< Previousparks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton. While a tourist town, Jackson Hole also is a great mountain escape for planners looking for a unique locale for meetings and events. Overlooking the National Elk Refuge on the outskirts of Jackson Hole, the National Museum of Wildlife art offers several indoor event rental spaces. Among these spaces, the museum’s Terrace offers 2,000 sf of space and is ideal for small affairs, and the Pike and Susan Sullivan Hall, which opens onto the museum’s Sculpture Trail Terrace, is ideal for group dining and receptions. The beautiful Snow King Resort in Jackson Hole offers 20,000 sf of indoor and outdoor event space and can accommodate up to 300 attendees. Thanks to being located mountainside and within walking distance of Jackson Hole’s downtown, Snow King Resort offers the best of both worlds – plenty of outdoor amenities for nature aficionados and ample opportunities for non-sporting enthusiasts to explore the cultural and shopping experiences of Jackson Hole. The Snow King Resort recently renovated its Grand View Lodge, which is complete with an expansive Grand Teton Ballroom and an array of outdoor terraces, lawns and patios for those planners looking to include the mountain land- scape as a backdrop to events of all sizes. LAKE TAHOE, CA When you think of mountain spots in sunny California, what comes to mind? Why, Lake Tahoe, of course. One of the newest, renovated venue spots gracing Tahoe is the Everline Resort & Spa, formerly known as the Resort at Squaw Creek. This newly redesigned Tahoe resort features several team-building experiences designed for groups looking to connect and bond, while enjoying the great outdoors. For example, a favorite resort experience at Everline is the Pedal Paddle Adventure, which including a seven-mile guided bike ride to Lake Tahoe, fol- lowed by a paddleboard tour of the west shore of Lake Tahoe. The adventure is completed by a seven- mile bike ride back to the resort. For business meetings and events, Everline features 33,000 sf of indoor meeting space, as well as 14,700 sf of outdoor meeting spaces, which provide expansive views of the nearby mountain meadows, as well as several scenic loca- tions at the Links at Everline, a one-of-a-kind golf course that takes advantage of the resort’s dramatic mountain setting. Another favorite meeting venue is the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe. This luxury property boasts ski-in/ski-out amenities and offers more than 10,000 sf in event space throughout five spacious event rooms. In addition, the resort features several private outdoor terraces, offering over 15,000 sf of space to allow attendees to enjoy the resort’s pristine moun- tainous location. POCONOS, PA And while most people consider mountain meetings take place on the Western side of the country within the great Rocky Mountains, plenty of mountain escapes can be found on the East Coast as well. One favorite mountain locale is the Poconos. Located in northeastern Pennsylvania, the Pocono Mountains offer plenty of conference and meeting facilities, including the Mount Airy Casino Resort, Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, and the Skytop Lodge, which offers a 12,000 sf executive conference center. In addition, the Poconos Mountains area is filled with team-building outlets including whitewater rafting, paintball and retreat experiences. I & FMM themeetingmagazines.com 20 APRIL 2024 | INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT More than meets the eye COLORADO SPRINGS Don’t let our good looks fool you. With nearly 500,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, Colorado Springs might just surprise you. 4,012 hotel rooms with amazing views More meeting space than 7 football fields Start planning your next meeting or event today: VisitCOS.com/meetings Welcome to Colorado Springs, where our wide- open spaces, 300 days of endless blue skies and stunning scenery serve as the backdrop to your Rocky Mountain meetings and events. Discover historic properties, unique venues and value-priced, first-tier amenities. Here, you’ll find room to inspire, innovate, connect and re-energize. SURPRISINGLY HELPFUL: The Visit Colorado Springs staff is ready to help. Our complimentary services include: • Leads to hotels, checking availability and rates. • Leads to service providers such as transportation and off-site events. • Personalized site inspections and help locating unique event sites. • Promotional materials, posters and images. The Broadmoor Flying Horse Resort & ClubGarden of the Gods Resort COURTESY OF VISIT JACKSON HOLECOURTESY OF VISIT LAKE TAHOE Options like Jackson Hole, WY, and Lake Tahoe, CA, put a spotlight on the outdoors with activities year-round, from mountain climbing and hiking to hitting the slopes. Gretchen Bliss Event Producer, Healthcare Financial Management Assoc. Annual Conference Our attendees loved the ease of the Colorado Convention Center, the walkability