When you need to coordinate an event or conference, one of your biggest stressors is making sure things run smoothly. Being in charge of scheduling and mobilizing your staff is important, but any hiccups in communication can snowball quickly.

Whether it’s internal communication with staff or communicating with your guests, a reliable way to reach them while they are in or around the event location is crucial. Mass texting is the perfect solution for event communication because your staff and guests always have their phones on them, meaning you have a convenient and powerful way to reach your audience while they are on the go.

Here are five tips to help you use this powerful tool during your next event.

Organize Attendees with Mass Texting

Before your guests even check into their hotel rooms or get their schedule of events, you can use mass texting.

First you can get more event goers to sign up for you events when you use text message marketing. By displaying a mobile keyword in your collateral and across social media, you can get interested potential guests to sign up for your messaging campaigns, allowing you to do things like sending them special discounted rates in order to drive them to sign up.

The chances are that your guests would prefer to get text updates than email, as 98% of text messages get read opposed to email’s 22% read rate!

When the event is just a few days away, you send out reminders to confirmed guests, as well as directions to the venue or parking information.

Plus, you can make attendees feel like VIPS by sending them information like previews of your speakers, offer them discounts on bundles, or set them up with deals on merchandise or food.

See how Jack’s Surfboards drove a wave of customers to their event that resulted in $6,000 in sales in just 5 hours!

Related: Use Mass Text Messaging for Sports Events

Texting for Internal Event Coordination

Mass texting isn't just for communicating with your guests, it's also perfect for staying in touch with staff and making sure they do their tasks in an efficient and timely matter.

Whether it’s 10 employees or 200, keeping tabs on all of your staff when you are running a busy event is hard. With mass texting, you can create different lists of employees based on their function, so you can tell food servers when a conference goes long in order to keep food fresh, but then also quickly tell your setup crews to get a stage ready.

Maybe the best past of texting for event communication is that it is two-way. You can alert staff that an area needs cleanup, and they can text you when the area is ready. This allows you to keep tabs on staff in real time and ensures that communication during any hiccups can flow freely both ways.

Check out how The 87th Force Support Squadron used mass texting to boost attendance, while keeping troops informed about events they’re interested in.

Interact with Attendees During an Event

A fun touch during the proceedings is to occasionally send texts to your guests. These can be one-to-one, such as welcoming someone by name, or one-to-many, so everyone in the room gets the same messages at the same time and starts wondering who is sending the messages.

You can add to the mystery and engagement by allowing several employees to text. The messages can be party specific – how the room looks, how people look, what kind of food/drinks are present. Besides being fun and unexpected, it could help build interest in your event, and show your employees are serious about making sure guests have a good time.

You can make last minute scheduling changes too, so if you are having an after party at a nearby restaurant you can let your attendees know, boosting your brand and making it more likely guests attend your events in the future.

Related: Blast Texting for Entertainment Events, Such as Concerts

Send Mass Alerts During Critical Situations

A disaster can leave guests and staff full of questions and concerns about their current safety, evacuation procedures, and well-being. Being able to address these concerns as soon as possible will allow your guests to go back to feeling safe. Time is of the essence during a disaster, so the quicker you get responses the better you can provide assistance.

Confirming the safety of guests and staff is a huge concern after a disaster strikes. It’s impossible to call every guest at once, but you can reach all your guests simultaneously through texting.

With two-way texting, not only can you blast alerts, but you can also enable guests to respond to confirm their safety. As a result, you will free up your phone lines while quickly getting a headcount of who is safe and who needs help.

Here’s a real world use case with a Trumpia client. Omni Dallas Hotel is a 1001 room luxury hotel, located in downtown Dallas, Texas. They typically used Trumpia for employee communication, coordinating their employees and boosting attendance at company events.

But, when tragedy struck following a shooting at the Dallas Police Department, the priority immediately became notifying all employees of the situation and the security of the hotel.

Fortunately, Omni Dallas was able to use the very same mass communication system they regularly utilized, Trumpia, for this special case. In the 24 hour period following the event, the hotel sent five messages to make sure staff and guests were safe.

The Omni Dallas Hotel was able to immediately notify all employees of the event, keeping them and their guests safe as the crisis progressed.

Follow Up With Guests After The Event

Every party guest should be thanked for their attendance, and since texting has been how you communicated before and during this event, continue the effort by sending an appreciative post-party SMS blast, or perhaps a MMS picture from the event.

It’s also an opportunity to slip in a quick mention about your business so they associate you with good times. You also can consider including a “save the date” with info about the next event you are hosting.

Use Mass Texting at Your Next Big Event

It’s pretty clear that mass texting is an effective way to keep your event running smoothly, so why not try it yourself? Trumpia has worked with hundreds of events to make sure the guest experience is one to remember, so call us today at 1-888-707-3030 or click here to learn more!

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