Writing For Event Planning

The event industry is moving faster than ever. So should your strategy. What should you keep an eye on? I designed this framework based on the work I do with my clients. I made it a bit more general so you can use it regardless of your event type. -> Who is it for? Event owners Event strategists Head of Events Event marketers running complex event programs -> How to use it: Start by scheduling a dedicated session with key stakeholders from your events team. Before the meeting, collect relevant data points and KPIs for each SWOT category. 1. Begin with Strengths - focus on what your event does exceptionally well and has data to prove it 2. Move to Weaknesses - be brutally honest about internal challenges 3. Explore Opportunities - leverage market trends 4. Address Threats - consider both immediate and long-term risks For each quadrant, identify 3-5 key findings that impact your event's success most. Create specific action items for each finding and assign ownership. Review it quarterly or every 6 months - the events industry moves fast and you may need to update more frequently as market conditions change. P.S. If you want a PDF version of this framework, ask for it in the comments. I will keep the download open for one week.

Nonprofit friends, planning to collect data soon? Remember: Your questions shape your data—but they don’t always get you what you need. Imagine this: You are filling out a border form, and it asks: "Do you exceed duty-free allowances per person?" The only answers are Yes or No. For someone who didn't bring any goods, selecting No implies they did get something but stayed within the limit. The question doesn't account for people for whom the question is irrelevant, forcing them to provide inaccurate information. Now think about your data collection tools (say, your last survey): ● Are your questions boxing people into answers that don't reflect their reality? ● Are you assuming experiences that don't apply to everyone? ● Are you unintentionally excluding voices by limiting response options? Poorly worded questions = bad data = flawed decisions = a loss of trust. Here are three examples of common pitfalls: ● Assumptions baked into questions Example: “What barriers prevent you from attending our events?” assumes the respondent knows about your events and faces barriers. A better question: “Have you heard of our events?” followed by, “What barriers, if any, prevent you from attending?” ● Excluding relevant options Example: “Which of these programs have you used?” but leaving out “I haven’t used any.” Guess what happens? People pick a random answer or leave it blank, and now your data is a mess. ● Vague questions Example: “On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with our communication?” Without specifying—emails? Social media? In-person?—responses will be all over the place. Your questions are your bridge to listening and understanding. Two things to remember here (and by no means this is the complete list): ● Plan your survey – the why, what, how, when, what-next… before jumping to design ● Use inclusive language, providing options like "Does not apply.", wherever relevant. Ensuring people responding to it can see themselves in the questions and responses is the only way to give them the true choice of what and how much they want to share with us. Please reach out if you want to plan a Survey Kaleidoscope workshop with your team on your upcoming survey (for context, it's a workshop where we solely plan the survey collectively - every single element of how to ensure a successful survey happens) #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #community

I’ve been leading demand generation strategy for events at Microsoft and these are the top 3 key audience marketing strategies: First step when assigned to an event 🔍Segmentation and Targeting: It’s super important to understand the audience by breaking them down into specific segments based on their unique needs and behaviors. This enables us to deliver tailored messaging and campaigns. For example, we might segment our audience into "enterprise customers," "small businesses," and "individual users." By customizing our approach for each group, we ensure our marketing campaigns resonate and address their distinct challenges thus drawing them in as registered attendees. Secondly, a focus on ✍🏿Personalization and Engagement: As a demand gen lead, I want to make our interactions feel personalized to ensure our target audience engages with any content we put out so we can foster deeper connections. This includes personalized email campaigns, product and event recommendations, and targeted ads. In our touch points we also showcase various other pull-through methods such as interactive content such as webinars, surveys, and live events to keep our audience engaged. By understanding and addressing individual needs, we create a more meaningful and impactful relationship with our customers and partners. Last but not least 📝Storytelling and Content Marketing: As a storyteller myself, it’s important to me that we craft compelling narratives that showcase the benefits of our products and services through our events. Through a mix of content formats like blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, and social media updates, we tell stories that highlight how our solutions solve real-world problems. For example, we might share stories about how our cloud services have transformed businesses, or how our AI technologies are driving innovation, or how AI-skilling is making an impa on real people. This approach helps build an emotional connection with our audience, making Microsoft a trusted and relatable brand. These are only a few key strategies, but, by implementing these strategies, we drive demand generation and build lasting relationships with our customers and partners through our event experiences. As a demand gen lead, my workstream is the first touchpoint to the potential attendee — and I love to make it a magical one. Are you an event marketer? What are your marketing tactics? Share below. Here's to successful marketing! 📈🚀 #theBOLDjourney #audiencemarketing #eventmarketing

You don't need more content. You need better content - repurposed smarter. Most marketers create a big splash around a single content piece—a research report, a whitepaper, or a deep-dive guide. But after the initial launch? It sits there, collecting dust. Instead that one research report broken down into multiple assets can feed your marketing program for months: 🔹 Blog Series – Turn each section into a blog post. 🔹 Social Media Posts – Extract key insights, charts, and takeaways to create a series of LinkedIn, Twitter, and Reddit posts. You can use the same posts as ads. 🔹 Email Drip Campaign – Share each section as an email series to your newsletter 🔹 Retargeting Campaign – Run ads using snippets from the content, then drive traffic back to the full report. 🔹 Webinar or Podcast Series – Host discussions with experts around the report’s findings. 🔹 Short-Form Video Clips – Summarize key insights in quick, digestible video content for LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. You can then layer in all kinds of growth loops on top of each of these tactics. Having ea ch of them feed into the other. The best content strategy isn’t about creating more content.

