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  • Five Simple Ways to Grow Your Association Membership Through Events

    Five Simple Ways to Grow Your Association Membership Through Events

    Whether due to economic trends, shifting preferences, or other factors, many associations are finding it challenging to increase their membership numbers. That’s why it’s even more important to turn to trusted strategies. Events remain the most effective way to find new members. 

    Events appeal to all audiences of people who are looking to grow their networks and increase their job skills. By refining your event strategy and exploring new forms of engagement, you can boost membership. Here are some simple ways to leverage events for growth.

    1. Implement a Referral Strategy. One of the best ways to attract new association members is to offer discounts to members who bring friends or co-workers. Group discounts and buddy passes are popular. Some associations also offer VIP experiences, exclusive swag, or designated charitable donations to those who bring additional attendees to your event.
    2. Gamify Word-of-Mouth. Keep the incentives for referrals going before, during, and after the event with ongoing gamification. Award points or prizes to those who mention the event on social media or within their networks. These posts create a sense of FOMO, which can be enticing to potential new association members. You can also create a leaderboard to recognize people who bring in the most referrals.
    1. Broaden Reach Through Different Types of Events. According to the 2024 Association Economic Outlook Report, most associations are exclusively planning in-person events. Though webinars and other virtual events are not as popular as they were a few years ago, they can still help new members learn about your cause. Webinars are ideal for recruitment because they are a much smaller commitment for potential members. Localized chapter meetings can serve a similar purpose. Targeting different geographies creates opportunities for those who might not have been able to attend an event otherwise.  
    1. Offer Event Content On Demand. Events are the ideal platform for industry thought leadership, as they provide a dedicated opportunity for experts to share their knowledge with others. By also sharing event sessions on demand after the event, you can attract even more potential members who are seeking resources and information related to your industry or field. In addition, charging for access to select pieces of on-demand content can generate more revenue. 
    1. Analyze Members’ Event Engagement to Identify Opportunities. With modern event technology, you can capture valuable engagement data from potential members. Events offer a wealth of attendee data that can be shared with marketing and sales to help with their efforts. Metrics such as session views, meetings held, and responses to surveys can help you identify selling points for potential members. This data is also helpful for planning future event content for alumni and new members, and making each subsequent event even more effective.  

    Whether your events are virtual, in person, or both, RainFocus has everything you need to plan your events, gamify member experiences, manage content and sponsorships, analyze member engagement, and ultimately grow your membership numbers. Request a demo to learn how RainFocus can support your association’s growth goals.

  • Finding the Right Benchmarks for Your Event: Tips for Greater Event Analysis

    Finding the Right Benchmarks for Your Event: Tips for Greater Event Analysis

    Every event is unique. After all, the word “event” could refer to something as small as an internal webinar or as large as an international trade show. Given all this variation, sourcing benchmarks that compare your events to other comparable ones can be tricky. 

    RainFocus helps the world’s leading organizations measure event success, regardless of what their event portfolio looks like. With this experience, we have a comprehensive set of benchmarks sorted by size and delivery format. Each year, we analyze thousands of events, — large and small, in person and virtual — to identify standards for every event.  

    Now this vast volume of data is available to everyone. We’ve introduced a complimentary, self-guided benchmark assessment that is open to all event professionals, both RainFocus clients and non-clients. Leaders are already taking the assessment to see how their events compare to those hosted by leaders like Adobe, Cisco, Oracle, and several others. 

    Complete the Event Benchmark Assessment

    What Are Event Benchmarks?

    Event benchmarks are a standard set of metrics that organizations can use to measure event success. They are often based on KPIs such as event attendance, session participation, or exhibitor visits. KPIs help event planners iterate and improve their events year over year. Event benchmarks cover a range of data points throughout the event lifecycle, from registration to post-event survey responses. 

