Want to integrate new technology into your event, but don’t know how? It can be difficult as a planner to decipher through all of the tech-talk that is thrown your way. However, it couldn’t hurt to have some quick tips in your back pocket to use if you need them. Incorporating just one of these elements would improve your attendee’s engagement and overall event success.

By now you should know what social media is, and how it can help your event. Social media can transform events. Try to adding elements of blogging to your event. Have a Facebook fan page, or event promote your events using social media outlets, and see your attendance soar.

Crowdsourcing

Getting insight, ideas, votes, and other input from your attendees and online community is a great way to engage, and obtain information pertinent to your event. There are many tools, often free, that you can use get attendees to work together for a desired result.

Video

Video is just awesome. Adding video just allows the attendee to have another visual during their meeting. You can choose from many video’s on Youtube that relate to your content, take video of your attendees, perhaps have a speaker pre-record a message on video. Find easy ways to implement a small element of video in your events.

Mobile Apps

There is an app for everything right? Why not have an app for your event? By infusing an app into your event, you can give attendees a chance to engage intimately with your meeting by finding resources, agendas, access to social media, and more.

Tablet-Friendly Meetings

Everyone has a tablet now. What does that mean for you? It might be helpful for you to make sure that your websites, and communication are tablet friendly. Although it might be a small gesture, it is a huge relief for tablet-owners to have  information handy when needing to access information quickly.

Go Hybrid

Blend your face-to-face meeting with a virtual component and go hybrid. Some companies use this element often to allow local and non-local attendees to have a similar experience around specific content.

So how do you start incorporating all of this technology stuff? I love to use Corbin Ball’s website as a resource for more in depth explanations. It is a wealth of information and can assist you with many current sites to get your started on any one of the areas above. So have you used one of the ways above to integrate technology into your event? What was the outcome? Was your event more noticeable, more successful? We would like to hear about it below.

photo credit: Jason A. Howie via photopin cc