of the hotels and all of the energy in the city.More than meets the eye COLORADO SPRINGS Don’t let our good looks fool you. With nearly 500,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, Colorado Springs might just surprise you. 4,012 hotel rooms with amazing views More meeting space than 7 football fields Start planning your next meeting or event today: VisitCOS.com/meetings Welcome to Colorado Springs, where our wide- open spaces, 300 days of endless blue skies and stunning scenery serve as the backdrop to your Rocky Mountain meetings and events. Discover historic properties, unique venues and value-priced, first-tier amenities. Here, you’ll find room to inspire, innovate, connect and re-energize. SURPRISINGLY HELPFUL: The Visit Colorado Springs staff is ready to help. Our complimentary services include: • Leads to hotels, checking availability and rates. • Leads to service providers such as transportation and off-site events. • Personalized site inspections and help locating unique event sites. • Promotional materials, posters and images. The Broadmoor Flying Horse Resort & ClubGarden of the Gods ResortHow Planners Work Smarter and Faster With AI BY CHRISTINE LOOMIS R egardless of how we feel about AI, it’s already impacting how we travel, meet, learn and work. Like other new technology, AI gener- ates some fear and skepticism — not entirely without good reason. Bruce Mac- Millan, CPA, chief innovation officer of PCMA and one of the champions of the new SPARK AI tool, offers a perspec- tive that may help: “It’s important to understand that this is not about technology. This is about productiv- ity — how you do your work, just like using a computer or other tools. People shouldn’t be afraid.” To help with this, he says PCMA is running courses that demystify what SPARK AI is and how it can be used. The 2024 Convening Leaders convention in San Diego included a lot of AI news and information, especially related to SPARK AI, a joint venture between PCMA and Singapore- based online event management company Gevme. Project SPARK is a tool currently available free to anyone who wants to discover how AI can be used — and PCMA membership isn’t required to sign up for it. MacMillan is deeply involved with SPARK AI and a passionate proponent of harnessing it for multiple uses in the meetings and events industry. He wants conference professionals to learn how beneficial AI can be. Currently, he says, 5,000 people in 40 countries are using the SPARK tool. “Some 64% of our mem- bers/community are using AI in some form,” he says. MacMillan and PCMA’s involvement in AI grew out of the pandemic. “In the aftermath of it many people left the industry. Meetings came back sooner than expected, which resulted in a gap between need and an adequate workforce,” he says. AI could help fill that gap. According to MacMillan, the number one thing people use AI for is productivity. “It’s good for tasks. You can generate run of show and create event and speaker descriptions, for example. Right now, that’s what people are using SPARK for — to create content. We like to say that SPARK can do in 30 seconds or less what would take a human 30 minutes or more,” he says. SPARK, like all AI, is evolving at head-spinning rates. “The adoption and development rates are unprecedented,” MacMillan says. “ChatGPT was the fastest ever platform to achieve over a million users. Now it’s over two million. We created this great productivity tool with SPARK AI, and now we’ve created SPARK Takeaway, which summarizes speaker presentations. The first time we used it was when the Clintons spoke at Convening Leaders in Janu- ary. Every attendee received a summary of what was said. | TECH TOOLS | themeetingmagazines.com 22 APRIL 2024 | INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY EMPOWERING Bruce MacMillan, CPA Chief Innovation Officer, PCMA With AI, organizers can quickly get housing, registration, specialty- education and session data, and take all of that and derive insights. How great is that? The audience could just sit and listen, no need to take notes. SPARK Takeaway is great for education sessions as well.” Needless to say, the SPARK summary of the Clinton’s talks took a fraction of the time it would have taken a per- son to create it. The next iteration of SPARK is focused on data analyt- ics, which can be especially important for insurance and financial meetings. “Events, particularly in the insurance and financial fields, are very data rich,” MacMillan says. “With AI, organizers can quickly get housing, registra- tion, specialty-education and session data, and take all of that and derive insights. If you’re in the financial field, you might be able to say, ‘Banking executives from the Midwest got this from the session or will be more likely to buy that product.’ Organizers can then quickly, and probably less expensively, get that information to their sales team to act on. They won’t have to send their data out to companies to analyze, saving them not only time but money.” The uses for that kind of data collection are many. “If you’re an event organizer, you can get all kinds of data, such as how far out attendees are booking or registering, the price point they’re most comfortable with, and so on. You can then use that data. For example, the data may show that people DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT | APRIL 2024themeetingmagazines.com 23are booking much closer to an event than they were two years ago — 15 or 30 days out instead of 90 days out. But hotel contracts are still basing attrition clauses on 90 days out. If you have data that your members are registering and booking housing 30 days out, you can show that to the hotel and ask them to change the attrition clause accordingly. That’s just one example of great use of the data.” Concerns about data bias in the AI world have been raised frequently, especially relative to who feeds informa- tion into AI tools, but MacMillan is confident they’ve greatly reduced the possibility of bias in SPARK. “Data bias is a reality everywhere. But we have filters and governance to take out the ‘toxic’ data as much as we can. Our model draws on publicly available material. We don’t input anything. We also have the highest standards, certifications and compliance possible — both ISO and SOC compliance — and that’s especially important to financial and insurance companies.” In a world where regulation typically lags far behind innovation, it’s important for planners to use AI products that meet the requirements for privacy, safety and security. MacMillan acknowledges that there are plenty of content- generation AI products available, and they’re fine — as long as data isn’t involved. “But if data is part of what you’re using AI for,” he cautions, “then certification and compli- ance is paramount, otherwise your data is at risk. We rou- tinely get asked to create security checklists by companies that want to use the product and we have no problem with that. Exposing your data to a new system is a risk, but we pass every time.” While generative AI is evolving at lightspeed, it has many uses right now that planners can leverage. It can take one video and turn it into multiple materials for marketing and event promotion. It can identify trends, streamline tasks, synthesize transcripts, create newsletters, summarize pro- ceedings and analyze attendee data. It can power chatbots to answer attendee questions, create scripts and itineraries, organize seating layouts, create personalized greetings and match attendees with shared interests and goals. AI trans- lation tools can eliminate language gaps. AI can generate leads and sales and create post-event reports. Perhaps most important, it can give planners something they desperately need — more time. But planners need to embrace it in order to reap its benefits. “Try it,” MacMillan urges. “It’s easy. That’s why we created SPARK. It’s going to help everyone in the industry to elevate their game for themselves and their audience. Once they take the first step, they’ll learn what a great product it is and how it can help them do aspects of their work faster and better.” Another strong reason for embracing AI? You can be part of its evolution. You can help direct how SPARK AI evolves so that it becomes singularly aligned with exactly what you and other planners need in the industry. “It’s hard to give everyone everything all at the same time,” MacMillan says, “but it’s the users who will shape AI. We get feedback continually and that’s what shapes what we do going for- ward with SPARK.” When asked to describe how SPARK AI will impact meetings two years from now, MacMillan says the speed at which AI is evolving, “weekly at this point,” makes that hard to answer. “Two years ago, no one could have predicted what we have today,” he says. Still, he boldly predicts that AI will be ubiquitous in our industry and SPARK will be regarded as groundbreaking. “SPARK will provide business-event participants with a personalized experience from the time they’re asked to consider registration, to personalized content offerings at the event, to personalized networking experiences and, of course, a personalized sum- mary of their outcomes against their objectives for the event. “SPARK AI,” he continues, “will help defini- tively answer the question: ‘What is the value of a given business event?’ because it will help event professionals manage, measure and extract insights from the vast amounts of data that events generate better than ever before. SPARK will be heralded as the AI pioneer that introduced AI to a global industry, unleashing the industry’s creativity and innovative energy in the process, entrenching AI as foundational in delivering next-level participant and stakeholder value.” Maybe it’s not so hard to answer, after all. PROS & CONS OF AI FOR MEETING CONTRACTS One of AI’s many capabilities is analyzing contracts. There’s no question that AI has a role here, but there are serious caveats. While SPARK AI has the ability to analyze a contract and come up with a new clause or new wording or suggestions, an attorney should still look it over. “We’re not trying to replace the role of the attorney,” says MacMillan. “We’re trying to accelerate the ability of our clients to deal with an attorney. It’s an accelerator that can help you shape your questions to the attorney.” Joshua Grimes, Esq., with Grimes Law Offices in Bala Cynwyd, PA, sees positives for planners utilizing SPARK AI with contracts. “SPARK AI is a good tool for reviewing meeting and event contract clauses. It’s helpful in suggesting provisions to be incorporated into contracts and can often suggest missing clauses, or parts of clauses, that benefit either or both contracting parties.” He adds that AI’s ability to fill in missing information may be especially helpful to planners and suppliers who don’t yet have significant experience in the industry. “It can offer particular wording or whole provisions that are cus- tomarily found in meeting/event contracts,” he notes. As for SPARK or any AI creating an entire contract from scratch, themeetingmagazines.com 24 APRIL 2024 | INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT Tyra Warner, JD, PhD, CMP Fellow Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, College of Coastal Georgia I could see planners using AI to create contracts, but then sending them to a lawyer to review to cover all their bases.25 Grimes points out that even if it could, it would still need to know a planner’s preferences in order to be useful. However, he adds, “With experience, a planner could get better at inputting prompts that are more likely to lead to contract provisions that the planner prefers.” While SPARK AI’s model draws entirely from publicly available material, that’s not necessarily the case with other AI. “AI tools are often a reflection of the people who designed them and input the baseline information,” Grimes says. “If those designers were from one segment of the meet- ings/events industry — or maybe from a totally different business background — contract provisions important to a planner might be miss- ing, or not presented in a manner most favor- able to planners.” Planners them- selves also have to use the right prompts when requesting that AI develop a contract term, otherwise they may not get the correct clause. “It’s critically important to use the correct prompts to get the clause you need,” Grimes says. “The bot- tom line is that AI can be an important tool in contracting, but it shouldn’t be a substi- tute for experience and knowledge. Just as a planner’s know-how is critical to putting on an event, a competent attorney is still needed to develop a comprehensive and equitable contract.” Everyone agrees that AI is here to stay, but caveats, at least for the present, are too. “AI and similar computer-assis- tance programs are likely to remain a part of the meeting and events industry because they help improve efficiency,” Grimes says. “The caveat is that they are not a substitute for experience and judgment, particularly as possessed by pro- fessionals. The need to review AI-generated work product will likely remain. This has been proven already in many industries, including law.” For those reasons and more, Grimes isn’t worried that AI is going to replace legal expertise analyzing contracts. “Contract provisions often change over time, based on market conditions and other changing circumstances. For example, hotels now charge ‘add-on fees’ for services that used to be part of a room rate. It’s unlikely AI would be able to pick up on these changes, especially right after they’re first introduced.” For Grimes, the bottom line is this: “While AI may provide a clause that seems legally sound, that clause may be written in a way that favors a supplier, or it may be miss- ing critical industry-specific terms. It’s better to use AI as a drafting tool, to be used for a ‘first draft’ of a contract with review and refinements then made by an attorney or other contracting expert.” Tyra Warner, JD, PhD, CMP Fellow, is associate profes- sor and chair of the Department of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts at the College of Coastal Georgia. She sees the use of AI for contracts in much the same way as Grimes. “Planners are using prompts to AI to find appropriate clauses for contracts and then comparing the AI-generated clauses with what’s in the existing contract. Alternatively, they’re entering contract clauses from existing contracts into AI and asking it to review or improve them.” One problem with AI-created contracts, Warner notes, is that there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ set of contract clauses, yet that’s what AI offers, she says. “It lacks the ability to recognize the nuances of a meeting and customize clauses to the specific meeting arrangements, history of the meeting, season- ality issues and so on. AI can find information that has been input, but