Louise Upchurch’s Post

𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐘 𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆® 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 2𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 180 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝙙𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 ❤️ The goal is 300 delegates. That puts you in front of 30,000 connections if we use the connections of all 300 delegates. You may miss out on a seat at our Festive Event if you don't book now. This is networking "The Athena Way", we know how to ensure that you get the best connections and Jacqueline Rogers, our Creator knows how to deliver a party atmosphere at the same time! BOOK HERE: https://lnkd.in/eFBi5y3Z Get ready for an unforgettable networking experience — Athena style! Here’s what’s in store: ✨ Festive Fun Networking "The Athena Way" Connect, laugh, and build meaningful relationships that last beyond the holidays. ✨ New Connections and Contacts Expand your network and meet potential suppliers, collaborators, and friends. ✨ Full List of Attendees Stay connected with everyone you meet, so those festive chats turn into real opportunities! ✨ Private Pop-Up Facebook Group Bond, chat, and support each other throughout December! We’re keeping the connections alive even after the event. ✨ An Experiential Networking Event to Kickstart 2025 Our Festive Nifty Networking® isn’t your average event — it’s an immersive experience designed to elevate your networking skills and get you set for a thriving new year! Don’t just take our word for it; ask anyone who’s attended a Nifty Networking event. They’ll tell you it’s the most fun, productive, and genuinely impactful way to grow your business circle, meet new suppliers, and make valuable connections! 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡: Monday, 2nd December 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘: 10 am - 12 pm GMT 𝗖𝗢𝗦𝗧: £30 (free for Athena members) ❄️ Embrace the festive spirit and make connections that count! p.s. There is a closing day/time for registrations: Friday 29th November @ 5pm (there will be NO exceptions so please book now) #businessnetworking #businessreferrals #womenentrepreneurs

As a CEO, attending events might seem like a waste of time - "I’m too busy for this!" But is it really about lacking time, or is it about lacking perspective? I am sharing 𝟱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝘅𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: 1️⃣ 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 Define what you want to achieve. Is it new connections, industry insights, or potential partnerships? Knowing your goals will help you identify the right events to attend. 2️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 - Research who’s attending - Identify key topics and sessions that align with your goals - Make a list of speakers or attendees you’d like to meet, your future advisors, collaborators, or clients might be there 3️⃣ 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Update your social media profiles (especially your profile picture) to make a great first impression. A polished digital presence can open doors before the event even begins. 4️⃣ 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 - Be open to meaningful conversations - Ask insightful, relevant questions - Share your experiences and listen actively to others’ stories - Seek inspiration from different perspectives 5️⃣ 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 - Connect with the people you met on LinkedIn or other platforms - Share your key takeaways with your network and your team - this can turn the event into a transformative learning experience - Keep the conversation alive by nurturing the relationships you’ve built 👉 The truth is, the value you get from events directly reflects the passion and energy you invest: it isn’t about attending, it’s in how you prepare, participate, and follow up. With just one week to go until our World Economic Forum annual New Champions community retreat, our members are already actively preparing to make the most of it. Stay tuned for inspiring conversations, powerful connections, and transformative insights! ✨ ✨ ✨ If you don't know me I am Julia Devos, head of the New Champions community at the World Economic Forum. This community supports the growth of inspiring leaders from Mid-size companies (20m to 1b USD revenue) by providing them with the knowledge, visibility, and international network, needed to thrive.

Are you missing important opportunities to build community at your events? 🗝️ It used to be that people came for the content 🗝️ It used to be that the big-name speaker was the photo you showed people But those things are not what event attendees solely live for anymore. As event-goers, we want to feel like: ****Our time and investment is valued**** ****There is something meaningful to experience**** ****We belong and are part of a community of people we can relate to**** Now…put on your event organizer hat What do you think of your event? Like a moment in time or an opportunity to convene and strengthen your community? When it comes to harnessing the community-building aspect of an event - here are some mistakes I’ve seen along with some interesting wins: Mistakes: 🔕 Lack of intentional networking - leaving people to just bump into the halls 🔕Inadequate pre-event hyping and connecting people through online means 🔕Segmenting audiences and keeping them separate in tracks and socials Wins: 🔔 Community concierge pre-event - asking what would make your experience exceptional? Who would you like to meet? 🔔 Co-created shared experiences - leaving place in the conference agenda for attendees to build/create/solve together 🔔 Meaningful serendipity - using the registration process to identify meaningful things in your life - hobbies, locations, lifestyle-based ways to connect through spaces, and even badge identification It doesn't take a huge lift. It takes intention and thoughtfulness to use your event as a community builder/strengthener. Check out this post from friend and collaborator Nelia Nunes to see her take on missed opportunities on exhibit floors. https://lnkd.in/gi3di6sC #eventstrategy #events #experiencedesign #community

