An eagerness to put the pandemic behind us and to get back to a feeling of normal has been over two and a half years in the making, and the return to in-person events has been welcomed with wide-open arms.

Some are continuing to implement what they learned from the sudden adoption of virtual in 2020 by committing to the hybrid model, in hopes of capitalizing on the benefits of both. From the reach of a virtual event not bound by the limitations of travel, accommodations, and commitment – to the undeniable networking power of in-person attendance, conference organizers are ready to maximize the impact of their events like never before. 

That’s fine and all, but the reality is that budgets are being stretched far beyond their elasticity. The cost of in-person events is higher than ever before thanks to post-pandemic inflation and the ripple effects of supply chain shortages. If you’re going the hybrid route, you're basically running two events at once. So as conference planners seek to build memorable experiences for their attendees, the need to save time and boost ROI is a matter of survival for the organizations operating within the margins. 

Thus, we here at Sessionboard want to share three ideas meant to do just that, give you your precious time back and make ROI your M.O.   

In this article we will discuss why you should:

• Streamline Communications
• Consolidate Data
• Repurpose Event Content

Streamline Communications 

The Problem – Never-ending Email Chains

For conference planners such as speaker managers, building an event agenda requires an incredible amount of communication. The amount of emails exchanged between organizers and their constituents such as speakers is, quite frankly, obscene. 

The McKinsey Global Institute found the average employee spends 28% of their time reading and responding to email. 

Organizing and communicating all the pre-event details, information and presentation requests, tasks, files, session info and post conference data for each speaker can be a daunting level of back and forth. Plus it’s not only time consuming for you as an organizer, it can also be really time consuming for your speaker to understand what needs to be done and when. This is presumably after your call for speakers(or papers) has already been completed, a submission process which involves tons of communication between you and prospective speakers before they have even been chosen to present at your conference. 

The average team wastes more than 20 hours per month due to poor collaboration and communication. That’s 6 workweeks per year that teams are not being productive. – Source:  Planview

Historically, speaker management has been executed through email and managed through spreadsheets. But when you do the math, say an average of 15 different emails involving 10-20 different key tasks plus various deadlines for your speakers to remember… it becomes clear that email is a painfully inefficient means of distribution for the information and the spreadsheet workflow just creates more work for everyone. 

The Solution— Streamline your communication  

The best way to overcome the inefficiency of endless emailing is to consolidate, automate, and propagate this process. Sounds great, but what does it really mean? 

It means saying sayonara to the madness of your methods that belong in the past. It means embracing technology that can aggregate your communication workflow as a conference organizer, so that you're no longer beholden to the volley of messages required to build your event agenda. Now what if I told you there exists a solution which can streamline your entire speaker management journey? One that can guarantee to save your 100’s of hours of time per conference when implemented?

That solution is Sessionboard of course, a speaker, session, and content managing powerhouse of a platform. Sessionboard makes your entire process, from the call for speakers to on-boarding, content & document collection, & agenda-building,  simple, seamless and automated. We even released a new feature that allows conference organizers the ability to utilize merge tags and email templates to make communication personalized while maintaining the efficiency of automation. 

Want to learn more? Check out the recent video that covers this powerful new functionality. 

Consolidate Your Data

The Problem - More data more disorientation

As event organizers know, there is a lot of data involved in building and managing a conference. Specifically for those managing speakers and presenters, it is a constant stream of document requests, contracts, proposals, posters, presentations, bio’s, headshots, accommodations, wiki pages, and content. With an influx like that, how do you even begin to store and organize it all? 

The problem is daunting, and what’s even scarier is knowing that most organizations have relied on spreadsheets, dropbox, and google drive folders to track and manage it all for so many years. This old school approach costs event organizers tons of time and it can create confusion. Sifting through emails and spreadsheets and drive folders, trying to make sure you have everything you need to build your event is disorienting, and it can create doubt that will lead to a poor experience for your speakers and internal staff. The days of collecting and storing data in silos is now optional, and a painful option at that. 

The average team uses 6 approaches to support project collaboration and at least 4 different communication tools. 48% of organizations say their top collaboration hurdle is ineffective communication between team members. – Source: Planview

The Solution — Put It All In One Place

We know that change can be scary. Fear of the unknown is a huge hurdle that keeps event teams from overcoming such challenges as data management. A convoluted system which involves extra steps and siloed databases may be silly from an outsider’s perspective, but if it’s all you’ve ever had to work with it can feel like home. We get it.

But, that’s not a good enough reason to keep wasting your time and effort on wacky workflows. 

Modern times call for modern solutions, and organizations can achieve growth by embracing change. Therefore, having a singular platform you can rely on to collect, track, manage, and distribute your data is fundamental to making your next event efficient and profitable. All of the time spent chasing down your speaker’s event details has a dollar amount that can be directly attributed to it. 

When you implement a platform like Sessionboard into your tech-stack, confusion is cleared up and the money saved on your process becomes ROI. 

Learn how Sessionboard can help you collect and manage all of your speaker, session, & content data.  

Repurpose Conference Content

The Problem – You Need A Strategy & A Repository

It’s safe to say that nearly every conference, expo, or trade show is having their sessions recorded. These session videos are amazing assets to have post-event for marketing material.  Conference organizers who manage speakers and sessions have access to months worth of content to promote their event, and they’re truly sitting on a gold mine of footage that can be repurposed.

66% of event planners are using video as part of their marketing strategy. (EventMB, 2018)

The caveat is that you must have a plan and a repository for this content, or else you’re losing out on the ability to leverage it into ROI. In a way, it sort of requires a shift in how you perceive your event. Sure it’s a great one time experience, an opportunity for your audience to learn and grow and network all in a condensed time and place together. But if you’re a conference organizer or event planner who has worked hard to put it all together, and spent loads of money you hope to make back in the process… you need to zoom out to see the bigger picture. 

A plan for the content, from who will cut it and how, to where it will all be stored for access, is essential. Your recorded sessions can serve so many purposes such as filling out your content calendar and promoting your event for an even bigger audience next time around.  Missing out on the chance to capitalize on your content is a huge mistake that is equitable to throwing your investment away. 

The Solution – Think Proactively & Proprietarily   

If you approach your event content generation with the intent of maximizing its impact, you will have the proper mindset to make your material work for you. Also, treating it like any other asset you have invested real money into will motivate you to make it a priority. 

It’s important to note that a little effort will go a long way. You don’t need the most high end cameras or the most seasoned editors to produce your post-show video content. The most viral content on the internet today is shot on a smartphone. It’s not about the quality of the megapixels, it’s about the quality of the message being conveyed.  

When it comes to strategy, tips and tricks to help you plot your content strategy, we’ve got you covered. You can access our recent article, 7 Tips to Turn Your Conference Content into an Effective Marketing Machine. This will give you a great head start. 

As for where to collect and store it all, we’ve got you covered there too. Sessionboard has an easy to use content repository where you can upload, manage, and distribute your conference or event videos and audio recordings. 

Conclusion

The ideas we outlined here are centered around the age old saying, “time is money”. When you save time, you’re saving you and your organization money. By focusing on streamlining your communication, consolidating your data, and repurposing your event content, you’re setting yourself up for a highly profitable investment that will pay dividends. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about how Sessionboard can make your next conference or live event more efficient when it comes to speaker, session, and content management… schedule a free demo today. 

Sessionboard, INC

Sessionboard is a next generation event management platform that simplifies speaker & content management so event teams can work smarter, move faster, and improve their ROI.

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