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  • From One Marketer to Another: Best Practices for Attendee Data Capture & Reporting

    From One Marketer to Another: Best Practices for Attendee Data Capture & Reporting

    For the majority of my career, I’ve led demand and campaign strategy focused on attracting and engaging qualified buying groups across a series of integrated programs and tactics. One of the most influential tactics in our program mix and customer lifecycle always circled back to events. Events by far are the most impactful in acquiring and further engaging net new, building better relationships with existing customers, and even facilitating cross-sell/upsell opportunities. These are in addition to brand awareness and thought leadership benefits.

    Now coming up on a year working for RainFocus, I have had the unique opportunity to learn and observe how leading customers and innovators partner with our product and services team to elevate their event strategy and unify these efforts with marketing. With the digital transformation of events, I’m excited for the future of events and incorporating this into the overall marketing mix.

    In this first post of a series, I’m excited to share some tips and best practices (down in the weeds style) for attendee data capture and reporting based on our configuration for our annual conference, RainFocus INSIGHT, which took place in January.

    Maximize Use of Event Attendee Data Within Your Tech Stack

    With our Salesforce integration, rich behavioral data is captured in the RainFocus Platform and seamlessly passed and recorded in Salesforce to maximize event impact and power sales and marketing success. This integration provided the team with the ability to capture and utilize registrant/attendee engagement and behavioral data to accelerate campaign, qualification, and sales conversions.

    As defined in our integration setup, powerful rules matched a registrant based on their email address in Salesforce. If a match was found, the integration triggered the association of the contact or lead record with the respective campaign and assigned the defined member status (e.g., Registered). If a match was not found, a contact was created and associated to the account (based on a related lookup for email domain on the account record) or created as a lead, depending on the defined rules. That contact or lead record was then associated with the respective campaign. Like many organizations supporting modern buying motions today, we follow an account-based engagement model so associating registrants with their respective accounts was key for sales and marketing visibility and conversions.

    All registration data is pushed in real-time so internal stakeholders always had up-to-date information and performance data via Salesforce Reports (in addition to RainFocus Dashboards). This empowered our Sales team to increase registrations and drive more qualified contacts to register for the event — all while working in their familiar, core system. With the data in Salesforce, our Sales team was able to easily see who had registered from their accounts and identify those who had not yet registered for personalized outreach and follow-up. This also enabled effortless roll-ups of account owner-level data to power a healthy competition that motivated our Sales team to acquire delegates. In addition, account-level roll-ups provided actionable insights into client account representation, new logo prospects, and intra-pipeline acceleration opportunities.

    With real-time integrations seamlessly passing attendee data on session attendance and engagement into Salesforce via the Campaign Members object, we also created child campaigns and nested them under the parent event. This enabled us to pass rich, behavioral data over, including status, engagement duration, as well as other key details. The team was able to easily aggregate data and filter by session, account owner, or account. This deep level of integration enabled us to provide visibility and actionable insights to power more timely, personalized, and effective sales and marketing outreach for accelerated attendee conversions. In addition, our sales and marketing teams have been able to combine this behavioral data with existing data sets to fuel planning for more personalized and integrated attendee journeys.

    Ultimately, our team was able to quantify and demonstrate event impact and ROI. In addition to the robust ROI analytics and dashboards provided within the RainFocus Platform, the team ran cross-object reports within Salesforce — to track and monitor the pipeline opportunities and closed deals attributed to the event.

    Want to learn more? Tune into the following sessions to learn how you can get the most out of your event data:

    Reaching Integration Nirvana

    What’s Working: Analytics and UTM Tagging to Track Your Event Marketing Efforts

  • How to Reevaluate Your Virtual Event Content Strategy

    How to Reevaluate Your Virtual Event Content Strategy

    Almost one year ago, RainFocus was the first event marketing and management solution to convert a massive global conference into a successful virtual experience. At that time, nobody could have foreseen how valuable virtual event content would become. As we tracked events throughout 2020, we saw some dramatic increases when comparing spring events to fall and winter events. The following statistics are derived from events delivered to 2.5 million attendees from over 165 countries worldwide.

    Sessions Had More Traffic

    By fall, session attendance increased by 43% and session participation raised 39%. The rise in session engagement proves that content is king when it comes to virtual events. As attendees become more accustomed to digital session formats, companies continue to add digital events to their event portfolios—creating a continuous virtual experience for clients, prospects, and other stakeholders.

    Shorter Sessions Are Preferred

    The rise in session engagement may be due to the fact that the average session duration has decreased 14.5%. Many event professionals discovered early on that attendees were not interested in watching long online sessions and have since shortened their sessions. RainFocus President Doug Baird explained, “Pretty much everyone is dealing with virtual fatigue. People do not have enough patience to stick with a session that’s going to be an hour long.”

