Guide to

EVENTS
INDIA
 What's Next
for Events?
A note to Chances are, as you read this, you have just completed a marketing event or
have at least one lined up in the next couple of months.

Marketers in India
Events are regarded as the pinnacle of face-to-face marketing. They are an
invitation to your target audience to take a step closer, to physically engage
and forge an emotional bond with your brand. This makes events a powerful
marketing tool to accelerate the sales cycle and build brand equity.

But you already knew that.

In India, events are a natural part of the marketing mix. Industry

analysts estimate that, on average, brands reserve 25-30% of their
advertising budgets for creating or sponsoring events.1

Whether it’s an executive roundtable for 15 high-powered decision-makers

or a major conference for hundreds of clients, we believe that an event
content strategy will be key to taking your event to the next level.

Puneet Nagpal Having a story to tell, and telling it in an engaging and cohesive manner, can
make all the difference. It will inform your pre-event planning, bolster your
Head of Marketing - India
event promotion, and enhance onsite engagement.
LinkedIn Sales & Marketing Solutions
We’ve put together this guide to help you achieve this. In addition to
answering your ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions around an event content strategy,
This eBook has benefited from the contributions of the
you’ll also find tips for every stage of the event lifecycle, from planning and
LinkedIn Sales & Marketing team:
budgeting to promotion, on-site management and post-event follow-up.
Nell Norman-Nott, Head of Marketing, ANZ We hope that this will add to your arsenal of knowledge and give you the
confidence to keep creating impactful and effective events.
Jennifer Bunting, Head of APAC Content & Product Marketing
Regards,
Christy Tran, Senior Marketing Manager, APAC
Puneet Nagpal
Olivia Ng, Marketing Specialist
1 Media for the Masses: The Promise Unfolds, KPMG India—FICCI Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2017
 Plan: Starting
Out Right
A good start is half the battle won.
It’s important to know exactly why
you’re holding an event and what
you want to get out it before you
even get started. The event planning
phase involves asking yourself
some difficult questions but once
you have the answers, it makes
subsequent decision-making much

Chapter 01
easier.

The Plan
 4

Know Your Reasons

Let’s start with objectives. When we consider the ‘why’ of marketing events, the question invariably leads to ‘who’ as well.
Your objectives need a clear audience whether they are existing customers, prospects or the media.

SOME OF THE TOP REASONS WE’VE COME ACROSS INCLUDE:

• Accelerating the sales cycle through lead generation and lead nurturing
• Promoting your brand for top-of-mind awareness, to encourage loyalty and to secure earned media
• Launching a new campaign, product or service
• Engaging and educating your target audience and positioning your brand as a thought leader in a crowded marketplace

You also need to think about how an event will fit with your current marketing strategy. For all the resources that you’re
about to pump in, it needs to complement whatever you’re already doing.

? What does a live event offer

that other marketing and
information channels do not?
This is a key question that you
need to answer as part of the
critical analysis process.
Prepare Your • What type of event are you holding?
• How many people are you targeting?

Financial Firepower • W
 hat are your setup requirements?
For example, live feeds and experiential
stations will cost more than a roundtable
set-up for a meeting.
When putting together your event • W
 ill you have guest speakers and will they
budget, it’s a good idea to factor in require an honorarium?
event ROI. Do you intend to measure • W
 hat’s a suitable venue for the size and
nature of your event?
the event’s success in terms of lead
generation, conversion rates, deepened • I s your event date fixed or flexible? This
could affect your negotiation power with
relationships or earned media, for venues.
example? Bear this in mind as you • How do you intend to promote the event?
work through the dollars-and-cents • D
 o you need the support and expertise of
questions, such as: a professional event agency?
 6

