How to Host Dynamic (and Successful) Influencer Events

When you are banking on an audience of influencer types at your next marketing, fun, or another unique event, there are some key decisions you need to make and implement even before the big night in order to attract and bring in the all important influencer, one big secret to a successful event. Always remember that in the world of events-- attendees with the power to get your event information to the masses-- either through social media outlets such as Twitter or Instagram, the press, or some other form of publicity, are the big-ticket guests of the night.

Influencers are the movers and shakers of the event world which and as a result,  they are usually in high demand.  Your first touch needs to generate curiosity and interest enough so that they will want to learn more about what's happening, why, and where.  In short is this something they think is worth their time?

Because you are selling your event, brand, and more to the influencer, you'll want your invite to be perfect.  Electronic invites, while much more economical, are just not as effective as good old fashioned hard invites. Our suggestion: find out your influencers optimal contact time and send a hand-delivered, well-designed and impressive invite as a personal touch.  If you must send an emailed invite, refrain from using one of the online vendor products such as those found on Evite.  Instead send a personalized email from your personal account.  Influencers also want to know their presence will be valued and that the event organizer-- in this case you-- values them.

Once you have determined your target audience (Social Media Sweetheart or an A-list Celebrity who lives locally) be sure to court them appropriately always putting your best foot forward.  Don't forget the SWAG bag, or red carpet treatment promises.  Narrow the field and really focus on several key influencers who have an appeal to your targeted groups.

Known influencers are often drawn to events where they are able to interact and engage other influencers like them.  It's true.  Just like the choir kids in high-school hung out with the theater kids, key influencers want to be around other influencers.  These alliances are beneficial too, as you may want to encourage their involvement by inviting your chosen influencer to recommend a venue, artist, host, or speaker.  This will increase their investment and interest.

The right Event Influencer at the right time and the perfectly planned event can yield a home run event for your organization, product, and brand.  As you plan remember that their involvement is key and you should place an optimum on attracting them to your events for a win all-around.

Engaging Millennials to Increase Exposure

The Millenial generation, also known as "Generation Y," is composed of those born from 1980 to the early 2000s. A corporation's events can become more successful by attracting a broader base of attendees. This generation is quickly becoming more and more critical to an event's success, as they're known as the young professionals in the company. Many of them, though still young, are real power players and significantly influence the company's success. Check out these four strategies to attract Millennials to an upcoming event.

1. Keep it casual.

Most Millienials aren't into the frills of a formal affair. Their generation is sometimes noted for wearing jeans in the work environment and enjoying open offices that allow for easy collaboration with colleagues. Make the event appealing to them by keeping it informal and in a relaxed environment.

2. Make the event an interactive experience.

Group interaction and collaboration are very important to most millennials. Make sure to extend the invitation with a "+1," so they can bring a friend or partner along. About 70% of Millennials have never married. Consider making the event even more interactive with a concert or some type of fun race.

3. Place a strong emphasis on social media.

Prior to the event, market it with social media. Offer discounts to followers. Post related videos and photos to build excitement for the event. Include content that is interactive and shareable. Develop a hashtag specific to the event. At the event, attendees can then interact and post messages with the company's brand. Once the event has ended, send a blast out with thanks, results of the event, or promotionals. Grab even more Millenial attention by inserting a QR code on all marketing materials. Such a code can scan the user directly to the registration or company's home page.

4. Make the event one with social awareness.

Millenials are aware of the greater social good. Make the event a "green" event to appeal to the environmentalists. Having a portion of the proceeds designated to go to local charity is another way to appeal to Millenial's sense of social awareness.

If all these strategies are implemented, the event is likely to be filled with those wearing high tops, men with buns or ponytails, and young eager faces. Considering this population makes up approximately one-third of the workforce in the United States, this group simply cannot be left behind. Make sure you make it a point to bring in the young, professional and fun crowd to have a successful event!

Creating a Multisensory Experience for your Next Event

These days, thanks to the intrusion of virtual information into every moment of our lives, life experience and experiential opportunities have become a coveted asset. Time is valuable, and humans have a generally shorter attention span in keeping with the onslaught of instant information via smartphones and real-time communication. So, what’s a business to do when they are competing with the sensory overload and reduced attention spans of an overwhelmingly technology-driven marketing climate?

A multisensory event—and the inherently immersive, experiential power behind it—may be your answer.

Tips For Driving Success With A Multisensory Event

Interactive Meetings

Ever held a meeting where the entire room was equipped with stability balls in place of traditional conference chairs? Sometimes in the corporate and business world, a typical meeting in a room full of nametags, whiteboards, conference tables, and stackable chairs can feel familiar and nostalgic...and not in a good way.

