Tuesday, November 19, 2013
By CallFire, Follow me on Google+
In the hustle and bustle of any large event, plans change. They change at the last minute. It doesn’t matter whether you’re running a trade show, and expo, a conference or a convention, attendees are usually spread thin, running from keynote speech to workshop to social event and back again. Organizers have a headache keeping up with even the most efficiently run event.
The nightmare every conference organizer faces when a schedule change becomes necessary is failing to notify everyone in time. Pamphlets and flyers are far too time-consuming to print and distribute. Emails are ignored or spam filtered. Making an announcement over the web can be done quickly, but there’s no guarantee that everyone in attendance will check the website, or even be in possession of a smartphone.
The answer is text messaging. More than 95% of all texts are opened and read, so it’s a surefire way to reach the majority of people. Even those who miss the text message will probably get the news filtered to them through other people. The reach of text messaging is big enough that word will spread to the few that missed the memo.
A few ways conference organizers are using SMS to reach people:
- Issuing reminders of upcoming seminars and events
- Building excitement with polls and quizzes
- Alerting exhibitors of changes to the schedule.
- Sending sponsored messages to targeted groups of subscribers
- Distributing emergency announcements
The wonder of bulk texts at large events is that it will grow your contact list enormously. You might gain thousands of new numbers in a single day.
Lets say you have a tech firm that runs an annual convention for distributors, retailers and amateurs. You hire a large convention center in a major city and accept ticket applications until a week before the event. At the last-minute, there is a sudden clamour for tickets after an illustrious guest speaker is added to the schedule at short notice.
Now, the main room can’t hold all the attendees. You have to find a new venue to host your famed speaker. Once you’ve managed to do this, you have to let everyone know about the change of venue. Using a text, you can get the word out to everyone affected without fear of disappointing anyone. That’s the beauty of bulk text messages for conferences. Get with it!