    In addition to shortening session lengths, event teams are playing with different session formats. Some are arranging sessions back to back while others are releasing sessions slowly over time. Both methods have proven effective in a virtual setting. We advise that you first think about your audience and then ensure that you connect the right experience to that audience. The length of your sessions should be determined by format. More interactive lab sessions may be better consumed in a longer time frame due to their immersive nature whereas presentations are better kept short.

    Meetings Increased in Value

    Much like sessions, we saw a significant uptick in meeting engagement. While there were 23% fewer meetings, the meeting attendance rate increased by 810% and overall participation in meetings increased by 988%. Attendees have always participated in events to meet with individuals and this growth suggests that they are still looking to connect with others at events.

    Sponsored Sessions Outperform Virtual Booths in Engagement

    Sponsored session participation increased 120% from spring to fall whereas the average number of exhibitors visited dropped 27%. Our customers have attributed that to utilizing better marketing strategies and the availability of additional technology features to drive more traffic to sponsored sessions. Enabling exhibitors to gather and qualify leads through session attendance has never been more valuable.

    In addition to gathering leads through attendance, sponsored sessions also have a positive effect on virtual booths. Exhibitors who produce a sponsored session net greater virtual booth visits, meetings, chats, downloads—resulting in a magnitude of leads.

    To learn more about RainFocus’ virtual content management, request a demo or watch Upgrade the Quality of Your Content at rainfocusinsight.com.


  • RainFocus Receives Highest Current Offering Score in The Forrester Wave™ Marketing Event Management Solutions Report

    RainFocus Receives Highest Current Offering Score in The Forrester Wave™ Marketing Event Management Solutions Report

    Today, RainFocus was listed as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Marketing Events Management Solutions, Q1 2021. We believe the strength of the RainFocus Platform is demonstrated by its highest-ranked current offering category score. The Forrester report states, “RainFocus’ capabilities for agenda management, session engagement, nonspeaker content sharing, lead management, event data management, and communications stand apart in this market.”

    Delivery, Management, and Marketing in One

    To determine each solution’s ranking, the Forrester report evaluated each platform on their current offering, market presence, and strategy. The report gave RainFocus’ the highest-ranked current offering category score with the highest possible scores in the following criteria:

    Video or content delivery? Our take:

    Whether live, simulive, or on-demand, RainFocus enables event teams to deliver any number of sessions simultaneously without error. Additionally, speakers can offer resources such as slide decks, worksheets, and collateral alongside the session to support audience engagement.

    Event Registration and management. Our take:

    RainFocus fuels registration with powerful personalization and segmentation tools that guide attendees to their ideal experiences. Drag-and-drop workflows capture unlimited interests, preferences, and marketing insights, in any desired order, to automatically route attendees to the right experiences, discounts/payments, hotel options, and payment collection.

    Session engagement. Our take:

    With RainFocus, event teams can incorporate live chat, reactions, polling, and other forms of engagement into their digital sessions—and measure that engagement with ease.

    Attendee engagement. Our take:

    From segmented registration to exclusive 1:1 meetings, sessions, and training, teams can prescribe and automate personalization at every step of the attendee journey for both online and offline experiences. In addition, RainFocus provides event teams a holistic view of attendee actions while empowering them to maximize engagement.

    Training and support. Our take:

    RainFocus’ consultative model provides clients implementation support, general and solution-based training, and empowers them to self-administer. RainFocus Academy, a self-paced certification program, provides hands-on exercises to teach clients the technical skills needed to execute flawlessly on the platform.

    Production/rental services. Our take:

    RainFocus offers best-in-class services to support day-of-show experiences and supplies all of the onsite technology and tools that event teams need to check attendees into the event, supply exhibitors with leads, and gather attendee insights.

    Lead management. Our take:

    With RainFocus lead management, exhibitors can easily identify the highest quality leads and then share those leads instantly with their sales and marketing teams to accelerate campaigns, qualification, and sales conversions.

    Event communications. Our take:

    RainFocus streamlines attendee, speaker, and exhibitor communications pre-, during, and post-event—reducing the need for countless spreadsheets, overwhelming emails, and constant reminders.

    Integrations Our take:

    According to the report, “[RainFocus] boasts among the broadest list of out-of-the-box technology integrations…” Our take: RainFocus’ integrations enable teams to build their ideal virtual experience without jeopardizing years’ worth of valuable insights from physical events. The platform’s robust and powerful API framework allows for deep, real-time, and bi-directional integrations with marketing and business systems—offering stakeholders a shared view of success.

    Proven Success

    For several years, RainFocus has been the platform of choice for the world’s leading brands powering the most complex and modern event portfolios and business requirements. In 2020, we enhanced our platform to equip event teams with the most advanced offering for hybrid event management.

