “never give up.”
  • Build your huddle. Using a football analogy, Forsett stressed the importance of building a huddle—a team of supporters who have your back and encourage you when times get bad.  “You can’t do [it] by yourself,” he told attendees. “You have to have a team around you.” And while your team should be supportive, they should also hold you accountable to be the best you can be, he noted.
  • Serve others. Forsett believes that service—to one’s community, family, friends, employees, teammates and clients is vital to success. “Leaders must serve; leaders have the opportunity to change lives…if you feel you are too big to serve, then you are probably too small to lead,” he said.

More: What is Your Definition of Good Leadership?