Looking for new and unique (and, yes, inexpensive) ways to drive attendance to your show? Think video. It’s easy, it’s fun and it builds a buzz — at this year’s event and beyond. Event marketing company, Live! Marketing, works with shows to collect video clips at events to create “commercials” for promotional use. The company recently worked with the American Library Association (ALA) to snag footage at its winter event in order to promote its larger summer annual conference. The goal: to entice “fence-sitters,” to go ahead and click that “register now” button online.

A few tips to ensure that your own commercial “shoot” translates into great results: Think easy. ALA and Live! Marketing armed several brand ambassadors — hired help trained just to engage attendees on the project — with Flip handheld video cameras to take on the show floor. The cameras are small, inexpensive and — most importantly — very easy to use. This enabled brand ambassadors to focus more on getting great quotes and clips and less on staging the perfect shot.

Ask all the right questions. Before brand ambassadors even hit the show floor, think hard about what kind of clips and content you want them to come away with, and then develop a list of questions designed to get those responses. ALA, for example, asked attendees questions such as “What makes you passionate about being a librarian?” and “What are you looking forward to at ALA Annual?”Additionally, the ambassadors were instructed to snag fun shots of groups of three of four attendees shouting things such as “See you next summer!”

Give it a gloss. A good promo doesn’t have to be all glitz and glamour, but if you’re a novice video editor, it’s best to leave it to the pros. Cherrypick the best clips for inclusion in the commercial, and when it’s all set, incorporate it into your online marketing strategy. Placing it in a visible place on the show site is a must, but also think about how you can place it or links in any upcoming online collateral or e-mail blasts.