Get the Most Bang For Your Buck

You’ve spent part of your marketing budget to pull your event together, and you want your clients and employees to feel energized and engaged—not bored and ready to check out. With a dedicated multisensory event space, you can get creative with the company vibe. Think about incorporating the following elements to make your conference an effective, memorable experience.

Engage the Five Senses

Sound

• Incorporate event-appropriate music—and be sure it’s not just upgraded elevator tunes. Know your audience, and create a Pandora station that resonates with their demographic and the overall tone of your event. Better yet, consider hiring a local band that reflects the culture and social scene of your specific event location.

Taste and Smell

• Serve energizing, healthy snacks. Ditch the typical sugar-laden, white carb nightmare of traditional conference food, and surprise your event-goers with a selection of healthy, vitamin-rich small plates that reflects and celebrates the geographic location of your multisensory event space. After all, the senses of smell and taste are powerful influencers.
• There is nothing like the smell of freshly roasted and ground coffee to make a morning meeting a pleasant experience. If yours is a coffee-based affair, try including a local coffee roasting company in your plans.
• Throughout the day, make sure your guests have a constant supply of freshly filtered water—and include a few decanters infused with citrus zest, green tea, and mint leaves. Not only is the herbal green tea-and-water concoction a stimulant, the smell of orange and lemon zest inspires creativity and a sense of well-being.

Sight and Touch

• Instead of the standard, stress-inducing fluorescent lights that most corporate events guests are accustomed to, choose a space that allows you to be creative with your atmosphere and mood. Incorporate creative lighting and striking visual décor, or choose an event space that has the resources and the talent to make a sensory experience part of the package: think luxurious fabric draping, hands-on displays, and interactive classes where your guests can cook a gourmet dish, oil paint on canvas, or get a chair massage.

When you want to create a memorable, experiential conference or marketing event, contact the experts at Soho Studios for more information.

Pain Cave 101 by Trek Bicycles

Many bike athletes face considerable difficulty during off-season training. Fortunately, ride alternatives exist. Trek Bicycle Store has created an initiative called Pain Cave 101, and it’s offered extensive options for bike enthusiasts and general athletes alike.

Indoor Outreach

Trek Bicycles has created a unique opportunity with Pain Cave 101, utilizing its brand image, products and services to launch an indoor outreach initiative. Trek Bicycle Store’s experiential marketing event offers year-round fitness programs for novice and expert cyclers alike. Wahoo and CycleOps trainers are on standby, assisting event-goers throughout the Trek Bicycle’s way of life.

Trek Bicycles, dedicated to helping cyclists reach their fitness goals, has focused on creating a customer-centric indoor fitness model. The brand’s partner, The Labs USA, offers a new approach to facility courses and sign-up options. The Labs USA is a new Trek Bicycles associate and partner, and the Pain Cave 101 event is incredibly useful for the partnership’s premier public appearance.

Product Promotion with Ride Enhancement

Pain Cave 101 is a Trek Bicycles resource for new product promotion. Winter is a notoriously bad season for cyclists and is responsible for sales drops. Pain Cave 101 steers the Trek Bicycles fan-base indoors, where action can meet reaction in the form of connectivity and sales offers. Training gear and gadgets are provided, and discount offers, of course, are always available.

The Trek Bicycles Customer Loyalty Program

Pain Cave 101 fares well when partnered with the Trek Bicycles Customer Loyalty Program. The program, marked from Trek Bicycle Store purchases, enhances buyer-to-consumer relationships with five-percent discounts, dedicated staff assistance and a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee. Pain Cave 101 introduces an interesting angle to the Trek Bicycles scheme, as the brand’s 30-day price protection program offers significant flexibility to customers trying out the season’s newest deals and offers.

Trek Bicycles continuously keeps its clientele in “tip-top shape,” imbuing its shops with a stay-in vibe. Now, Pain Cave 101 heightens this virtue, targeting a massive consumer base with sales guarantees, options and complimentary service programs. The Midwest’s seasonal issues don’t extend to a brand with such inert customer loyalty, and they’re unable to hinder a brand harnessing such a powerful marketing strategy.

Community Roots and Future Outreach

Trek Bicycles opened in La Vista, NE in 2002. An advocacy group at first, the brand’s dedication to consumer support and youth cycling programs has supported a variety of fundraisers, community events, competitions, commuter challenges and bicycle share programs. The Pain Cave 101 program proposes the brand’s newest angle—a shop-centric approach to consumer marketing in an incredibly mobile industry.

