How to promote an event
Platform Overview
At the moment (24/09) we announce our events on the following channels:
- Meetup
- Eventbrite
Sometimes we experiment with these other channels:
- Xperience
- lu.ma
- Telegram
Some old marketing tips can be found here.
What needs to be done before posting?
Before posting, make sure that the date is fine for the experimenters and that the location is reserved.
For talkin' events, it's the experimenter's job to come up with an event teaser text. The event coordinator should communicate this text to the marketing person. Furthermore, a title picture is needed. For title pictures there are the usually the following options:
- A picture from a previous event, some old ones can be found on Dropbox, some newer ones on Google Drive, for the most recent events we've usually posted pictures on Meetup.
- A stock photo. This may either be:
- A freely available stock photo, for example from Pexels
- A paid stock photo from iStockPhoto. Matteo owns a bunch of credits for this page. If you want him to purchase one, contact him and send him a link to the picture you want. Please make sure that the picture is of the "Essentials" category (cheaper than "Signature").
- A paid stock photo that we have purchased before already, see this folder.
If you use a stock photo, make sure to add the correct photo credits to all event descriptions! If it is missing, there is the danger of a lawsuit against us! talkin' was hit up by a lawyer because of that before, luckily back then the photo credits where there, the lawyer just didn't see them! But this is a real danger!
The event text for talkin' events usually consists of:
The event should be posted online at least two weeks before the event takes place!!
Video explanation for Meetup and Eventbrite
Meetup.com
While there is an official talkin' meetup account, we usually do not use this one for posting events. Instead, we add members to the group as co-organizers, and they post the events with their own accounts.
We create new events by copying old ones and editing their details (see video above). As hosts we usually do not set the experimenters but organizers, e.g. framer, event coordinator or marketing person.
We usually allow around 30 people. Many usually do not show up, so it's also fine to add people from the waiting list manually to "going".
After the event, you can upload pictures from the event to the respective event picture folder.
Eventbrite
While most of our participants find us through Meetup, we also post our events on Eventbrite since it is connected to our website.
Similarly to Meetup, we do not post events by logging in with a talkin'-account, but instead we grant access to all who want to post there by adding them to the talkin' organization on Eventbrite.
As explained in the video above, we usually post new events by copying old ones.
For Meetup it's also a good practice to post some event pictures in the event description to get a better impression of the event, see this example.
Important things to remember:
- After creating an event it still needs to be published
- Make sure that the tickets are available for purchase right away.
- Make sure that the right organizer is selected (czc' / talkin' etc.). If you create a new event series you may add a new organizer, or just use a previous one that's located in the same city.
WhatsApp Channel
To post an event in our WhatsApp channel you need admin access there. You do not need to post the full event text in there, it is enough to post the main event details (name, date, time, location) and links to meetup and eventbrite. See this example:
Text can be formatted as bold in WhatsApp by surrounding it with asterisks (*).
We have the instagram account @talkin_vienna for talkin' vienna and/or talkin' wien (but we've also posted about power point karaoke there before). We also have @improv_czc for comfort zone challenges and improv games. These accounts are mainly used to post event pictures. For @talkin_vienna, we've also sometimes posted event announcements. As instagram does not have specific event functionality, you will just need to create a regular post or a story informing people about the event. In the past, we've often done this by posting the event title picture (add photo credits to the description!) with the basic event information added to it.
Xperience
Xperience is a new mobile app that serves as an event platform similar to Meetup. Everyone can post events or look for others to join in an activity. We do not have a talkin'-account, but you can post events simply with your personal account.
As both the event title and the event description only allows a limited number of characters, you may need to shorten it and reduce it to the most essential parts, see this example:
Compare it to the longer version on Meetup! You may attach a link to the meetup page for more info in the event details.
Furthermore, we recommend posting the event in one of the public communities so more people find it (e.g. Xperience Newcomers). Xperience also relies more on chatting than other applications, so it is recommended to text the before the event and let them know it's happening and how to get there. Also you may let them know that there are more people coming than signed up, since we post on several channels.
lu.ma
lu.ma is a new and modern event website that we started to experiment on. It has a very nice interface, but not as many users yet. We have a talkin' event calendar there, for which you need organizer access to post there. See previously posted events for reference.
Telegram
Our Telegram group mainly serves as coordination group for outdoor events such as comfort zone challenges or improv games. However, you may also announce your events there. We have no specific guidelines for that.
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