You Asked For It: CEXy Chapter Event Planning Ideas

When staffing an event, you get the same questions over and over. Where’s the bathroom? What’s the WiFi password? But we heard an entirely new set of questions—and compliments—during Association Component Exchange (CEX), the one-day conference for component relations professionals (CRPs) we co-host Peggy Hoffman and Peter Houstle of Mariner Management.

We fielded questions about the giant letters spelling out CEX at the front of the room and compliments on our bathroom survival kits. The questions kept coming even after getting home so we decided to share our CEXy event discoveries with you so you can file them away in your chapter event planning ideas folder.

A CEXy Selection of Chapter Event Planning Ideas

FLOOR STICKERS

As attendees walk into the venue, help them transition from their usual busy mode to a relaxed mindset. As your guests, they can rely on you to take care of their needs, including their need to figure out where they’re going.

We use floor stickers from Sticker Genius to welcome and direct attendees to registration. The stickers don’t get lost amid other meeting signage, although some hotels and event venues may restrict you to certain locations.

RESTROOM SURVIVAL KITS

We know some attendees made a pit stop before coming to the registration table because they raved about our restroom survival kits. You’ve seen similar kits in nice hotel and restaurant restrooms, but we believe ours was even bigger and better. Our kits included…

Hairspray
Hair ties
Tampons
Shout stain wipes
Lotion
Deodorant wipes
Flossers
Listerine and cups
Advil
Pepto Bismol
Band-Aids

We kept everything contained by grouping items in cups and displaying it all on a tray with a cute sign. These kits echoed the tone we wanted to express to attendees: we’ve got you covered, relax and enjoy your day.

CUSTOM NAME BADGES

Every year, our custom name badges are printed by Conference Badge. They integrate with Eventbrite, our registration site, so all the attendee data exports over. You can get badges printed with a custom design or order an on-site printing kit. They have free 3-business day and paid 2-business day shipping.

EVENT THEME AND DECOR

When you have a theme you love, conference decor is an easy and enjoyable task. In 2019, the CEX theme was “Show Your Chapters S’more Love.” Here are the sites we relied upon for our camping/hiking-themed table and room decorations as well as swag bag items.

PINTEREST INSPIRATION BOARDS

Once we decided to go with a camping/hiking theme, we created an inspiration board on Pinterest to save and share ideas. We found ideas by searching for:

Camping themed party and cabin themed decor
Hiking decor, camping decor, and mountain decor
Tree wall stickers and greenery
Camping party supplies
Camp mugs, campfire, and s’mores
Woodland baby shower and kids party

AMAZON SHOPPING

You’d be amazed at what you can find on Amazon, or maybe you wouldn’t. We used some of the same searches that worked on Pinterest, plus specific phrases for items we wanted like “camping props,” “plush stuffed moose,” and “faux bear rug.” We ended up with:

Red LED hurricane lanterns
Buffalo plaid table runners
Centerpiece pine trees
Round rustic wood centerpieces
Large light-up birch trees
Greenery and pine boughs
Ranger hat
Plush campfire
Faux wood stump stools and hampers
Kids tent

We Talked Chapters at CEX: The Association Component Exchange

CRAFTY ITEMS FROM ETSY

We ordered a custom neon sign from , a great source for unique crafty items. A word of warning, it’s easy to develop an Etsy jewelry habit, just sayin’.

BACKDROP RENTAL

Since we couldn’t figure out how to tie the hiking/camping theme to our regular backdrop, we rented a greenery backdrop and displayed the custom neon sign on top of it. Find a rental company that handles weddings—they should have what you need.

FAT HEAD CUT OUTS

We used Fat Head to print our bear, hiker, and small animal cut outs. For special moments, encourage attendees to put their head in the cutouts. You may have to model this behavior first so they take notice.

GIANT LETTERS SPELLING OUT YOUR EVENT’S NAME

Our giant C-E-X letters were a hit. We purchased 4-foot 3D cardboard cutout letters from Shindigz for the front of the room where they became a backdrop for photos, selfies, and other tomfoolery.

For extra pizazz, we put removable wallpaper on them. You can find that type of thing on Amazon, Target, or Wayfair. However, this craft project took our team several hours to put together. Build in that extra time or make it a micro-volunteering opportunity for crafty members.

SWAG BAG ITEMS

Another fun event challenge is coming up with ideas for unique, reusable, and non-junk swag items. This year’s Happy Camper reusable grocery bag included:

CEX workbook—more on that in part 2!
Pen
Custom hiking socks that matched our theme
“Navigate Your Chapters” canteen
S’mores cake pop

Our preferred swag provider is Woodward Movement, an awesome local (Detroit) business. Ask for Desiree Marx and tell her Sarah sent you. She will find whatever you need.

Our buffalo plaid swag bags were from Bagmasters. I like to peruse their website for swag ideas and themes too.

TEAM SHIRTS

Okay, I didn’t consider us part of the decor, but maybe we were. The Billhighway team all wore matching buffalo plaid shirts—just like the swag bags—so attendees could easily spot one of us if they had a question or concern.

I bet you can’t wait to see what we wear next year! Please join us for CEX 2020 on October 26 in Washington DC. Registration will be open soon.