    RainFocus’ success in 2020 is evident with these top performance indicators:

    • 380% Growth in Events
    • 3.2M+ Business Users
    • Localized experiences across 165+ Countries
    • 218% user growth
    • 99.99+% Uptime
    • 6M+ Session Engagements

    RainFocus is designed to bring together all audiences, virtually and physically, for seminars to massive conferences in one easy-to-use, data-rich, and fully-integrated platform. JR Sherman notes, “With this highly intentional, yet flexible system, RainFocus aims to provide options and packages—rather than just a list of features—that allow clients to deploy immersive and integrated virtual, hybrid, and on-demand experiences with ease. The end goal is to enable clients to maximize their hybrid event portfolios by driving attendance, engagement, and satisfaction across all touchpoints of the customer lifecycle.”

    At RainFocus we are constantly evolving to meet customer and partner needs and empowering clients to do the same in delivering unparalleled experiences for attendees, exhibitors, and speakers at their world-class events. We focus every dollar on driving the evolution of this industry through strategy and roadmap collaboration with the leading global brands and innovators.

    Download the full report here or request a demo to discover why RainFocus is quickly becoming the most sought-after event management solution.

     

  • Ten Ways to Market Virtual Booths

    Ten Ways to Market Virtual Booths

    Virtual booths can be just as powerful, if not more so, than a live exhibit hall. The challenge is getting attendees to visit and interact with those booths. During our RainFocus INSIGHT panel, Providing Exhibitors With Value to Keep Them Coming Back, attendees showed interest in virtual booth promotion. In response to their questions, we’ve put together this list of ten marketing tactics for driving traffic to virtual booths.

     

    Sponsored Sessions

    Content is king online. With the help of our data analysts and customers, we’ve discovered a 120.3% uptick in sponsored session attendance in the last year. Offering exhibitors sponsored session packages will not only grant them increased booth traffic but will also help you boost your overall event ROI. By converting session attendees into leads, sponsored sessions produce a bounty of hot leads for exhibitors.

    Collaborated Sessions

    Much like sponsored sessions, collaborated sessions offer high lead counts for exhibitors. Consider offering exhibitors positions in your panel sessions, workshops, and other multi-speaker sessions. Collaborated sessions enable exhibitors to educate attendees about their product in a more natural, conversational way.

    Gamification

    Incentivizing booth visitation has proven to be a highly effective way of connecting attendees with exhibitors. In fact, gamification increases engagement by 80%*. There are many ways to integrate sponsors into your event gamification strategy.

    Consider awarding attendees points for the following actions:

    • Being one of the first 100 attendees to visit a booth

    • Scheduling 1:1 meetings

    • Engaging in chat

    • Attending sponsored sessions

    • Taking sponsor surveys

    • Sharing sponsorship information with a peer

    Targeted Agendas

    Align your exhibitors with the content that most pertains to their offering and then block time in your attendees’ schedules to meet with relevant exhibitors. Building exhibitors into attendees’ agendas will encourage them to interact even more and will provide them quick access to exhibitor booths. For example, if your exhibitors sold marketing software you would include them in your track for marketing professionals.

    Social Promotion

    Utilizing social media for sponsorship promotion can be a way to draw attendees back to your event. Now that events are virtual, event teams can embrace the opportunity to maximize social media. There are endless forms of social promotion that can elevate the value of your event for exhibitors. For example, you could create a highlights reel for exhibitors, award those who tag your event along with a sponsor’s name, create templated posts for your exhibitors to share on their own social profiles, and much more.

    Emails

    Emails are the foundation of all digital marketing. Virtual booths can be a great way to get attendees engaging early with your event. Email attendees before your start date and invite them to explore your exhibitor catalog. Include your exhibitors in your post-registration and post-survey emails to provide them with greater exposure. If your event is public, encourage your exhibitors to email their own prospects inviting them to meet up at your event.

    When Possible, Integrate

    Are there opportunities to showcase exhibitor products as part of your virtual event? When executed well, this can be one of the most valuable tactics for promoting exhibitors. For example, during RainFocus INSIGHT we integrated with and showcased Pigeonhole Live for Q&A, Ubersnap for our digital photo booth, D3G Productions for simulive sessions, Braindate for meetings, and Eventbase for mobile. Since the event, many of our attendees have reached out to our exhibitors to form partnerships for their own events. Not only did our exhibitors gain instant leads, but we also benefited from their contributions to our event.

    Collaborate SWAG

    When you can’t integrate with exhibitors, consider offering them a spot in your physical SWAG send. SWAG gives attendees something tangible to associate with their virtual experience and encourages participation and engagement. Read Virtual Event SWAG: Tips for Shipping, Item Selection, and More to learn how to implement a virtual SWAG send.

    Don’t Limit Opportunities to One Event

    The future of sponsorships is quickly moving toward a multi-event model. Many teams offer exhibitors recurring spots in their smaller repeating events. Consider which of your online events could reasonably house virtual booths.

    Enable Topic-Based Content Searches

    Help attendees find the exhibitors who are going to be of most interest to them by organizing your exhibitors by industry or product. By grouping exhibitors together, you may help attendees discover a vendor that they would not have considered prior to your event.

