Publicity

Publicity is key if you are to attract your audience to the event and meet your goals and objectives. Not only does publicity occur in the run-up to the event, but it can also take place during an event (e.g. to amplify the effect of the event and bring in voices from outside to the discussions). It can also happen after the event to disseminate outputs and help those who were unable to attend to benefit (and perhaps make them keen to attend future events).

Before the event

Having a publicity plan for an event is vital. As the EL, you will want to reach existing audiences, as well as new audiences or underrepresented groups (e.g. by age, gender, career stage, ethnicity, etc.). The publicity plan should be based on the goals and aims of the event developed as part of the FS.

It is important to investigate dissemination channels and devise a publicity timeline, which references a content plan – the different types of content you will publish throughout the timeline to encourage potential delegates to register for the event. For example, publishing a draft agenda/programme or a call for participation as far in advance as possible will give potential attendees an overview of the event, while keynote speakers will attract different audiences depending on their interests. Sharing experiences from past attendees in the form of blog posts can also encourage people to attend as it might clarify what to expect.

The publicity timeline should fit into the overall event project timeline, and it should include:

  • Who to contact (individuals, groups, press offices)
  • Contact details (individual email, Twitter, mailing lists)
  • Publicity schedule (plan the dates for publishing your event and publicity content)
  • Content (news item, blog posts, press release, tweet)
  • How to measure the success of your campaigns

Once you have your timeline ready, you can start writing or requesting the content to have it ready for publishing. Different tools (such as Google Analytics, Twitter Analytics) can be used to keep track of visits and link clicks. This is useful to assess if your campaign is working and if people are interested in your content.

During the event

A Twitter hashtag for an event or other social media identifier is a useful way to promote the event to the audience outside of those who are attending or to improve the engagement of those in attendance. You would typically arrange staff or volunteers to be in charge of event amplification via social platforms before and during the event. Note that social media is audience and demographic dependent. Make sure the Twitter hashtag isn’t already being used by a different event or programme.

This can stimulate conversation in a space that involves attendees and those who are following along but not attending. If there is a member of staff or volunteer in charge of event amplification, they can also surface some of the outside questions back into the workshop at the appropriate time. It’s useful to have a list of pre-prepared tweets ready for the social engagement team to send out on the day at specified times.

If it’s possible to stream talks, then this can also aid in promoting the event.

After the event

Communication with attendees after the event in the form of soliciting feedback is useful for further publicity.

After the event, asking attendees for blog posts to talk about their experiences can be a useful way for people who read the news and blog to understand how the event went. It can also form a useful record for future events to help people understand why it might be worthwhile attending your events.

There are various outputs produced at the end of a workshop. For Collaborations Workshops, we normally make available:

  • Lightning talks
  • Keynote slides
  • Hackday entries
  • Videos of the talks
  • An event report or analysis

These are all good times to publicise the fact that resources from a workshop are now available.