Never-Fail Methods for Promoting Your Science-Focused Event

– Contributed content –

13 April 2017. A science-focused event could be one of a number of things. You might be holding a conference or series of talks, or perhaps even an awards ceremony. Whether you’re promoting a cause or creating an event to discuss the latest findings in your field, getting people to come to your event is essential. Some events are exclusive and intimate, with only those who receive an invitation being allowed to come. Others are more open, welcoming anyone who wants to register or buy a ticket. But even if your event is free, getting people to come along isn’t always easy. Here are some of the things you could be doing to promote your event.

(Biswarup Ganguly, Wikimedia Commons)

Contact people directly

You’re likely to know where to find people who would be interested in your event. You might already have the perfect mailing list for getting in touch with them. Maybe emailing everyone in a college department would be a good idea. Contacting your colleagues or people you might have attended events with in the past might be useful. Sometimes, it’s worth doing some research to extend some special invitations to important people you might want to attend. If you can contact someone directly, whether by email, mail or phone, and use their name, the invitation you extend will be more personal.

Offer free or discounted tickets

There are some occasions when you simply might want to fill as many seats or get rid of as many tickets as possible. You’re not necessarily looking to make money. You just want to get as many people as you can to attend your event and benefit from it. Perhaps you’re particularly interested in extending invitations to people who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to or wouldn’t consider coming to a science event like yours. Offering free or discounted tickets to these people is a good idea to enable them to come. They can get something out of the event, and you can ensure you have attendees.

Display posters

There are often places where you can display promotional material that will catch people’s eyes and encourage them to come to your event. For example, it might be a good idea to ask if you can put a poster in the local college’s science department or you could display one in your workplace. A poster can be useful for promoting in a variety of places, so find out how to make a poster and print off some copies. You could ask local businesses if they would mind displaying them or consider science-based organizations that might be interested. You can also have a digital poster that you can use online.

Promote your event online

There are lots of ways you can get people talking about your event online. Firstly, if you have a website, you can make sure you publish something about your event. Create a page with details about what’s happening, and perhaps sell tickets or have a form for registering on your site too. You can also write blog posts about what’s happening and why people should come to your event. Social media is also useful, and you can start by creating an event page on the platforms you use most. Once you have the event page set up, promote your event to people in relevant groups. For example, you might be a member of LinkedIn groups that would be interested in hearing about your event. Or you might have Facebook pages or groups that could be useful channels of promotion.

(John Englart, Flickr)

Advertise in relevant publications

It’s worth considering a few different types of print media to advertise your event. As well as posters, it could be a good idea to put an advert in some relevant publications. Do you have any local science magazines or newsletters that offer advertising space? Perhaps there is a scientific publication from a local college or business where a small advertisement would make sense. However, be careful when you consider the cost of doing this. Depending on the publication, it could cost more than it’s really worth paying. Consider whether you’re going to make the money back and if not, does it matter?

Tell the media

There are other types of media that can be useful to promote your science event without having to purchase advertising space. If your event is noteworthy in any way, you can tell a local news channel, newspaper or other media channel in the hope that they might talk about it. Put together a press release that you can distribute to a few different companies. Make sure you tell them why your event is important and why they should be talking about it. Don’t forget to include important details like when and where it is.

Promote your event live with a hashtag

You can also make sure you continue to promote your event while it’s taking place. Creating a hashtag to use on Twitter, Instagram, and other sites will get the conversation going before your event arrives. When it’s taking place, people can use it to share photos, quotes from speakers, and other things they find interesting. This will promote the event for people who might decide on the day that they want to come. It will also be useful if you ever want to run another event, giving people evidence of the success of the one you ran before.

Don’t forget word of mouth

It’s important not to forget about the basics, so don’t forget about using word of mouth. While you’re posting on LinkedIn and sending out press releases, remember to tell people in person about your science event. You’re sure to know people who will be interested, and they could be more inclined to come if you invite them in person. When you invite people to things online, they often say they will come and don’t turn up on the day. But if you ask them in person, they might feel more responsibility to be honest about whether they can make it.

Running a science event can help you engage with people in your field or perhaps get people interested in science. If you want it to be a success, make sure you get your promotion right.

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