    To learn more about virtual booths request a demo or visit https://learning.rainfocus.com/virtual-booth.

    *Gamification impact on engagement sourced from ELearning Industry

  • Exploring Virtual Event Gamification

    Exploring Virtual Event Gamification

    Virtual event gamification was a recurring topic during RainFocus INSIGHT (our annual user conference) this year. Gamification can be incorporated into any event to help your team meet your engagement goals whether it’s motivating more attendees to register early, increasing the number of sessions attended per attendee, or boosting interaction for exhibitors.

    As gamification has grown in popularity, to maximize engagement we hosted three sessions dedicated to teaching RainFocus users how to get the most out of their game strategies, each of which included Q&A. To educate those who missed out, we’ve decided to share the questions and answers that were given during these thought-provoking sessions.

    How many people participate in the game?

    Any number of attendees can participate in the game.

    Can you create games based on other attributes aside from attendee type?

    Yes. You can use any attendee attribute to govern the game. The parameters you set to structure your game should reflect your event goals. Creating the game by attendee type will enable you to identify and qualify buying personas.

    Can attendees cheat the system?

    RainFocus’ event gamification is based on flexible business rules.  For instance, if you want to reward session attendance and you’re worried about people clicking into all of the sessions just to gain points, we can add an additional parameter to qualify attendees only if they watch for a certain amount of time.

    Are badges and points awarded immediately? 

    You can set your game to automatically add points and badges, but you can also go in and make some manual adjustments as needed. For example, for our user conference gamification, we manually added points for those who posted on social media with our hashtag.

    How much work is it for event managers to maintain the game? 

    The technology of the game is fairly easy to set up—especially for simple games meant for meetings. The majority of the work is done before the event begins. During the event, you will only need to support those who have questions about the game and maybe a few disputes about points.

    Is it necessary to use a mobile app to get the most gamification or can it be done just through a standard web portal?

    A mobile app facilitates behaviors that you may want to reward but gamification can be done without one. Most smaller meetings and events won’t require a mobile app, enabling you to set up behavior tracking on the back end and create a simple portal or page where attendees can instantly view any points earned. For RainFocus INSIGHT, our team tracked and displayed all mobile actions within the Attendee Portal as a responsive web page.

    How can an individual see their points? 

    Points can be shown in the Attendee Portal on a card or on their own gamification page. We recommend including a list of actions and the points they equate to. Badges or trophies can also indicate earned points. For example, you might have a badge dedicated to those who attended a certain number of sessions.

    Can the attribute to assigning points handle negative numbers for redeeming points?

    Yes. Points can be added and taken away from attendees from the admin view of our platform.

    Which gamification actions are auto-updated for an attendee and which require manual updates?

    Every action that happens within the RainFocus Platform can be automated. Our development team continues to add new automated actions weekly.  For the time being, some tasks (such as social posting) have to be awarded manually, so if you are anticipating tens of thousands of attendees you may want to limit actions that attendees can take to earn points.

    Tune into the following sessions to learn how you can get the most out of RainFocus’ gamification offering:

    Gamifying Event Engagement 

    Quality vs. Quantity Leads through Gamification

    Modernizing Meetings through Simple Gamification


  • Reflecting on 2020: Learnings and Predictions for 2021

    Reflecting on 2020: Learnings and Predictions for 2021

    One of the primary purposes we have for hosting our user conference each year is to reflect on the previous year and determine how we can improve events in the coming year. In 2020, nearly everything changed within the span of three weeks. RainFocus President and Founder, Doug Baird explained this industry-altering year in his session 2020: The Year that Felt Like a Decade. For those of you who missed out on that insightful recap, there’s still time to tune into Doug’s session at rainfocusinsight.com. Don’t have time to watch the full session? Continue reading for key takeaways. 

    Takeaway #1: Event Professionals Are Experts at Handling Uncertainty 

    When it comes to uncertainty, no one is better equipped to handle last-minute changes like event professionals. Events have always come with surprise cancellations, new requirements, and the need for system updates. This year has made event professionals even more adaptable. Doug pointed out, “Whatever challenges there are that we’ll be faced with in the future, we can now say it’s been worse in the past.” 

    Takeaway #2: Focus on the Core Value of Events 

    If there is anything that 2020 has taught us, it is that the core value of events does not change from in-person events to virtual events. Doug explained that the core of events is connecting attendees with really valuable content and in that way, guiding the attendee experience. Once you’ve figured out how to get meaningful content in front of attendees, then you can add a bit of pizzazz to your event. 

    Takeaways #3: Physical Events Are Not Dead 

    While virtual events have proven to be of great value to businesses, nothing can replace the energy of face-to-face interaction. Doug illustrated this idea by pointing out that the NFL uses recordings to drum up energy when the number of spectators is reduced. Doug also reminded attendees that this is not the first time physical events have been challenged. In the months after 9/11 and again in 2008, events were perceived as a huge risk. However, these pivotal moments in history demonstrated a pattern of resilience. Physical events will come back and they will come back stronger than ever.   

