00:39:37 LG: What experience do you all have with marketing or communications?

00:42:03 LG: What is one question you bring with you about marketing and communications?

00:43:28 KP: In small associations, sometimes it feels you get caught marketing your areas because there isn’t dedicated marketing staff. You become a marketer by default!

00:43:45 AW: I love Sara’s moniker CARE: Communicate, Assess, Respond & Evolve

00:45:03 MP: Great reminder about checking images and language re: avoiding what we’re supposed to be avoiding right now.

00:45:33 LG: Which letter from CARE resonates with you? I am drawn to this idea of EVOLVE right now given the current environment.

00:46:10 KP: Definitely have seen some things come through that clearly were set to go out pre-COVID, and not caught. Good reminder Sara, to check all those automated efforts!

00:46:23 AS: listening is so important and can be such an undervalued tool

00:46:35 AS: rather, under-utilized

00:46:47 AW: I love: Let your brand heart guide you.

00:47:49 KP: Alexis - for sure listening. We found for one of our clients that just offering members an open forum to talk with each other via video was SO helpful for reassuring them, supporting them, and CARE-ing for them

00:48:02 MP: While EVOLVE is so critical at the moment, I think ASSESS will be the next big thing - what can we now drop, as we’ve seen alternative methods work?

00:48:48 AS: a note on investing in social media - this is the time to SHINE! and can be a great way to listen & create spaces for audiences to join the conversation.

00:49:53 TV: I’ve have been in full assess mode the past couple of weeks, but can so see now moving into the respond phase.

00:51:02 KP: It’s a process Tracy - it’s nice to have a framework around it to help us keep moving in the right direction!

00:52:17 MW: YES! Listening is asking questions and being empathetic; is the relationship a good fit- how can I help you get what you want so I can get what I want.

00:52:59 BH: sales have significantly dropped and we anticpated it. but tricky with advertising. need to still cover operation costs… so complex

00:55:18 LG: What has been the most challenging aspect of sales right now?

00:56:07 MP: Exhibitor sales for conferences that have now gone virtual - and showing the ROI for exhibiting in an online environment.

00:57:38 KP: Very hard Michelle. The nice part about working with vendors online is you have options such as dedicated times for them to present in this type of scenario to targeted audiences - instead of waiting in a booth for the “right” person to pass by. It will take work to make that happen, and there isn’t much history on that for us yet; but we’ll likely see it soon given our current situation!

00:57:55 BH: We have a muted sales outreach right now, fortunately becuse we are an association and can hold some revenue streams. advertisnig is a revenue stream that covers operational costs and we have a very cautious dance of not envoking ad cancellations—helping our members that have to cancel—and trying to keep them from cancelling and looking at deferrment options

00:58:31 NM: A lot of my non profit clients have had funding dry up and they are having a hard time justifying spending money on print communications.

00:58:55 AS: biggest takeaway so far - collaborate don’t pitch!

00:59:44 LG: Agreed Alexis! I love this idea of partnerships rather than client relationships.

01:00:06 SK: definitely a great way to think about it. everyone has been hit hard…including our clients. how can we help each other? these long term relationships are important. from my time in nonprofit fundraising….it’s all about the long game / the pipeline. we’re in pipeline mode!

01:01:06 MP: What I’m seeing lately on webinars is really that move from transactional to year-round relationships. Silver lining in all this craziness, I think.

01:03:51 AS: I heard a clever idea this week - with sponsors/exhibitors who are hesitant on completing payment for an event later in the year, you can offer a guarantee on refund IF the event is cancelled, and also offer a discount if they agree to exhibit for 2 years.

01:04:19 LG: That is a great example of a creative solution Alexis!

01:06:02 SC: great tips Kara! sales is a touchy subject right now and I think you gave some great ways to move forward.

01:09:14 LG: What questions do you have about in-person events or cancellation of these events?

01:09:23 AS: I’m doing my best to learn more about the challenges our customers are facing and feel really excited to see our leadership “pivot” to better serve our customers (who primarily manage trade shows) with a platform to support virtual events.

01:09:36 AW: I just received an offer today from a hotel to not refund a deposit for a canceled event and they’d be willing to apply more than 100 percent of that deposit to a future booking.

01:10:01 AW: Anyone else experiencing something new/different like this?

01:10:16 MP: Our primary issue is how to show the value of attending virtually for a fee, in an audience that’s used to “free” webinars and educational sessions.

01:11:07 BH: I can see that being a pressure point for our events ahead if we were to switch to virtual

01:11:36 AW: It’s challenging, Michelle, if the experience doesn’t change from your traditional webinar to an online experience. I think the moderating/chat engagement is one place we can do better (kind of like what you’re experiencing on today’s webinar). But certainly this is just the tip of the iceberg and more is needed.

01:11:43 BH: I would ensure they may get an access/resource beyond the event that they would only get if they ‘attend’

01:11:49 BH: even if it’s virtual

01:12:55 BH: maybe it’s a data report related in the event topic space, maybe attendee list if attendees opt to share contact

01:13:16 LG: I love those ideas Bridget!

01:13:27 LG: Those are great value adds!

01:13:32 MP: Agreed, @Aaron and @Bridget. This is our time to really create something new, vs. just recreating our live experience. But as always - with limited resources and time.

01:14:52 LG: What platforms are you all using currently?

01:14:53 SK: Smartsheet is incredible for project management and content planning throughout the year.

01:15:23 SK: Smartsheet is also a wonderful tool for creating interview forms for gathering content.

01:15:23 LG: I love Zoom, Slack and Evernote!

01:15:55 MP: Teams for us, and Evernote for me personally.

01:16:44 TV: GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar for our webinars. Slack and Dropbox Paper for our team collaboration. We are in the process of setting up Smartsheet.

01:17:26 LG: That is great! What questions do you have about Smartsheet Tracy? Kate is an expert!

01:17:34 SC: Zoom is our new best friend!

01:17:35 SK: I’ve never heard of “alarmed” but I imagine there is a chipper little clipart person involved in it like Mr. Clippy from Word.

01:18:39 SK: What are some training opportunities for these platforms? I know some have more formal tutorials.

01:19:16 TV: If she could only give one to three tips for newbies on Smartsheet. What would be her top tips?

01:21:16 MP: Jumping to another meeting - thanks to all of you for the great ideas - great use of my time on a Friday afternoon! Stay safe.

01:21:29 LG: Thanks Michelle!

01:23:09 LG: Stick with us Tracy! I am going to have Kate answer that in just a few!

01:25:00 LG: Keep the questions coming! Our presenters can continue to answer in the chat!

01:25:03 TV: Love the poll idea. If we are limited on what our webinars can be - such as no video and we are limited on social media to LinkedIn only - any other tips or ideas we can utilize for engaging our clients?

01:26:28 KP: http://eventgarde.com/events