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How to get 100% attendance at your virtual event

June 23, 2021 by cpdigital

Here we are, experiencing that joyful afterglow of a really successful event.

via GIPHY

We not only had 100% attendance, but we also got some great feedback. So, we’ve decided to share the way we approach these virtual events, what we’ve learned, and some examples from the event itself. 

It all started from what we like to call ‘The zoom box effect’. Where you’re held hostage to these long video calls but you’re not getting any real value from it. You want to build your network, your community, to hang out (even if there are no actual events to go to), but just like everyone else, you’re getting a little overwhelmed with all the zoom meetups. 

Our book club started with a bang💣. We had such an enthusiastic response, but five episodes in and we’d have people saying they can’t make it, or they haven’t read the book yet. Or they’d come online to meet the author without reading the book first. And we know that reading the book takes time, and it’s added pressure. Most of us are pretty sick 🤮 of being on Zoom. So, we decided to up the entertainment quotient of our events.

Here’s 3 ways to up your event EQ:

  1. Create an experience

If you’re just a talking head, your audience is going to lose focus and start trying to multitask. You need to bring in that value and fun. Sometimes you can do this through the actual activity itself, or it could be the choice of the person for the activity. But the experiential experience, the interaction is key. 

  1. Keep it short and no-sell

Don’t host a 45-minute webinar where the first or last 15 minutes is a self-indulgent introduction or a hard sell. Nobody has time for that. Keep it interactive and quick. Try to entertain while informing and educating. 

  1. Infuse entertainment in everything 

We set the tone right from the start, so our audience knows we’re going to be a little loose, it’s going to be interactive, there’s going to be humour. They know they can talk to each other and have fun. And true to theme, we brought in a guest who really showcases and uses entertainment in her digital content, production, and distribution, and does it really well. And we knew this would resonate with our audience.  

The big reveal: A case study

It started from wanting to bring our book club people together by doing something completely different. So, we asked Andrea Buckett, a food expert and chef frequently featured on TV, to join us for a virtual cooking club.

And who doesn’t want to stop what they’re doing and make dessert?  

Andrea suggested making strawberry shortcake using fresh Ontario strawberries. We loved this idea, it’s seasonal and timely and all kinds of yum! The plan was to make this event about interacting, networking, creating entertainment and leaving our guests with something tangible – something that goes beyond the moment. A type of extended gratification (and not just the shortcake they’d be eating).  

Listen to the podcast to learn:

🍓 Why you shouldn’t over-police 

🍓 How to add to the entertainment factor with your bloopers and missteps

🍓 The Holy Grail of connections – How loosening up has helped Andrea Buckett resonate with people more than ever 

🍓 That emailers can be used to communicate, and entertain!

Another word on emailers 🦉

Our goal was to be enthusiastic without being pushy, and still remind people about the event. So, once our people were all signed up, and that was a sequence in itself, we gave them the calendar and zoom link, the recipe, and what they needed to prepare ahead of time. 

Another time it was leaning into what we preach and really just throwing out a random funny email that of course reminds them about the event. This became a whole story about how a strawberry isn’t a berry. The seeds are on the outside, so technically it’s a member of the rose family and no, not the Schitt’s Creek one. This one 🌹🌹🌹.

This little factoid blew my mind. The email is a monologue of me (Susan) trying to figure out why we ended up calling it a berry when it’s actually part of the rose family. I went deep into it, pretending I was Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown trying to solve this puzzle.

via GIPHY

It was silly and ridiculous, but a great example of how emailers can provide a mix of real information and fun. Without being overwhelming, because I know some of these frameworks to get people to attend an event can be a bit much. It’s too many. Holy 💩💩. A daily email and then 50 on the day of so, and this might work for some people, but that’s not us. Even if you are just giving your audience a shopping list, use those fun visuals but also push yourself a bit, maybe find a theme. I’m still stuck in the Schitt’s Creek phrase (see what I did there 😊).

via GIPHY

If you want to learn how to increase your attendance, take the sell out of it. Interact with your audience, whether it’s drawing something, eating something or drinking something. And remember to lighten up and laugh at yourself if something goes wrong. People will laugh with you.

via GIPHY

For more, 🎧 listen to the episode 🎧.

