With technological advances, it's becoming easier and easier for people to ignore traditional marketing messages. They can fast-forward commercials thanks to the personal video recorder (PVR) or avoid them altogether with apps like Netflix. They can mute digital advertisements from brands within apps and on various social media platforms, and they can filter their email inboxes to reduce content that includes sales copy. So how can companies reach potential customers without the message literally getting lost in the mail?

Since Corporate Event News launched this past September, we’ve done our best to bring you interesting, relevant news that will help you do your jobs better. Now we’re checking in to see if what we’ve been doing has been working – and give you the chance to provide feedback and input to help shape our content going forward.

The right speaker can help change an average conference or event into a memorable one. Approaching your speaker selection process with a purpose can lead to increased attendance, a more inspired audience and a higher profile for the event. You might think of a well-chosen guest speaker as the exclamation point to the content provided by your executives or presenters. Plus, the right speaker with proper motivation can help attract more attendees.

Tech helps the brand experience world go around, from audio-visual solutions to the latest innovations in digital marketing. Tech is precise, mathematical and useful. It can be eye-catching and fun, too. But ultimately, tech is just part of the show organizer machine that powers event marketing and sponsorship.

Stop the engines for one second.

What if I told you event tech, at its best, can make shows more personal and create deeper connections between you or your sponsors and audiences? It seems counterintuitive but it’s true.

Corporate events come in many types and sizes, but all have a few elements in common: online registration, some type of check-in process, and a credential (badge, wristband, or digital) assigned to each attendee.

At the simplest prospect or consumer events, in a single location for a few hours, the credential may be just a paper badge with the attendee's name printed on it. Or it may not be a physical credential at all: a QR code in a smartphone app may work fine.

It’s hard to believe that 2018 is already here. Corporate Event News was launched just over three months ago, on Sept 20, and the time has flown by. Thank you for your readership, for subscribing to our weekly newsletter, and for contributing your ideas, suggestions, and content.

A potential new client called me the other day asking for help planning a large meeting in conjunction with a much larger citywide event. When we received the initial inquiry, we were guardedly optimistic that this was a solid piece of new business. We prepared for the call, outlining who would handle what aspects of the conversation, establishing a flow for follow up questions and doing some preliminary research on the citywide, the client and possible venues.

Corporate events have the potential to be interactive meetings where industry leaders share new ideas and products with their colleagues, fostering discussions and increasing engagement. From conferences to team building events and quarterly board meetings, a number of simple factors can make a big impact on guests’ engagement and satisfaction. When planning your next corporate event consider repurposing some ideas from the most exciting social events you’ve been to.

Every summer on beautiful Cape Cod our Convention Data Services (CDS) team organizes an advisory group event for our clients. Our annual event gathers people of different backgrounds from all over the country to network, share ideas and build relationships. With 11 years of experience planning and executing this meeting we’ve gained first-hand knowledge of what makes a corporate event successful. Here are a few tips and ideas for creating a memorable event:

Define your objective:

Your title may be meeting planner, event coordinator, event marketing manager or vice president of conferences or some combination of the above. No matter what it is, my goal is that in five years’ time that title will be out of style and the word, ‘strategic’ will be the first word that describes the position you hold. It’s not just a title change that I want to see, it’s an entire industry shift to a strategic mindset.