Instant Communication With Event Attendees by Text Messages
A conference website, mailing campaigns, social media and push notifications from mobile applications sum up to quite a few channels of communication with attendees, but is that everything?
A conference website, mailing campaigns, social media and push notifications from mobile applications sum up to quite a few channels of communication with attendees, but is that everything?
Event organizers constantly seek out new innovative solutions. Sometimes, though, the innovation means a simple solution which is based on the technologies that have been present for years now. The point is to connect them with each other in a way that provides totally new possibilities afterwards.
A tried and tested solution that has been used successfully for years is conducting mailing campaigns through event management software. This allows you to communicate with attendees efficiently, which is – something that every deliberate organiser ought to know – one of the keys to successful organization of any event. Using the registration system, we are capable of sending all kinds of confirmations, reminders and documents such as invoices, entry passes, and tickets. Communication with attendees will be automated and immediate. And that's what we're about.
However, while this way of communication works well before the event, it is not a perfect method when it is already in progress. The reason is simple - a guest isn't bound to read your e-mail, probably one of many, which are delivered to his inbox during a session or a lunch break. So, before it turns out that because of your omission attendees missed important messages, it is worth knowing that there is a simple solution that helps preventing it. Don't forget about text messages! They make a sound, appear immediately in the inbox and allow you to send the most important information in a concise way, e.g. about the upcoming 15-minute thematic session. Sounds awesome but the question is, though, how to optimally take advantage of text messages possibilities? How to avoid the neccesity of exporting and importing the database? This is described below.
CONREGO already integrated its event registration system with SMS platforms several years ago. With this solution, you can send out text message campaigns directly from the attendee registration system at any time. The integration enables the organizer to save plenty of time spent on exporting attendee database from CONREGO and importing it to another platform.
After integrating both systems, you can automatically send these situational messages:
Text messages can be configured to show the sender's name instead of a phone number. Its limitation is the number of characters – a maximum of 11 characters. In most cases, however, it is sufficient to present the name or brand of the event.
What is more, SMS/email platforms grant access to full delivery statistics and link click analysis embeded in the text messages you send.
We believe that information gathered here will be an inspiration for you while organizing another conference, congress, or training. No matter how well you organize your event, remember about efficient event attendee communication because of its impact on the final result.
Tomasz Chrościechowski