    How to Maximize Benchmark Data Usage

    Referencing benchmarks throughout your event planning process can identify areas for improvement and inspire new ideas, such as repeating a session that has lots of favorites or expanding popular meeting programs. As the event draws near, be sure to monitor attendees’ actions and adjust your strategy as needed.  

    After your event, consider creating a presentation or report that demonstrates success at reaching and exceeding industry benchmarks. Work with your event platform provider to pinpoint metrics that demonstrate the greatest impact. They may be able to identify successes you hadn’t considered and further demonstrate ROI to stakeholders. These presentations and reports can also help with planning the next event. 

    Working With Unbenchmarked Data Points 

    Some data is simply too difficult to standardize. This includes qualitative data such as survey responses or attendee comments. As an alternative, one way to compare these data points is by using scores such as Net Promoter Scores®. These scores are not nearly as rich as full benchmarks, but they do tell you how satisfied your attendees are in comparison to others. Another way to compare unbenchmarked data is by using AI to consolidate bulk attendee feedback into bite-sized takeaways that can serve as your own benchmarks for future events.     

    Ready to get started? Access current event benchmarks for events similar to yours by completing our self-guided assessment.

  • Four (More) Keys to Selecting the Best Event Speaker Submissions

    Four (More) Keys to Selecting the Best Event Speaker Submissions

    Picture this: Your recent call for papers proved wildly popular. You received far more high-quality submissions than you could ever cram into the available keynote and track slots within your event agenda. 

    Your team is thrilled that making it to the stage at your flagship event is clearly viewed within the industry as a prestigious goal. But a daunting task awaits: Now you have to review all the submissions and decide who makes the cut. 

    Content is the core of any event. Making the right speaker choices could be the difference between an event that wows your attendees and one that leaves them bored and disappointed. 

    As you sort through the prospective speakers’ proposals and plan your slate of content offerings, consider the following questions to guide the process:

    1. Is there a clear story?

    Even at the most no-nonsense technical B2B conference, no one wants to be bored or confused when listening to a speaker. Any engaging presentation should contain some form of a narrative, just like a book. Does the proposed session lend itself to a defined beginning, middle, and end? For many sessions, that structure may present itself as a problem, solution, and next steps. While the presentation may not be as exciting as a mystery novel, look for suspense and characters that could build interest. The “story” also needs logic and flow for the session to make sense to your event audience. 

    1. Does the speaker have a unique perspective? 

    In the age of generative AI, copycatting, and hastily produced generic content, audiences are hungry for true thought leadership. Often, the most memorable and engaging speakers offer a fresh take on a familiar industry topic. Or they might weave a personal story into a valuable business lesson for their peers. If a session proposal you’re reviewing sounds perfectly aligned with best practices but no different from what your audience heard last year (or what you’ve heard at others’ events), consider moving on to the next. Curating a diverse speaker lineup — in all the ways that matter most to your organization and your attendees — is important. 

    1. Will enough people in your expected audience care about the topic?

    Session content must strike a balance between offering something different and maintaining broad relevance. Dive into your attendee persona data, based on reports from previous events as well as projections and target lists for the event you’re planning. Estimate how many audience members each proposed session might draw. There’s plenty of room for nuance and exceptions. For example, a presentation might not have broad appeal, but if it’s likely to speak deeply to those in a particular overlooked job role or users of a specific small but growing offering, it might still be well worth adding to the schedule.

    1. How is the fit and relationship? 

    Our first three keys have centered on the proposed session itself. But as you’re narrowing down your selections, start thinking about other factors. Speaker quality and fit is critical. Unfortunately, even the most compelling story will fall short if it’s delivered by the wrong person. Have you — or anyone else at the company — seen your prospective speaker on stage before at another event? Or, are there video clips on their LinkedIn profile or elsewhere online so that you can verify that their abilities and style match your event?  

