A Practical Guide to Creating foursquare Events

I’ve been personally intrigued by the development of foursquare over recent months and it’s increasing potential for usage at events. Back in January, Intel partnered with foursquare during the CES event and offered unique badges for check-ins and special events. This took an effort from both parties to achieve. While it opened the possibilities for the future of foursquare and event marriages, it without little doubt requires the compliance from (and and open wallet) the developers at foursquare to make a campaign of similar correlation possible.

Nevertheless, I was inspired today by an article from Scott Bishop that gives new hope to event planners. There are some reasonable and relatively simple ways to incorporate foursquare and encourage audience participation at your next event.

The Setup

For current and new users, I recommend setting up a new profile that reflects the name and details of your event

Next, you’ll want to set up a venue. However, this “venue” is again going to be setup with event details. Be sure to include proper address, contact information and Twitter handle.

Add your event details and assign it a category. You’ll likely want to use the ‘Home/Work/Other‘ category, with the subcategory of ‘Event Space‘. You can also add tags and adjust the map pin to accurately reflect your event’s location.

The Incentive

While you won’t have the ability to create a custom badge unless you are able to partner with the foursquare folks, you can still offer benefits to your attendees for checking in to various locations or functions at your event. Give your mayor a treat. Offer a private gathering for your users. All of these bonuses can be managed as ‘Tips‘ and can be easily setup. Add these periodically throughout your event and give your users a basis for frequent check-ins and updates. Make your missions fun and tie them back to as many of the other meetings and events that surround.

From your venue, click ‘Add Tip’ and simply add the details.

The Participation

Not only will foursquare users be able to check in and follow the tips surrounding your event, but they now have a community to connect with other users. Furthermore, encourage your event participants to add their own tips. Allow exhibitors to offer their own incentives for a visit to their booth. Give speakers a chance to encourage new audiences.

The Before and After

Much like the Intel example, set up a private landing page weeks in advance of your event and offer a tease towards some of the tips and incentives for their participation. Offer early incentives for ‘friending’ the event profile and develop a community ahead of time to ensure an army of participants during the event.

Once your event concludes, be sure to clean up what you’ve created. While foursquare allows users to add tips and venues freely, removing unnecessary clutter is important to keep these features available to us. Simple delete your tips and ‘Flag your venue as closed‘.

Foursquare and geolocation services are one of the hottest social tools and the development and integration of businesses and events will be exciting to witness. Community and participation will continue to drive face-to-face meetings, so give your next event a shot in the arm for your members.

1. 

   Kristen says:

   March 26, 2010 at 3:31 pm

   Absolutely loved this article! I’ve been brainstorming how to integrate Foursquare into our upcoming WEC conference and this post brought everything together. Kudos!

   Kristen

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2. 

   Jenise Fryatt says:

   March 26, 2010 at 3:37 pm

   Wow, Eric!! I’m sure LOTS of people are going to use this idea. I especially like how you used visuals to illustrate your directions. You made it all very easy to understand. I’m going to RT this a couple of times. Great job!!

   reply
3. 

   Lindsay Fultz says:

   March 26, 2010 at 3:41 pm

   This blows my mind Eric! Very cool. Thank you so much for doing ALL of this leg work. Very cool and easy to understand. Will be referencing this a lot!

   reply
4. 

   Eric Lukazewski says:

   March 26, 2010 at 4:38 pm

   @Kristen – …and kudos to you for using foursquare at your event! It’s an exciting and fun tool for users and can build the community that every event needs.

   @Jenise – Thanks for your comment Jenise! I felt like foursquare events has only been kicked around to date and I think largely because there’s little support for implementing. I hope this opens some opportunities for organizers.

   @Lindsay – I appreciate the support Lindsay! Good luck if you ever plan on using foursquare in a similar fashion in the future!

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5. 

   Jose D. Ramirez says:

   March 26, 2010 at 5:09 pm

   This is an awesome outline Eric! Foursquare has lots of potential and it only keeps getting better. I’m brainstorming myself on how to give it a test drive at our next tradeshow. Perhaps implement it in such a way that it drives more traffic to our booth and promotes our show specials and/or raffle. This can also be adopted if we sponsor a cocktail hour and have some extra incentives, etc. for those who attend. Thanks again!

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6. 

   Lee Anne Orange says:

   March 26, 2010 at 6:40 pm

   I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend…setting up our event. Great information as always Eric!!

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7. 

   Eric Lukazewski says:

   March 26, 2010 at 7:09 pm

   @Jose – I’ll be excited to see how you end up using it at a your next tradeshow. I think those are quite attainable applications and I’m equally excited to see other creative ways foursquare events will be used to attract audiences. Good luck!

   @Lee Anne – Thanks Lee Anne. I am truly excited to see an event of your size embrace foursquare and other social channels. Not all events are the same and applications need to be tailored to the specific needs of your audience. But I believe the flexibility of tools like foursquare provide options for all events. Good luck to you as well!

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8. 

   Michael McCurry says:

   March 28, 2010 at 8:00 am

   Hi Eric,

   Thank you for posting this article and I have to tell you this is one of the best articles I have seen to date to explain a concept of using Foursquare for events.

