TEC Numbers Flourish Due To Online Buzz

The 2012 edition of the Toronto Education Conference (TEC) has come to an end and the organizing committee was able to attract record numbers to this year’s program. It was clear that a hybrid approach to marketing the event online went a long way to creating a buzz for the annual event.

From the first planning meeting, the committee set a clear goal to create online awareness by using the MPI Toronto Chapter blog, social media channels, and the MPI weekly e-blasts.

"It is all about communicating effectively to the membership base by using several different channels, to create one common message" spoke Jodi Spivak, Director of the TEC Committee.

The MPI Chapter blog was used as a foundation of this approach. The blog was used to build the "Dare to Connect" conference theme. It showcased the beautiful destination of Niagara Falls and highlighted the host properties of Fallsview Casino Resort and Hilton Niagara Falls Hotel and Suites Niagara Falls/Fallsview. It was also a great resource to communicate information on the great speaker lineup.

The next step was to utilize LinkedIn to engage potential attendees. This resulted in some fantastic conversation and feedback that centered around the conference theme. The committee felt it was important not only to promote the event, but to give potential attendees a voice. A fantastic response received to the "Dare to Connect" contest that asked members to recount their most daring career decisions, in order to win a complimentary registration package. Both speakers and the host properties also jumped into the action with "teasers" about what conference attendees were going to experience.

Thirdly the weekly MPI eblast was used to tie everything together. The eblast was used as a tool to let the association know when a new blog was posted; gave updates on registration, and highlighted all the great conversations that were happening online.

The overall key was to ensure that all three channels where working in sync. Timing was key! It is sometimes challenging to get everything working together but no channel can work in isolation. They all had to work together to not only communicate the same message, but to ensure it is done at the same time.

In the end, the TEC 2012 was a great event for all that attended. The committee’s success was measurable in the outstanding attendance numbers. Attendance numbers that were due in large part to the communication tools that were used in the months leading up to the program.

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