    Events are all about building and enhancing relationships. Savvy teams incorporate that relationship mindset into their speaker outreach and selection. When looking through proposals, they consider the needs of valued clients, high-priority prospects, and important partners within the context of the event’s and organization’s business goals — of course while prioritizing content quality. 

    Relationship-building might also mean favoring speakers with a history of good collaboration, communication, and respect for deadlines and quality. Ideally, every speaker is another trusty partner in helping your team create a great event!

    Selecting event speakers is just the start of the speaker enablement process. An efficient portal makes it easy to communicate essential information, keep your speakers on task, share audience engagement data, gather feedback, and much more.

    Learn more about RainFocus’ speaker portal here.

  • Conversations: Mike Bushman on the Best Generative AI Use Cases for Events

    Conversations: Mike Bushman on the Best Generative AI Use Cases for Events

    By popular request, RainFocus CTO Mike Bushman is back for another round of helping events and marketing teams make sense of the latest advancements in generative AI! 

    In our most recent conversation, we discussed critical issues around trust, transparency, and the entry of several major companies. Now, we’re taking a deeper look at the most compelling use cases so far. You’ll also learn how RainFocus approaches the process of incorporating potential new generative AI features in the platform.

    For events, what are the main generative AI use cases you’re seeing among clients right now? 

    As these models’ natural language capabilities have improved, we see clients using generative AI to write emails and session content, and automatically take notes in meetings. They’re also useful for extracting meaningful data from unstructured data. For example, with surveys, people are using AI for sentiment analysis, categorization, word clouds, and summaries. 

    Helping attendees find the right content at events is always top of mind with our customers. Generative AI can help here to suggest session tagging, categorization, and cohorts of sessions. These can be used to augment and improve the filters already in use in the session catalog.  

    We’ve also run more traditional — not generative — AI through machine learning to provide personalized recommendations for at least four large events so far this year. This personalization is driven by attendees’ interests, activities, and cohorts. 

    In our recent event content survey, we found that the most popular generative AI use cases among event teams were relatively simple tasks with transcription and content writing. Do you anticipate a move to more sophisticated tasks as the tech improves and users gain additional trust? 

    One other interesting use case we’ve seen already is for session scheduling, which can involve some very sophisticated algorithms. You can suggest and schedule a list of sessions automatically for the attendee. This list can be a curated list or an AI-personalized list from the recommendation engine.

    On the data exploration side, a lot of people are looking for timely answers to their common event management questions. They include things like “How many people have registered this week?” or “How many approved speakers have uploaded their bio?” Generative AI can easily find the reports to answer these questions and then suggest similar reports that may also be of interest. 

    True data exploration can also happen through the use of natural language to automatically generate reports. This can be done safely using our metadata layer that takes into account data access permissions and roles. In essence, people can ask questions or use our report builder and get meaningful data from it. 

    There’s definitely so much possibility still to be explored! How would you describe RainFocus’ overall evaluation and testing strategy for these technologies, especially within the product and developer teams? 

    Our approach to incorporating potential generative AI components has been to position the technology as an additional tool that our product teams can use in their existing work, rather than creating a separate team. This ensures everything is well integrated and secure from a data privacy perspective.  

    Within the platform infrastructure and architecture, we have several core AI functional services: content generation, personalization, sentiment analysis, summarization, clustering, and RAG chatbots. Developers have all core services at their fingertips. For possible additional use cases, there’s a development AI board they can talk to. We’re always looking to enable the product team. 

    Anything else you’ve seen from clients so far? What additional recommendations and guidance would you give for future generative AI use cases?

    One thing there’s been a lot of interest in is acceptable use policies for AI within a company. There’s a need to determine what tools are being used and what companies are involved. For us, the fact that we’re on a major cloud provider helps people feel more comfortable. 

    In addition to security, understanding costs for generative AI early on is important. For example, training your own model is quite expensive. It isn’t a valuable use of resources in most cases. Zero-shot and single-shot learning is usually sufficient. There will be an inherent cost for every form of usage, but measuring that from the start and building in a way to get maximum value is important. 

