Dylan Sanders' Blog: Event Technology Solutions You Will Be Using in 2016, 5 Productivity Apps That Will Help You Organize Better & Effective Ways to Increase Participation at Your Event [Einsteins’ Favorites]

Einsteins Favorites - Best Event Planning Articles Of The Week

This week we try to keep up with the latest event technology solutions and share some predictions about the changes we will be experiencing next year. We know how valuable an asset time is, so we are bringing you a few productivity apps to make the most out of your limited time. Last but not least, we reveal deeper motivations for attending a conference other than education and networking. Enjoy your reading!

Event Technology Solutions You Will Be Using in 2016

Technology is helping event planners create better experiences for their attendees and also helps the industry overcome well-known challenges and issues. In the next year, virtual reality, live streaming and beacons will be the most important event technology solutions changing the meetings and events’ landscape. One of the most exciting is the VR technology that will give everybody a completely new experience. Event planners will be able to visit venues virtually and check for the tiniest details. At the same time, attendees will have the possibility to join virtual tours, experience a new product or participate in an unusual team building activity. These are just some ideas where VR tech could successfully apply. Check out other interesting changes powered up by the new tech!

Why Some Office Rules Are Meant to Be Broken

Rules in the office are fine, but may often be subject to interpretation. When they are too strict, they turn the workplace into a prison and kill any chance of forming a solid company culture. Imagine what it would be like to work for a company where you wouldn’t have water at your discretion. Or where you would be required to dress in a formal way. Or where access to your personal email account or social media would be prohibited. Not much of a chance for building loyalty among your employees! Read more to find out other office rules that would actually improve employees’ productivity if broken!

When they are too strict, office rules kill any chance of forming a solid company culture.
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5 Productivity Apps That Will Help You Organize Better

Valerie Leclair, VP of Operations for Ticketfly, shares her experience of working with different apps that help her and her team in different areas of the job. Each of the apps she’s speaking about has a specific role, either to effectively organize everyone’s work or to monitor and improve her team’s performance. One of the apps she strongly supports is 15Five, which allows her to stay up to date with the team’s progress on different tasks and projects. Another app she promotes is Concur that helps to easily keep track of the event’s expenses by snapping photos of all the receipts that come along. Check out three more apps the VP of Operations for Ticketfly is successfully using that you might want to try out for yourself!

Concur helps to easily keep track of the event’s expenses by snapping photos of the receipts
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Amazing Ideas for Your Cuban-Inspired Event

Choosing a theme for your event can be an inspired decision as it will most likely have a memorable impact on your guests. A Cuban theme can be very appreciated given the richness of the culture in many aspects such as food, drinks, cigars, music and dancing. Serving drinks in coconut glasses, offering hand-rolled cigars, decorating the venue with colorful bongos or entertaining guests with salsa and merengue music are just some of the ways a Cuban atmosphere can rapidly take shape. Even the particularities of the Cuban landscape can easily be embodied in the event using specific video projections. Go on reading to find out more inspiring ideas on Cuban-themed events!

What Subject Lines Have the Highest Success Rate?

The success rate of any email campaign depends to a certain extent on how well a certain subject line performs. It appears that some words in the subject line perform better than others. At least that’s what a recent analysis of 125,000 global campaigns sent by brands in four industries (including conferences/events) shows. Including words such as “Thank you” and “Monthly” has proven much more effective than using words that remind us of work such as “Whitepaper”, “Subscription” and “Journal”. Take a look at the best and worst performing words in the email subject lines and check out the specific metrics for each of them as well!

The success rate of any email campaign depends on how well a certain subject line performs
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How to Set-Up an Effective Customer Self-Service Strategy

Customer self-service is not something new. In 2014, 55% of the interactions were already without a human being on the other end. And this is only the beginning of the trend. No matter how effective it may seem, customer self-service can get frustrating at times. It may happen that the automated messages the customer receives can’t help him solve his problem. More frustratingly than that is when he can’t turn to anyone else. That’s why giving the customer the possibility to reach out to a real person is mandatory. Anticipating the customers’ pain points can also successfully reduce human interaction by giving customers immediate access to FAQs online, automated phone help system or help videos, tutorials and printed manuals. Check out other key guidelines for setting up an effective customer self-service!

Giving the customer the possibility to reach out to a real person is mandatory
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Effective Ways to Increase Participation at Your Event

When faced with the decision of whether or not to join a convention outside of town, attendees think beyond education and networking. According to a recent study, most attendees would be interested in spending a few more days after the convention is over. That’s why the possibility of extending their trip into a holiday would make them more likely to register for the event. In this case, event organizers should be negotiating with their hotel partners discounted rates for their guests’ accommodation. Want to know more about what attendees want? Here are two more ways to entice them to participate at your event!

When deciding to join a convention, attendees think beyond education and networking.
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5 Unique Event Venues in Texas You Should Know About

If you’re planning an event in Texas, you should consider some of the new venues that have become very popular for corporate events lately. Each of them has something unique to bring to the table, and some even have an interesting historical background that makes them all the more unique. One such place is Bomb Factory in Dallas which has been an actual factory for bombs during the WWII. Although the venue normally serves as a place for live music performances, it started to host more and more corporate events thanks to the large number of people it can accommodate. Take a look at this and other great venue choices for whenever you’ve got an event in the area!

Do You Have an Entrepreneurial Spirit?

It’s debatable whether one borns with an entrepreneurial spirit or develops it over time. However, there are a few behaviors that point out that you are actually an entrepreneur at heart. Are you always in search of better ideas and solutions? Do you always need to be doing something? Are you excited about innovative business ideas and admire their founders? Take a look at the full list and find out if you already have what it takes to be an entrepreneur!

Free Feature from Buffer Enables Easy Video Sharing

Buffer, the well-known social media management platform, has recently added a new free feature that allows easy video sharing to multiple social channels from one place. All you need to do is upload a video of maximum 1 gigabyte in any of the mp4, mov, or avi formats. It will then automatically make it the right size for each of the social platforms you distribute it to, be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Google+. Buffer for video also enables your access to all the analytics you need to track the impact of your videos with, which can show you how well this aligns with your social media marketing goals! Check out more information directly on their website.

What event technology solutions will you be using in 2016? What do you hope to achieve by implementing them? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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