Make your organization events more effective with these tools.

Two Don’t-Miss Tools for More Effective Organization Events

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit industry has seen a shift to more virtual and hybrid events alongside fully online fundraisers. In a time when we’ve become accustomed to virtual interaction, face-to-face gatherings can be more impactful than ever.

Building relationships and community online is crucial for spreading your organization’s reach and expanding your membership. But the value of face-to-face engagement can’t be replaced. In-person gatherings often bring a movement or a campaign to the next level, further engaging your members.

Here are two tools we’ve discovered that will help you take your organization’s events to the next level.

1. Event Management Software

Event management platforms are one of the more crucial components of planning your event. Whether you’re planning, hosting, or evaluating the success of an event, you’ll need event management software to help you along the way.

Fonteva’s Salesforce event management software guide walks through how to utilize association management software for your next event:

  • Create guest lists. Choose who to invite and create separate lists for attendees based on tracks of the event you want them to attend.
  • Track registration. Keep track of registrants during your planning process to ensure your venue and sessions can properly accommodate your members and attendees. This can also help you determine how much you need to continue promoting your event leading up to the date.
  • Create event sessions and guest seating. Divide attendees into groups, create seating charts, and set table numbers to further organize your event data.
  • Ensure simple payment processing. Process registration, eCommerce purchases, and donations all through your event management software. Be sure that your processor is PCI compliant to ensure data security.
  • Generate custom reports. Evaluate your event’s success by running revenue and registration reports on the data collected. You can also analyze which aspects of your event worked the best.
  • Send follow-up communications. Reach out to your attendees following the event to highlight the success of the day, thanking them for their time and participation. You can also inquire with attendees for feedback to improve future events.

When you choose the right event management solution for your organization, you’ll be able to customize the features to help you plan a range of activities from conferences to networking events to virtual panels to fundraisers.

With event management software you can increase the ROI for your event while creating a memorable experience for your members and attendees. Because event management software also stores member data, you can save attendee contact preferences, financial information, and other important information for later use. This data can be used to plan future events.

2. Graphic Design Services

Graphic design should be a part of all of your marketing materials. Skillful visual aesthetics can enhance your brand identity when standardized logos, graphics, and color schemes are implemented across all your marketing materials.

Graphic design requires experience and time. It can be expensive to troubleshoot if you are unsure of what you’re doing. Seasoned graphic design companies and professionals can work with you to provide assets for your organization to enhance your event space, color promotional materials, and engage more registrants.

According to Nonprofit’s Source guide to nonprofit graphic design, here are five types of design that a graphic designer can help you implement into your event marketing strategy:

  • Event Branding. Designers can create an event logo and color scheme that pair well with your organization’s main brand. They may use secondary colors from your main brand to enhance overall awareness and differentiate your event as a new campaign.
  • Event Website. Website designers can create microsites or webpages for your event. Their expertise in page navigation can help create webpages for registrants to easily find schedules, event details, and payment options.
  • Digital Design. Craft digital design materials like infographics, videos, social media graphics, virtual flyers, or email newsletters to promote your event. Digital materials will enable you to widely share information about your event, increase brand awareness, and gain more registrants.
  • Print Materials. Hire designers to create brochures and maps, branded merchandise, and thank you cards for your event. Send attendees home with branded merchandise to help them remember their experience and your organization.
  • Environmental Event Design. To beautify your event, designers can create branded banners, donor/sponsor walls, giving kiosks, and art installations. Designers can transform your event space into a theme or create materials to promote your mission or sponsors.

Events won‘t be nearly as successful if there is no promotion or thought put into the experience. By utilizing the skill of professional graphic design services, your organization can bolster attendee registration and improve the quality of your event.

And don’t waste your time creating one or two graphics that don’t look exactly right. Find an experienced graphic design provider that can work with you to create a set of marketing materials and event decor that fit your vision and the organization’s brand.

Organizing events is time consuming and can take months of planning. Look for scalable plans when searching for event management software and graphic design providers so they leave room for your organization’s growth. Now that you know how to maximize your potential with event management software and graphic design services, you can start planning your next event.