    Want to learn more? Watch this short video to hear from Mike and other executives on we’re doing to bring exciting new AI-powered advancements to the RainFocus platform.

  • Optimizing Teamwork and Internal Communication Throughout Your Event Lifecycle

    Optimizing Teamwork and Internal Communication Throughout Your Event Lifecycle

    Effective teamwork and internal communication are key during the event lifecycle. But with teams busy with communications to all their speakers, sponsors, partners, and vendors, internal communication with everyone involved in the event can easily fall by the wayside. 

    Clear internal communication helps ensure everyone feels heard — and receives the information they need to do their jobs effectively and contribute to event success.

    The industry leaders who spoke at RainFocus INSIGHT 2024 shared their top strategies for improving communication with internal teams. Here are their recommendations, which we’ve divided by event stage to help you create your plan of action: 

    Pre-Registration

    Much of the important internal stakeholder alignment begins in the early planning stage of your event lifecycle, before registration is launched. Many teams use this time to draw up a calendar of key milestones or deadlines and establish goals. In addition, teams often use this time to accomplish the following tasks:

    • Establish clear roles and responsibilities across internal and external teams
    • Align on which platforms will be used to serve content to attendees, and when the content will be served
    • Set up recurring reports and change notifications
    • Proactively enable access to data dashboards
    • Establish a meeting cadence with stakeholders and senior management
    • Enable team members to nominate and vote on speakers and/or sponsors 

    Registration and Catalog Launch 

    Once you’ve launched your registration workflow and content catalog, you’ll probably receive a high volume of questions from a core internal group: employees who are trying to register or schedule sessions. Consider these approaches for managing these communications: 

    • Use a meeting request system such as Calendly to let individuals reserve time for discussion
    • Host a town hall meeting to answer several questions all at once
    • Create an intake form for questions, and dedicate time each week to answering a batch of questions received

    Just Before the Event

    As the event approaches, internal communication often center on day-to-day details or changes. Questions may come from employees who want to know about their hotel lodging, on-site staff unsure of their duties upon arrival, or team members newly assigned to contribute to the event. We recommend the following strategies for ensuring everyone has clear, accurate last-minute information: 

    • Send out a know-before-you-go email or schedule a webinar 
    • Leverage a corporate wiki page to answer FAQs
    • Include FAQs in your company’s newsletter
    • Highlight the roles and responsibilities of on-site staff, especially those who will answer attendees’ questions
    • Set up communication groups on existing company channels for conversations throughout the event, and add team members to each relevant group
    • Distribute key contacts’ phone numbers to those who need them

    During the Event

    This is the time for the full pre-event communication plan to be executed. Many of the procedures, resources, and communication channels you’ve put together for other milestones can be continued throughout the event. Keep internal communication organized during the event:

    • Delegate the answering of questions asked on internal messaging platforms to  members of the team who will have the bandwidth to address them
    • Create and publicize a help desk on-site for employees
    • Use intake forms or internal surveys to gather team real-time feedback for future events

    Post-Event

    Meetings after their event has concluded assess the effectiveness of the event and its planning. Communication approaches might include the following: 

    • Sharing event analysis with different groups 
    • Hosting several targeted meetings with individuals to gather feedback on specific aspects of the event
    • Creating a presentation outlining success metrics for the executive team  

    Want to learn more tips for optimizing teamwork and communication during events? Rachel Cohen, Senior Manager of Event Content for GitHub, recently discussed the challenges she faces as an event content manager and the structure she has formed around internal communication. Watch the video for an in-depth conversation between her and Rodney Hart, VP of events at RainFocus. 

    Having a communicative technology partner from the start makes all the difference. RainFocus collaborates with teams and enables greater internal communication throughout the event lifecycle. Learn more about our client success team here. 

