Meeting Planner Careers

ASAE, the American Society of Association Executives, and The Center for Association Leadership, now known as ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership, will stream live video from its three general sessions plus 24 seminars at its August annual meeting in Los Angeles this year. The video-taped sessions will be archived for 90 days, allowing virtual attendance at a 20% reduction in the real time attendance rate for three additional months. Eventually, the general sessions at least will probably be posted at the ASAE YouTube channel.

On top of that, ASAE has a page at their site http://www.asaecenter.org/ titled “Social Media.” With links to in-house blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and more, they are a textbook example of an organization using social media for internal and external two-way communication.

If you want to use social media to publicize and/or invite participation in your next event, a case study on ASAE will go a long way. Another site you’ll enjoy visiting is courtesy of our wry friends in Scotland. “Contently Managed” writes a valuable contribution titled “25 Social Media Engagement Tips for Event Organizers.” If you need a primer on Twitter, check out Nancy Marmolejo’s short video.

Oh. And since the ASAE’s membership is comprised of thousands of executives planning events for the thousands of associations in America, it might be worth listening in on their public conversations.

Video over the Web is nothing new. With the advent of YouTube and the ever-growing trend of “reality” TV, using video to push a message to the masses has gained worldwide appeal. If you think there is a need for viral video as a way to promote your next event, you may want to consider these ideas.

Pre-conference Shorts
Ask presenters to provide a short video clip that outlines what they’ll be presenting. Upload the videos to YouTube and post links from your site directly to these clips.

Skype Interviews
Prior to the event, use Skype and a Skype video capture program for capturing interview footage with your presenters. Post the videos to your Web site to help promote the event.

Event Venue Videos
Acquire video footage of the event venue and post it on YouTube, iTunes and your own Web site.

Stream the Event
While hosting the event, broadcast a live stream of the keynote presentations through your site. This can also provide two forms of revenue: First, provide a secure login that can be purchased at a reduced price for Web attendees. Secondarily, you can find corporate sponsorship to help underwrite the streaming and bandwidth costs.

Streamed Interviews
During the event, interview speakers and attendees and stream them live through your site. You can also archive these interviews and utilize them, with permission, as testimonials.