Make a Plan THE PROJECT

MANAGEMENT TOOL
SHORTLIST
& Stick to it
For each event, you should have a detailed project and financial plan ASANA
Asana is a simple, streamlined
that breaks down all your activities into timelines, resources and
project management tool with
responsibilities. This helps you keep track of everything that needs to be reporting features to help you
done, deadlines and who is responsible. It also helps you keep a close monitor progress. It has built-in
watch on your budget and resources. reminders to keep everyone on
track and supports custom fields
for each event.
You can choose to use a simple Excel spreadsheet, a shared Google
Sheets or any of the many different project management tools available.
The point is to ensure that your plan is kept up to date and shared with
BASECAMP
Basecamp is great for larger
the rest of your event team so everyone’s on the same page. projects and enterprise teams. We
love its ‘Campfire’ feature, which
A common mistake that marketers make is underestimating the time lets you to schedule group chats
to bring the team together in real
needed to achieve certain milestones and allowing slippages. Much of
time, regardless of location.
your event’s success hinges on how well you manage your time until event
day, so make a plan and stick to it! TRELLO
Trello is a visually intuitive project
management app that uses cards
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AN EVENT PLANNING and columns to organise tasks.
TEMPLATE WE USE AT LINKEDIN It also supports integration with
Evernote, Dropbox and other
commonly used tools.
 People:
Teaming up
for Success
This should come as no surprise —
people are your single most important
asset in delivering a smooth event.
When building an events team, from
your own staff to your event agency
and all the vendors and suppliers that
you’ll be working with, you should

Chapter 02
be looking for people who look and
behave professionally. They need a
can-do attitude and ought to be able
to think on their feet and take action

The People quickly. Every attendee who comes

into contact with your team should
walk away feeling impressed.
Engaging an Managing
Event Agency Stakeholders
Be realistic about what you can handle on your own and You may lead the event but, more often than not,
what responsibilities you need to delegate. If you’ve decided your stakeholders play a large part in determining
that an event agency is on the cards, here’s what we think its outcome. Communication is key to managing
you need to consider: both internal stakeholders (your sales team and
senior management, for example) and external
stakeholders (your event agency, attendees,sponsors,
Relevant experience
given the scale and nature of your event vendors, suppliers and more).
and the industry you’re in
Accept that every stakeholder has their own priorities
Industry reputation and point of view. Your role is to drive collaboration
since any company doing good work among all stakeholder groups so that you achieve
should have client testimonials to show for it your marketing objectives and they get what they
Concept proposals need out of the event. Which brings us to our next
are good way to tell if an agency understands your point…
objectives and knows how to help you achieve it

“To get the most out of an event and experience marketing agency, marketers should consider involving us early
in the campaign discussions. Ideally, experience marketing agencies should be made part of the strategising
and thinking process. This will inspire experience marketing agencies to evolve into brand custodians and take
responsibility for ROI and outcomes.”
- Rasheed Sait, Managing Director, George P. Johnson Experience Marketing
 9

Briefing the Team

Most times, the complexity of an event means that challenges may occur along Team B.R.I.E.F is our key to
the way. This is when a strong, skilled and, most importantly, well-briefed team event success. We always
really comes into its own. Briefing meetings should happen at regular intervals in start by drawing a Big picture,
the lead-up to the event. This helps ensure that team members are familiar with reviewing our objectives
the decision-making structure and know what to do in case of an emergency.
and Identifying threats and
resources. When putting
together an event plan, we also
use Design for Environment
THE FOUR 'R's OF BRIEFING MEETINGS principles to minimise our
Reset the tone environmental footprint.
so that all team members feel safe and empowered about voicing their
opinions, raising issues and offering suggestions.
In Executing the event, clear
Review progress roles and responsibilities are
against the event plan. Identify problems and bottlenecks that need to essential, as is Flexibility —
be resolved and brainstorm for effective ways to do so.
having contingency plans
Refine the plan, if necessary
to ensure that team members have the information and resources to and the autonomy to make
complete their tasks on time. decisions on the spot.
Recap the event objectives
so that everyone is aligned and committed to achieving the same goal. - Geetu Bhatnagar, Senior Director,
Head of Marketing, Oracle India
 Content: Giving
it meaning
The unique value that events provide over any
other marketing channel is the possibility of
live interaction, and much of that interaction
is centered on content. The promise of
amazing content is a powerful draw for your
target audience. If you deliver on that promise
by giving them content that they care about,
they’ll not only be engaged, they’re also likely
to amplify your message by sharing it.
While content marketing is still comparatively

Chapter 03
young in Asia, 66% of Indian marketers are
already embracing it.* Content marketing is
powerful, and engaging content that gives
your audience new insights certainly deserves
The Content a place in your event.
- "Red Book of Content Marketing," Paul Writer and Yorke
Communications, 2016
 11

Developing an Event Content Strategy

When coming up with a content strategy for your event, it’s vital to consider the messages that you want
to send, the content that your target audience is keen on and how to bridge that gap, if any.

