10 tips you must know for event operation!

There is a general basic principle for organizing activities: either don’t do it, or do it to the best of your ability. What is the best? Try your best, that's the best.

Event operation is a job that all operations professionals must deal with. The scope of this work is also very large. It can be as small as a building-grabbing event lasting a few hours or as large as an offline press conference costing millions. There are many forms of activities, but no matter how they change, they all remain essentially the same. In the final analysis, it all depends on the daily basic skills. It depends on your specific understanding of this work.

The first event I organized was in 2007. Looking back on my 11 years of experience , I would like to explain some of the basic principles I have always adhered to and share some tips, hoping that they will be of some inspiration to you:

1. When doing activities, the activities must be “done”!

Many people fail to organize events well and attribute the problems to insufficient traffic , insufficient budget, and insufficient creativity. The focus of their work is almost entirely on applying for recommendation positions, communicating and coordinating resources, applying for more cash and prizes, and designing a better-looking event page. Is there anything wrong with doing this? It must be correct. I just want to say -

• First, it is not enough to just do these things;
• Second, I never think that without these, the activities will be bad;
• Third, launching an activity is just the first step. Don’t think that everything will be fine and then wait for users to participate. This idea is even more unacceptable.

We often say that we should carry out activities. Activities must be "done". How to do it? Here are two tips:

(1) Find a “childcare provider” in advance

Before the event is launched, participants, the so-called "shills", should be found in advance. One very important task in event operation is event guidance. Finding “students” in advance is the basic principle of event guidance. Moreover, the higher the level and status of the participants you find in advance, the better the effect of the event will be.

(2) Creating an activity atmosphere

Creating an activity atmosphere should be an important idea throughout the entire process of the activity. For example, when setting up many activities, there are functions such as commenting and liking the entries, and the event page will also have similar functions. Then, you need to arrange the users. First, ensure that the atmosphere of the event can be created to be quite popular. For the participants, you also need to make them feel that "this event is very popular." Otherwise, who will come to your event?

2. Do less or no low-threshold activities

I never like to participate in activities such as grabbing posts, flooding the site with messages, or activities that require participation with just a few words. The reason is very simple. Think about it, what kind of users do these activities attract? They are definitely not high-quality users, and can even be said to be brainless users. If you do this, users will become lazy over time, and the user level of the entire platform will be lowered by you. So 10 years have passed, and I still disdain to do it. The brand tone and future of a platform will always depend on the creation of top users, and definitely not on bottom users.

I have always believed that the threshold for activities should be increased as much as possible, whether in terms of activity rules (gameplay) or activity process settings. Of course, the threshold cannot be increased infinitely. If it is too complicated, no one will participate. For example, guessing the score of the World Cup is definitely more difficult than guessing the winner. In addition to the score, you can ask users to add reasons for guessing the score.

We need to think about what kind of users we hope to attract through our activities and what kind of users are more meaningful to the long-term development of the platform, so we should always adhere to this principle. Even if an event does not attract many users, we must find ways to attract more of these users.

3. Activities are a long-term process, not a magic weapon that can be achieved overnight.

Many operations personnel always hope to use activities to achieve their KPIs . During performance appraisals, they organize a big event, complete the KPIs, get the year-end bonuses, and everyone is very happy. As soon as the assessment was over, the data immediately plummeted. Continue doing this next year.

Event operation is just a means of operation. Don’t bet on it, and don’t expect to attract users by it. Operations work is always a job that requires a variety of skills. When h5 pages were the most popular, there were only a few that could go viral on WeChat Moments . People who dream of making a hit product every day will never make a hit product.

It is best to maintain a fixed frequency for activities. For example, large activities (online cycles of more than 20 days and offline preparation time of more than one month) can be held once a quarter. Medium-sized events (online period of 7-10 days, small offline events ) and small-scale events (online period of less than 7 days) can be held 1-2 times a month. If the frequency is too low, it seems that the platform has no popularity; if the frequency is too high, users will be tired of you, employees will be exhausted, and their enthusiasm will be worn out. Meizu held more than 30 press conferences in 2016, but to no avail!

Every time you do an activity, you should serve the target users well and accumulate them. Over time, this will become a valuable asset.

4. Activities that rely on prizes and money are all garbage!

In the early years, organizing events was a very luxurious thing for us. We used virtual currency and virtual medals, and we basically had no budget, so I think everyone is very happy now. I remember the first event I organized, the first prize was a lipstick, which cost 298 yuan; the second prize was an eyelash set, 3 sets in total, each set was 78 yuan (the lipstick and mascara were supported by a buddy in sales support); the third prize was a doll, which cost 12 yuan at that time. But one event doubled the UV of my board.