I’ve spent years attending and hosting events focused on bringing people together around a brand or a mission. Here are 3 key essentials and tools that I find helpful, inspired by my upcoming talk @ IBTM World : 1️⃣ Community: Building valuable attendee connections can’t be an afterthought. I start engaging attendees before the event—tools like InGo make it easy for attendees to engage with the #eventcommunity. At the event, I’ve seen color-coded bracelets given to attendees- according to interests or roles- to help find relevant people, or discussion questions presented to the audience, as Climate Connection does so well, to foster conversations. Walls.io social wall & getpica.com real-time photo-sharing platform help keep those connections going. 2️⃣ Content: Attendees come for practical, inspiring content. Each event can generate multiple assets like recap posts, infographics, short videos that expand our reach and maintain conversation beyond the event. Tools like Piktochart can help create these assets to share on LinkedIn. 3️⃣ Business value: It’s important to be clear about our ‘why’ as an organizer- what do we want to achieve—brand visibility, leads, community-building? Equally, understanding our audience’s ‘why’- what motivates them to attend- is key. As events aren’t always about instant results due to long sales cycles and relationship-building - tracking metrics like attendance, engagement, feedback, follow-ups - can help us show the event’s value. I’ll be diving into this and ways to leverage LinkedIn for events with Julius Solaris at IBTM World. Looking forward to connecting with everyone there! Nica Robles Lucy Dyer IBTM Events #attendeeengagement #eventmarketing #eventcommunity

If you have an audience to grow, Anke Herrmann has a method that works (I've seen it for myself) and that won't cost you a dollar in advertising. Anke speaks next week at Taleist Agency's virtual event Beyond Word of Mouth. It's free; it's next week, and it's audio-only, so it's incredibly easy to consume. Five speakers on five tactics proven to grow an audience beyond relying on inconsistent referrals. Register for your free place. #marketing #training #summit

The fastest and most reliable way to grow your audience is to tap into other people's audiences. There a several ways you can do that but the one that's worked well consistently for myself and my clients is to host what I call "collaborative virtual events" It's a mouthful, I know 🤪🤣 I could just say "summits" but that probably makes the "Who on earth has got time for that?" thought pop to mind as you imagine full-day events packed with more speaker names than you can remember. And you'd be missing the point. The point is to create a win-win-win scenario where - attendees get to meet experts and learn something valuable about a topic they care about - you offer speakers a virtual stage in return for them inviting their audience to your event (where they get in front of your audience and the other speakers' audience too) - you grow your audience with people who won't forget about you the moment the event is over (unlike giveaways) It's not about the number of speakers or days, or a specific format. There are a few things to consider, of course. And there are ways to mess it up 😛 (I know because I've done it ..) During the upcoming Beyond Word of Mouth mini audio summit hosted by the fabulous Steven Lewis of Taleist, I'll unpack - what makes collaborative events so effective - what's involved - pitfalls to watch out for so you can make sure that yours will be a success. Join us to access my talk as well as 4 other BS-free strategied to bridge the gap between referrals. Click here for the link to join us https://lnkd.in/dHbbUUjA 👉 It's free, audio only (transcript available), listen any time you want throughout the week.

