Event PR: Planning a Blogger Recruitment Party
After attending an event recently, I came up with a few ideas on how I would plan a blogging party for our clients.
How to Throw a Party for Bloggers
Purpose
What’s the point? Make connections, introduce a new project or product, celebrate an anniversary, launch your own blog?
Theme
Would a theme attract or distract? Possibilities: Summer Nights, Great Literature, Polynesian, Karaoke
Venue
Match to client, theme - must haves: clean, friendly, roomy, wi-fi, private room
Refreshments
Plan menu in advance and meet with the restaurant to make sure everything goes smoothly
Invitations/RSVPs
How formal do you want to get it? Announce the event on Facebook, twitter and set up an event site where people can get more information about details like refreshments, entertainment and parking. Manage RSVPs with a site like evite or eventbrite.
Hospitality
Greet everyone at the door with a nametag and ask them to sign in [name, URLs, twitter ID, email, phone] so you know who was there and so you can link to them in your follow up post.
Entertainment
Brief presentation must be entertaining with room for participation from the bloggers in attendance. Work frequently asked questions into your presentation.
Guest List
Will it be open or by invitation [with invitations for bloggers to give out as well]?
Party Favors
Give away something to take home, both in the way of a branded promotional item and an overview card that tells them where to get more information
Images
Take pictures and video to post online - broadcast live for a bit if you can.
Follow Up
Afterwards, call each blogger and thank them for coming. Ask what you could do better or differently - and find out who they think should have been there that wasn’t.
Your Turn
What would you bring to this party/post?
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader. If you don't have a feed reader, you can always have these articles delivered to your email. Activate your Wired PR Works email subscription.
Don't have a feed reader? No problem! Just click the email icon to the right and enter your email address. Watch for a confirmation email. Click the link to Activate your Wired PR Works email subscription.
My daughter started using evite - works great! I’d definitely bring a camera … maybe work with my illustrator to create a post-event cartoon with caricatures.
Brad Shorr’s last blog post..Words for Nerds - Portmanteau