    Takeaway #4: It’s Time to Think of Events Holistically 

    In the not too distant future, there will be no such thing as ‘virtual events’ or ‘in-person events,’ there will just be ‘events.’ In fact, Doug went a step further in stating that hybrid events will cease to be a concept but a reality. What does this mean for event professionals now? It means that it is time to start planning events for both virtual and physical attendees. 

    Takeaway #5: 2020 Brought Marketing and Events Teams Together 

    One of the greatest outcomes of 2020 is the union of events and marketing teams. As event professionals embrace and strengthen the relationship they have with their marketing teams both teams will be more empowered to meet the needs of their business. Doug explained, “The truth is we know the needs of our businesses and how to work with marketing. Let’s take this opportunity to make that so much better. “ 

    Doug’s session was one of many that elaborated on key learnings from 2020. Learn more about attendee engagement, content management, exhibitor activation, and more at rainfocusinsight.com 

  • Virtual Event Swag: Tips for Shipping, Item Selection, and More

    Virtual Event Swag: Tips for Shipping, Item Selection, and More

    In preparation for our company’s first-ever virtual user conference, RainFocus INSIGHT 2021, our team shipped SWAG to attendees both domestically and internationally. Our goals were to build anticipation for the event, encourage participation, and drive a deeper connection with our virtual audience.  As a follow-up, we received several questions regarding our fulfillment process and our virtual event SWAG strategy. To answer these questions we’ve put together this blog post with everything you need to know.

    Tips for International SWAG Shipments

    1. Ship through USPS for the lowest rates. Rates may vary over time, but as they stand currently, USPS is typically less expensive than FedEx or UPS.
    2. Be sure to include a field for country code in your registration process. When you go to ship internationally, you’ll be required to enter a country code for your shipment. Having the country code on hand will save you the hassle of searching the web for the correct code.
    3. Budget wisely for international shipping. Another question you will be asked is how much your package is worth. More expensive packages may require a package protection fee. Consider sending smaller and less expensive packages out to your international attendees.
    4. Translate your SWAG items. If you are sending out written items, consider sending a translated version to those who speak and read other languages. Even if your attendees speak English, SWAG translation is a courtesy.
    5. Send your international packages out early. Shipping outside of the USA can take up to eight weeks depending on the destination of your package and the carrier you choose. The USPS website suggests that priority mail shipments take 8-10 business days. In addition, factor in delays that may come as a result of customs.

    Tips for Domestic SWAG Shipments (USA)

    1. Plan the right amount of time for on-time shipments. Depending on where you are located shipping in the USA will be fairly quick. Plan 1-2 days for states closest to the origin of your packages and 3-4 for states that are farther away.
    2. Dimensions are just as important as weight. When planning your SWAG shipment consider which items will fit together in a tight box. The smaller your dimensions, the less expensive your shipment will be.

    Other Considerations for Your Virtual Event SWAG Strategy

    1. Order all of your SWAG three months in advance at the very latest. Covid has impacted production timelines and resources so be sure to begin your design process early to ensure that your fulfillment company has plenty of time to package and ship your boxes.
    2. Emphasize SWAG deadlines. Let your attendees know exactly when your cutoff date is for SWAG sends (if you have one) and the corresponding criteria for receiving it. You may want to state this in multiple emails, during registration, as well as on your website.
    3. Ensure you offer an opt-in during the registration process. Not everyone will want a swag box. Identifying those who want the items will help you allocate resources appropriately. On average we only see 70% opt-in.
    4. Reduce your chances of error with one size fits all clothing items. Whether it’s sunglasses, backpacks, or unisex socks, simplify your packaging process with items that will delight all of your attendees regardless of their size.
    5. If possible, order all of your SWAG through your fulfillment company. Having one point of contact for all of your SWAG will enable you to better keep track of deadlines and mishaps that happen along the way.
    6. Design and order your boxes first, this one is a must! With all that is going on right now, printed boxes are in high demand and are taking longer to print than usual.
    7. Consider the purpose of your SWAG. Don’t waste money and effort by sending out SWAG that does not align with your event goals. For example, if your goal is to entice attendees to watch certain sessions, you might send them an event handbook with session highlights.
    8. Remember, SWAG is first and foremost a marketing tactic. Incentivize and enable your attendees to show off their SWAG whether it’s through social media or a virtual photo booth. Consider incorporating SWAG into your gamification. For example, you might award a certain number of points to those who post about your event with their SWAG pictured.
    9. Determine whether you will outsource your fulfillment process or take on the process yourself. While in-house fulfillment is less expensive, you’ll need to quantify how much you are actually willing to spend in employee work-hours. Outsourcing is much easier and may be worth considering.