Let's run a survey! 🗣️ In a sense, it's nice when stakeholders want to do things that are related to research. But they have a million questions they want to ask (or even show you as they've already made a draft survey) and while you may want to jump in the air screaming, sometimes we can also just go along with them and show them a bit of goodwill. So, stakeholder coming at you with wanting to run a survey? Here are 14 tips for designing surveys (and for you to redesign the survey you've received 😜) 1. Understand your survey type ↳ Quantitative surveys are for counting—great for large-scale data. ↳ Qualitative surveys are for diving deep—perfect for open-ended responses. 2. Define clear learning goals ↳ Decide upfront what you want to learn and report on. This guides your question design. 3. Write neutral questions ↳ Avoid leading questions that hint at the answer you’re expecting. Stay neutral. 4. Test your survey ↳ Draft questions, get feedback, and revise. Test with real users, not just colleagues. 5. Mix open and closed questions ↳ Open-ended questions give rich data but can be a pain to analyse. Use them during testing to see if they’re necessary and yield the results you need. 6. Randomise sections ↳ Avoid biases by randomising question order (where possible). This helps ensure balanced data. 7. Use multiple-answer Options ↳ Let respondents choose multiple answers where applicable. It’s more accurate. 8. Front-load key questions ↳ Drop-off in surveys can be high. People may do so before reaching the halfway point. Put the most critical questions upfront. 9. Keep it short ↳ Long surveys lose respondents. Stick to the essentials—20 questions max. 10. Use conditional questions ↳ Only show relevant questions based on previous answers. Keep it concise for each user. 11. Be clear about requirements ↳ Label questions as “(Optional)” or “(Required)” to avoid confusion. 12. Simplify instructions ↳ Place directions on the left side of the screen and keep them brief. Most people scan instead of reading thoroughly. 13. Test for page breaks ↳ Sometimes, grouping questions together works better. Test to find the optimal layout. 14. Count what you can ↳ Even in qualitative surveys, look for ways to code and quantify responses. It helps in spotting trends and saves time in the analysis phase. Bonus tip: Show, don’t tell. Use graphs and charts to present your findings—people love visuals! Qualitative surveys can be powerful tools for gathering deep insights. But they require thoughtful design and testing. Use these tips to make sure your next survey hits the mark. What other tips or questions do you have when it comes to survey design? Let me know in the comments 👇

Survey Design Best Practices: How to Write a Good Questionnaire 1. Clarity: Make questions easy to understand. * Be specific: Ask precise questions, not general ones * Avoid jargon: Use common language, not technical terms. * Keep simple: Ask one thing per question. * Avoid ambiguity: Use clear words with single meanings. 2. Flow: Organize for a smooth survey experience. * Start easy: Begin with simple, engaging questions. * Be engaging: Keep respondents interested with varied questions. * Group topics: Keep related questions together. * Important early: Ask key questions before fatigue sets in. * Keep short: Only ask what's necessary. * Set expectations: Tell people how long it will take. * Use skip logic: Let people skip irrelevant questions. * Demographics last: Ask personal details at the end. 3. Relevance: Ensure questions matter for your research. * Know audience: Tailor questions to who you're asking. * Serve purpose: Each question should help answer your main question. * Plan analysis: Think about how you'll analyze answers. 4. Objectivity: Avoid leading or biased questions. * Avoid bias: Don't suggest a preferred answer. * Space evenly: Make rating scale options feel equal. * Randomize: Mix up multiple-choice order. 5. Look & Feel: Make the survey visually appealing and easy to use. * Visually appealing: Use good design. * Clear navigation: Make it easy to move around. * Progress bar: Show how much is left. 6. Question Structure: Design effective question formats. * Limit open-ended: Use sparingly as they take more effort. * Appropriate data: Choose question types for the data you need. * Mutually exclusive: Make multiple-choice options distinct. * Keep simple: Use clear wording in all questions. * Include n/a/neutral: Offer options for "doesn't apply" or no opinion.