And if you’d like to contact Andrea Buckett, you can find her on @AndreaBuckettcooks or visit her website.

If you’d like to chat more about your marketing concerns (or any of your content!), please give us a shout at C+P Digital – we would love to help!

Plus, if you’re losing sleep over a particular marketing/business related problem or if you would like to suggest a guest on the 4AM Report, let us know. 

You can find us on Apple Podcasts – subscribe to us – you won’t regret it!

And as always, sweet dreams😴…well, hopefully!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: attendance, event, online, virtual

#109 – How to get 100% attendance at your virtual event

June 23, 2021 by cpdigital

This episode of 🎙The 4 AM Report! 🎙 we want to share how we got 100% attendance at our virtual event/cooking club featuring Chef Andrea Buckett, and how you can too. From creating an experience to keeping it short (no hard-sell ffs) to infusing entertainment in everything, we share:

🍓 Why you shouldn’t over-police 

🍓 How to add to the entertainment factor with your bloopers and missteps

🍓 The Holy Grail of connections – how loosening up has helped Andrea Buckett resonate with others more than ever 

🍓 That emailers can be used to communicate and entertain!

🎧 Get comfy and tune in for more! 🎧

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: attendance, event, marketing, online, virtual

#61 – Keeping the ‘Over 50’ Set Socially Connected with Charlene Nadalin

August 26, 2020 by cpdigital

It’s time for another edition of the 4AM Report, and today we talk about the real harm caused by extreme social isolation. 

We know that some of you – juggling work, family, kids, 24/7 these past 6 months – might gnaw your right arm off for a little “social isolation.” 😆🤣😆

But long-term social isolation – especially in an aging population – can have deleterious results.

✅ Cognitive decline and dementia.

✅ Depression.

✅ Increased risk of mortality.

And with a quarter of Canadian seniors living alone – that’s not great news. 😢😢😢

When this week’s guest began to worry about her own mom’s dwindling network – she founded a tech company to help! 

Today, Charlene Nadalin is President and CEO of Amintro Inc., an online social platform that promotes social inclusion. AND it’s exclusively for adults 50+. 

We are SO HERE for this! 🎉💫👏❤️ (*whispers* We’re next, y’all!)

It’s a fantastic interview, and with 75% of older adults actively online, it’s a kick in the pants for marketers and the like, who often forget about an entire segment of the population.

Enjoy!!

About Charlene

Charlene Nadalin is an award-winning entrepreneur; business development expert; and marketing and sales strategist. As the President and CEO of Amintro Inc., Charlene founded a social impact enterprise focused on reducing social isolation and loneliness. Built on the foundation that friendship and knowledge can empower older adults to live better, healthier lives, Amintro is a free, easy-to-use web application that connects adults ages 50plus interested in making new friends and sharing experiences in person; and provides marketers with a dynamic and digital platform where they can engage directly with this growing consumer market. 

Filed Under: Crisis Communication Podcasts, Crisis Communication Resources, Podcasts Tagged With: isolation, online

Building relationships from behind the screen

April 29, 2020 by cpdigital

Remember the great Aretha Franklin’s hit 🎶Who’s Zoomin’ Who? 🎶  

Well, lately it appears we’re ALL Zoomin’ someone, often multiple times a day.

During this  pandemic lock-down  Zoom has become the video conferencing provider of choice.

That’s why, on this week’s episode of the 4 AM Report, we’re bringing you top talk with a video expert!

Janine Harris is the executive producer at Keyring Media Inc., specializing in video for business.

She shares:

  • Tips and tricks for looking fine on camera.
  • How to jazz up your surroundings so people are focussed on YOU!
  • And how to use video, in general, in your marketing efforts.

