Trumblog

You cannot expecting an event social agent to hit the ground running on the day of the conference.  Preproduction for the event social agent is just as important as for the rest of the event crew. There is plenty of work that needs to be done in advance so that he has the tools that are needed to do the job and prepared for the last minute emergencies that will inevitably happen.

Set up social network and social media accounts

The brand probably has a Facebook page, but you may need an event page.  Same goes for MySpace.  Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare; accounts for all these networks are needed for the event too.  Using a consistent name for these accounts will be help attendees find them. Post promotional materials, logos, etc. right away so that natural buzz for the event can be supported with your own media.  Get started with status updates promoting the event and connecting with attendees.  Set up a Twitter list of attendees and presenters for easy following.  Post your hashtag everywhere.

Produce the event website

Every event from the biggest conference to the smallest PR event needs a website.  It isn’t as if most don’t, but the problem is that it’s often done wrong.  For conferences the websites are often focused on registration and aren’t built for longevity to support the need of social networking to extend the experience and therefore don’t answer key questions to facilitate social engagement.

• What is the hashtag?
• Where is the Tweet stream?
• What are the presenters Twitter handles?
• How do I connect with other attendees?
• What is the Flickr pool?
• What is the event’s YouTube channel?
• Can I access presentations on Slideshare?
• How do bloggers access media to promote the event and turn this viral?

Can you answer those questions with your conference’s website?

For smaller events the issue is different.  In these cases the website often focuses on the campaign with little mention of the event itself.  That can be an issue for attendees who’s awareness of the campaign is based on the event and somehow don’t catch the brand or campaign name or slogan.

A quick example. I’m a marathoner working in the Boston Back Bay and on my way out of Park Street Station I see an event about runners. I’m a busy guy. I don’t have time to stop or grab a flier. But I see the shoe brand name and understand that their shoes have something to do with the marathon. Later I search online for info about the event “Boston Common BrandName Runner”.  The search turns up locations to buy the shoe, but I already knew where the running stores are and I run in a different shoe anyway.  Search complete.  But what was missed was the chance to deliver the specific brand message from the event and sway me to your brand.  Opportunity missed.

ID Your Materials

Include your social media links to all of your materials.  The event brochures, schedules, etc all should have your social network and media account names and the hash tag on them.  Make sure that the PowerPoint template includes the hashtag and that presenters know that they are expected to include their handle at the beginning AND at the end of their presentations.  Make the social media information easy to find and prepare for it rather than leaving it as an afterthought that you have to overcome at the event causing  more legwork for presenters and the social media agent.

Research

The social media agent needs to know the topic.  He is a facilitator, a mingler, a member of the community.  Doing that without an understanding of the topic and audience the social media agent is sure to fail.  The social part here is key and in an online minute those attendees will sniff out that they are being sold rather than engaged with.  Make sure that the social media agent knows their stuff:

• Who is the audience and what is their reason for being there?  Know the topic, this is critical for making connections.
• Who are the big names, headlining presenters? Be able to pick them out of a crowd.
• What is the event schedule? Checking a printout for details is fine, but you must know the general arc of the conference.
• Know the hashtag, twitter handles, and social media accounts so you can pass them along.

Connect with Trust Agents

Identify the connectors for your vertical who will be attending your conference and show them some love.  Give them time with presenters.  Send them materials in advance.  Once these relationships are established and trust earned you can spend your days at the conference talking about the topic at hand rather than determining who’s best at spreading the word and spending time to make connections when there are so many other things that you need to be working on.  For smaller events identify social media mavens who would be interested in your event and invite them specifically.  Drive some awareness. Provide some authenticity. Give them a reason to attend and a friendly face when they do.

Get Business Cards

Hopefully your Twitter handle, website url, Flickr account name, Facebook page name, email address, YouTube channel, Slideshare account name, and all of the other accounts are all consistently named, easy to remember and posted online. But for old school attendees a business card with social media links can be handy for passing out when you speak with them.  This can be especially useful at a PR event that people are just passing through and as a way to deliver this information if it was missed in the conference schedules and other print materials.

Check Out Your Gear

Do not use your laptop or camera for the first time on the day of the event. That is a rookie move that WILL bite you.  Make sure that you can log in to all of the social networks and that you have them bookmarked.  Take some pictures, download them to the laptop and upload them to Flickr.  Check your internet access and know where the dead spots and best connection can be found.  Know who to go to with questions, issues that are passed on via social media and when the wireless internet goes down, which it surely will at some point.  Charge all of your batteries.  Have spares and know where you can change up if that fails.  Be prepared.

Not all of these tasks actually require the involvement of your event social agent.  The website for example.  No need for the event social agent to be involved in this,  but she will need it and if produced with the social media agent in mind will make her job easier and the success of the project higher.  Same goes for the research, which can be compiled and handed off. But the event social agent does need time to study it and prepare for the days of the conference.  However it is critical that the social media agent be prepared with the technology and to speak knowledgeably and connect with the attendees.  The day of the event is not the time to get up to speed.  Leaving it all up to them will mean that she will be too concerned about how to do her job to do it right and miss  engaging with the attendees and promoting social media connections.

Next up – Event Social Agent: Live at the Conference