Here's a simple event landing page template. After auditing 5 event landing pages LIVE with Goldcast and 200+ marketers last week, one thing was clear: Most teams are close to getting it right. They just need a solid structure to work from. So here's a simple event landing page framework to make sure your page gives attendees everything they need, without the guesswork. 1) The Hero: - Use an anchored nav to other sections  - Use an eyebrow for type of event + who for  - Put start AND end times along with dates  - Imagery - ones of past events are nice  - No forms right away - it's a waste of space  - Summarized description with the highlights  - No vague titles. Be clear about what it is. Example: “How Top B2B Marketers Are Cutting CAC by 30%” instead of vague phrases like “The Future of Marketing” A title that makes them say "DANG, I can't miss this". 2) Event Details - why should they care? - Deeper on details  - The largest takeaways  - The agenda with speakers 3) About the Speakers If you have all internal speakers, it will immediately make attendees think it's a sales pitch. A mix of external SMEs and internal is perfect. You want to include: - Speaker information  - A little speaker background for credibility 4) Testimonials People were like "huh??? for an event's page??" Yes, show feedback from their peers from past event attendees, about the amazing insights they took away, or people they met, etc. 5) FAQs Especially if this is an in-person event, you will want to include FAQs about logistics: - How much does it cost?  - What's the parking situation?  - Will I be provided food, drink, and merriment? They are committing their time, their effort. Lower the risk for them. 6) Sponsors If you have MANY sponsors, don't make it a wall of 20 logos. Have a single line of logos in a carousel format that users can control. 7) The CTA section Yes, all the way in the bottom. Don't worry, you have the CTA in the nav AND sprinkled every couple of blocks. They will find it if they want to earlier, I promise. But it's in the bottom because: You've given them the information  You've told them what they'll learn  You have amazing speakers  You've taken care of the logistics  You have proof your events are da bomb And NOW you can make the ask. (not with a 15-field form though) Just ask for the information you need to sign them up. Get all your other information later. Tell them what to expect if they do sign up. Ex. an email with an invite shortly That's it. Small tweaks with big impact.  Attendee-first content.  A storied, sequential layout. You got the rest, boo. I do this for a living. If you want help with your landing pages, reach out to me here: https://lnkd.in/ewys5rwC

Can we elevate content from brand experiences? J Crew’s NYC newsstand takeover for their new catalogue caught my eye. Hitting the nail on multiple trends with a newsstand serving coffee, sweets, flowers, and an interactive phone that created queues around the block. But what stood out to me, was their use of content around the experience. The pre-launch photo shoot, aesthetic Pinterest vision board photos and TikToks that speak to NYC with Gossip Girl and jazz audio. So how can more brands up their brand experience content; 📸 Approach: Put content creation central to the process, not an afterthought. 📹 Strategy: Align marketing, events, and social teams on plans and schedules. 📸 Storytelling: Craft compelling narratives—skip the quick case study videos. 📹 Moodboard: Use past shoots and references to define your visual style. 📸 Talent: Collaborate with top creators for added credibility and reach. 📹 Quality over Haste: Prioritize high-quality content over quick posts. As someone who studied film, content creation has forever been my passion, and I see gaps in the content we create within the experience industry. It’s not just about the budgets (but using the production ‘leftovers’ doesn't help) it’s about the approach and importance we put on the content. Great content will help amplify any brand experience and captivate an audience, even if they weren’t part of the event. So which brands want to start creating better content with their experiences? What are your thoughts? How do we elevate brand experience content?

Online Events/Webinars are a scam. Why? Because I have seen many brands promoting events and screaming for “organic registrations” But have 0 marketing plan for making that happen. They promote the event 3 days before. Post a few graphics. Cross their fingers. And when sign-ups don’t come in, they blame the algorithm. Here’s what nobody tells you: Organic registrations don’t come from last-minute hype. They come from consistent, intentional content before, during, and after the event. Let’s break it down (you can save this post if you want) What most brands do wrong ❌ → Only posting generic speaker banners → No behind-the-scenes updates → No real-time content during the event → Forgetting to share recordings or highlights after → Ignoring community engagement (polls, reactions, thank-yous) What to do instead ✅ 🍀 Before the event → Announce speakers early (people register for people) → Share last year’s highlights to build credibility → Post FAQs and schedule teasers so people know what to expect → Run polls or quizzes related to your topics → Show behind-the-scenes prep to create curiosity 🍀 During the event → Share live quotes and instant reactions from attendees → Post short clips from sessions or entertainment → Run real-time polls to keep people engaged → Stream highlights and behind-the-scenes moments 🍀 After the event → Thank attendees, speakers, and sponsors publicly → Post session recordings and best activation pictures → Share event stats (how many people joined, key outcomes) → Tease your next event while attention is still high That's it. I hope you find this helpful. And if you did, follow me for more such social media tips #ContentStrategy #OrganicGrowth #BrandBuilding #SocialMediaTips

I created the Motion Design for last year's TEDx Munich. How do you get the most out of a tiny budget? This is how: Instead of focusing solely on a fancy intro movie (that only runs once at the beginning anyway), approach the task systematically: Establish design and animation principles that you will use for all videos (Social media content, Intro, loops, speaker announcements, bumpers) on all screens and in all formats. Create a library of scenes, elements, animations, backgrounds, colors, and shapes, such as logo animations, transitions, text animations, and background animations. Use the assets to quickly create all needed videos. This requires more planning before, but it speeds up the animation and production process. Instead of a fancy intro movie that is followed by boring PowerPoint charts, a systematic approach will generate animated content throughout an event and social media content you can use to promote it. #animation #motiondesign #motiongraphics #event