Consistent &
Relevant Content Timely Content Coordinated Content

resonates with people, so is a way of contextualising your content gives your event a content theme and
understand what makes to make it part of the conversations helps reinforce the messages that you
your target audience tick. that people are having now. want people to come away remembering.

"An event content strategy acts as the thread that connects all your event marketing and
communications tactics, to ensure you’re telling a coherent story across all your channels.
It enables you to shift from selling capabilities to building conversations.
A good event narrative pivots on market leadership, innovation, experiences, opinions,
ideas and business impact. Pick a few critical content themes to draw and keep your
audience’s attention; themes that will get them excited to attend your event."
Bianca Ghose, Chief Storyteller, Wipro
 12

Designing
the Keynote
A keynote address, delivered by an internal
speaker, an industry leader, a best-selling
author or a professional speaker, is often
regarded as the content highlight of an event.
It can make or break an event right from the
start, so take care when planning yours.
Your event content theme is a good starting
point. You’ll also want to do your homework,
lest you end up with someone pitching from
the podium.
At the end of the day, the keynote should
focus on what you want your attendees to
get out of it. Their reaction and their learning
should be your priorities when choosing a
keynote speaker.
 13

Running an Expert
Panel Discussion ...
Another popular content tactic is the panel discussion format. To get this off the ground, you’ll
want to identify three or four speakers, each with a different and interesting perspective that
relates to your content theme. A diverse panel is more likely to create a robust conversation that
will keep your target audience engaged.
Having conversations
The host also plays an important role. You’re relying on them to lead the discussion and yield the
spotlight to the panelists, so work closely with your host to design the discussion flow. with your host and
panellists will help
them understand

Briefing Your Speakers the objective of the

discussion and where
each of them comes
It’s worth remembering that your speakers are also stakeholders in your event’s success. Like with
all stakeholders, communication is key so take the time to brief them. Speakers need to know whom in. A set of guiding
they’ll be addressing and what these people want to learn, so give them that information.
questions can also be
handy as they prepare
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE
SPEAKER BRIEFING DOCUMENT THAT YOU
for their session.
CAN ADAPT AND USE FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT!
 Promotion:
Building Buzz
It’s time to get the word out about
your event. Remember to give
yourself sufficient lead-time to get
your message across and get people
excited. While the nature of your
event, your target audience and the
resources you have at your disposal
will dictate your event marketing
approach, here are some basics that
you should cover.

Chapter 04
Promotion
 15

THE EVENT LANDING

PAGE TOOLKIT

UNBOUNCE
Unbounce is a great content builder
tool that lets you pick a template
and drag and drop elements to
quickly create a mobile-responsive
event landing page. You can edit it
further to get exactly what you need.

INSTAPAGE
Have an Event Landing Page Instapage is simpler than
Unbounce, which makes it easier
to use but the trade-off is a lesser
degree of customisation. It still
Your event deserves an online home that people can turn to for more produces a mobile-responsive
information. Articulating a compelling value proposition here is vital, since event landing page that you can
publish directly to your website.
this is where you want to drive sign-ups. Content on your event landing page
should be concise but be specific about the benefits for each type of attendee. LEADPAGES
You should also be using this platform to shout about your great content LeadPages offers a great selection
and speaker line-up — this is usually a magnet for sign-ups, so don’t forget to of templates that have been rated
on potential conversion rate. Its
include a registration form. When you write the copy for the landing page, be Leadbox feature also allows you
sure to include SEO-friendly keywords to increase your chances of exposure. to create pop-ups on your event
landing page.
 16

