Getting Ready for the Big Event

The most important thing you can do related to your online reputation is to create what I call an online communications “central nervous system” for your event. Just as your body can thrive only with a healthy central nervous system, to communicate what’s going on and what to do about it, your brand needs a specially designated system for your special event. Your special event’s “central nervous system” needs to be more than one harried conference director or assistant.

In this new electronic echo chamber called the Internet that we know and love, good news travels fast. The bad news is that bad news travels even faster. Your team has to know what’s going on and what’s being done about it in real time. This takes a lot of thought and collaboration on your part because there’s no way that you can silence online negativity about a technical issue or what a speaker said. You simply have to respond transparently and quickly, acknowledging what’s happening and keeping people informed about what’s being done.

Once you all agree on how your “central nervous system” works, you need to

Interview, select, and train extra social media team members.

Consider hiring a PR agency to pitch in with your social media monitoring, leveraging that firm’s media relationships, and distributing press releases.

Practice, practice, and practice some more. I suggest you conduct “fire drills” in case there are negatives to address at your event in order to discover what works and what needs more refinement. If at all possible, doing advance dry runs of your event can be a lifesaver because they reveal issues that need refinement. Practicing like this will give your team a greater sense of confidence that they will do just fine during your actual event.

Now that I’m going on record with the most important thing you can possibly do for your online reputation, the rest of these tips function to promote your well-deserved and positive reputation online.

As long as you are doing right by people, being transparent, and letting people know what’s going on, odds are good that your conference, trade show, workshop, or special event is going to be a success for your online reputation.