After the new media industry became popular, activities have gradually been ruined. Many operators offer prizes lavishly, spending money as if it were not their own. It seems more like they are just giving out welfare. Now it seems that the event has become something that cannot be done without a budget and prizes. Many platforms have a special group of people who take advantage of the situation, also known as the activity party. The Weibo event product was killed in this way, because all the prizes were taken away by various accounts that were obviously fake. Who would come to participate then? Who else will organize?

One of the essentials of operation is to make the best use of small amounts of money, that is, to achieve great results with small costs. The same goes for event operations. Every operator must learn to control costs. How can we spend less money and still create effective activities? Share some tips:

1. Control the number of winners, don't give them all to everyone, and at the same time increase the price of each award. A high reward will always attract brave men.
2. Focus on the details of the event and the design of the event process;
3. The gameplay and creativity of the activities should be interesting;
4. The prizes must be graded, and it is not recommended to set more than 5 categories of prizes;
5. Prizes must be matched. Giving money to all of them is tacky. Mixing cash, physical objects, etc. will have a better effect.
6. Peripheral products are the most cost-effective way of promotion , and I have said this many times.

Finally, I want to say a key point. Don't empty your pockets in one activity. The right way is to proceed step by step. If you want to go big in one go, there are prerequisites. At the very least, you will be more confident after accumulating momentum and abilities.

5. The details in an activity are more important than creativity!

Let’s talk about creativity first. Many people often spend their time thinking about creativity. I still say the same thing. You colleagues have been working together for more than a year. Don’t you know whether you are creative or not? If I lock you in a conference room for a day, you still won’t be able to come up with anything. Where does creativity come from? The first depends on how many cases you see in your daily life, and the second depends on whether your thinking is active. There is a little trick I would like to share: interact more with the users on your platform. They can help you come up with many good ideas, and they will definitely be better.

Speaking of details, I always feel that I am not a very creative person. If you are a person like me, instead of holding back your creativity, you might as well spend more time on details. This detail includes the following:

(1) Write a good title and pay attention to all the copywriting in the recommended position

The title is half the success of an article, and naturally half the success of an event. This means that the text you put on any recommendation or banner is equally important because the title itself is the central idea.

If the title is not attractive, don’t expect users to click on it to read it. The traffic will be reduced by at least half.

I never believe in clickbait headlines . They are all meant to fool fools. You may believe it once, but no one will believe it after a few times.

The way to judge whether a title is attractive is very simple, which is to break down the characters, which I have mentioned in my previous article.

(2) The picture should be attractive

The picture is the facade, whether it is the header picture, the picture that you click on, or you make the entire activity appear in the form of an h5 page.

Important information must appear on the first screen, especially the rules and prizes. When it comes to activities, users only care about how to participate and what benefits they get from participating. This is the most critical element.

(3) Activity Rules

This must be explained clearly, and you can give examples. The introduction is clear.

(4) Selection rules

The selection rules are as simple and straightforward as possible so that users can understand them at a glance. Some activities deliberately do not tell users the rules, which is extremely stupid.

The algorithm of rules should not exceed two categories, this is the basic rule.

(5) Activity time

Including the activity time and selection time, try to be accurate to the hour, otherwise you will receive complaints.

(6) Prize setting

I have already talked about this above.

(7) Notes

It is necessary to expose all possibilities for users to cheat, such as swiping votes, changing identities, and plagiarism.

Others can be written according to the specific requirements of the activity.

Finally, be sure to add: The final right of interpretation of this activity belongs to XXX. To put it bluntly, I organized the event and I have the right to make reasonable explanations for all aspects and details of the entire event.

6. The activity needs to be tracked throughout the process and adjustments need to be made in a timely manner when necessary

Event operation, if done well, will definitely be a killer feature and will produce data. An event must have an owner who controls the overall operation of the event, whether it is the preparations beforehand, the execution details during the event, the announcement of the event results, or the review of the event.

1. Traffic monitoring: The daily data of the activity must be reviewed. If there are major changes, it needs to be taken seriously. In addition to having a good activity effect, we should also strive for greater traffic.
2. Tracking of works and users: When there are really awesome works and users in the event, more resource recommendations can also be given.
3. Emergency adjustment: When omissions occur in an activity, timely remediation must be made, and changes and additions must be made where necessary. Who says that an activity cannot be changed once it has been launched?
4. Control the overall atmosphere of the event: You must find ways to make new users feel that your event is lively.

