5 Easy Ways to Promote Your Healthcare Association’s Conference

For more than seven years, I’ve specialized in providing social media support and content creation for various conferences, for both in-person and virtual events. I’ve crisscrossed the country, traveling from San Diego to Miami, covering all kinds of topics, ranging from hematology to real estate. 

Even if the conference goes off without a hitch, here’s one line I keep hearing from my association clients, post-conference: “I wish we could’ve gotten more of our members to come.”

If you’d rather say, “We had a really good turnout this year,” here are the steps you need to take to promote your association’s conference:

Each session (and title) matters

Don’t ask your speakers to write their session descriptions and take everything they say, word-for-word. It needs editing! Too many or too few paragraphs leave people bored or confused (not emotions you want to evoke from readers). You want attendees to read your agenda and think: “Wow! There are so many great sessions — I can’t decide which one to go to!” Keep it light, short and snappy.  

Get creative with blog posts

Come up with a list of your most dynamic sessions or speakers. Interview each one about their session and write a blog post about it (500 words is sufficient). Promote these on your social media channels, but also encourage the speaker to post them on their platforms. Turn your most well-viewed blog posts into an email about the conference, too.

Develop a storytelling email strategy

Don’t think about it as blasting emails. Think about it as sending out short stories about your conference. Highlight what makes your conference special — maybe you’ve got a glamourous swag bag, a celebrity keynote, lively networking opportunities, individual coaching sessions, an amazing conference location, discount registration opportunities — whatever makes your conference different than all the rest, tell future attendees about it.

Remember: You need a separate email strategy for vendors and sponsors, too.

Social media matters

Like your email campaign, each social post needs to focus on a conference highlight. Ask your members, C-suite, staff and speakers to share your messages with their audience, too. PS: Remember your conference hashtag.

Skip the press release

Your C-suite is probably begging you to write one, but instead, target the journalists who live in the city where your conference will be. Most likely, a local journalist won’t be able to spend the whole day at the conference, so ask if they’re interested in interviewing some of the speakers ahead of time. Put a few dollars behind well-written Google ads for the event, too.

Hire a professional

Need some help doing all this pre-conference work? That’s what I’m here for. Email me.