  • The Art and Science of Meetings Management

    The Art and Science of Meetings Management

    Managing meetings can be one of the most challenging parts of an event, especially at organizations that use multiple tools. When each department or team relies on a different toolset for meetings, data becomes siloed. As a result, scheduling conflicts can emerge and consistent evaluation is nearly impossible. 

    As the demand for engagement with customers and prospects increases, event teams are adapting their strategies to include automated meetings management solutions. Consolidating your event tech stack with a meetings management solution increases efficiency and makes managing meetings easier. 

    In this post, we’ll guide you through the structure and critical analysis for creating a meetings management program that aligns with your business goals and your attendees’ needs. 

    Defining Your Meeting Structure

    Depending on the organization’s goals and success metrics, a meetings program may include many different common meeting types, such as executive meetings, “meet the expert” discussions, and 1:1 meetings. For all types of meetings, leaders must configure the meetings program to align with the organization’s goals for success before, during, and after each event. These decisions will help you drive engagement and increase revenue generation at your events.

    Strategizing Configuration

    In general, meeting requests are separated into two types: inbound and outbound. Both are important and serve different purposes, depending on each event’s desired outcomes. 

    Inbound Meetings
    Inbound meetings are requests from attendees to connect with experts, peers, speakers, partners, or exhibitors. They drive pre-event engagement as attendees build out their schedules. Properly managing and tracking inbound meeting requests is crucial for increasing engagement. Inbound meeting opportunities can be communicated and promoted through ads, emails, social media, mobile notifications, or even customizable attendee invitations.

    Outbound Meetings
    Outbound meeting requests are initiated by members of your organization, such as your executives, sales, and marketing teams. These meetings are ideal for increasing pipeline and moving opportunities to close. Given their nature, they are not promoted externally. 

    Approvals and Permissions

    Once you’ve established a unified meetings management process for inbound and outbound meetings, determine the appropriate permissions for each meeting type within the platform. Common attributes include attendee type, package purchased, VIP status, and experience level. Appropriately categorizing your meeting types and setting consistent approvals helps attendees quickly and efficiently select the appropriate meeting contact, time, and location.


    Next, determine if meeting approvals will be automated or manually managed. Automatic approvals are ideal for managing the availability of multiple people, topics, and locations. Manual approvals may be better for situations in which meeting managers need to be more selective about who they meet with and where. RainFocus allows both automatic and manual approvals. Be sure to determine whether a potential platform offers this flexibility. 

    What Does Your Meeting Data Tell You?

    The combined data from an entire meetings program provides powerful information that helps your team plan more efficiently and identify the right prospects. However, the specific data you capture before, during, and after an event determines whether you can effectively measure ROI and quickly engage with prospects.

    When looking at data from meetings, consider the following questions: 

    • Were your internal attendees properly engaged and delivering value?
    • Were purchasing decisions impacted and accelerated by your meetings program?
    • Are there any targeted prospects who did not meet with your team?
    • Should you dedicate more resources and time to future meetings?
    • How valuable were your meetings to customers and prospects?

    Consolidating, analyzing and comparing meeting engagement from one event to the next will help you take your company’s event strategy to the next level. Coupled with RainFocus’ global reporting capabilities, this strategy will save time and deliver results by providing a holistic cross-event view of your company’s strategic meetings program success.
    Request a demo to learn more about RainFocus Meetings.

  • INSIGHT 2025: What’s New at RainFocus’ Highly Anticipated Event

    INSIGHT 2025: What’s New at RainFocus’ Highly Anticipated Event

    We’re excited to share that registration for RainFocus INSIGHT 2025 is now open! The annual INSIGHT event program is packed with four experiences just for events and marketing professionals. Each year, we bring together the world’s top event leaders for a week of connection, learning, and fun. 

