NTC09 is setting the pace on how conference planners engage their attendees before their annual conference. How are you going to make your next meeting or conference more dynamic from previous ones? I won’t surprise you by saying that technology will play a major role in your next event experience. Of course NTEN would be in the forefront of incorporating technology tools into their signature event, because they’re the leaders in the latest nonprofit technology information.
It all started with an email from NTEN, followed by an invitation, then they mixed in a few audio blog interviews with session leaders, which lead to a free 2009 NTC Orientation Call, aka, a webinar outlining the three day event. You can listen to a recording of the call here. NTEN highlighted their buzz campaign with a crescendo by providing all of their conference attendees with a membership to NTConnect.org, which is an online community built for NTC09.
A Breakdown of Benefits from Each Tool:
Email – Informed attendees that NTEN was trying something new this year for NTC09 by having an Orientation Call.
This was the attendee’s first exposure to the conference buzz. My first reaction to the email was, wow, that’s a really good idea! I need to see what this is all about, and being that I’m relatively new to NTEN, (I’ve been a member for one year) I saw this as a great way to welcome their members, new and old. It also helps NTEN as event planners. I’m sure they receive many questions, so this gives them the opportunity to build a buzz around their event while fielding frequently asked questions.
Invitation – I received an Email invitation reminding me that I still had an opportunity to take the webinar…yes, I missed the first two!
This is another great example of how NTEN engages their members. Who doesn’t need someone to keep you track? Thank you Annailese.
Blogs – 2009 NTC Previews
NTEN has over 16 posts on their blog that preview the upcoming conference sessions.
In my opinion, these are invaluable tools for conference attendees. Why? NTEN’s Executive Director, Holly Ross, interviews the session leaders on what on what they will be discussing in their session, and more importantly, they tell the listener who their session is geared towards. NTEN offers so many helpful sessions that it’s hard to choose which ones you want to attend. Just by listening to these short interviews you can quickly gauge if a particular session is right for you and your organizations’ needs.
Conference Call
NTEN offered the 2009 NTC Orientation Call on three different dates as well as provided an opportunity to listen to the call on your own time by providing a link to the recording. The call was aimed at all conference attendees from seasoned veterans to first timers. When you arrive in a city that you may be unfamiliar with, it’s comforting to know what to expect during your length of stay.
The call highlighted the following topics:
- Day by Day Breakdown of the Conference
- Focused on meeting like-minded people
- Encouraged Everyone to Join Affitinity Groups
- Discussed the After Party – This year: NTEN Talent Show
- Introduced Online Community – NTConnect
- Explained Table Topics at Lunch
- Twitter Feeds
- Learning at the Conference -Breakout Sessions and How they are Categorized by Track and Tags
- Recorded Sessions and Adhoc Recordings
- How to get a copy of NTEN’s new Book
- Introduced Amazing Keynotes
- Encouraged Sharing Your Awesomeness at the Day of Service
- Science Fair
- Ignite Sessions- new to 09NTC this year, defined and encouraged
- Video Contest
- Questions and Comments from webinar attendees
NTEN set up a conference Twitter page where they tweet conference reminders and inform their attendees of new conference events. Twitter has quickly become an essential communication tool for many businesses.
Recent 09NTC Tweets:
- Do you want to be an NTC reporter? We are looking for volunteers to #CoverItLIve for folks who can't be with us. DM me! 5:34 PM Mar 10th from TweetDeck
- What would you tell the Nonprofit Technology Community if you had 5 minutes? 2:49 PM Mar 6th from TweetDeck
Online Community – www.NTConnect.org
Can you see the excitement for NTC09 building? Then the NTEN09 attendees received a username and a password to NTEN’s online conference community which was created just for NTC09, entitled NTConnect, powered and partnered with Acteva.
As the song goes, “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.”
Members can sign up for conference sessions, find a ride from the airport, upload pictures, post a blog, join or host an affinity group, or host an informal get together with people with the same interests. A member posted that he’s hosting a get together for a morning run. It’s a great idea if you like hills! Anyone want to grab a cup of coffee while enjoying the California sun?
NTConnect is building a sense of community while simultaneously helping NTEN plan for their conference. As your conference attendance grows, so does the planning and stress for the event planners. NTConnect suggests that the members RSVP for conference sessions so that they can be prepared for the popular ones. There are always a few sessions that are more popular than others, so by pre-registering for a session, NTEN can get an idea of what size room will accommodate each session. If you decide later that you’d rather try something else, that’s fine too, there’s room for someone else.
I’m anxious to hear the NTConnect feedback at NTC09. Why don’t you join fun? I know it will be a great event, and I can’t wait to see what NTEN has up their sleeves for next year.
In my next blog, I’m going to show you how you can implement a low cost technology “upgrade” to your next event.