   Congratulations to you for being so forward thinking and you have just shown innovation my friend!

   @michaelmccurry

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   • 

     Eric Lukazewski says:

     March 29, 2010 at 8:45 am

     Thanks Michael! I appreciate the kind feedback. I realize that foursquare is still relatively new and gaining popularity of late, but events seem like a natural fit. I’ll be very excited to attend or be a part of an event that uses it well!

     reply
9. 

   John Haydon says:

   March 29, 2010 at 4:57 pm

   Eric,

   This is one of the most creative uses of FourSquare I’ve seen. And I thought adding my kitchen as a venue was cool…

   Thanks!

   John

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   • 

     Eric Lukazewski says:

     March 29, 2010 at 5:07 pm

     John, thank you for taking the time to read and an even bigger thanks for commenting! It’s a versatile platform and we’ve yet to witness some of its capabilities.

     PS – Does mayorship in the kitchen exonerate you from washing dishes??

     reply
10. 

    Mar says:

    March 31, 2010 at 7:18 am

    Thanks for sharing – I’ll be trying this out at our art festival in May!

    reply
11. 

    mike mcallen says:

    April 1, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    Eric-
    This is really cool. Thanks for posting it. I have been wary of Foursquare because of privacy issues. I am a pretty open book but when i am just doing my daily day to day I am not sure I want everyone knowing where I am. With that said this makes perfect sense if you are at a conference or event I want people to know where I am so I can connect. Thanks again for posting this.

    Mike
    Mike McAllen
    Http://www.grassshackroad.com

    reply
12. 

    Alison Groves says:

    April 21, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    Sorry Eric, but I have to respectfully disagree on this front, been seeing this crop up a lot lately. While I respect that there is no right and wrong to social media, I find this new trend of checking into an event on Foursquare strange. Instead of clogging the system with hundreds of extraneous “venues” that are there for a day, maybe even an hour, why not just recommend people check into the actual place where the event is being held? While technically you might be AT Josh and Becky’s wedding, you’re also at the physical space where the event is being held, which will be there long after Josh and Becky have had their third child. Tips and comments can be left about the space for future users that have absolutely no bearing on the one hour, once in a lifetime event you may be attending in that space.

    Just food for thought.

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    • 

      Eric Lukazewski says:

      April 21, 2010 at 5:03 pm

      Allison, thank you for commenting. I would agree that there is a category for certain events that may not be appropriate for a foursquare or other geolocation service, but I believe that conferences, tradeshows, festivals and larger events could benefit from having the support of an event specific checkin aside from its supporting venue.

      Your concerns about extraneous event tips surrounding a venue are legitimate, but I believe that is why a separate, temporary event check-in (much like Gowalla’s recent addition http://gowalla.com/blog/2010/04/adding-events-to-gowalla/) is necessary. I believe the tips and conversations are essential to community development and event awareness. Additionally, organizers can ensure event specific alerts and promotions are not lost in a sea of unrelated information that may be attached to its venue.

      This suggestion is more of a ‘hack’ than anything else, but hopefully foursquare will adopt a platform to support events in the future, much like Gowalla, to address some of the concerns you have outlined.

      Thanks for reading!

      reply
      • 

        Rodrigo Mazzilli says:

        August 9, 2010 at 1:18 pm

        Thanks Eric for the nice post!

        As a start-up founder in this space, I tend to agree with Alison on this. Adding venues as events just seems to me like an inappropriate use of the Foursquare platform. Very popular venues get populated very quickly with hundreds of “events”, without any timing aspect associated. The networking aspect in any event solution is very important in our view, as well as other components (i.e. we allow very easy integration with Eventbrite).
        I would like you and everyone else to check out what we are doing in this space by visiting us at http://wellknown.as
        Your feedback and suggestions is very welcome!

        Rodrigo

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        • 

          Eric Lukazewski says:

          August 10, 2010 at 9:31 am

          I agree with you and Allison’s concerns with the growing number of events that this system would create, especially for conventions centers and dedicated conference spaces. However, if the necessary “clean up” steps are taken to remove the event after its conclusion, I think the venue can remain organized.

          Even still, this is not an ideal use for Foursquare events, simply the ONLY way at the moment. Gowalla has done a nice job of pioneering the event incorporation into geolocation services, but Foursquare has yet to follow suit. Hopefully we’ll see a more integrated solution from them in the near future!

          Thanks Rodrigo!

          reply
13. 

    Table Top Displays says:

    June 22, 2010 at 5:31 am

    Just want to say what a great blog you got here!
    I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!

    Thumbs up, and keep it going!

    reply
14. 

    Andrew Smith says:

    June 23, 2010 at 10:29 am

    Great article Eric! I’ve been starting to look into Foursquare for my events and this is a huge help.

    reply
    • 

      Eric Lukazewski says:

      June 23, 2010 at 10:31 am

      Thanks for reading and commenting Andrew! Would love to hear any success stories you have!

      reply
15. 

    E Rudin says:

    June 26, 2010 at 1:11 am

    Great article, our Uptown Association does a montly ArtWalk and with the help of your article I am going to implement this with our monthly ArtWalk, should be fun!

    reply
16. 