All that, PLUS a special surprise (hint: it involves ukuleles)!

Let’s get started, shall we!

 ***

Video Killed the Radio Star

Video might have killed the radio star, but it ALSO provided many (if not most) of us the ability to continue working during these crazy, Covid times. It’s also added a valuable extra layer to marketing efforts, if done right.

According to a recent Hubspot survey, “…92% of marketers who use video say that it’s an important part of their marketing strategy — the highest percentage of any year since 2015.”

BUT – if you’re adding simple DIY video to your campaigns this year – it better look good. The average consumer will spend more than 80 percent more time on your site if it has video – but will surely bounce if it’s crap.

Let’s take a look at some of what video expert (and executive producer) Janine Harris had to say about video – both in office – AND in your marketing efforts.

A Checklist to Help You Up Your Zoom Conferencing Game

“Lighting is one of them. The first thing that we always look at in video production is how well can we see you. So many people’s offices, home offices are set up with their back against a window. And you just see this halo of dark face and you can’t see them at all. I think setting up a situation where you’ve got some decent lighting, and it can be as simple as just turn your desk around, face your window. And the difference is unbelievable, you get this beautiful glow a light on your face, and it’s perfect. You really don’t have to stress too much more beyond that.”

“The second one, probably for me is the positioning of the camera where you know, a lot of people are on laptops, and that camera is pointing up to us, or you see the face where they’re right at the bottom of the screen and there’s all this headroom above them. So, you want to put your best foot forward. I’m not saying you have to dress up or do anything like that, but you should have should be easy for people to watch you and they shouldn’t feel awkward, you know?”

“Third. Backdrop. There’s so much you can do. When I moved from my office into my home office, I took over what was essentially a storage space. I set up my background with camera equipment and my ukuleles, because I love playing ukuleles and most clients who knew me know that we play ukuleles around the office from time to time. And I collect keys, so they went up on the wall and just things that reflect me! Also, my favorite – a strike of color on the wall, it could be an art print or it could be some fabric. The worst thing to me is the white wall. I think a little bit of perspective, a little bit of personality behind you is a good thing. I have some fun with it.” 

DIY Video Marketing

“There’s nothing wrong with DIY videos. I’m seeing so many people doing great stuff with zoom, and just with their webcam or their phone. But for some people, they do need to take it up a notch to get above the noise. So, I’ve got a few clients who are producing content on their phone. And what we’ve done is created an animated opening and closing just to help make a cohesive brand for them. They’re shooting their videos, and we package them with this opening and closing, it’s super affordable, but it ups their game.”

On the Power of Video to Help Build – or Maintain – Relationships 

“People are leaning towards video to create connections. They don’t even have any FaceTime in person, with people and their employees, especially the larger organizations of companies that have offices across Canada. They have no FaceTime. There’s a reason Why the Prime Minister is on video every day giving us updates. They’re not just putting an article out in the newspaper, right people, people appreciate that human connection. And so, we are so lucky if you think about it, if this had happened 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have had the technology to have this FaceTime with all these people. And I don’t mean FaceTime the product, but I literally mean, being able to get on Zoom or Skype or whatever you’re using.”

Filed Under: Blog, Crisis Communication Resources Tagged With: backdrop, business, camera, conferencing, entrepreneur, lighting, online, positioning, video, videoconference, work, Zoom

Building relationships from behind the screen with Janine Harris

April 29, 2020 by cpdigital

Remember the great Aretha Franklin’s hit 🎶Who’s Zoomin’ Who? 🎶  

Well, lately it appears we’re ALL Zoomin’ someone, often multiple times a day.

During this 🦠 pandemic lock-down 🦠 Zoom has become the video conferencing provider of choice.

That’s why, on this week’s episode of the 4 AM Report, we’re bringing you top talk with a video expert!

Janine Harris is the executive producer at Keyring Media Inc., specializing in video for business.

