T’s Crossed, I’s Dotted – The Forum Was A Success

As blogged last week, I was in the final preparation stage of putting together OpenView Venture Partners Content Marketing Forum, which was geared toward our expansion stage portfolio companies. Everything went as planned which does not always happen!

As the forum wound down, I thought of a few final things that worked very well this time around:

• Breakfast: Include protein such as eggs and bacon, in the morning catering menu. This seems to help people maintain their energy level and also helps them focus.

• Name Tags:
  • Sticker Name tags set up for each day work very well. People do not have to remember their old name tag from the previous day and the sticker tags can be used on most any type of clothing.
  • Bring a P-Touch label maker or similar product to make last minute name tags. This is easier than lugging around a printer and a laptop for creating additional name tags. This method also looks more professional than hand writing last minute name tags with a sharpie marker.

• Boxed lunch: For the second day, if it ends early (for example, the Content Marketing Forum ended at noon on the second day) providing a boxed lunch allows the attendees a decent meal that they can take with them.

• Speakers: Make sure to have engaging speakers lined up! Remember that their purpose is to capture and hold your audience’s attention. Our speakers did this extremely well.

Fastidious pre-planning, careful forum strategy planning, and knowledgeable and interesting speakers all helped, from a planner’s perspective, make our Content Marketing Forum a success.