Event Marketing Playbook

Pre-event, during, and post-event workflows drawn from AMA Orlando's own field-tested chapter operations.

The operating workflow behind a chapter event, written as a countdown so the work happens in the right order. It covers the eight weeks before, the day itself, and the two weeks after, which is the phase most teams skip and the one that turns an event into a relationship. Scale the timeline down for a small networking night and up for a summit.

Reach for this when

You are running a workshop, panel, networking night, or conference and want a repeatable process.
Registrations have been flat and you need a promotion sequence rather than one announcement.
The same three people carry every event and the process only exists in their heads.
Attendance is fine but follow up is inconsistent, so the event produces no compounding value.

Eight to six weeks out. Define and lock

Everything here is a decision. Decisions made now are cheap. The same decisions made at three weeks cost money and goodwill.

Write the one sentence promise: who this is for and what they leave with.
Set the attendance target and the minimum viable number that still makes the event worth running.
Lock venue, date, and time, then confirm capacity, accessibility, parking, and the audio visual setup in writing.
Confirm speakers in writing with topic, format, length, and the date their materials are due.
Set the budget: venue, catering, audio visual, speaker costs, printing, and photography.
Open registration. A live registration page is what makes the event real to everyone involved.
Name the roles: event lead, promotion lead, check in lead, speaker liaison, and follow up owner.

Six to two weeks out. Promote

One announcement is not promotion. Build a sequence and expect the majority of registrations to arrive in the final ten days.

Announcement email to the full list, plus a dedicated event page with a clear registration action.
Speaker announcement as a separate beat, with assets the speakers can share to their own audiences.
Ask every speaker, sponsor, and board member for one share, and give them the copy and image so it takes two minutes.
Partner and community cross promotion: other associations, coworking spaces, university programs, and relevant newsletters.
Organic social across the platforms your audience actually uses, three to five posts spread across the window.
A reminder email at ten days and another at three days, each with a different angle rather than the same copy resent.
Track registrations against the target weekly. If you are below half at two weeks out, add a paid boost or a personal outreach push now.

Two weeks to one day out. Operate

The logistics phase. Write everything down, because on the day nobody remembers what was agreed on a call.

Confirm final headcount with the venue and caterer, and know the deadline after which the number cannot change.
Build the run of show: minute by minute, with the person responsible for each block named.
Prepare the check in method, name badges, and a printed backup list in case the network fails.
Collect speaker materials and test them on the actual equipment in the actual room.
Prepare signage, sponsor materials, and anything that has to be printed.
Send the know before you go email 24 hours out: address, parking, start time, what to bring, and what to expect.
Brief the volunteer team and give each one a single clear responsibility.

Event day

The team's job on the day is hospitality and capture. Everything else should already be decided.

Arrive at least 90 minutes early and test audio, video, lighting, and the internet connection before anyone else arrives.
Staff the check in table with more people than you think you need for the first 30 minutes.
Greet newcomers deliberately. First time attendance is the moment that decides whether someone returns.
Capture: photographs, a few short video clips, and quotes. Assign this to a person, or it will not happen.
Post live to social during the event, which reaches the people who considered attending and did not.
Collect feedback before people leave, with a short survey via a QR code on the tables and on the screen.
Announce the next event from the stage while the room is full and enthusiastic.

The two weeks after

The highest leverage and most neglected phase. The event created attention. This is where it becomes membership, sponsorship, and reputation.

Within 24 hours: thank you email to attendees with the slides, the photographs, and the next event's registration link.
Within 24 hours: a separate, personal thank you to speakers, sponsors, and volunteers.
Within 48 hours: a different email to registrants who did not attend, with the recap and no guilt attached.
Within one week: publish a recap article and a photograph set, which is the asset that promotes the next event.
Within one week: import attendee data into the CRM with the event tagged as the source.
Within two weeks: a debrief with the team while memory is fresh. What to keep, change, and stop.
Within two weeks: sponsor reporting with attendance, engagement, and photographs of their activation.

What to measure

Six numbers, recorded the same way every time, so that after four events you have a trend rather than four anecdotes.

Registrations against target, and the registration curve week by week.
Attendance rate, meaning the share of registrants who actually came. Track it, because it is the number that makes catering predictable.
First time attendees, and how many of them return to the next event.
Net promoter or a single satisfaction question from the on site survey.
Cost per attendee, and revenue if the event is ticketed or sponsored.
Downstream outcome: memberships, sponsorship conversations, or volunteers generated.

How to use it

Copy the countdown into a task list and set real dates by counting backwards from the event date.
Assign every task to a person at the start. Unassigned tasks in event planning are simply tasks that will not happen.
Run a 20 minute weekly check against the countdown, and use the registration number as the standing first agenda item.
Keep a single shared document with venue contacts, run of show, and the promotion schedule, and make it the only source of truth.
Book the debrief and the follow up sends into the calendar during the planning phase, not after the event.
After the debrief, edit this playbook with what you learned, so the next event starts from a better version.

Common mistakes

Announcing once and assuming interest will build on its own. Registrations respond to a sequence, and most arrive in the last ten days.
Planning through the event date and no further, so the attention the event generated dissipates within a week.
Over ordering catering because attendance rate was never measured. Track the rate for three events and the guesswork ends.
Leaving capture to whoever remembers. Without a named owner there are no photographs, no quotes, and therefore no recap.