She shares:

📹 Tips and tricks for looking fine 💅 on camera.

📹 How to jazz 🎷up 🎷 your surroundings so people are focussed on YOU!

📹 And how to use video, in general, in your marketing efforts.

All that, PLUS a special surprise (hint: it involves ukuleles)!

Let’s get started, shall we!

About Janine

Janine Harris is a Producer, Director and Editor with a passion for telling stories. With over 20 years experience developing and producing for commercial, television series and documentaries, she brings broadcast skill and technique along with web strategies to telling the stories of business. 

From marketing videos to training videos, Janine works with small and mid- size organizations through to large Companies to help them communicate, educate and engage their stakeholders with video.

***

Now get yourself over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe to us – you won’t regret it!

Plus, if you’re losing sleep over a particular marketing/business related problem during this Covid-19 economic uncertainty, or if you have a guest idea on the topic, let us know. Drop us a line at c+p digital.

And as always, sweet dreams…well, hopefully!

Filed Under: Crisis Communication Podcasts, Podcasts Tagged With: backdrop, business, camera, conferencing, entrepreneur, lighting, online, positioning, video, videoconference, work, Zoom

The art and science of building an online brand with Dr Monisha Ravishankar

December 11, 2019 by cpdigital

🎉We’re celebrating 25 episodes of The 4 am Report this week with our guest Dr. Monisha Ravishankar.

In this episode with talk about the art and science of building an online brand in 2020.

(We also can’t get enough of the many sides of Monisha – you need to listen to fully get why we are so fascinated with this guest and the many hats she’s worn over her career. To say multi-talented is an understatement).

⭐This episode is for you if you’re trying to bring together many different interests.

⭐Or if you’re trying to find that hook to set yourself apart from the the ‘lifestyle entrepreneurs’ out there.

⭐Or if you wonder about social sharing lines when it comes to your professional account.

Here’s an excerpt from the transcript:

***

Monisha: Okay. I am a light sleeper, so I have to mention that there are very many things that keep me up at night. But in terms of the marketing aspect of late, I have had this particular topic that has been keeping me up at night, which is what exactly is my presence? Who am I on social media?

I’ve always been a part of social media. I have an account on most of the platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, et cetera. And I’ve always had one side to me. But of late, I’ve been thinking hard about, okay, I’ve always been a multifaceted person, so why not be able to show the world who I really am, share my lifestyle, and it could probably help someone out there, or someone could have a positive day just learning something new about me. But it also kind of gives me the question where should I be sharing all aspects of my life with the world?

There was a time when I was quite active with my creative side with media, and of course my life was out there in the public. But this has almost been a decade, and then I moved from India to Canada and been working on my life as a dentist. And the last few years has been all about working full time as a dentist. I’m also a mom. I have a four-year-old girl, so it’s been home, work, and somewhere in between, you could say at 4 AM, I woke up feeling, “This has just gotten so monotonous. How do we break this monotony?”

And that’s when I realized I’m not doing what I actually love doing, which is being a multifaceted person, which is actually being in touch with all aspects of things that I love to do. So what is stopping me? Is it because I’m a mom? Is it because I work full time as a dentist? Is it because being a professional, I’m worried about not being taken too seriously if I get back into media or any aspect of the creative side, even being a dancer or a theater actor.

So I want to be able to break that monotony and show people out there that you can actually do different things. The question is how you manage, how you balance your lifestyle, and how you make the time for it, make peace with yourself and be confident about how you’re taking that step forward.

Will: Right, right. And you know what? First of all, I do want to say I would definitely follow a social media account of a dentist/actor/ballet dancer/TV personality/news anchor. So right there already, I’m intrigued. I’m very intrigued. You said you’ve been basically using social media for your dentistry right now. Is the ultimate goal here to actually use your social media as a platform to gain employment in the other fields as well? Or is it more to entertain friends and family and yourself? Just looking at the goal of what you’re wanting to do right now?