    Jenn Vonhagen says:

    October 9, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    hi there – thanks for this article! thought you might be interested in seeing the concept in a campaign. We are trying out Foursquare at a smaller tradeshow in 2 weeks. we kicked off an email to make sure attendees have time to get hooked on Foursquare.
    here is the microsite the email goes to: http://www.getswyft.com/foursquare
    on that page we link to other tools to support the game, for instance:
    1) a tips list on unlocking cool badges, and how we will help attendees do that at the conference
    2) a list of foursquare hotspots we aggregated from Miami Foursquare users and Bravo tv.

    hope this adds something to the discussion. Conference is end of OCT!!

    reply
    • 

      Eric Lukazewski says:

      October 11, 2010 at 4:01 pm

      Jenn, this is FANTASTIC. This is a truly perfect example of how this tool can be used to ENRICH an audience experience. I love that you’ve also made it educational, and informed users on how to unlock badges. Quite brilliant. It makes me extremely excited to see someone take it to this level. Hopefully others will follow suit!

      I hope it’s a success! Please keep me updated to the response!

      reply
      • 

        Jenn Vonhagen says:

        October 29, 2010 at 2:43 pm

        Hi Eric,
        I’d love to connect and give you the run down of the Foursquare tactic we used at the show. Lots of lessons learned – and an overall feeling that it may have been a bit ahead of it’s time and/or not suited to a non ‘early-adopter’ audience. At a tech heavy show, I think with a few tweaks, this could crush it. But at this show it may have been a little too complex. feel free to reach me on email and we can set up some time to talk. I’m thinking about documenting the entire process with do’s and don’ts included from the experience.

        thanks,
        J

        reply
        • 

          Mary Gavach says:

          August 5, 2011 at 12:47 pm

          Hi Jenn,

          Your feedback on foursquare for events/shows is very timely. A lot of people have been asking my manager “are you using foursquare for your trade shows?” I’ve been doing research and came across this wonderful article and your post. I’m very interested in hearing about your do’s & dont’s and if you have tried foursquare at other events or trade shows since last year? Any success?

          Thanks!
          Mary

          reply
17. 

    Mika Pyyhkala says:

    November 3, 2010 at 8:36 am

    @Alison
    I don’t think that creating a Foursquare event venue precludes a user from also checking in to the physical space such as a hotel to participate and add tips. In this way also the physical venue again such as a hotel does not get filled up with event specific tips that people may not need after the event. When I attend an event I always check in at both the hotel and the event venue if it exists.

    Incidentally I found this post as I did a google search on how to create a custom Foursquare badge. Very helpful tips, but I guess I’ll have to email Foursquare about creating custom badges.

    Best,
    Mika

    reply
18. 

    Jon says:

    November 4, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Hello!

    Thank you for this great idea, I’m going to test it out at our next event. Your directions and explanations are great, but since Foursquare has changed a bit, your screen shots are a little out-dated, and caused me just a little confusion. I did figure it out, though.

    Thanks again!

    reply
19. 

    Smash Hit Displays says:

    December 27, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    Great article! Social media sites like these are starting to play a huge role in trade shows. I’ve witnessed just how much traffic has increased by using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and can’t wait to see how effective FourSquare will be in the event industry.

    reply
20. 

    Kiera says:

    February 2, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    What if the venue where your event is being held is at a high profile location that is already established as its own venue on Foursquare? Would adding another venue at the same address violate any terms of Foursquare, or the rights of that specific venue?

    reply
    • 

      Eric Lukazewski says:

      February 15, 2011 at 10:46 am

      I’ve seen this done a number of times and while I haven’t seen anything that would lead me to believe it violates any specific policies, some feel this “clutters” the Foursquare interface. Still, I believe that event check ins can be used a beneficial tool to organizers, exhibitors and attendees, and I believe that as more and more people use it this way, Foursquare will recognize the value and demand and hopefully integrate events a bit more seamlessly into their interface.

      reply
21. 

    Siya says:

    March 5, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    Thanks Erik for this insightful article. I’m organizing the social media strategy for a Tango event in Bloomington, Indiana and I have toying with the idea of putting it on Foursquare. I wonder though if Facebook places would be better with its larger reach?

    reply
22. 

    Julius Solaris says:

    March 17, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    Love the post Eric. Although your trick is the only way toget your event on Foursquare, these guys need to add an event section in the same fashion Gowalla did. Venues focus is not enough for me. I’ve found tips in popular venues completely unrelated to the event i was at. Excellent write up though

    reply
23. 

    Brian Kenyon says:

    October 12, 2011 at 9:36 am

    Thanks for this process however I found that just creating a new place from my current Foursquare Account worked best. Setting up a whole new foursquare account seemed a little too much. I actually followed these directions http://engage365.org/2010/06/how-to-use-foursquare-for-a-conference-or-an-exhibit-booth/ which ultimately points you toward adding a new venue (http://foursquare.com/add_venue) for the event. My company has yearly conferences so each year I open up a new venue and close the old one. This will have to work until Foursquare finally allows temporary “Event” venues.

    reply