1.1 Organizing Events

Maintain an active event calendar on your website - Face-to-face club events are perhaps the most effective way to build a thriving Wharton community in your region, so always keep your event calendar active and up-to-date. You’ll be using NationBuilder to publicize events and manage event registration. The basic thing everyone wants to know before registering for an alumni event is whether peers are planning to go. You’ll notice that every event posted via NationBuilder will display who else is planning to attend and give people who register a chance to share the event on Facebook or Twitter. Both of these features are simple, proven ways to increase event attendance. Here are some best practices for organizing events:

• Add social media sharing - Under the specific event you’ve created at [“The name of your event”] > Settings > Social media, customize the default post that alumni can share on Twitter or Facebook after registering. For example, if you’re organizing an NYC networking event, you can edit the social share prompt to “Join me at Wharton NYC’s happy hour, register here.” A link to the event page will be included automatically.
• Define your event tags - In the event settings, be sure to define standard tags for each event so you’ll have a clear record of who’s registered and who’s attended each event. It is often useful to use both an event-specific tag and a general event tag. For example, your registration tags might be “registered_bostonevent” and “regestered_boston_happyhour2016,” while your attended tags might be “attended_bostonevent” and “attended_boston_happyhour2016.”  Your Wharton staff liaison can offer guidance on developing an effective tag library.
• Record attendance - During the event, be sure to keep track of who’s attending. When you’re sending follow up emails later, you can then send a different email to attendees versus no-shows.
• Learn more - http://nationbuilder.com/setting_up_an_event