Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Promoting Webinars with Penn State Extension’s Calendar


In my last blog I mentioned that you could select “webinar” when posting an event to have it appear on the webinar list on the statewide Extension calendar.  Then….. I went to find it.  Not only did I find it difficult to find, but I’ve also looked at numerous webinar postings and most of those were not using it either.  So, the audience for this post is limited to Penn State Extension, and the purpose is to show you how to select webinar when posting events. 

When you are entering an event in the Extension calendar system, you need to select the “Edit” tab and select “Categorization.”  Under the first heading, “Event Type(s)” scroll down (nearly to the bottom of the list and select “webinar.”  Make any other necessary selections and then click on the Save button at the bottom of the page and you are done.


Happy posting!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Extension Calendar Observations for 2012

Many of you know that in the past year I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how we market extension programs.   Although my primary emphasis has been on the use of Cvent, I also have been considering how we use the Extension Calendar to market our programs and events.  As the year comes to a close, here are some of my observations that you might consider as you add programs for the coming year as well as some interesting facts and figures.
These recommendations are based on an average of 98 calendar entries reviewed each month between June and December. [1]  In general, I found an average of 140 potential issues each month, but am pleased to report this has declined from a little over 2 issues per entry in June to 1.58 issues per entry in December. 
What are the issues?  Here are the top three I’ve seen along with an explanation of how they might be avoided.
#1 – Using PDFs for registration or to provide additional information.  PDFs are often slow to download from computers and are useless with mobile devices.  Instead of a PDF, enter the information about the event into the calendar entry page.  This will make it easier for your potential audience to see the information.
#2 – Issues related to content.  There are several ways the content of your entry can impact the likelihood of attendance by your potential audience.  What you present and how you present it is important.
First, answer the basic questions:  
·         Who is the intended audience?
·         Why should they attend?  What should they learn or be able to do after attending?
·         What do people need to do to attend?  This includes advance registration.  Be sure to indicate how people should register and indicate if there is a registration date.   Any registration cost should be stated.  Also, let people know if the event is free.
·         Where is the event being held?  Most of the time this is covered in the address section.  However many of our events are online these days.  Be sure to tell the attendee what to expect when they go to a link.  For example:  “You will want to log-in to http://meeting.psu.edu/xxxx  to participate in the webinar.   This meeting room will be monitored beginning 10 minutes prior to the program.”  Also, with webinars, it might be useful on the meeting screen, if you leave the meeting room open, to post a message indicating the topic, date and time of the next session so that if someone goes there to test the link, they will know they are in the right place.  In the college calendar system, you can also select webinar in order to have the event appear on the Extension webinar calendar.
·         Who do I contact if I have questions or a problem?  It is also good practice to include a name and contact phone number in case participants have difficulty accessing the program.
Finally, don’t provide extraneous information.  Just provide the information that is relevant to that particular calendar entry.  If you are working with an event that has multiple meetings/locations across the state (i.e. ServSafe, Better Kid Care), you may refer to a calendar landing page for other events, but don’t try to list these on this particular entry.   If you don’t have a calendar landing page and need one, discuss it with your program team and EPL.
#3 – List a contact person.  We are a people organization, so include a contact person, email address and phone number so potential participants know who to call if they have questions.  Some offices are having email go to an office email account.  This is fine as well, but be sure the link that is used is descriptive.  For instance, if the contact for the event is the Beaver County Extension Office, use Penn State Extension – Beaver County Office rather than just Penn State Extension.  Along these lines, if you are working with another organization, it is okay to indicate that in the content of the calendar entry.  However, the contact person for our Extension calendar should be someone affiliated with Penn State Extension.
Finally – for some stats from the entries I viewed – only 43 counties and 22 programs posted entries on the Extension Calendar during this timeframe.  The Private Forests program and Lebanon County team take the prize for posting, having at least one entry every month between June and December.  Missing only one month during this time frame were Adams County, Equine Programs and the Start Farming Program. 



[1] For other recommendations, consult “Events” on the Communications and Marketing Website (http://agsci.psu.edu/communications/web/best-practices/events).