Monisha: Almost 10 years ago, probably 8 to 10 years ago, when I was very active with media, social media wasn’t as active. The world of influencing and stuff like that didn’t exist back then. Even if it did, it was in a very small scale. So I got on social media back then mainly to keep in touch with friends, with family, anyone I’ve lost touch with across the world, and it’s been that way all these years. And like I said, I’ve been busy with being a full-time dentist and a mom and yada yada. So I haven’t really gotten into serious aspect of handling my social media account just to take care of putting out my personality out there like I explained previously.

The dentist profile that I was talking to both of you about has been something that I’ve done recently, just the last year. The original handle that I’ve always had is more a personal account, but the dentist handle is something that I started a year ago when I actually started thinking about, “Okay, why not put my life out there?”

Now, I don’t want it to be a boring account just showing dentistry. I’m pretty sure not many people out there love going to the dentist and it’s not like they’re going to be very interested just looking at dental work on social media. Of course, I would love to share my work out there. Who doesn’t love having a smile makeover? Who doesn’t love knowing stuff like how you can do small changes that could impact your oral health without actually having to visit a dentist? You know what I mean? We know how expensive dentistry can be and so if I could give people tips that they could just listen to and that makes a change, well then, I’m happy.

So it started out like that where I wanted to share lifestyle tips, dental tips, but not just concentrate on the dental aspect, to also be able to put my personality out there, my flair for life, and just share the positive side of my mind, you could say.

Susan: I think you’re making a lot of really great points in terms of content marketing. One of the things that motivates it best is putting information out there, learning out there, tips and usable material out there for the sole purpose of letting someone have that information. Once they do get that, they get to know who you are. And I think tone and voice has a lot to do with it and we’ll touch on that in a minute. But once you’ve got people reading and using your content, when time comes to make decisions about something that they could potentially purchase or that influence aspect, you get that much more organically and naturally. So that’s already great.

The second point is the fact that you have this hook. We talked about it briefly about our podcast and how you were saying that we’ve done well and, honestly, if we had to take it down to one thing, it’s the fact that we had a good story, a good hook, and we were sort of committed in doing it, right?

So yours is similar. You’ve cut the clutter already. I believe one of the things that your Instagram handle says is “The Real Tooth Fairy”, which I think is super cool. You’re already indicating the left and right brain side of yourself and who, like Will said, doesn’t want to talk to the dentist who’s also the cool TV personality and theater actor, right?

And as well, the very good point that you make about dental isn’t covered for most people and it is a genuine expense, and for those that do have it, they don’t fully understand how great it is to have it, but so many people don’t. And why not, like you said, go to that proactive preventative? It’s in the wellness realm, right? Wellness has acquired a bad rap over the years because so many people have abused it, but basically you could totally stay in that space of lifestyle and wellness, except you’re not just who’s making up this advice, you are someone who is an actual doctor of the profession. So I think there’s a lot of story in there in terms of how you can do it.

Will: Yeah, and Susan was mentioning tone and voice, and I think if you are going to make this kind of an elevated social media account, you’d want to do some thinking about that. You want to still be giving professional dental advice, as we were speaking earlier. I know you have an interest in fashion, you have an interest in overall wellness, things like this, which I think could easily be worked into this account in a fun, entertaining way. So it’s kind of like your goal is to entertain and inform, a twofold kind of account.

Susan: Yeah, I think basically that’s what it is. You want to bring that entertainment to the forefront, and by entertainment, I don’t think it needs to be like straight up “haha” funny, unless that’s the personality that someone wants to convey. But it’s just a little break. We call it the decluttering of your day. You’ve got a feed full of people either selling you something or giving you bland motivational statements on whatever. When someone puts in something which cuts the… Oh, what do they call it? The “stop the scroll,” right? Why not aim to get that sort of tone and voice?

And as far as the actual operations of it is concerned, Monisha, I know that we talked about how you’ve had this advice from a couple of other friends in the space as well, it’s suddenly what’s streamlining and focusing your efforts to one or two places. Potentially for you, that means bringing your Instagram accounts together into one account, however you choose to spin that. You can build out the story around that a little bit.