I haven’t yet come up with prompts that allow it to customize contract clauses with all of these factors integrated.” On the other hand, she notes, “Whereas humans sometimes overlook something or make a mistake, AI will be more precise in what it provides.” In other words, to err is human, as the old saying goes. Warner definitely cautions against using AI to create an entire contract. “It may not address the specific needs of the meeting or organizer. While you’ll probably get tech- nically correct clauses, they may not be the best clauses to use. When lawyers review contracts, they keep the context of the meeting, the organizer and the other party in mind as they make revisions. When I’ve reviewed contracts, I also try to keep as much of the original language as possible in the contract, revising only what needs to be revised, not just replacing their clause with mine. This seems to make negotiations smoother. I’m not sure if AI is as good at that. I could see planners using AI to create contracts, but then sending them to a lawyer to review to cover all their bases.” AI is included in various courses at College of Coastal Georgia and Warner believes it should be part of all hospital- ity programs. To planners, she says, “By all means, explore using AI as a tool but don’t let it replace common sense. It’s not going to do your job for you, it’s not going to replace times when you need the human touch for creativity, histori- cal knowledge or nuance.” Like MacMillan, Warner sees AI solidly in the future. “AI will be much ‘smarter’ than it is now, having garnered more data and information over the years. I think people will find ways to use it in tandem with traditional methods to improve processes and increase productivity.” I & FMM INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT | APRIL 2024themeetingmagazines.com 25 DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM Although AI can analyze contracts, having AI create a whole contract is ill-advised. For one thing, it lacks the ability to revise what needs to be revised or recognize the nuances of a meeting and customize clauses as needed. How to Market a Virtual Event BY MAURA KELLER I t used to be that virtual events were under-utilized and oftentimes an under-developed option for event marketers. After 2020, that all changed. Virtual events were forced to up the ante. And new tech- nology helped make that happen by enhancing the attendee’s experience. While in-person events thrive on personal interac- tions, virtual gatherings feature interactive online sessions, live chats, polls, Q&A sessions, virtual networking spaces and gamification elements. Because of these differ- ences, the marketing of virtual events requires a level of innovativeness and a keen understanding of the technologi- cal tools used to bring virtual events to the forefront and grab the attention of potential attendees. Through her extensive experience as founder of Exhibi in Katy, TX, and 25+ years of event experience in oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, technology, and others, Gwendolyn Hood has managed events in 12 countries, working for and with companies like Schneider Electric, Alexion and Schlum- berger. As such, she has a keen understanding of marketing project management, live and virtual event activations, con- vention development, KPI reporting and budget planning. At Exhibi, Hood helps exhibitors and organizers with strategies that generate real business from their events. When evaluating the key marketing strategies for virtual events, Hood points out that the online environment is a crowded space, so meeting planners need to captivate from the start. “For virtual, use a digital-first approach with online campaigns, creator-brand partnerships and data-guided per- sonalization for engagement,” Hood says. “In-person affords opportunity to use digital but tap into location-specific promotions too. Along with typical digital promotions, Hood says that community-building tactics are on the rise when marketing virtual events. This results in authentic connections, shared purpose and ongoing engagement. “This is where your audi- ence becomes part of the message with personalized content, COURTESY OF VALERIE BIHET | INDUSTRY INSIGHT | themeetingmagazines.com 26 APRIL 2024 | INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT MARKETING NEW TRENDScollabs, UGC (user-generated content) and exclusivity creat- ing a sense of belonging beyond the event,” Hood says. “The key here is consistent listening to provide value and to adapt to your attendees’ expectations and preferences.” Robert Brill, CEO of Brill Media, a digital advertising agency for scalable business growth, and 10 time honoree across the Inc. 5000 and Financial Times 500, says in-person events usually require planning ahead of time, which means a more deliberate decision to attend. While the barriers to attend are higher, including costs for travel and hotels, once confirmed, you can expect