20 Creative Ways to Blog About Your Upcoming Events

You've designed and built your blog, signed some of the staff on to help, laid out your blogging guidelines, and even engaged some volunteer blog contributors. A few weeks go by, you've gotten a few comments, and you're feeling good about your efforts. It seems like smooth sailing until...

"I have nothing to write about!"

When you're trying to convince (inspire, cajole, drag) your nonprofit staff to begin blogging for your organization this is likely to be the first complaint you get and one of your bloggers biggest concerns. In fact it's a miracle this hasn't come up already.

If you're strapped for topic ideas, consider turning to your organization's events for some inspiration. Here are some event post ideas you can borrow and adapt to get your bloggers unstuck. As a bonus, many of these ideas are opportunities to engage volunteers and make good use of the work you're already doing.

20 Creative Ways to Blog About Your Upcoming Events

1. Share a special moment from last year's event to clue me in to what's in store and what's special about being there.
2. Ask people to share their favorite moment from last year's event in an an open forum post.
3. What can you tell me about the event that I'm not going to want to miss?
4. Who's going to be at the event? Highlight and thank your Event Steering Committee. I may know some of them and decide to come because of that alone. Plus if you have awesome people involved in planning the event your supporters will be confident that it will be great.
5. Raffle off a free event ticket to anyone who posts a comment on your blog post  sharing why they are excited to attend the event.
6. Is there a theme for the event? Tell me about it!
7. Do you need volunteers? Create some meaningful opportunities for me to get involved and then ask for my help in a blog post.
8. Tell us about the event honorees. Who are they, why are they key to your organization, or what have they done that's incredible in your field?
9. Even better - do a sneak peak mini-interview with the honorees or speakers. You can record this over Skype as a little "can't wait to see you" teaser.
10. Share an update on tickets sold. Are there only 30 spots left? Is this the fastest the tickets have ever gone? Remind people it's coming up.
11. Your event is competing with something happening at the same time. I guarantee it. Find out else is happening at the same time and tell me10 reasons why your event is better than...
    • the Superbowl
    • the season finale of Gray's Anatomy
    • Monday Night Football
    • Helping my kids get ready for school Sunday night
    • Eating dinner with my mother-in-law
    • Holiday sales at the mall
    • Opening Night for the 8th (or 18th) Harry Potter Movie (one can only dream)
12. Announce specially priced volunteer tickets for people who missed their chance to get a spot at the event. This will net you some helpful hands for registration and logistics and accommodate people who either couldn't afford a ticket, or are late to the party.
13. Ask people to suggest songs for the set list.
14. Share some photos of your team getting ready for the big event - this can be anything from a shot of people stuffing envelopes, the AV team testing the projector the morning of, to the decorations committee arranging flowers.
15. If it's a fundraising event, announce the total funds raised/pledged at the event. This is your big initial wrap up post.
16. Thank your event volunteers and share a reflection from one of them on why participating in the event was meaningful.
17. Post the video from the event speeches or keynote. I missed out, but it will still mean a lot to me to get a taste for the event. A short highlight reel is helpful if you can get it edited (great volunteer opportunity for some one).
18. Hand out hand-help video cameras to volunteer interviewers. Have them roam the event halls or tables and ask attendees if they can ask them a few questions on film. Now show me what they captured. It doesn't need to be polished - the best nuggets are usually captured in a casual way off the cuff anyways. Your supporters will surprise you and you'll get at least a few moments that are worth sharing in a blog post. Don't forget to thank your volunteer film-makers!
19. Share a photo gallery from the event. Use Flickr to have people share their own photos either through a Flickr photo group or by having them tag them with the event hashtag.
20. Give me something to look forward to. Announce the date and theme for next month's or next year's event.

How are you incorporating your events into your blogging? I'm sure you can come up with other suggestions. Share them with us in the comments!

Avi Kaplan is the Online Coordinator at Rad Campaign, a firm that provides web design, web development, and online marketing and strategy to nonprofit organizations and political campaigns.