    Learn more about RainFocus INSIGHT and register for sessions on-demand at https://rainfocusinsight.com/.


  • Five Themes from RainFocus INSIGHT

    Five Themes from RainFocus INSIGHT

    It’s a wrap! RainFocus INSIGHT was a triumph with 60 expert sessions spread across seven content tracks and emcee commentary all throughout. Sessions are now available at rainfocusinsight.com. For those who don’t have time to watch the sessions on-demand, a few themes that emerged from the sessions include the following:

    A Virtual Event is More Than Sharing Videos

    It takes more than just internet savvy to deliver a great virtual event. Strategy, strong communication, thorough analysis, and all of the other skills that set event professionals apart from everyday YouTubers are all vital to creating a noteworthy virtual experience. Senior Director of Strategic Events at Servicenow, Scott Owens, said it best when he explained, 

    “Just having videos on a webpage is not enough, and it’s not really a digital experience. We’ve always had an agenda page or a sponsors page, or a schedule, but digital is now right at the front. To do digital well is a complete shift for the industry. You’ve got to be good at doing events and good at the digital aspect too.” – 7 Digital Pivots to Make NOW!

    As Owens explained, events have always had digital aspects. Now is the time for event teams to strengthen their virtual muscles and apply everything they know about physical events to their virtual experiences. 

    Hybrid Events = Greater Connection

    Discovering how to bring live audiences and digital audiences together through natural interaction is quickly becoming the focus of every event professional. Marilyn Good, Sr. Director of Events at Oracle, stated,

    “Virtual can’t just be bolted on to in-person events. It needs to be an integral part of the event experience. The two audiences need to feel like they are one. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the pricing structure needs to be the same for both in-person or virtual, or even that they get all of the same benefits, but we need to facilitate the networking whether they are onsite or not.” -Let’s Get Physical: Planning for a Safe Return to In-Person Events.

    Hybrid events have the potential to connect audiences worldwide in ways that are meaningful and engaging. Many of the speakers indicated that, for this reason, they themselves plan to host hybrid events in the future. 

    Experience is Everything

    Nearly all of the speakers at INSIGHT emphasized the need to focus on the attendee experience. When it comes to the attendee experience, consistency is key. Providing your attendees with consistent interactions and processes from event to event will ensure that they get the most out of their event experiences.

    “Having an attendee experience that is easy to adapt to, having a single place where all the activities of around an attendee are presented, having the interactions happen in one spot, and doing that in a branded seamless way is extremely important for driving adoption and usage in a digital environment.” – Doug Baird, President & Founder of RainFocus, State of the Events Industry.

    Post-Event Engagement Significantly Contributes to ROI

    Another recurring theme was extending the life of your online content. The industry experts speaking at INSIGHT taught post-event engagement is just as critical as live interaction. Tom Keefe, Director of Marketing Operations at Demandbase, explained that measuring post-event engagement is essential to proving event ROI. He stated, 

    “Revenue doesn’t happen the day after the event. What does happen? Sales follow-up. It is important to determine how long after an event a person can reply to sales in order to get event credit. The more campaign successes you have, the more attribution touchpoints you have.” – Raising the Bar on Event ROI.

    Exhibitors Play a Critical Role Online 

    According to our latest State of Events Survey, the inability to provide exhibitor value remains one of the biggest concerns of event professionals going into 2021. Throughout the event, speakers demonstrated how incorporating exhibitors into content through sponsored sessions has been shown as the best way to drive exhibitor value. Other speakers suggested that offering exhibitors the opportunity to engage in smaller events would also provide them with increased value. 

    “Looking forward, exhibitors will have opportunities to not only engage in large tier-one conferences but also on webinars, webcasts, and other events. We’ll definitely see exhibitors playing a big role in the entire event ecosystem.” – Irene Martynova, Sales Executive, RainFocus, Providing Exhibitors With Value to Keep Them Coming Back. 

    Access more pro tips and insights from sessions on-demand at rainfocusinsight.com.


  • Top 10 Event Management Resolutions for 2021

    Top 10 Event Management Resolutions for 2021

    The new year has never felt more like a new beginning for event professionals than it does in 2021. With the uncertainty and struggle of 2020 behind us, we can focus on a bright future filled with new technology and key learnings from those who pioneered virtual events last year. As you make plans, consider borrowing ideas from your peers to add to your list of event management resolutions for 2021.

    What are other marketing and event professionals hoping to improve in 2021? Here’s what we’ve heard about so far:

    Raise Engagement Levels

    Results from our recent State of Events 2021 survey suggest that event professionals are most concerned about raising attendee engagement for their upcoming virtual and hybrid events. Of all the event management resolutions for 2021, increasing engagement is also perceived as the most difficult. Learn how to keep attendees engaged this year by attending RainFocus INSIGHT on January 19th-21st.