    Our INSIGHT team continuously looks for ways to improve the program. We take our attendees’ feedback very seriously. Based on last year’s survey responses, we are adding several new activities and have made some exciting changes. Here are just a few things to look forward to:  

    Premiere Will Feature Our Survey Results

    Earlier this year, we surveyed events and marketing professionals about their strategies for 2025. Their responses will be the primary topic of discussion for Premiere. You’ll learn how peers are structuring their event programs, using AI, driving registration, making sponsorship sales, using content post-event, and more. Tune in to hear expert commentary on the biggest trends for 2025. 

    We’ll Offer Even More Meetings

    We want to help you build meaningful relationships! During INSIGHT, we’ll have more time and space available for meetings of all kinds. Join us in person for opportunities to meet with your RainFocus team, as well as product experts and a range of experienced events and marketing professionals.  

    The Innovation Awards Will Be Presented on Day One

    During our annual awards ceremony, RainFocus executives Doug Baird and JR Sherman highlight some of the greatest achievements of the year in the events industry. This ceremony, which has usually taken place at the end of the conference, will be moved to the beginning. This change will give attendees more time to connect with award winners and learn more about their events.

    We’re Opening the Mainstage for More Sessions

    We’re expecting to have more sessions this year than ever before. Opening up the mainstage for additional sessions throughout the day will allow us to provide added value to our online attendees and will enable our content team to accept more session proposals.

    You’ll Have a Chance to Give Back to the Community

    RainFocus champions giving back. In years past, we’ve relied on our attendees to help us identify worthy causes for donations. This year, we’re also planning an on-site volunteer project so we can all give back to the community.  

    A New Place on the Calendar

    In the past few years, the large in-person flagship INSIGHT event was held in January. This year, in response to survey results, we’ve moved this conference to February. This change will allow the largest number of customers to join us in person. The other events in the program have been adjusted to accommodate the change. 

    The updated schedule is as follows: 

    INSIGHT Premiere (virtual): Nov. 13, 2024

    INSIGHT Preparation (virtual):  Feb. 12, 2025

    INSIGHT Conference (in person): Feb. 18–20, 2025

    INSIGHT Encore (virtual): Mar. 5, 2025

    Additionally, we will continue to publish our Event Perspectives series and behind-the-scenes videos leading up to the conference. 

    Register Now for the Best Deal

    We’ll be unveiling more information about INSIGHT as the date draws closer, but right now is the best time to register for INSIGHT. As an early registrant, you’ll get a $200 discount on your ticket as well as a gift —  a YETI Tote Bag, Beats Solo Buds, or a BruMate water bottle. Don’t wait to claim the gift you want! This promotion will only continue as long as supplies last.

    Register now 

    We’re also looking for thought leaders to speak at INSIGHT. Want to earn a free pass? Submit a session idea by Oct. 9. All speakers will receive a free conference and hotel stay!

  • Three Hidden Ways Digital Transformation Elevates Your Events

    Three Hidden Ways Digital Transformation Elevates Your Events

    Event leaders hear a lot about digital transformation for events. But is “digital transformation” just a buzzy phrase? What does a truly impactful digital transformation require? And is it worth the time and effort when you have a busy event calendar? 

    Our research and real-life results from clients have shown that a true digital transformation within an organization delivers enormous benefits — including for events. 

    There are four components of a genuine digital transformation. Organizations focus on increasing data and analytics, prioritizing mobile applications, responsibly incorporating AI tools, and deploying upgraded dedicated solutions.

    The potential positive impact on events is enormous. Of course, we see the direct benefits: Digital transformation makes your events themselves much more data-rich, personalized, and effective. Integrations, AI-assisted analysis, and more can help your team better meet attendees’ needs, measure show results, and make smart data-backed improvements.