Talk About it
on Your Blog
Your blog is another opportunity to
create buzz and get SEO traction.
Have a content calendar and drive
Hashtag it!
event sign-ups by linking each post Depending on your event and target audience,
to your event registration page. platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter may
There’s plenty to talk about — be effective in getting the word out. A unique but
announce the event, feature expert simple-to-remember hashtag could do wonders at
interviews, share guest posts from this stage — and all the way through to the event
speakers and offer content teasers day and post-event.
about the topics that attendees Make sure your attendees are familiar with the event hashtag
can expect at your event. Share (include it on event badges, signage and presentations) and
these posts on social media too and encourage them to share and tag on social media. It’s good
practice to have a team member take charge of social media
increase your chances of generating management during the event — to monitor the hashtag, provide
interest. After the event, don’t forget real-time replies, and share updates as the event happens.
to highlight key takeaways and share
event photos and videos.
 17

Reach Out via LinkedIn

Reach your target attendees and inspire them to register for your event via LinkedIn.
Sponsored Content allows you to share directly in their LinkedIn newsfeed and
pique their interest in your event content or speakers. Be sure to include visuals
to grab their attention! LinkedIn is especially powerful for event registration when
Sponsored Content is combined with Sponsored InMail. With Sponsored InMail,
you can send personalised invitations at scale through LinkedIn’s messaging
environment. InMail can be longer and provide deeper details than a newsfeed
post but remember to keep it concise because most people read InMail on their
mobile device. They’ll also receive notifications on desktop and via email, which is
probably why InMails have a 500% higher response rate than regular emails!

PRO TIPS: RESEARCH & INVITE ON LINKEDIN

1 2 3
Run advanced searches with Save and tag contacts
Define
over 20 demographic and as 'Invited' to easily
your target
firmographic filters using track invitation process
attendees
LinkedIn Sales Navigator on LinkedIn

To learn more about LinkedIn Sales Navigator, visit sales.linkedin.com

 18

Make Use of
Facebook &
Instagram Go Direct
These social media platforms are great for spreading awareness
about your event. Take advantage of all the work you put into
creating the right event ambiance by sharing it on Instagram —
with Email
which can be especially useful on the event day if your location
is iconic, unusual or well decorated.
Marketing
Your event marketing mix should

Start Chatting include email marketing as well.

Develop a timeline and content
plan for your event emails and

on Twitter
personalise them if you can. You can
start a few months in advance with
a 'Save the Date' invitation, speaker
and agenda announcements and
early-bird registration discounts. As
Twitter is great for sharing live coverage during your event to scale brand
the event date draws closer, you’ll
awareness beyond your attendees. In the event lead-up stage, you
want to send reminders and share
can prime your followers to ‘watch this space’ for live event coverage.
tips to help attendees maximise their
Additionally, don’t forget to ask your guest speakers to tweet a link to your
time at your event.
event landing page and use the event hashtag in their tweets.
 Onsite:
Managing
the Big Day
After all that work, the big day has
finally arrived! You’ll be pulled in
a thousand different directions
throughout the event, so here are
our tips to make things smoother
(and your life easier).

Chapter 05
Event Day
 20

Turn to your
Run Sheet
An event run sheet is the most basic but the most
indispensable tool that you and your team can have on
event day. It lists the sequence of activities from start
to finish, set out by time, location and responsibility. A
great run sheet is also a central database of contacts so
every member of your team knows what they need to
do and who to contact to get it done.
A run sheet can also be a godsend when you have
multiple stakeholders to manage. At any given point,
Have a Game Plan
your boss, colleagues or sales team may come to you
asking for specific information. Retrieve this quickly Having put so many people
from your run sheet to minimise delays to your own in one room, the last thing
workflow. you want is for your team
to miss out on engagement
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE opportunities. This is where
EVENT RUN SHEET THAT YOU CAN planned social interaction
ADAPT AND USE FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT! comes in.
The idea is for everyone to have
a personal plan of action - to
agree beforehand who should be
spending time with whom
Save the
Strategically planned introductions can go a long way.
Conversation
Connecting a customer advocate with a prospect, for
example, can help accelerate the sales cycle, while It’s also good practice for each team member to
introducing a member of the senior management to an keep detailed notes about each interaction that goes
existing customer could deepen the relationship and boost beyond scribbling on the back of a business card.
confidence in your brand. Instead, everyone should be jotting down the context
of the conversation and key observations to make
A plan of action also gives your team the chance to do their
follow-ups more meaningful and productive.
pre-event homework, to school themselves on who they’ll be
talking to so it’s easier to build a connection right off the bat.
 Post-Event:
Maximising
Mileage
When it’s all done and dusted, give
yourself a moment to catch your
breath, have a glass of champagne
and let’s jump right back into things.
The event is over but your opportunity
to maximise event ROI isn’t.