We’re not finished with our CEXy shares. Stay tuned for part 2 where we talk about our CEX workbook and app as well as hiking buddies, the CEX Experience Squad, and all the extra touches that make great sponsorship opportunities.

CEX WORKBOOK

Our hiking/camping theme was quite noticeable in the CEX workbook we provided to attendees in the swag bag. Measuring 8-1/2 x 6-1/4 inches, the spiral-bound workbook has a sturdy cover and is tabbed by conference agenda items. This year, we divided the agenda into “trails” instead of sessions.

The entire workbook was filled with cute thematic graphics. Geez, I just love this workbook—can I say that out loud? Shout out to our amazing graphic designer, Paige Kooiker ! Each trail in the workbook was preceded by a hiking/camping-themed inspirational quote that related to the trail topic, like this one, “Go explore. Because it’s cheaper than therapy.”

The conference program and workbook featured “Trailblazers,” CRPs who shared chapter success and turnaround stories. All the trail names related to the theme, for example, trail 3 was titled “Earn Your CRP Badge: First Aid for Chapters in Crisis.” Trail 4 was a collaborative table exercise, “Choose Your Own Adventure: Campfire Chats & Stories.”

The workbook included information about the agenda, hosts, sponsors, speakers, and our Experience Squad—more on them later. We included tips for maximizing the CEX experience, and prompts for goal-setting and turning ideas into action. Throughout the workbook, we included additional prompts, spaces for notes, aha moments, and takeaways as well as questions to ponder.

EVENT APP

Many of you asked about the conference app we used. Swapcard charged us $1.99 per attendee, which I thought was a bargain considering it included all the features we wanted in an event app: speakers, sponsors, agenda, my visit, attendees, and a link to the conference website. I especially appreciated having:

Sponsor descriptions with links to their websites
Banner ad for a top sponsor
Push notifications to attendees
Attendee connections even after the conference
Profile pic upload

The app was user-friendly and easy to set up. The integration with Eventbrite made everything a breeze.

ICEBREAKERS & ACCOUNTABILITY BUDDIES

We couldn’t do CEX without Peggy Hoffman and Peter Houstle of Mariner Management, our CEX co-hosts. At the start of the day, Peggy introduced us to a great icebreaker—one that had a hidden purpose. Here’s how it goes…

Ask attendees to find someone they don’t know and discover something they have in common. Next, each pair looks for another pair and finds something they have in common. Finally, each quartet finds another quartet and the exercise is repeated.

You end up with groups of eight people—in our case, we called them hiking buddies. But, during the last trail, we told them they were accountability groups for putting ideas into action.

Experience Elements & Sponsorship Opportunities

To help new information stick and create memories that encourage attendees to return year after year, offer some fun experiences that tap into the senses. Even better if these experiences can become sponsorship opportunities.

VIDEO INTERVIEWS

We asked an influencer in the association space, KiKi L’Italien, host of Association Chat, to conduct on-site interviews with attendees. We created a special place in the corner of the room to make her ‘set’ feel more intimate yet still visible from elsewhere in the room.

KiKi, a former CRP herself, talked to attendees about the role of CRPs and why component relations matters. Interviews like these can capture the energy and thoughts of attendees and provide fodder for future newsletter, blog, and/or promotional video content.

SNACK TIME

Our hiking theme continued into our break with a DIY trail mix bar that offered a mix of healthy and sweet ingredients. Think about how you can turn break time into a sponsorship opportunity. Could a sponsor offer a theme- or break-related item that attendees can bring home to enjoy later?

CUSTOM DRINKS

Whether it’s coffee or alcohol, create a custom drink menu with beverage names that match your theme—another great sponsorship opportunity.

PHOTOGRAPHER

Our photographer wandered around throughout the day capturing candid moments. We share these memories on our conference website and plan to use them in next year’s marketing.

CONFERENCE SONG

We hired a musician to create a custom song for the conference and perform it live at the end of the day. It helped that his workstation was near KiKi’s set so he could hear her conversations. He also stayed after the scheduled programming to play during happy hour.

Post CEX Events

We’re doing webinars and workshops with our sponsors to extend our partnership beyond the event. For example, Matchbox Virtual Media helped us put on CEX Virtual, a one-hour virtual summit to continue the chapter conversation.

REPURPOSING CONTENT

Each year, we bring our content writer, another former CRP, (hello Deirdre!) to participate and listen in on the sessions. From her notes, she crafts outlines for potential blog posts and then we decide which ones to pursue. So far, we’ve published eight posts from CEX content with more CEXy posts and webinars to come.

EXPERIENCE SQUAD

What’s our key to conference success? Without a doubt, it’s our CEX Experience Squad. We invited some of our most loyal conference attendees to provide feedback on everything: content, speakers, experiences, and songs for our playlist.

But no hour-long phone calls for this group! We used SignUpGenius to have them sign up for micro-volunteering tasks. We then sent out weekly emails with requests for their insight and ideas. They can reply to all or individually with their thoughts.

Would you like to experience all this (and more) in person? Join us for CEX 2020 on October 26 in Washington DC. Registration will be open soon.