Leverage Tech to CRUSH your Event, Pt. 1: BEFORE the EVENT

 

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." ~ Buckminster Fuller

 

Our collective interlude with COVID and lockdowns, masks and virtual everything forever changed our way of doing just about everything and your fundraising events are no different. A broad embrace of technology - from QR codes to Zoom meetings - should not only empower organizations to utilize available tech to increase guest engagement and enjoyment, but should remind organizations that guests expect tech.

 

This is the first in our three part series of blog entries to help you utilize tech to increase guest engagement and make your life easier, BEFORE, DURING and AFTER your events. Make sure to check out Part 2 and Part 3 of our blog posts: Leveraging Tech to Crush Your Next Event!

 

BEFORE your event:

• Choose your Software: We're partial to BetterUnite's event module for its flexibility, guest-optimized experience and overall amazingness (obvi). But whatever software you choose to go with should:
  • Be chosen by all the potential admins that will be tasked with using it.
  • Fulfill a comprehensive list of your event's particular needs (see our examples for different types of events) and make
  • Do everything on your list in one place
  • NOT require a multi-year contracts because, if COVID taught us anything, your needs may shift from year to year unexpectedly.

• Design your Event Site: Ideally, this lives on your organization's site and you embed the checkout functions for purchasing tickets and sponsorships. You can create a separate Auction site as you get closer to the event, or link out to one. Try to have consistent and theme-related branding across all sites and in all communications - email banner images are cool!

• Sell Sponsorships and Tickets: Consider implementing a peer-to-peer component with your event  pages. This empowers board and committee members (and others!) to create their own event pages and lets the auction and other event tech follow in the "child" event pages. 

 

• Communications: Determine your full communications flow on a per ticket level basis, automate that in your software, then TEST, TEST, TEST. Register yourself, your colleagues, your board and committee members, your mom for the event at each level and see what they receive. Consider conditional responses in your emails and dynamic checkout fields (and consider it a red flag if your event software does not offer that functionality).

 

• Decide on your fundraising activations and the timeline for those to roll out in the tech.

 

• TEST TEST TEST (this is always a good reminder).

 

• Non-tech Pre-event planning (and more tech prep) see BetterUnite's Event Planner Checklist.

Make sure to check out Part 2 and Part 3 of our Leveraging Tech to Crush Your Next Event!