Over the last 30 years, I’ve volunteered to spearhead or work on more conferences and events than I can even list. Along the way, I’ve gained skills in leadership development, marketing, problem solving, and communication that have easily transferred to building my private practice.
But, what I’ve never done is work on an international conference. So, when author, trainer and mind-body therapist Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP offered to write a guest post sharing her tips based on her own experience as a member of the Steering Committee of an international conference, I jumped at the opportunity for you and me both to learn from her.
I’ve followed Karen’s work for years. She’s a creative soul, an out-of-the-box clinician, and a practical-minded business woman who knows how to gain the attention needed to stand out in a crowd. I’m happy to have her join us today to share with us what she has learned while marketing the 2015 North American Systemic Constellations Conference and how you can apply this to your own practice.
(If you are interested in writing a guest post, check out the guidelines here.)
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A Guest Post by Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
It’s a Little Bit More
Want to step up your business-building and marketing skills?
Well then, step up and volunteer to help with the planning of an international conference!
I’m doing that right now, as a member of a Steering Committee for the 2015 North American Systemic Constellations Conference, scheduled for Nov. 12-15 in San Diego, California, USA.
I’ve attended conferences, presented at conferences, given feedback for conferences, contributed to fundraisers at conferences, had my books sold at conferences and organized a few regional conferences in my own backyard.
Planning an international conference for all helping professionals, is a different story.
As one of eight members of the Steering Committee over the past nine months, I’ve been invited to stretch my marketing skills – all in a good way.
It’s been like taking an independent study course, leading me to discover marketing tools and approaches that I had never considered. And I expect even more learning by the time the conference date rolls around!
Adapting New Tools
I’ve prided myself in knowing a good deal about marketing and getting the word out to prospective clients and trainees.
I’ve built my private practice twice – first in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and later in Racine, Wisconsin — where I moved when my husband’s corporate job transferred.
I’m a former newspaper journalist and have coached clients about practice building and press releases.
I’ve taught the marketing and practice building course at a local massage school.
But, what I’m learning now can also apply to marketing anyone’s private practice or special event.
I’m already using some new tools as I revise my practice to cast a wider net for my own training and consulting work.
Many of these tools can convert or be adapted to starting, expanding or reinventing most practices.
Casting a Wider Net
The outreach [for an international conference] is way bigger than for your practice.
An international conference means that we look at four levels of audience – local, regional, national and international – and how to reach them.
Because systemic constellations apply to all helping professionals, from traditional to alternative, we are identifying different strategies for each level.
Online Tools Support Networking
We are using Basecamp for our project management and the teleconference service Zoom for our weekly online meetings.
Animoto, which has free and paid versions, helps with making simple videos that we’ve uploaded to YouTube.
Canva and Quotescover provide free and easy apps for making attractive graphics for Facebook and other social media.
We can become friendly faster with an event app – we are using Bizzabo – which helps with registration and pre-conference networking.
There is even a free introduction app for networking which can be upgraded to a paid version that registers participants.
Publicizing via Social Media
Using social media is a must to publicize your event.
We’ve been focusing on quality content on Facebook, which includes info, links and videos from our keynote speakers as well as other good links about our topic i.e. focusing on multi-generational healing and change.
There are a huge amount of resources online, so many that we’ve had to pick and choose which to use.
Two of the sites that allow for free listings are Eventful and Yelp.
Pinterest is an amazing site therapists can use not only for posting about the event but also for sharing research.
I typed in “conference planning” and “event planning” in the search window for Pinterest and got tons of ideas with pictures, websites and links about great conference resources.
The Pinterest board where I curate my own “Conference Ideas” has more than 110 pins. You can find it here.
I’m using it for conference planning now and will be referring to it for my business and my clients later.
Don’t Forget the Volunteers
Recruiting volunteers to help with marketing and outreach make the job much easier.
We’ve asked marketing partners of various disciplines to help spread the word through their own social media sites, email newsletters, websites and podcasts.
State affiliates like the National Association of Social Workers and the American Marriage and Family Therapists often have pages on their websites where conferences and presenters can list programs with continuing education credits.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
Talk with members of conference committees from previous years about what went well and what needed improvement.
Save time by getting documents from past conferences so you don’t have to re-invent the wheel.
You can tweak the documents on topics such as workshop proposal invitations, session assistant instructions, and timelines with updates rather than starting from scratch.
International vs. Local
Include planning committee members who are familiar with the needs of international attendees.
In the United States, we don’t necessarily think about cultural differences that come with international audiences like the currency exchange rates, matters of visas, translation services and the like, so consulting on these topics is useful.
In addition to the perks of learning and the opportunity to contribute, I and my colleagues have already enjoyed other perks including private video conferences with the keynote speakers.
Here is what we’ve accomplished so far
Take a look and let us know what you think.
And, if you’ve helped plan a conference or other large event, I hope you’ll share below what you have learned from the experience that helps you market and grow your business.
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Please share your thoughts!