    Define Measurements of Successful Engagement

    Increased engagement is only a minor success if you cannot adequately measure and utilize your engagement data. Another top priority of 2021 is finding new ways to drive and prove event ROI. Make it a priority this year to outline which metrics will help you achieve your event goals.

    Take Gamification to the Next Level

    Given that virtual events make it much easier for event professionals to track engagement, many teams have resolved to incorporate gamification into their overall event strategy. Whether you’ve tried gamification before or not, consider the possibilities of gamifying your event experience in 2021.

    Lock Down Content in Advance

    How many times have you pleaded for a speaker to headline at your event the month before your event? If your response is a large number, you’re not alone. In tandem with improving the attendee journey, many event teams hope to streamline their content processes to simplify the speaker experience.

    Improve Planning Processes

    Other event professionals will step back and re-evaluate their approach to their events this year by setting defined goals and building out better plans. Be sure to tune into “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail” at RainFocus INSIGHT to learn best practices for planning from none other than our SVP of Client Success, Jennifer Scott.

    Combine Event Data

    A newer resolution for event teams is combining their larger annual events with their smaller marketing events for more comprehensive data. This year teams are coming to more fully understand the benefits of having a unified events portfolio. By combining their event data they will be able to track prospect conversion across multiple events, inform customer retention efforts, and reuse event processes.

    Eliminate Redundant Spreadsheets

    We’ve all been there: what starts as one “master sheet” suddenly becomes an accumulation of files so disparate that you no longer know which one is most up to date. Luckily, there are tools you can use like RainFocus’ Live Tables to simplify data management for event teams. Take time this year to find solutions that will significantly increase your team’s efficiency.

    Gather High Quality Leads Rather than High Quantity Leads

    Event teams have been able to attract more attendees than ever before through virtual events. With so many new opportunities for exhibitors to gain leads, it’s important to redefine what makes a quality lead. Consider adding new parameters to your event software to help exhibitors identify the best leads.

    Become Platform Certified

    With so much new technology on the market, many event teams have an immediate resolution to become platform certified. Learn how to implement new virtual and hybrid strategies this year with RainFocus Academy. Join the “Certified Fresh” session at RainFocus INSIGHT to learn more about our training program.

    Implement a Better Monetization Strategy

    Many event teams experienced a negative impact on their budgets in 2020. While offering virtual events for free was ideal at the time, doing so repeatedly would not be sustainable long term. Consider trying one of RainFocus’ pricing structures this year to replenish event ROI. 

    To discover other topics that will be covered at RainFocus INSIGHT visit rainfocusinsight.com.


  • Highlights from the State of Events Study 2021

    Highlights from the State of Events Study 2021

    Recently, RainFocus and Impact Point Group conducted a study of the industry’s premier events to uncover how organizations are approaching their event strategies for 2021. As event teams kick off the new year, we’ve put together this blog post with highlights of the survey results. As data geeks who are passionate about all things events, we revel in analyzing data to mine insights, tips, and tricks to help event organizers plan effectively.

    About the State of Events Study 2021

    The State of Events 2021 Study is a primary research study to uncover how enterprise organizations are approaching their event strategies for 2021. Respondents were asked about their experiences with virtual events, event plans and budgets for 2021, as well as other defining elements of their programs.

    We will be combining these findings with benchmark data from the industry’s premier events, which will be unveiled in a keynote presentation, Event Benchmarks and Strategies Powering Success in 2021, at RainFocus INSIGHT (January 19-21, 2021).

    [Note: Our Design team will build out infographic-type images for the most pertinent findings as visual aid to support the data]

    Demographics

    RainFocus and Impact Point Group surveyed more than 50 enterprise organizations to understand how their events performed relative to expectations in 2020, successes/learnings from those events and how teams are applying these learnings to events in 2021.

    Experience Type: 55.9% of the respondents manage business-to-business (B2B) events and experiences, 16.5% manage business-to-consumer (B2C) events and experiences, while the remainder manage a combination of B2B and B2C.

    Vertical Representation: 51% of respondents are from Technology, 17% from Healthcare, 6% from Financial Services, while remaining respondents span Multi-Level Marketing firms, Media, Automotive, and others.

    Employee Size: 34% of respondents are employed at firms with 10,001+ employees, 19% of respondents are employed at firms 5001-10,000, and 28% are from organizations with 1001-5000 employees.

    Findings from the Study

    • Organizations made the pivot to virtual with mixed results. In 2020, many organizations made the switch to virtual events, but depending on their goals, experienced mixed results.
      • 35.1% reported that their virtual events exceeded expectations
      • 42.1% indicated that they met expectations
      • 22.8% indicated that they had fallen short of expectations

    Intended goals for the event have a large impact on these success metrics.

    For instance, organizations with event objectives of broad reach may be seeing greater success as registration and views of virtual events are generally higher. Those focused on lead generation and sales acceleration, which require a deeper level of engagement, may find that their virtual events are falling short. Other factors impacting the success of virtual events include the technology platform performance and stability, investment in a high-end production or user experience, offering compelling and unique content and speakers, and the skills and expertise of their team in executing virtual events.