registrants to attend. “By contrast, virtual events require a far lower barrier to attend, making it easier for people to register, but also easier for people to not show up,” Brill says. “So, the strategies need to be different. In-person marketing focuses on registration. Virtual events must market to registration and also follow-up reminders to actually attend.” The audience also is likely going to be different because you’re able to target people who are further away in geography, which also means there are cul- tural differences. “Even within the U.S., lifestyles and personalities are very different between the South and the West or big cities like New York and Chicago vs. Los Ange- les,” says Valerie Bihet, director of VIBE Agency. “You need to take that into consideration when you are doing your marketing. These are very dif- ferent people, so the words you use to talk to them need to reflect that. If you are attracting a global audi- ence, that is even more of a diverse group so be clear about the timing and where they are in their day, which will affect who attends and who wants a recording.” TOOLS TO USE A few tactics that are proven to effectively market a virtual event. • Social Media: Post on any owned social channels about the event to your audience. Content can include visuals of the speakers, appeal questions that will be answered in the webinar and clips of past webinars. • Ads: Post ads on channels that will reach your audi- ence. These channels include trade publications, LinkedIn, Google Search and possibly Meta. • Listings Services: Post the event in places people are looking for virtual events. Consider Eventbrite, Alignable, Meetup and 10Times. • Email List: Send details about the virtual event to your email list multiple times before the event. • Podcasts: Go on a guest podcast tour to have oppor- tunities to talk about the podcast. Or, run ads in targeted podcasts promoting the virtual event. “In each of these tactics you can feature speakers, past testimonials and insights that will be shared at the event,” Brill says. “Focus on the transformative value of the event in the communications.” Brill advises meeting planners use all the available chan- nels to reach the target attendees, as you are only limited by budget and time. As Brill explains, email marketing will be valuable to reach people with the highest intent to attend. Run social content posts to attract the right audience. Post the event on listing services where people look for events. Go on a guest podcast tour to appeal to your audience. Get placement on targeted trade publications for promotion of the event. These are all relatively low cost methods. “More expensive methods include running ads on LinkedIn, Meta, Google, podcasts and niche trade publica- tions,” Brill says. “In each of these tactics you can feature speakers, past testimonials and insights that will be shared at the event. Focus on the trans- formative value of the event in the communications.” Hood explains that the best online tools deliver value to meet- ing planners and the audience. Focus on applications that make your life as a meeting planner easier including automation, engagement, data collection and segmentation. “The biggest overarching challenge is outpacing competi- tion,” Hood says. “Outside of direct competitors, a broader ecosystem of entities compete for the same attention – content, algorithms, time, ad saturation and budgets. In addition, other distractions are platforms, fatigue, not having a dedicated location and ROIs.” Brills sees one of the biggest challenges is that people will register and then not attend. So, meeting planners will have to continuously market to the guests who register. These audiences will need ongoing follow-up. “To make this marketing effective, meeting planners will need to send emails to attendees, provide calendar links so the event shows up on the attendees’ calendars and continu- ously post on social media,” Brill says. “Run retargeting ads to attendees as a reminder to attendees.” Bihet advises that for the marketing content with virtual, you need to emphasize the digital engagement and conve- nience of attending. With virtual events you are focusing on exclusive content, interactive sessions and the networking without barriers because of the larger reach. “The key message that gets them to want to attend is differ- ent for each medium so you have to play up the value of that INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT | APRIL 2024themeetingmagazines.com 27 (Facing page): Planners should create unique and engaging content to combat Zoom fatigue. (On left): Valerie Bihet, director of the VIBE Agency, ensures everything is running smoothly for an event for COTY, a beauty company. COURTESY OF VALERIE BIHETplatform,” says Bihet, who sees social media as the easiest and most far reaching marketing technique to use. Partnerships with influencers can get you even more of a reach beyond who already follows your