    We’ve also seen a few less immediately obvious — but equally important — ways that digital transformation positions organizations for event success:  

    1. Increased efficiency. Digital transformation requires investment in both time and money, but the payoff resonates for years. This realization often starts with mindset-shifting questions: Why pay for piecemeal solutions with overlapping capabilities when a single streamlined solution could do it all for less? Why continue struggling with inputs for complicated spreadsheets for tasks that could be automated? 
    1. Greater employee happiness. Frustrations with clunky processes, wasted time spent using systems that don’t work as they should, and being unable to accomplish important tasks on the go can stop employees from performing their best and reaching their goals. They might even seek a new job at a competitor with a more efficient, convenient tech stack and savvy digital-minded approach. 
    1. Ease of pivoting. In the events industry, we need to think back just a few short years — spring 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit — to find one of the most memorable reminders of how important it is to operate with speed and flexibility when the unexpected happens. An organization that has embraced digital transformation can adapt its events strategy more easily for anything, large or small, that comes next. 

    As events become an increasingly valued and integrated part of organizations’ sales and marketing strategies, digital transformation is a universal lift. 

    Ready to take the first steps or accelerate your current efforts? Our new guide, “Digital Transformation: Elevating Events and Beyond,” is filled with the guidance your team needs — from thinking through ROI to overcoming common obstacles and launching. It’s tailored just for event teams and draws on RainFocus’ experience with innovative clients across every industry.

    Get your copy here.

  • Cookies Are Staying, But Zero-Party and First-Party Event Data Remains Crucial 

    Cookies Are Staying, But Zero-Party and First-Party Event Data Remains Crucial 

    “Are third-party cookies going away?” 

    “If so, how should we adapt our approach to gathering valuable customer data in a post-cookies environment?”

    These questions have haunted marketing leaders and factored into their organizational strategy for years. They’ve watched warily as Google has announced — and repeatedly delayed and modified — plans to fully eliminate third-party cookies.

    With the industry giant’s recent decision to cancel its cookie deprecation plan for its Chrome browser after all, many teams are wondering what comes next. Events leaders, of course, understand the importance of a reliable flow of data from attendees that can fuel marketing and sales strategy. The expected end of cookies promised to further increase the pressure to deliver a wealth of zero-party and first-party data that does not rely on cookies and complies with user privacy expectations. 

    So, does the continued existence of cookies change the equation? Not really, according to RainFocus executives who have closely monitored the ongoing saga from both technical and strategic marketing perspectives. 

    “This change may seem bigger than it is from a net-result standpoint,” explained Mike Bushman, RainFocus CTO. “Users still favor privacy when given the choice, as was seen by iPhone users when they were given a similar choice by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature.” Notably, although Google’s plan keeps cookies available for users who do not opt out, it also enables one-time disabling that can then be adjusted at any time. 

    “Collecting zero- and first-party data is still going to be critical for marketing teams,” Bushman stressed. “Many Chrome users will choose to disable third-party cookies. Time will tell how much cookies will be marginalized.” 

    Despite Google’s abrupt shift, the overwhelming trend toward privacy and individual choice in data sharing will likely continue. “The era of cookies is still gradually drawing to a close as users gain more control over their privacy,” said Ashleigh Cook, RainFocus CMO, noting that other web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari have already blocked third-party cookies. 

    “This shift enhances trust and transparency in digital interactions,” she said. As consumers have become increasingly hesitant to share data with organizations in their everyday interactions, B2B leaders must also keep pace with evolving expectations. 

    Ultimately, regardless of how many individual Chrome users opt to continue to allow cookies, a smart business strategy continues to embrace the full potential of events to deliver the authentic, trustworthy interactions that win over prospects and customers. The data points generated from those interactions are mutually beneficial, allowing organizations to provide tailored event experiences while serving sales and marketing strategy. 

    “The adoption of zero-party and first-party data has not been merely a reaction to the so-called cookie crisis,” Cook explained. “It represents a broader movement toward genuine, transparent engagement with audiences.” 

    Learn more about how the RainFocus platform provides valuable data that propels sales and marketing strategy.