But that brings the question where is the line, right? Often people are like, “I really would like to share a personal detail about what I wore for Christmas, but does that belong on the page?” Then you’re going to have to figure-

Monisha: Absolutely. Absolutely, Susan. Thanks for bringing that up because that is probably one of the main things that keeps me up at night. A friend pointed out to me, kind of opened my eyes, I can say, as to why are you running two social media handles? It’s like running two parallel lives. Why would you want to do that? I do understand that you kind of have a few aspects of your private life that you might not want to share with the world, but it doesn’t really make sense in terms of time, effort, energy, running two parallel lives.

And that got me thinking. Yeah, what am I really hiding from the world? Is there a need to have two different personalities? Why not just be myself and market myself for the person I am? I’m old enough. I have evolved as a person over the years with experiences and with the people I’ve met, associated with. So why not just take it all into one account? And that’s what I’m working on right now. But like you said, where do you draw that line?

Susan: There’s a couple of practical suggestions you can employ in terms of the line, right? I understand the effort that goes into two. So if you assume you’d streamline them into one and kept your main feed in line with whatever it is that the content that you want to put out there, whether you want to represent a few specific aspects, you want art, you want music, you want dentistry, for example. I’m just making this up. And then within your feed you stay with those. You have certain times that you will punch it up with some personal details, but those will be controlled personal details. I might get a lot of flak for saying this, but I think it’s important to control your feed.

Where you do have the opportunity to put out some of the personal stuff is on the stories, right? Like Snapchat, the disappearing factor allows a little bit more safety in one sense. And the other thing to think about is to limit. So when you put in stories you can limit some things to close friends. It takes a little while to set up those things, but it certainly takes a lot less time than trying to manage two accounts and trying to-

Monisha: Absolutely. Yeah, it’s possible. I’ve just realized that it is possible, and it doesn’t really make sense to be handling two separate accounts just to put my life out there.

Will: Yeah, and a way to start off this, too, is actually almost scheduling a little bit. So say, if you still want to lead with dentistry, let’s just say, but you also want to be bringing in the other aspects of your life. So you’re going to be the dentist who also is X, Y, and Z, as opposed to the X, Y, and Z who happens to also be a dentist. So, depending on how you want to lead, you could say, “Each week I’m going to be doing two original posts: on tips for white teeth, one in-the-office post.” You could actually start by doing that and then it’ll get a little more natural and you can kind of let it flow. But it might be easy to start off because you seem like someone who would stick to a schedule. I don’t know you very well, Monisha, but I think if you scheduled something, you would do it.

So I think if you sketched out how a week of posts would look. And actually, we have a calendar called The Unplug and Play, and you can print it off. There’s already some icons and a legend there. So we can give you a guide on how you can schedule it or you can just go and do your own thing. But it’s a neat way to make sure that you’re using different formats on different social media. You can get that on our website and download it for free.

About Monisha

Monisha Ravishankar – “The REAL tooth fairy” .. Dentist by profession, Artist by passion. A perfectionist who believes in second chances but not for the same mistake. A true blue lifestyle and wellness enthusiast, a bit of a sugar-coated idealist who believes that she can change the world one smile at a time! 🙂

Instagram:@fairysprinklesdent

Facebook

***

Still can’t sleep?

We would also love to know what’s keeping you up at night! Email us your problems – your issue might be featured in our next episode!

Any of these problems *speak* to you? Click here to subscribe in iTunes to hear about more things that haunt us or to keep an eye out for any of your problems. We might find a solution for you (or at least share your pain too!) We have more episodes with great tips, jokes and conversations – don’t miss it! 

If you get a chance, leave a review on iTunes so that others can find this podcast too! Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” We’d love to hear what your favourite part of this episode is in the comments below. Thank you!

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: business, content, digital, marketing, online, small

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