You just held the most amazing conference! Members are excited, your team is psyched up, and your guest speakers got so much attention for their books and causes that they’ve already agreed to come back next year. So, what’s next? Well, you can move all your conference materials and notes aside and enjoy a couple of days’ hard-earned rest, knowing full well that as soon as you get back to work you’ll get so involved in answering emails and attending meetings that you’ll lose all your post-conference momentum. Or, you could come straight back to the office and use that steam to supercharge your member engagement like never before. Here’s how…
1. Say ‘Thank You’
Never underestimate the power of these two words. Your members are used to hearing from you when you have something to gain—getting them to sign up for an event, perhaps, or contributing to one of your causes. But this time, let them hear from you when you’ve got nothing to gain. Just express your gratitude that they made time in their busy schedules to participate in your conference.
2. Connect with New Leads
Networking is one of the best reasons to have or attend a conference. Make sure you capitalize on this by connecting with the people you met. Friend your guest speakers and guest attendees on social media. Make sure the info on their business cards gets transferred to your main contacts list or database. Be sure to add them to your relevant email lists. Do this before you begin forgetting everyone (which you will very quickly—conferences are exhausting!).
3. Use the Event Information to Create New Content
All those speeches and presentations can easily and quickly be recycled into other excellent content to boost member engagement and spread the word about your association. Turn the videos of your speakers into webinars. Use the breakout sessions as topics for e-books. Blog about your conference, as well as all of the useful and relevant discussions you had during the event. Hold a contest and give away a free copy of your keynote speaker’s latest book. There are many ways to repurpose conference fodder.
4. Follow Up with Your Promises
Did you tell members or prospects that you’d find something out for them or get back to them about something? Do it as soon as you get your suits off to the cleaners. This is your chance to prove that you truly care about your members, which is the best member engagement money can buy.
5. Brainstorm While Ideas Are Still Fresh
Anyone who’s ever run a conference knows that the ultimate dream is to have everyone leave happy so you can get home and relax. But before you put on your comfy pants and grab the remote, you and your team need to meet and brainstorm while all of the information from the conference is fresh in your heads. You likely had some brilliant ideas for member engagement and attracting new members while you were at the conference, and you’ll have forgotten it all if you let a weekend pass before you brainstorm with your team.
Boosting member engagement, managing conferences and other events, and promoting the content you produce after a successful event—all these things are much easier to do if you have a smart, up-to-date AMS software system. Is yours up to the task of measuring engagement?