7. The event should ensure that the prizes go to the most deserving people

Isn’t the purpose of holding an event to give out prizes? Isn’t it very simple to give out prizes?

I never allow my own company’s employees to participate in any activities I organize. The reason is simple: it's embarrassing. Once users know this, who will come to participate in your activities in the future?

The event should allow those who deserve the prizes the most to get the corresponding prizes. I think this is a basic principle. Otherwise there is no point in you doing this activity. You may understand the logic behind this sentence, but in reality, many activities just give out prizes lightly.

Let me tell you my understanding:

(1) You must pay close attention to all participants in the event, especially those who are truly outstanding. In other words, when the event is coming to an end, you should have an idea of ​​who is likely to be ranked at the top.

(2) You can definitely control the top 3, or even the top 5, and it must be in line with public opinion. This way, no deviation is allowed.

If a mediocre person gets in the top three, that's your problem. To some extent, your event has failed.

Therefore, it is necessary for you to intervene appropriately to ensure that the results are convincing, rather than letting them develop freely. Therefore, it is very important to set the selection rules.

(3) Users who win awards in the middle and especially at the end of the event. In theory, not much intervention is needed. As long as the results aren't too weird, that's fine.

8. The deeper meaning of the activity is to accumulate high-quality users

I have always felt that organizing activities is just a superficial form. Its purpose is not only to gain popularity, increase data, and attract new users to participate, but its deeper meaning is to accumulate more high-quality users. High-quality users are the lifeblood of a platform, and operations must be aware of this.

I also believe that no matter what kind of activity it is, we can discover many high-quality users and potential users. Unless your family is really rich, not every company can afford to throw money around.

As an operator, it is necessary to find some good potential users in the event. In this sense, each of your activities is just a preparation stage for the next activity, and is to provide support for the next activity. Because users who participate in your first event are likely to participate in the second time.

Therefore, if your first event is not very good, don’t worry. You should work hard to review it and take the initiative to establish connections with high-quality users in each event. By repeating this cycle over and over again, you will definitely have a huge resource library of high-quality users. With them, all your operations will have unlimited imagination space.

So, no matter which company I go to, under the same conditions, I can be invincible.

One day you will realize that maybe you cannot choose the first place in some activities because there are too many excellent people.

9. If you don’t want to participate, then don’t do it!

Putting yourself in someone else's shoes is also called empathy. We often say that we should have user thinking and think about problems from the user's perspective.

Organizing an event is often a time-consuming, labor-intensive and stressful task. Even if you spend money, the results may not be good. There are many people who do activities just for the sake of doing activities. Many people also do it just to complete a task assigned by their leaders.

We worked hard to put this event together, but have you ever stopped to think about this: If you were an ordinary user, based on the rules you set, the prizes you gave, and the selection logic you provided, would you be interested in participating in this event?

In reality, many people often do not consider the issue from this perspective, but rather from a God’s perspective, and secretly give themselves various excuses in their hearts, thinking that users will participate.

What I want to say is that no user will value all your hard work. What they always care about is:

1. How do I participate?
2. If I participate, is it possible for me to win a prize?
3. Do I need these prizes?

10. Making mistakes helps you make fewer mistakes in the future. The highlights are always used for the next time.

It is impossible not to make mistakes when organizing an event, especially for novices, because there are so many details. You may understand the principles, but it is easy to make mistakes when you put them into practice.

We should give operators the opportunity to trial and error. Can you correct every pitfall and obstacle and write it down so that you can make fewer mistakes or try not to make mistakes in the next activity? This is the most important thing.

At the same time, you should also be good at discovering your highlights in every activity, that is, the areas where you do better than others. After doing it for a long time, you will find that the highlights of an event are often the details. If you think a little more than others and consider things more carefully every time, more and more highlights will accumulate. Learning to discover bright spots can also help you build more confidence.

Therefore, if you don’t summarize your mistakes, you will get worse and worse. The more highlights you inherit, the better you will do.

Summarize

I think there is a general basic principle for organizing activities: either don’t do it, or do it to the best of your ability. What is the best? To put it bluntly, it means to have a clear conscience. Try your best, that's the best.

To some extent, event operation is the explosion point when your daily operations work accumulates to a certain level. This skill should therefore be used with caution.

Otherwise, if you get tired and your users get tired too, then it’s meaningless!