While cycling experiences low repurchases—because cyclists infrequently purchase materials beyond water bottles and enhancements—experiential marketing is vital to any shop’s success. Trek Bicycles has nailed the industry’s marketing needs, standing as an innovative leader for other cycling providers. Midwest cycling, as a whole, is contingent upon community outreach. Here, Trek Bicycles surpasses expectations while proposing a new brand partnership. Always proposing total satisfaction, Trek Bicycles will likely achieve great success with Pain Cave 101.

Reel It IN!

What better way to kick off the Miami International Film Festival than with an event designed to add fun and intrigue to the venue before it even begins? Miami Dade College presents Reel It IN! - the kickoff party hosted on March 3, 2016 for those who want to party with a head-up on what the festival has to offer. The festival runs from March 3-14, 2016 and is sure to add a few surprises. Designed like a movie studio, the festival will have hosts and hostesses dressed like individuals from different movies as attendees go through each “scene” designed by sponsors and other vendors. Free acting classes, a forum, and clips from movies will be shown on the big screen. There will be a meet and greet session for celebrities and filmmakers, and a 2 minute pitching contest for those who think they can conjure up the thoughts for a movie in a quick instant.

A food station filled with foods from all over the world will be set up in the food court, with selections named after famous movies. Local performers will get the party started with a rendition of Dance Fever that will get the audience involved.

Designed to be a venue for the film industry and individuals who are interested in becoming a part of this world, there will be an entire section devoted to introducing workshops and events of interest to this crowd to assist in putting those important elements on their schedule for the week. This event draws hundreds of people every year with major celebrities. A VIP area will be available for those actors and actresses who will be making an appearance throughout the duration of the festival.

In the center of the room will be a life-sized version of the GEMS award, which is the mid-season festival. Designed to remind the crowd of the additional festival later in the year, applications for GEMS will be available at this event.

Tickets for this even go on sale in January, 2016 through Miami Dade College and Ticketmaster.

Previous sponsors for this event include the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation; Lexus; Miami-Dade County; Comcast, American Airlines; Telemundo 51; Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority; Miami DDA; HBO and HBO Latin America, and a host of other sponsors. Sponsorship opportunities for 2016 are still available.

The Miami International Film Festival was designed to bridge cultural understanding and encourage artistic development and excellence by provoking thought through film. By bringing the best of world cinema to Miami, the Festival presents the city and the film industry with a singular platform that fosters creative and technical talent.

Sweets for the Sweet!

There’s nothing better than being able to feed a sweet tooth with the ultimate sweet confection of all time: Chocolate! That’s exactly what the team at the 10^th Annual International Chocolate Festival imagined when putting together their premier event, Sweets for the Sweet! A multi-day event, this party starts on January 21 as part of the pre-opening festivities. Chocolate confectioners from all over the world will converge in a venue decorated like a chocolate factory to provide educational sessions on the history of chocolate; have free chocolate demonstrations; and of course, hundreds of chocolate to taste,

A fun-filled event that will feature local performers, master chefs and chocolatiers, sponsors will set up booths with information, giveaways and other incentives. There will be an entire “kids station” decorated like the Willie Wonka Factory, where children at the event can play, understand where chocolate comes from, and make their own.

Not just for chocolate, there will be food stations set up by food trucks to keep everyone full while enjoying the chocolate. Selections like pizza, Caribbean conch fritters, frozen hot chocolate, Peruvian food, roasted corn and Italian sausage are just some of the offerings that will be a part of this event.

Closing out the festival, event goers will have an additional day of fun with a concert taking place Sunday night after the festival is done. International performers will take the stage with much fanfare to close out the festivities with a bang. Pieces from the art show will be on display to showcase the environmental education program.

Tickets for the event are already available via the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden website for $25. Tickets for the parties will be available in November. Sponsors for this year’s event are Whole Foods Market, CocoVia Brand, Miami-Dade County, Florida Attractions, City of Coral Gables. Previous sponsors include Nestle Nesquick, New York life, Zico, Mexico Tourism Board, Johnson and Wales University, and Martex.

The mission of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is to save tropical plant diversity by exploring, explaining and conserving the world of tropical plants; fundamental to this task is inspiring a greater knowledge and love for plants and gardening so that all can enjoy the beauty and bounty of the tropical world.

The International Chocolate Festival is designed to learn about the life cycle of a cacao plan and the different variations of chocolate that can be made in a fun and interesting environment.