pages. Plus, people believe in people more than brands these days, so having an influencer who resonates with the target audience could help you attract people you may not already have connected with the brand. “For email marketing, there are types of software to choose from like ConstantContact, Hubspot and Mail- erLite,” Bihet adds. “There are many virtual platforms that also have a marketing component to them. Both of these are now incorporating AI to make the writing and messaging even easier based on the settings you have for your event.” Diane Lyons, CMP, DMCP, president of ACCENT New Orleans Inc., says that adapting content delivery for virtual events demands diverse formats and approaches. “Market- ing materials should emphasize the value of the content being presented, such as keynote speakers, workshops, panel discussions and interactive sessions that attendees can conveniently access from the comfort of their own devices,” Lyons says. Since April 2020, she has organized various vir- tual programs, each offering unique and memorable experi- ences. One standout event that’s a personal favorite of hers is an online fundraiser for a nonprofit dedicated to melanoma research. This fundraiser featured a group of doctors who also happened to be talented musicians, forming bands to raise funds for the cause. “What made it special was the seamless integration of cam- eras and setups, creating a television-like production,” Lyons says. “Viewers were treated to interviews with the participat- ing doctors, as well as heartfelt testimonials from patients, underscoring the importance of their support. Notably, with- out the expenses of a physical venue, we doubled our fundrais- ing goal, a gratifying achievement for everyone involved.” Lyons also orchestrated a three-day virtual showcase promoting New Orleans as the destination for an event last year. It felt akin to stopping by a booth, where attendees could explore city highlights through engaging videos and receive real-time assistance on accommodations, transporta- tion, dining and more. “Periodic reminders about the event in New Orleans served as gentle nudges to register, making for a dynamic and effective promotion strategy. It was terrific and differ- ent,” Lyons says. One of Lyons events combined virtual and live elements. The presentation highlighted the plight of the wetlands in South Louisiana, where they seamlessly integrated live presentations with pre-recorded footage showcasing the region’s natural beauty and ongoing restoration endeavors. “Featuring five experts from around the world, our event facilitated interactive Q&A sessions, enriching the presenta- tions and fostering meaningful engagement,” Lyons says. “Participants not only gained valuable insight but also left with a profound understanding of the environmental chal- lenges facing Louisiana’s wetlands. By blending these ele- ments, we crafted an immersive experience that resonated with audiences globally.” COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID There are two common mistakes Hood has noticed meeting planners make as it relates to marketing virtual events. First, they are one-size-fits-all, impersonal promo- tions that miss the mark and leave attendees confused. And second, they have no nurturing or follow-up plan, allowing momentum to fade. “Personalized, targeted marketing that resonates and fosters community through ongoing engagement should be a priority,” Hood says. Brill also has seen meeting planners not put enough effort into the event, and their creative content isn’t compelling. The lack of effort usually shows up in a lack of strategy. “They don’t give people enough time to register for the event, or the events aren’t promoted with best practices,” Brill says. “The communications are not persistent enough. People are seeing 5,000 to 10,000 messages per day, so to make an impact it’s important to send a lot of messages in a lot of different formats to breakthrough. Chances are the meeting planners may believe they are hitting people over the head with messages. In fact, it’s likely your target audience isn’t seeing enough of the messages.” Bihet agrees that some meeting planners are waiting too long to start promoting and marketing virtual events. Even if it’s virtual, attendees need to clear their schedule. Bihet recommends promoting virtual events at least two to three months in advance. “If you were doing hybrid you would start promoting six months in advance, so half that for virtual is good,” Bihet says. “ I see some doing only on month notice for virtual and it’s just not enough to get strong attendance. At the minimum, you can do six weeks but that will affect your attendance too.” The content of a virtual event must be highly unique. Unfortunately, this isn’t happening a lot, and so registra- tions fail. As Bihet explains, you cannot present the same content other people are putting out there. It’s redundant and your audience won’t need to hear the same thing from another