  • Everything You Need to Know About Badge Printing

    Everything You Need to Know About Badge Printing

    Badges are a critical part of any event. They grant attendees access to sessions, provide identification and security reassurance, enable exhibitors to easily retrieve contact information, and so much more. 

    Given the importance of badges, it’s essential to select printers and badge stock that fit within your budget and meet your event needs. Fortunately, there are several options for badge printing. This post is your guide to better badge printing.

    Selecting the Right Printers for Your Event

    The first thing to consider when planning your event’s badging experience is print speed. Not all badge printers can operate at the same speed. With large events or others that will require processing a high number of attendees at once (e.g., if all attendees are likely to arrive at the same time), Swiftcolor badge printers may be best. These offer a quick print speed of less than 10 seconds per badge. 

    Pricing and shipping are also factors to consider. For smaller events, Zebra printers may be a better option. These printers print badges in about 22 seconds. Although they are not as fast as Swiftcolor printers, they are easier to set up and are cheaper to ship internationally because of their lightweight structure. 

    Other considerations for printers include quantity of badges needed, the desired color quality, whether or not you need to print double-sided badges, and badge size. Be sure to ask your on-site vendor about all of these factors to ensure you have the printers you need to accomplish your goals.

    Ordering Badge Stock

    Badge stock selection is as important as printer selection. Consider the price, material, size, and tracking abilities. 

    Badges come in both matte (cardstock) and glossy (plastic) options, which each have distinct advantages. Both options offer distinct advantages. Cardstock badges are significantly cheaper and absorb color more easily. Their material is typically heavier than crafting cardstock and offers some water resistance. 

    The primary disadvantage of cardstock badges is that they can’t support RFID or UHF tracking technology for spatial tracking. Spatial tracking is useful for large keynote sessions where access control is not needed. 

    If this type of audience tracking is a priority for your event, glossy plastic badges may be ideal. They are also more durable than cardstock and can include holographic images or UV ink.  Glossy finishes are visually attractive but tend to be a little sticky while printing.

    Common badge sizes include 3.5” x 5.5” badges (considered XXL) and credit-card-sized 2.13″ x 3.38″ badges (commonly referred to as CR80). Smaller badges may be less of a nuisance for attendees while still large enough to display important information efficiently.

    Thinking Strategically About Badge Design

    The next decision is how to design your badges. Because attendees will wear them throughout the event and they will appear in event footage and post-event promotion, they must be both visually appealing and practical. Badge color schemes and layout are important, as is determining which information will be included on the badge.

    Consider designing unique badges for different attendee groups, such as VIPs and returning attendees, and for groups with different levels of event activity access. Design elements like colors and icons can also help attendees find like-minded peers or SMEs. The back of the badge is a great place to display an event schedule, map, or key messages for reference. Attendees can also personalize their badges with their photos or other images.

    RainFocus provides the option for attendees to upload photos for their badge during registration. Photos can be pulled from their profile and printed directly onto their badge. Our badge capabilities provide endless possibilities. 

    Printing On Demand

    When is the best time to print your event badges? Some companies choose to print their badges prior to their event. However, pre-printing is not recommended as it requires extra effort to ensure all the badges are printed, transported, and organized in time for the event. Last-minute and on-site registrations can create additional issues. 

    To keep lines short, we recommend printing badges on demand — which is often faster than pre-printing. On average, printers can print a badge in about 15 seconds. It also gives on-site staff the opportunity to immediately see how many attendees have checked in. 

    Running on a Secure Server

    The final consideration for badge printing is the internet connection at your event. Spotty wifi and other internet problems can create significant registration delays. At RainFocus, we run our check-in kiosks and printers through our own server. Even if the wifi is unreliable or goes out completely, your check-in process can continue uninterrupted. 

    Overall, getting the badge experience right ensures your attendees’ first interaction with your event once they arrive is a positive one. Level up your badging experience by implementing these recommendations at your next event. To see a demo of RainFocus badge printing, click here.