Successful Online Events
the devil is definitely in the details...

With fuel costs at an all-time high, travel budgets are tight. The good news? Online event technologies provide the interactive flexibility of live meetings and are more economically feasible than ever before, for large and small organizations.

Well-planned and executed online programs offer a convenient, cost-effective method for member outreach:

• Certification programs
• Software applications training
• Town hall meetings
• Segments of annual meetings
• Political Action Committee (PAC) updates and directives
• Board and committee meetings
• Discussions between national headquarters and chapters
• Press conferences

As ASAE’s technology partner for managing online events, CommPartners has spent countless hours constructing customized programs designed to meet a wide variety of needs and budgets.

The checklist below covers many of the questions we ask association clients. We hope these points will help with planning your next Web-based event.

1. Think about your goals:
   • What’s the purpose of the event/what needs will it fulfill for attendees (information, skill development, continuing education, etc.)?
   • Do you have specific financial goals?
   • What ultimate outcome do you want (e.g., providing knowledge, prompting action, increasing member involvement and satisfaction, generating non-dues revenue, etc.)?  
     
     
2. Learn about the technologies available:
   • What are the various technical options available to you?
   • What does each cost?
   • Which work best with what types of programs?
   • What criteria will you use to evaluate vendors, to ensure the best service for the right price?
   • What technological skills will you and your staff need to run your event?
     
     
3. Evaluate the technical capabilities of your audience:
   • How technically savvy are they?
   • What operating systems do they use?
   • How do they access the Internet (dialup, broadband, T-1 line)?
   • Have they ever participated in online events?
   • What expectations will they have of your online program? 
      
4. Establish your budget and registration goals:
   • Do you plan to make money from this event?
   • What registration fees will you need to charge, and how many attendees do you need to attract, to meet your financial objectives?
   • Can you leverage this meeting and increase income through post-event sales of CDs or a Web-streamed presentation?
      
5. Think-through the logistics:
   • How will people register for the event (mail, fax, online)?
   • How will you collect payment if they don’t want to use credit cards online?
   • How will you track registrations, payments, discounts and refunds?
   • What will you do about “no shows?”
   • How will you handle latecomers who want to replay the event?
   • If you offer CEU credits, how will you confirm full event participation?
   • Who will make sure attendees receive all pre-event details, handouts and login information?
   • Who will be responsible for making sure everything goes smoothly on the day of the event?
   • Will you be recording your event?
   • How will you handle post-event marketing, sales and fulfillment? 
     
     
6. Develop your content:
   • Will the topics work in an online format?
   • If not, how will you adapt content to a web environment?
   • What presentation and feedback tools are most likely to keep participants engaged?
   • Do you need to adjust visuals and handouts?
   • What methods will you use to allow participants to interact with speakers or each other (white boards, annotation)?
   • Do your speakers know how to present effectively in an online environment or involve online participants while presenting a live program?
   • Who will check the accuracy of the content?
   • Does anyone on staff know how to create effective PowerPoint presentations?
     
     
7. Develop a marketing plan and promote your event:
   • What’s your marketing message?
   • Who will write and send e-invitations and follow up with those who have not responded?
   • What electronic and traditional marketing tools are most effective?
   • What’s the best promotional schedule for your event?
   • Who will create the timeline and track benchmarks to ensure full participation? 
     
     
8. Prepare your staff, speakers and attendees:
   • How will you make sure that all attendees have the right software and know how to access your program the day of the event?
   • Who will coach your staff and speakers about the presentation technologies?
   • Do you have an engineer to run sound checks before the event?
   • Who will provide day-of-event technical support for attendees and staff?
   • Who will moderate your program? 
     
     
9. Solicit immediate feedback:
   • What method will you use to survey participants?
   • How successful was your event?
   • How effective was the speaker?
   • Did attendees get what they expected?
   • What feedback would help the speaker(s) improve the program next time?
   • How do you gauge attendees’ excitement about having spent their time at your event?
   • Would they attend future events?
   • Will they recommend your programs to others?
   • Who will develop, distribute and analyze post-event surveys?

As you can see, managing online events is a complex process! For information about CommPartners’ ASAE-discounted services, contact us.