Professional membership forums are terrific places to learn, listen, contribute and participate.
A member of one association I’m a happy member of posed a recent question, which can be used for many types of audiences:
“I’m working on an upcoming article on how to engage with attendees after your tradeshow or conference. Would love to hear your tactics or your tips to share in the article. Thank you in advance!”
This is pure connecting so I jumped in! Here’s what I shared:
Here’re some ideas to how to engage with attendees after your tradeshow or conference.
NOTE: who & how many and what format depends on the event, how engaged certain people were, meaningful new connections with attendees and audiences members, et al.
1. Calls. Phone calls and voice connect remains a top most powerful and meaningful gesture. The energy and effort to make a live phone call – even if a voicemail is left – is impactful, fun and lasting.
2. Video messages. I use this All The Time – and consistently get very positive feedback. That the message came at “just the right time” for the recipient, that it was a fun way to connect – that it was seemingly more effort than an email or text (which isn’t true – can be the same amount of effort, quicker).
If you do send emails or texts – MAKE SURE they are personalized and that permission has been expressly and clearly asked for and gotten. beyond the obvious legal parameters, it’s either wonderful or annoying to get texts.
3. Handwritten notes go a looooong way. Postcards are incredibly economical, everyone who handles them sees them (so wider marketing mojo) and simple. Client, audience & attendees will share pictures with me about the postcards I sent them that they hang up – I print them with simple sayings that mean something to the recipient which are grounded in my service and band. It’s still all about them, with a subtlety of my brand and me for memorability.
You can print them in advance – and whobody mail (from someone they want to hear from) is still highly impactful and a great investment in long-term marketing.
4. Scheduling – and serendipitously – sending them meaningful messages. Same as the above. For example, last Valentine’s Day, I started filming a few video messages + a few audio messages – and it quickly got out of hand! It was so much fun to do so – and my phone blew up with responses (the best kind of blow up!).
5. One of my practices is to film pre-event tailored videos directly inviting, exciting and expressing gratitude + a few elements to anticipate during our time together, as well as follow up videos thanking and reminding of key points and learnings. I get abundant positive feedback from clients for doing so – again, it’s economical, simple and not to be overthunk. 🙂
6. LinkedIn = great platform to say thank you, highlighting a few, thanking all – and also tagging key attendees in posts, on a recurring basis to boost their presence in our effort to thank and stay top of mind.
Twitter too – and other platforms + your newsletter, shouting out a few attendees goes a long way for sustaining long-term enthusiasm and engagement.
We all want to be seen, valued, and heard. Simple meaningful gestures accomplish just that. And fuel us – the giver – in spades.