Chapter 06
Post-Event
 Pre-Plan the Post Plan
Event follow-up and evaluation should be
planned well in advance of the event, and
take place immediately after the event to
ensure that all the good energy and goodwill
that you built is capitalised on and turned
into increased business.

Make sure every lead is followed up and every opportunity captured by

setting deadlines for when your sales teams must reach out and connect
with attendees post-event.
 24

Solicit Feedback Determine what

Your conversation with attendees should continue after they
leave. In fact, now’s the best time to connect with them and get
success looks like
their honest feedback — did they get what they wanted out of
If you restrict yourself to conversion rate as a
the event? This will not only give you a better understanding of
measure of success, you’re likely to disappoint
the success of the event, it could also help you identify follow-up
yourself. The reality of marketing events is that
areas for each attendee. In your post-event survey, you’ll want to
your attendees show up to network and learn.
determine the business impact of the event...
They’re not going to sign a deal on the spot but
they are hinting that they’re open to the idea. So
...SO FOCUS ON QUESTIONS SUCH AS: what you can measure is revenue opportunity.
What were your objectives for attending the event?
Do you feel that your objectives were met? MARKETING-QUALIFIED LEADS (MQLs)
These prospective customers aren't ready to buy yet but
Did you meet the people you expected to meet? are likely to respond to nurturing, making them a high
Did the event agenda give you ample time to interact with other attendees? quality lead for your sales team.

Did you learn what you set out to learn?

NET PROMOTER SCORE (NPS)
Your survey should have a good mix of quick-and-easy multiple choice questions This is a way of measuring customer loyalty and happiness
as well as open-ended questions that encourage more detailed sharing. that helps you differentiate the promoters (or advocates)
of your brand, from those who feel neutral (the passives) or
negatively (the detractors) about your brand.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE FEEDBACK FORM TO GET
STARTED ON SOLICITING FEEDBACK THAT MATTERS! With NPS as a guide, your sales team can focus their efforts
on nurturing those who are more likely to respond positively.
 25

Stay Close After

the Closing Continue
the Content
Journey
Following up with attendees after the event can
take many forms — an email, phone call, meeting
or an invitation to another event. When follow-up
is placed in context of the conversations that they Don’t overlook the fact that you’ll also
had during the event (remember those detailed be content rich after the event. Keep
notes?), it’s likely to produce better results. sharing your content assets through
platforms like LinkedIn. High quality,
shareable content adds value to anyone
who sees it, not just your attendees,
and has the potential to ignite new
conversations and connections.

Help your sales team understand that they have a role in

distributing and amplifying content with their customer
base. Not only does this increase the ‘eyeballs’ on the event
content, it also strengthens their own personal brand as a
credible and trusted advisor.
 In a Nutshell:
Your Event
Checklist
Events can be one of the more
complicated programmes in your
marketing mix but, when done
right, they’re worth every late
night. We hope you’ll keep this
guide and the following checklist
handy, and that your next event

Chapter 07
will be a roaring success.

Conclusion
Your Event Checklist
REMEMBER: Craft an event content strategy that is
relevant, consistent and coordinated

Give yourself sufficient lead time to promote

Be clear about your marketing objectives
your event through various channels

Understand what events will do for you

Have a run sheet to help you cope on event day
that other marketing channels won't

Build your budget with your event

Plan your team’s social interactions beforehand
ROI in mind

Measure success in terms of Marketing-

Develop an event plan and stick to it Qualified Leads and Net Promoter Score, rather
than conversion rates

Put together a team and keep them Follow up with attendees immediately after
well briefed at all times the event
 Today, LinkedIn members number more than
500 million of the 3 billion professionals on the
planet, representing the largest group anywhere of
influential, affluent, toeducated people.
and
Guide

EVENTS
For more information,
visit marketing.linkedin.com

INDIA