4 Tips for Getting Announcement Emails Noticed

The most important part of any email is the subject line. Think of it as the "packaging" for your message. Not only should it summarize the contents, it must also pique the recipient's interest enough to make him want to open the message to find out more.

So why do so many conferences send out call notices with uninteresting subject lines like "Annual Meeting Call for Speakers Now Open" or "Call for Speakers - Annual Meeting"? Are call announcements an exception to the rule? Of course not. While it may be easy to get people who are already excited about speaking at your conference to open up an email from you, those aren't the people you need to worry about. They've already committed to action. Instead, you should be focused on people who don't know about your conference or who might be on the fence about responding to your call.

Here are some tips for engaging those people:

• Keep it short. The more words you use, the more likely your message will be muddled. Keep the details for the body of the message.
• Define value. Tell the recipient up front what he gets out of opening the message.
• Convey urgency. People are far more likely to act when there's a deadline.
• Personalize. Keep the focus on the recipient.

How Not to Write a Call for Papers

Dr. Jody Byrne has received quite a few calls for papers over the years. One he received recently, however, really caught his attention... for all the wrong reasons.

As Dr. Byrne points out, "Calls for papers are supposed to inspire, encourage and explain. All this one does is bombard you with jargon, vague descriptions and non-explanations and then give you a bit of a headache."

Have you ever received a particularly bad call for papers? What stood out about it? What could have made it better?

Tweet Archive

For anyone who wants to capture and archive tweets from a conference, you might want to check out TweetNotes.

What makes the app so special? For one thing, it's free. It also lets you:

• Add context by incorporating content, like slides and handouts.
• Organize multiple sessions under one meeting space.
• Visualize participants.
• Embed in blogs, Web sites, etc.
• Archive activity for future reference.

The developers say they're planning a lot more features, including additional collaboration tools. We're not sure how they plan to monetize it, so it might not be the best option for mission-critical applications, but definitely worth looking into.

New Feature: Grouped Checkboxes

Our drag-and-drop form builder now allows multiple checkbox items in a single form element.

Why is this important? Let's say you want to collect A/V requirements from your speakers. Before, you had to create a separate question on the form for each requirement:

Now, you can include all of those checkboxes in one element:

We've also added new requirement options for grouped checkboxes: You can make the checkboxes optional, you can require that at least one box be checked, or you can require all the boxes to be checked.

Usability Enhancements

We've just released two enhancements that make the site a little easier to use...

For call administrators: We've made it easier—and faster—to view submission details from the Submissions page. Previously, when you clicked on a submission's title, you were taken to a new page. Now, the same information is displayed in an overlay.

For authors: We've added a tab to the top of the proposal screens that links to the call's submission instructions. Now you have access to that information throughout the entire submission process. (Previously, the instructions were only displayed when you first created the proposal.)

Let us know what you think!

New Feature: Late Submissions

ProposalSpace now allows you to accept late submissions for a call without having to change the call's official submission deadline. The new setting (named "Late Submissions") is on the Submission Settings page right below the Submission Deadline field.

If you enter anything other than zero in the field, ProposalSpace will continue to allow submissions for that number of days without altering the official submission deadline. We'll also display a notice to users letting them know that although the submission deadline has passed, late submissions are still being accepted.

Introductory Pricing Extended

We've extended our introductory pricing another month!

Just start a call in ProposalSpace before April 1, 2010 and you'll lock in the special pricing of $49.95 to activate the call and $4.50 for every submission. You don't have to activate the call before April 1, you just have to create it by then.

So hurry up and start your calls before this offer ends!