source. “Make it unique if you want to stand out and customize it to what your target audience wants to know and learn,” Bihet says. “Also make registration for a virtual event as simple as possible. The longer they have to fill out forms or walk through multiple screens they will abandon out of frustration.” And remember that when the creative is boring, it doesn’t share the transformative value of the event. Potential attendees don’t see the speakers, the topics and the network- ing opportunities that will make the event valuable. themeetingmagazines.com 28 APRIL 2024 | INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT Diane Lyons, CMP, DMCP, President, ACCENT New Orleans Inc. Marketing materials should emphasize the value of the content being presented... that attendees can conveniently access from the comfort of their own devices.29 “A big opportunity that not enough virtual events are leveraging is live video. Live video promotions in places like TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube can attract many attendees,” Brill says. “Any company with a routine set of events should consider starting a podcast. The combination of live stream- ing and podcasts creates community and a built in audience to promote upcoming virtual events.” Bihet adds that it is so very important to really know your target client personas. As she explains, it’s a very small margin for error hitting the right audience based on their interest and demographics, so you could result in having the wrong person attending because the marketing language or platform was unclear. “This isn’t as hard of an issue with in-person events, which is usually more expensive so people are really very committed to the event and making sure it’s a fit for them,” Bihet says. “With virtual, they don’t always go as in-depth to review the event before signing up (especially if it’s free or they could get a recording) so you may get the wrong person attending who doesn’t hit the event goal in a way you wouldn’t with in-person.” In addition, Bihet says the virtual events space is fac- ing continuous Zoom fatigue, as we are seeing more and more in person events. “While virtual is part of the annual event strategy, it’s not usually people’s first choice any- more,” she says. Technical challenges like relatability, security and data privacy are also a continuous issue that meeting planners face. In addition, virtual attendees now, more than ever, want to know what their data is being used for — par- ticularly if you have Europeans attending a virtual event because the privacy and data gathering laws are different than the U.S. “Meeting planners also have to put in more effort to get people to interact with each other and think more creatively in virtual events than if you were in the same room,” Bihet says. “Also, measuring the success is more challenging online than in person. You don’t always get to see their faces and actual live expressions and reactions to the content the way you do at an in-person event. That format provides more immediate gratifi- cation or opportunity for fixing something if reactions are poor or troubling. It’s more complex to figure this out online.” Looking ahead, Hood predicts data will reign “supreme” within the world of virtual events. “AI will be a useful side- kick,” Hood says. “And interactive, data centric campaigns will tease and integrate seamlessly with the virtual experience.” Bihet agrees that with the integration with AI in more platforms, the meetings and events space will see more personalized marketing messaging for people based on their behavior. For a while, meeting planners have been able to tailor information presented to them based on what they view on the company or event website. Now planners can put that data into AI to start crafting language that’ll speak directly to their concerns. Using AI will only get more in tune and widespread. “The gamification opportunities and platforms will continue to evolve as well. It’s an effective way to get people involved and engaged remotely so I see these continuing to grow and provide new ways for us to connect,” Bihet says. “On-demand content and hybrid options will also get more efficient and easier to access as well. As much as we like to be in-person, it is not always logistically possible, so hybrid is here to stay.” Lyons adds that overall, the future of virtual event mar- keting is likely characterized by innovation, personalization and immersive experiences across digital platforms. “Meeting planners and marketers will need to stay agile and adapt to evolving technologies and consumer expecta- tions to effectively promote virtual events,” Lyons says. “And drive attendee engagement in the years ahead.” I & FMM INSURANCE & FINANCIAL MEETINGS MANAGEMENT | APRIL 2024themeetingmagazines.com 29 COURTESY OF VALERIE BIHET Including live video and podcasts into a planner’s virtual event marketing strategy helps create a sense of community and it increases attendance. Next >