Event Management: Importance of Customization

Author: Jono Smith on 13 August 2010 | 0 Comments

Tags: event management, IT solution

Facebook recently hit 500 million users - about 1/13 of the world - and it continues to grow and saturate not only our lives, but our online social networks. The social networking site's popularity is built upon the way that users can customize their experience, setting up their own page to mold to their own interactions with friends, peers and interesting information.

This type of online customization is essential in event planning, too. In fact, participants almost expect to have event websites tailored to their specific needs.

Let's take a look at the web strategy Event 360 helped develop for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, a series of 60-mile walks around the U.S. to raise money for breast cancer research. The highly social site, the3Day.org, consists of three key parts: A customizable participant center, online check-in, and a virtual personal trainer.

Participant center customization: Essentially, this gives individuals or teams their own Facebook-like webpage within the Komen 3-Day website. It's built to allow people to upload pictures, insert their own stories, and keep donors informed about fundraising progress. The pages are customized based on the market (from Arizona to Atlanta and everything in between) and participant type (walkers, who commit to raising a minimum of $2,300 to participate, and volunteer helpers).  And it has a bunch of cool tools to keep donors informed, such as sample fundraising email letters, a fundraising idea library, posters and business cards to download. Officials at Komen, meanwhile, can keep track of fundraising balances and push participants harder to raise more, or congratulate them upon meeting goals.

Online check-in: Just like people can do for a flight, the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure allows walkers and volunteers to check in before their event. They'll have to verify their profile and contact information and even purchase towel service (people sweat!) so that there will be fresh towels waiting at the end of each day's course.

Virtual personal trainer: Updated weekly on the website and via email, the Komen virtual personal trainer preps participants for the 60-mile walk, giving pointers on the types of activities they should be doing each day to get ready. In 2009, 42,570 walkers (almost 98 percent) opted in to the personal trainer email series.

So, it's time to think outside the normal website for your next event! How can you "Facebookize" your website to suit your participants' needs and create added value?