Oh the Places You’ll Go: ACTIVE World 2013

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Shannon Fiack

In exactly one week, the ACTIVE World user conference will begin! We’re pretty excited about it. We have hundreds of our customers across all markets attending, including 50+ of the endurance industry’s best and brightest. It will be quite an adventure.

The conference will be held in sunny San Diego, April 9-11th. Here’s are five things we are most looking forward to:

1. The endurance-focused sessions (of course). Nine sessions are dedicated to the endurance industry, including a State of the Industry Report, the Future of Endurance Technology, Creating Win-Win Sponsorships, and Best Ideas Show & Tell. READ about the sessions or VIEW the schedule Continue reading →

What are you missing in your confirmation emails?

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Shannon Fiack

Figuring out what to say in your event emails, particularly in your confirmation emails, can make you feel like a mad scientist trying to invent the perfect formula. It’s a no-brainer to include basic information like the race date and expo details. But what else should you add to the mix?

Keep in mind that a confirmation email is something that gets HUGE open rates and is much more likely to be read “cover to cover” than your marketing emails. This is an email participants are tapping their feet waiting for. In other words, a confirmation email is a felicitous opportunity to get help for your event in a variety of ways—from revenue to volunteers to exposure. Here are seven ideas on messages you can include in your confirmation emails: Continue reading →

Are You Ready For Facebook’s New Graph Search?

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Shannon Fiack

In mid-January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg presented Graph Search as Facebook’s new social search engine. It’s still in beta mode, but event directors need to know what’s coming their way.

Graph Search pulls four things into one searchable place: people, places, interests, and photos. With those all available, it’s possible for Facebookers to search for and find results such as ‘friends who like running’ or ‘pictures I liked’ or ‘events near Boston my friends have been to.’ Click here to take a look at Graph Search.

Why does this all matter to event directors? Because you may need to make some changes so your event’s Facebook page stands out. Here are 4 steps you can take right now to prepare for the new Graph Search: Continue reading →

4 Reasons to Introduce Your Participants to the Couch-to-5K App

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Shannon Fiack

If you had to choose between your morning coffee and your favorite mobile app, what would you pick? For most people, that’s a choice they don’t want to make, which goes to show how strong the addiction to apps has become. Apps make our lives easier and give us short cuts for every conceivable action under the sun.

When it comes to getting fit, there’s no short cut, but there is an app for it. ACTIVE’s Couch-to-5K running program app has seen a 173% increase in the number of downloads in the first week of January versus the first week of December 2012 and more than one million workouts have been completed to date…which means people are on the run (or trying to be).

So what does that mean for race directors? It means that this a trend you should take advantage of. Here are four reasons you should introduce your participants to the Couch-to-5K app:

Continue reading →

8 Ideas on How to Get Facebook Likes & Comments

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Shannon Fiack

Your event probably has a Facebook page, but is it doing anything for you? Are your fans interacting with you, or just silent?

Whether you have 20 fans or 20,000, it’s important to post things that will grab their attention and start some conversations. Here are 8 great ideas from other events and organizations that you can use to get likes and comments on your Facebook page: Continue reading →

5 Ways to Capitalize on Participants’ New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Shannon Fiack

It’s that time of year – everyone is making resolutions to improve their lives, and it’s no surprise that losing weight and exercising more is at the top of most lists. As an event director, you can capitalize on the resolutions your participants are making by encouraging them to stick to it, which will create interest in your event as a byproduct.

Here are 5 ways you can support your participants’ New Year’s Resolutions to get fit and healthy: Continue reading →

Happy 1 Year Anniversary: Top 10 Posts

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Shannon Fiack

Today is our one year anniversary! Around this time last year we were brainstorming on the best way to provide event directors with information and resources on a weekly basis, and hence, this blog was born.

To celebrate our anniversary, we want to get a little nostalgic and look back over the top 10 most popular posts of the past year:

Continue reading →

As the World Clicks: How Social Networks Get People to Take Action

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Shannon Fiack

You know Facebook and Twitter are important. Most race directors use these channels to communicate event updates and drive registration numbers. But you do know exactly how these online channels translate into real world actions?

Here at ACTIVE we decided to dig into this a little bit, so we conducted a ‘Beyond the Click’ survey of 500 consumers to assess how their online and offline interactions overlap. Continue reading →

Subject Lines: 6 Ways To Get Your Emails Opened

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Shannon Fiack

Are people reading your emails? Or are they sitting ignored in the corner of your participants’ inboxes? Not being noticed brings back awkward prom memories for us, so we decided to put together a list of ways your emails can grab the attention of your recipients (aka the popular crowd).

Email subject lines are the first thing people see and therefore, are really really important. It’s easy to switch up and test the performance of subject lines, so try these six tactics and see if any get you the attention you deserve. Continue reading →

How Google Can Help You Predict the Future

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Shannon Fiack

How do you know when to market your event? They say timing is everything and as a race director who probably keeps a stopwatch and start gun handy, you know that better than anyone. The date of your event is set (or maybe not), but do you know exactly how many months in advance you should open registration? Or how long people normally need to train for a 5K, triathlon, marathon, etc?

If you aren’t sure or just want some solid proof, the almighty Google can help. There’s this cool thing called Google Trends which allows you to input key terms and get a report on when those terms are searched for. And it’s completely free, of course. Continue reading →