    • Expanded reach with virtual. Virtual exceeded expectations for many organizations due to the expanded reach they had achieved. According to RainFocus’ 2020/2019 Global Event Management Survey And Benchmark, most free virtual events saw an uptick of 4-6x the number of registered attendees and the ability to reach audiences that were previously unknown, which was great for awareness. In fact, many indicated that they broke company records—raising their thought leadership, boosting brand awareness, gaining more leads, and adding more contacts to accounts by lowering or eliminating event fees than they could have gained with an expensive in-person conference. While many saw similar trends, others struggled with higher than expected attrition, inability to keep attendees’ attention, and difficulties with tracking.
    • Lower engagement remains a top concern with virtual. According to respondents, the biggest risk factor for virtual events is lower engagement (38.6%), followed by technology failure (28.1%). Other perceived risks include the inability to provide sponsorship value, lower ROI, and loss of revenue. Many teams have seen a gap emerge in their end of funnel lead generation activities with tradeshow and industry or third party events failing to deliver the traffic in-person events once did.
    • Virtual has also limited the ability to create meaningful interpersonal connections that lead to deal acceleration. Meanwhile, audiences are fast-tiring of virtual events making it harder to capture their attention. Going forward many event teams are looking to solve this through more live-only interactions during their virtual events and exclusive sponsor engagements with smaller, higher-quality opted-in audiences.
    • Teams are eagerly anticipating the return to physical events. When asked if they were planning in-person events in 2021 (if permissible) 41.4% indicated Yes; 43.1% were undecided while 15.5% indicated that they were not planning in-person events for 2021. Aside from the variations and trepidation, volumes of feedback and data suggest most organizations plan on a safe return to physical events by mid-2021. While they may not draw the same 40,000 attendees they have traditionally, we estimate they will draw upwards of 65-85% of those numbers.
    • Physical events will re-emerge with a virtual dimension, ushering in a new events era. With uncertainty around vaccine timing and some good results with virtual, 76.2% of respondents indicated that they will incorporate a virtual component into their event, while 22% were undecided. 70.4% of respondents indicated they are planning for hybrid events. Many people are still viewing future events as a binary decision of virtual or physical experiences, but leading marketing teams realize it is now the optimal combination of the two that will attract and engage their target audiences. In fact, with the proper tuning personalized experiences not only get better, they become more efficient.

    With augmented access leading up to a physical conference, you can now choose content to consume, add virtual meetings to your schedule digitally, plan who you’d like to meet with onsite, determine which sessions you’d like to consume in-person, and plan to return post-event to view sessions and engage exhibitors you couldn’t get to onsite. Through the enhanced flexibility of the RainFocus Platform, marketing events now offer engaging personalized experiences with delivery environments that suit the preferences of every participant.

    • Tips and tricks to fight virtual fatigue. While organizations look to up the ante to balance what’s “cool” with risk, organizations offered their own tips for combatting virtual fatigue.
    • Events budgets are expected to remain flat or decrease. 45.5% of teams are expecting event budgets to remain flat, while 34.5% expect a decrease headed into 2021. It’s no surprise that the budget is dependent upon being able to prove ROI. While many organizations have seen a  savings this year with the shift to virtual events, most realize the lack of in-person events have left gaps in their event portfolios when it comes to generating new leads, accelerating sales and training their customers and partners and sales teams. So while most are planning for short-term savings, many expect budgets to recover as in-person events resume.
    • The need to engage audiences virtually has demanded accelerating the event technology roadmap for many organizations, requiring a redirection of budget. While digital events cost less compared to their in-person counterparts, they are proving to be equally if not more taxing on the internal event teams. They occur more frequently,  on shorter delivery timelines, and require different skill sets, causing many event teams to re-evaluate their talent and resourcing models as well as how they collaborate with other departments.

    The Convergence of Events and Marketing Teams

    Traditionally, demand and digital marketing teams have been responsible for the pre-event promotional and post-event follow-up activities. Events teams manage the high-impact experiences to attendees, speakers, and exhibitors—from registration to tear down. Due to unprecedented circumstances of this past year, events have gone fully virtual creating a powerful convergence of events and marketing—and that won’t be changing any time soon.

    In fact, 59.3% of survey respondents indicated that they expect their events and marketing teams will work more closely together in 2021. When it comes to the future of physical and hybrid, events and marketing are the new power couple for success. The opportunity to understand engagement in any setting (virtual, physical, and hybrid) and to design your event marketing strategy around that engagement will greatly accelerate this merger.

    We will be releasing a comprehensive report of the findings and will feature these insights and more at RainFocus INSIGHT (January 19-21, 2020).

    Interested in more of the findings? Sign up to receive the comprehensive report, which will be released in early February.