Most of us in the industry have adapted to how we find and connect with our audience as the digital landscape continues to evolve. Although there are many ways to achieve this, I’ve noticed that some coaches and experts hold back from utilizing one particularly effective method and that is hosting virtual events. Some of the reasons I hear why new coaches and experts, even those who have been in the industry for a long time, hold back is because: 1 They don’t know where to start they feel overwhelmed with all the things they need to consider like how to structure it, what platform to use, or how to promote it. So what happens? they feel paralyzed. But here's what I can advise, you don’t have to tackle everything at once, start small. Focus on getting one thing done, then keep moving forward. 2 They feel they are not tech-savvy enough to pull off a virtual event successfully. This was one of my fears before but I realized that my expertise and personality matter far more than perfect technical execution. So I chose a user-friendly platform like Zoom to do my virtual events and focus more on what's really important...MY AUDIENCE. 3 They doubt the effectiveness of virtual events and don’t know if it will be worth it. The voices in their minds are saying "what if no one attends my event?" "what if they don't engage during the event?" "what if no one buys from me in the event?" Trust the process! Start by setting clear goals for your virtual event. After the event, analyze the results, both qualitative and quantitative. Even if immediate sales are low, the relationships you build can lead to future opportunities. Remember, the effort you invest in connecting with your audience today lays the foundation for success tomorrow. I’m curious to know, what’s holding you back from doing virtual events?

Best Ice-breakers to open your in-person community events with. The beginning of any in-person event is a pivotal moment. It's when attendees are just starting to get comfortable and open up to connecting with new people. Using the right ice-breakers can be the secret sauce for creating an engaging, community-driven event experience. Here's why the right kind of ice-breakers in the beginning are essential: - They help people feel comfortable opening up. A well-chosen prompt gives attendees an easy way to share a bit about themselves. - They encourage deeper, more meaningful interactions. When people have an opportunity to share authentically, it lays the groundwork for creating deeper connections. - They set the tone for the entire event. Memorable icebreakers leave a lasting positive impression and keep people energized. Here are some of my favorite ice-breaker prompts to add to the beginning of an event: - What’s your intention for attending this experience? - What’s a rose, bud and thorn in your life right now? - What’s something you’re grateful for? - If you really knew me, you would know (share 3x if you want to go deeper) The right icebreakers can truly transform your event from OK to unforgettable. Start your event off on the right foot by giving attendees a fun, engaging way to get to know each other. #community #communityevents #communitybuilder #inpersonevents #icebreakers #teambuilding

🎉 Wondering if your event hit the mark? Here are 7 ways to tell if it was a success! Planning an event can be stressful, but knowing whether it all paid off is the real challenge. So, how do you know if your event was a hit? Here are 7 key signs to look out for: 1️⃣ Positive Attendee Feedback Did your guests leave with smiles, or better yet, tell you how great the event was? When the attendees rave, you know you’ve done something right! 2️⃣ High Engagement Levels Were people actively participating in your event—whether it was through discussions, activities, or even staying till the end? That’s a strong indicator that they were hooked! 3️⃣ Smooth Logistics Behind-the-scenes success matters too! If your event ran like clockwork—no tech issues, no schedule overruns, and everything flowed seamlessly—you’re golden. 4️⃣ Strong Social Media Buzz Were people posting about your event, sharing pictures, or using the event hashtag? A lively social media presence during and after the event shows you made a lasting impression. 5️⃣ Exceeded Attendance Goals If your event had a higher turnout than expected, that’s a solid win! It means people were excited to attend and made the effort to show up. 6️⃣ Sponsor/Stakeholder Satisfaction Got sponsors or key stakeholders? Their satisfaction is crucial. If they’re thrilled with the outcome, chances are you’ve secured future support too. 7️⃣ Post-Event Networking If attendees stuck around to network, chat, or follow up with connections after the event, it shows they found value and were genuinely invested in the experience. 👉 What’s your top indicator of event success? Share your thoughts or stories below—we’d love to hear about your wins! #EventPlanning #EventSuccess #CorporateEvents #TeamBuilding #EventManagement #RaglanQuizco

How do you know if your event was a success? 🧐 I just came across this great list of 7 ways to tell if your event hit the mark! From attendee engagement to post-event networking, these are some solid indicators that your hard work paid off. What’s your favorite way to measure success? Drop a comment below and share your thoughts! #EventSuccess #EventPlanning #CorporateEvents #TeamBuilding