“Never judge a book by its cover.” Sound familiar? In today’s event industry, this “cover” has taken on a new form: the email pitch. The email pitch is your chance to make a good first impression – fail to do so, and the details of your event will be left to languish in a potential attendee’s Trash folder. Here are 5 tips to ensure your email stays firmly in their inbox and gets a reply.

1. Structure your email

Make sure you include a short introduction (introduce yourself / your event), a body (key features, and how your contact could benefit from them) and a conclusion (a reiteration of why the person should attend your event). Choose an exciting subject title for your email: in this way, your recipients will be motivated to read it and will not mistake it for spam. First off, always address the recipient by his or her first name. Secondly, it should be clear from the first line that the email is an invitation. Thirdly, as a basic rule of thumb: your pitch should not be bigger than one screen shot. So get straight to the point !

2. Keep it simple

Don’t use overly complex vocabulary: it will obscure the meaning of the message and it could seem like you’re just using lots of fancy phrases as a cover-up. There’s really no point trying to impress your readers by using big, meaningless words. Never underestimate the power of simplicity. Lastly, avoid using too many fancy graphics, in this way, the reader will focus solely on the content of the message.

3. Customize your email

You can’t expect someone to care about you and the service you’re offering if you don’t show that you care about them. This is very simple, but is so often overlooked. In the words of Mary Kay Ash (one of the greatest entrepreneurs in Dallas) : “Everyone has an invisible sign around their neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’”. It is therefore very important to personalize your email so that your guests don’t feel like part of a big anonymous mailing list; they need to feel that they have received your invitation because it perfectly suits their individual needs. It follows that your recipients are far more likely to pay attention to your email if their full name appears in the subject line or at the very beginning of the email.

4. Send an engaging invitation

Make sure you include in your email a hypertext link or a button that redirects your recipients to the event registration page. Draw special attention to this link or button in order to encourage your guests to confirm their attendance. The fewer the steps required to get to the registration page, the more chances there are that your guest will provide a positive response to your invitation!

5. Preview your email before sending it to your guests

Carefully read over every single word of your email and check the spelling. Once you’ve finished writing the email, it’s a good idea to temporarily distract yourself with something completely different and then come back to it. Get an outsider’s perspective by asking for other people’s input. By previewing the email and testing it on different inbox accounts, you can see how it will look when your guest receive it.

Ready to send your invitation email ? 

Questions? Write us to support@evenium.net or on twitter @evenium !

1. Elaborate Your Event “Bible”
Make sure every detail of your event has been noted down, and go through these details thoroughly with your co-workers and partners well in advance so that everyone is clear on their role. This will also reduce the amount of questions you will have to answer in the lead-up.

2. Create a Briefing Sheet
This should go hand in hand with your checklist. Document every step in the organisation, and include contact details of everyone involved – from partners to suppliers. Then distribute this to everyone involved so that you will not be pestered to sort out as many nuances of detail on the day.

3. Delegate Positions of Responsibility
Even if no-one else could do the job as well as you can, it is guaranteed that if you take on too much you will burn out and the event will suffer from it. Choose people you trust in particular fields and lighten your stress load, but make sure you have a clear document of where everyone will be at all times.

Also, it is a good idea to have someone on hand that you can call up on the day to offload your stress – to avoid this being vented on your suppliers or clients.

4. Resist Temptation to Work to Excess
This will inevitably cause you to mess up. In the last few days leading up to the event, there is only so much you can do – sleeping well, eating well and taking enough time to think over things is imperative, to ensure the last steps are done thoroughly, and that you’re on perfect form for the event itself.

5. Budget Carefully
This goes without saying, but can be the make or break when it comes to the day itself – make sure you have a little spare cash left over for any last-minute hiccups.

6. Distinguish the Main Goal of your Event, and Keep It In Mind
Details are important of course, but it is the overall atmosphere which will dictate the experience your guests take away with them. Focus on the welcome and the way you look after them. For example, ensure transport issues are catered for – if you reduce stress for your participants, you’ll be reducing stress for yourself!

7. Be Honest and Firm
This is true when dealing with those involved in creating the event, and when dealing with yourself. Define goals a step at a time, and stick to them. If you are sure of what you want it can be much more efficiently conveyed to others.

8. When Planning, Imagine You Won’t Have Your Phone During Set-Up
This is possibly one of the most difficult ones to follow, but you’ll reap the benefits if you stick to it. Your phone are great, and will of course be used throughout the organisational process. The trap is laid when you rely on the fact you will be able to use it extensively during the event set-up.

If you take the mind-set that you’ll be unable to use your phone in set-up, you are likely to pay a lot more attention to detail in the run-up and your set-up will run much more smoothly. Work you don’t do before hand is guaranteed to be 3 times more difficult if done on the day.

9. Expect the Unexpected
Even if you feel you have covered every last detail, there will always be things that don’t go to plan – suppliers arrive late or the plugs don’t reach the sockets.

Flexibility is key in managing events, and in nearly every situation that doesn’t go exactly to plan, there will be a way of solving it.

You cannot plan for the unexpected in advance, but you can plan for your reaction. Take a few minutes pause at the beginning of the day to take some deep breaths and focus your mind – everything will become much clearer.

10. SMILE! Project inner calm and your guests will feel comfortable and relaxed.
If you feel things heating up, pause for a few moments. Shut your eyes, take a few deep breaths, take a step back and focus in on the main goal of your event. And remember, if your guests don’t notice something that goes wrong, it didn’t.

The two most important elements in Event Organisation are:
ANTICIPATION & COMMUNICATION

BONUS TIP (just for the ladies) : be sure to bring at least one pair of comfy shoes with you to your event … your feet will thank you!

Questions? Write us to support@evenium.net or on twitter @evenium !