On the subject of managing a convention, there are such a lot of duties in your plate. From securing sponsors to participating attendees, the method can shortly grow to be overwhelming.
Amidst all of the convention chaos, nevertheless, do not forget that knowledge is the important thing to unlocking vital insights about your viewers and bettering future occasions. To make sure your convention knowledge is beneficial and error-free, comply with knowledge hygiene greatest practices and construct these methods into your convention administration plan from the start.
Holding your knowledge clear and actionable doesn’t should be a time-consuming or labor-intensive course of. With the following pointers, you will get probably the most out of your knowledge with the least raise attainable, permitting you to give attention to different facets of convention administration.
1. Streamline Knowledge Assortment
Streamlining the info assortment course of and making a system to seize attendee particulars may also help decrease knowledge hygiene points sooner or later
To gather attendee knowledge effectively and successfully, comply with these greatest practices:
Permit attendees to pre-register. Once you allow attendees to register on your convention forward of time, you’ll be able to gather important knowledge upfront, corresponding to contact info and session preferences. That means, you’ll be able to decrease knowledge assortment duties through the occasion and keep away from errors brought on by rushed in-person knowledge entry.
Restrict knowledge fields. The much less info you gather from attendees, the much less muddle you’ll have in your database. Solely request needed attendee knowledge that helps you higher perceive your viewers and talk with them, corresponding to their communication preferences and lodging wanted.
Use predefined formatting. For the knowledge you deem needed to gather, use predefined formatting in your registration and knowledge assortment kinds. For instance, in the event you’re gathering attendee start dates so you’ll be able to section your viewers by age, configure your date of start discipline to routinely require your required format, corresponding to YYYY-MM-DD or MM-DD-YYYY.
Moreover, think about eliminating bodily kinds and knowledge assortment strategies. Going digital will make it a lot simpler for attendees to fill of their info and on your group to prepare and analyze the responses.
2. Develop Knowledge Requirements
Whereas your first line of protection ought to be perfecting the info assortment course of, in some instances, you’ll have already got attendee info in your database. Or, now and again, you might want workers members to manually enter info throughout or after a convention.
Creating knowledge requirements ensures you’ll be able to manage current knowledge and get your group on the identical web page about tips on how to enter info sooner or later. Think about your preferences concerning knowledge factors like:
Cellphone numbers. The 2 commonest codecs for telephone numbers are (123) 456-7890 and 123-456-7890. Moreover, when you’ve got attendees from totally different nations, you might add the nation code, or omit nation codes in case your viewers contains folks out of your nation solely.
Addresses. If one workers member at all times enters “Avenue” and one other makes use of “St.,” you might wind up with pointless duplicates or an excessively difficult search course of. Decide whether or not you’ll spell out addresses or use the abbreviated variations of avenue names corresponding to “St.,” “Rd.,” “Ln.,” “Ave.,” and “Blvd” to maintain all the things constant.
Job titles. If networking is integral to your occasion, you’ll probably gather details about attendees’ jobs. Chances are you’ll select to spell out titles like “Chief Government Officer” and “Physician of Dental Surgical procedure” or just use their abbreviations “CEO” and “DDS.”
It doesn’t matter the way you select to standardize your knowledge; so long as you’ve clear knowledge entry guidelines in place, it’ll be straightforward to search for vital info in your database and section your attendees into related teams utilizing your constituent relationship administration platform (CRM).
3. Sync Knowledge Between Platforms
Automate knowledge sharing between your occasion administration platform and different instruments to cut back guide knowledge entry and errors. As an example, your CRM or database ought to combine along with your occasion administration expertise so updates on one platform simply switch to the opposite.
Along with your CRM, you might use secondary instruments that may profit from integrations along with your occasion administration software program. For instance, eCardWidget recommends utilizing on-line invitation software program to spice up occasion registrations, and syncing this device along with your occasion platform will mean you can hyperlink to your occasion registration web page, import contacts, and use knowledge about open and click-through charges to tell your occasion outreach.
Verify to see if any new platforms you’re contemplating combine along with your current software program to make this course of simpler. You could possibly entry integration info on every platform’s web site or want to achieve out to a gross sales consultant to study extra.
4. Permit Attendees to Replace Their Info
Contemplating how usually folks transfer, change jobs, get married, and change their e-mail addresses, your attendee info can shortly grow to be outdated. Mitigate the dangers of inaccurate knowledge by providing attendees the chance to replace their contact info themselves through the check-in course of.
Placing attendees in control of updating their very own info ensures it’s correct. One other methodology for acquiring up to date attendee knowledge is thru attendee profiles. By your occasion app, you’ll be able to permit attendees to create networking profiles with their contact info and guarantee this knowledge matches what’s saved in your CRM.
Moreover, think about sending out surveys after your occasion to gather occasion suggestions and ask attendees to replace their contact info so you’ll be able to keep in contact. As Deep Sync explains, this knowledge is taken into account “zero-party knowledge,” which means it comes straight and voluntarily from attendees. This knowledge assortment methodology lets you be assured that you could attain your visitors and construct long-lasting relationships with them.
5. Audit Your Database After the Occasion
After your occasion, take the time to audit your database for any errors. In the event you discover any inaccuracies or inconsistencies, create a plan to rectify them and delegate duties to your group accordingly.
In the event you discover any gaps in your attendee info that may forestall you from reaching or concentrating on them successfully, think about enriching your database with supplementary info. An information supplier can supply dependable third-party knowledge and add it to your database. This info could embody visitors’:
Demographics
Contact info
Training ranges
Marital standing
Earnings
Internet price
Way of life info
Let’s say you’d wish to run an SMS advertising and marketing marketing campaign to have interaction attendees after your occasion however discover solely half of your attendees entered their telephone numbers through the registration course of. With knowledge enrichment, you’ll be able to append attendee telephone numbers to your database and launch a marketing campaign that reaches as many viewers members as attainable.
Prioritizing knowledge hygiene throughout your convention doesn’t take a lot effort, however it can make an enormous distinction when it comes to your knowledge high quality in the long term. Think about assigning a workers member or volunteer the position of information steward to supervise your knowledge hygiene efforts and preserve your group on monitor sooner or later.
