Transform your event's audience from "quiet" to captivated! This week, Meaghan chats with Roger Wolkoff, "The Guy with the Voice," and a professional emcee with 20+ years of experience. Roger shares his top secrets for creating an engaging atmosphere, from effectively warming up a crowd to expertly handling unexpected "uh oh" moments. Tune in for valuable insights on audience interaction, crisis management, and all the insider tips you need to make your next event a blast!

TIMESTAMPS

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00:00 - Let's Get Started

01:02 - Welcome, Roger Wolkoff!

04:04 - Find Your Strengths with Personality Assessments

06:59 - Roger's Involvement with National Speakers Association

09:00 - Gaining Experience as an Emcee

11:14 - What is an emcee?

15:05 - Top qualities of great emcees

19:10 - How to "read" the audience

21:08 - Excite and engage your audience

25:03 - Pre- and post-meetings with planners

28:54 - Roger's favorite event he's emceed

30:30 - Pre-show rituals to get amped up!

31:34 - Handling "UH OH" event moments

34:20 - A hilarious event story

35:59 - Favorite part of emceeing

37:02 - Difficult parts of being an emcee 3

8:22 - Surprising parts of being an emcee

39:42 - Tips for bringing excitement to events

40:42 - Connect with and hire Roger!

41:28 - Join your local National Speakers Association chapter

📖 FREE FOR LISTENERS: "Leveraging an Emcee for Event Success: A Guide for Event Planners." Get yours by sending an email to eventconnection@pcnametag.com and asking for your copy!

What can all event planners learn from fan conventions? More than you might think! In this episode, we're talking to the Convention Chairperson for Anime Milwaukee to get the inside scoop on the chaos and fun behind planning a 3-day event for 18,000 attendees.

TIMESTAMPS

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00:00 - Meet Kris Lugo - Convention Chairperson for Anime Milwaukee (AMKE)

03:27 - Kris's personal history with convention and event planning

06:18 - All about AMKE: the history and financial impact

10:11 - The secret to facilitating activities for all personality types

14:35 - How AMKE manages 24-hour programming for attendees

16:52 - Annual themes and how they can excite attendees and vendors

20:38 - Ideas for staying in front of your audience year round

25:56 - How corporate events can use con-like strategies to excite attendees

28:02 - Long live the Polkalator!

32:53 - How badge ribbons can engage attendees and vendors

37:14 - Creating and managing strong relationships with sponsors

39:56 - The pressure of creating a "bigger and better" event each year

42:29 - Words of advice for anyone interested in planning conventions

47:07 - Wrap-up and what's next for AMKE?

Subscribe, and connect with pc/nametag! 🎉 Get in touch by emailing us at eventconnection@pcnametag.com!

What happens when an event goes sideways? 🤔 Join Brooke and Meaghan as they dissect a real-life event that went viral because of many "oops" moments. You'll come away with seriously valuable event planning lessons you won't want to miss. From website woes to venue missteps, we'll cover how to avoid your own event mishaps and turn chaos into a win. Tune in for expert event organization tips and real-life event disaster recovery strategies.

TIMESTAMPS

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0:00 - Let's get started!

02:51 - Festival Background

05:49 - The Website

11:35 - Ticket Tiers

15:45 - The Venue

18:08 - Registration Desk

23:40 - Sponsor Communication

31:04 - Attendee Activities and Engagement

37:18 - The Romance Ball

43:25 - Lessons Learned (Event PR)

44:03 - Ultimate Fallout

46:58 - Attendee Losses

47:28 - Positive Outcomes and Reflections

Subscribe, and connect with pc/nametag! 🎉 Get in touch by emailing us at eventconnection@pcnametag.com!

Event promotion strategies don't have to be expensive or complicated! This episode explores easy tactics you can use to get the word out about your events, even on a tight budget. You'll come away with practical tips for using social media, email, content, partnerships, and more to quickly boost registrations!

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Get to know The Event Connection Podcast!

01:14 - The Economy, Budgets, Tariffs, etc.

02:00 - Our experience with tight marketing budgets

03:39 - The pressure to "Do more with less"

04:41 - How to research your target audience

09:49 - Promote your event with social media

17:18 - Promote your event with email marketing

27:20 - Promote your event with content marketing

32:04 - Promote your event with sponsors, partnerships

39:58 - Tip: Create urgency and FOMO

44:28 - How to track event promotion data

47:33 - Unconventional (but effective) tactics to try

50:30 - Easy tactics to start doing today!

52:50 - Like, comment, subscribe, and email us!

FREEBIES: Get two cheat sheets ("25+ Free Ways to Promote Your Event" and "Early Bird Event Promotions Cheat Sheet") when you email us at EventConnection@pcnametag.com and mention our "Event Promotion" episode!

Forget your actual horoscope: Brooke, Megan, and Meaghan are once again predicting how the "stars will align" for conferences and events in 2025!

The Event Connection Podcast is back for episode two, and this week, we're talking about what's "in" and "out" for attendee welcome sessions, event badge design, ticketing strategies, and whether or not it's still cool to have conferences in first tier cities (spoiler: maybe?).

Join us for another chat about popular event insights, served with a side of humor from the Tag Team.

---- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Get to know The Event Connection Podcast! 00:28 - Part II: What's IN and OUT with planners in 2025 01:28 - Trend 1: Presentations/sessions created with AI 04:51 - Trend 2: Branded tchotchkes, gifts, and event swag 07:56 - Trend 3: Reverse trade shows 10:31 - Trend 4: QR codes on event badges 12:50 - Trend 5: Welcome sessions for 1st time attendees 16:05 - Trend 6: Events in first tier cities 19:57 - Trend 7: Structured conference schedules 23:31 - Trend 8: Convention centers vs. non-traditional venues 27:03 - Trend 9: Tiered attendee groups (VIPs, general, etc.) 32:03 - One thing we're excited about for 2025! 32:29 - Meaghan reveals her answer 35:34 - Megan reveals her answer 38:05 - Like, comment, subscribe, and connect with pc/nametag!