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This spooky season brings an exciting new volume of our series, 'Master Event Planning,' designed to help you perfect your event skills. This time, Aneta Martínek, co-founder and CEO of #HolkyzMarketingu, shares her expertise on creating the perfect program, finding top speakers, organizing your time, and more.
As an educational platform, #HolkyzMarketingu connects the largest marketing community in the Czech Republic with over 40,000 marketers––and the number keeps on growing! Their annual conference of 700 attendees is truly the one to watch.
We focus on educating and connecting people in marketing who want to advance towards a better future. In addition to webinars, academies, and mentoring, we also organize a conference where we used the Eventee app.
#HolkyzMarketingu started using Eventee to enhance communication with their attendees and keep them updated on any last-minute changes. Discover how Aneta and her team drive better engagement with a mobile event app.
How to utilize technology for an event
What pain points did you face at your events that made you start using an event mobile app?
For us, the primary issue is maintaining contact with participants and collecting feedback. We had an event with 700 attendees, and it became difficult to engage with everyone directly. That’s why, it’s great to have one place where you can share important information, and attendees can give you feedback based on that. This feedback can range from the atmosphere in the room or the quality of the food to the overall content of the conference, the quality of the presentations, and the speakers.
Can you share what other tools you use when managing your event? What is your tech stack?
We use Slack for internal communication, Asana for project management, Ecomail for email communication, and Figma for brainstorming and graphic design.
Running events is an extremely time-consuming profession. How do you find the time to implement and manage yet another tool such as Eventee during the event?
It was part of the event process from the very beginning, so it was clear when it needed to be done and by whom. If it’s planned from the start, then the necessary time and energy of a competent person are allocated.
How to create the perfect event schedule
Do you have any tips on how to make the perfect program for your event?
Think about the overall flow of the event. When do people have the most energy, and when does their energy drop, meaning you’ll need an engaging speaker? It’s also important to think about the types of presentations and to balance them. Are they more inspirational, practical, etc.?
How to choose the best guest speakers
What is your thought process behind choosing the right speakers for your event?
The main thing for us is that the speaker comes from practical experience. We can teach them how to present well and organize their presentation, but it’s crucial that they really have something to say and have strong results to back it up. We focus more on bringing in real employees or managers rather than professional speakers.
How do you find the best speakers and how do you motivate them to speak at your event?
There are several ways. We look at who is currently speaking in the media about marketing, who has won marketing awards, or we ask our community if they know of anyone.
How to promote an event
What channels are you using to promote your event to make sure you sell enough tickets?
Primarily, we communicate with our community, which consists of 40,000 marketers. In addition, we set up online marketing and email campaigns.
How do you measure the success of your event? What is your major KPI?
The most important KPI for us is participants' feedback on the event. The second most important is the profitability of the event.
Moving to the business aspect. Some event planners aim to cover costs with sponsorships and view ticket sales as profit. Others don't offer ticket discounts or free passes and rely on ticket sales as their primary revenue source for event expenses. What's your approach?
We try to combine both strategies, but it doesn’t always work out. Primarily, we cover costs through ticket sales, and we are currently working on a strategy to increase sponsorships.
How to find a venue for an event
Where (how) do you find the perfect venues for your events?
We are somewhat limited in terms of venues because there aren’t many spaces in Prague with a capacity of over 500 people. However, we try to choose based on the venue’s accessibility, technical equipment, and how well it’s designed for participants to have a smooth journey to the event. Additionally, we consider the staff on-site and whether they are willing to help us resolve any issues and details.
What do you think are the key factors to consider when selecting an ideal venue?
Accessibility, convenience, and comfort.
Final recommendations
Is there anything you wish you had known when organizing your first event?
Never forget to have a minute-by-minute script of what will happen at the event. Don’t overlook small details like when the team will have time to eat. It’s important.
