Keeping conference content not only relevant but also fresh, interactive and engaging is one way your attendees will be surely coming back year-over-year.

Have you set up that Facebook fan page yet for your show?

So, you’ve courted media to attend your event, issued press passes, gotten bloggers interested and scheduled a press conference. Now that the event’s here, how can you make sure you convey the right impression — and get your message across — to the media?

Going paperless is a great way to be green and save money at the same time. But not all attendees or exhibitors may be ready to take the plunge. At its Convergence event in 2009, Microsoft ramped up its sustainability efforts while still catering to attendees not quite ready to leave all paper collateral behind. These tips from Microsoft may help you make the transition, too.

More and more shows are creating separate spaces for exhibitors and vendors to showcase high-end products away from the rest of the show floor. But how do you create an atmosphere to promote the luxe vibe? World Shoes and Accessories (WSA) pulls it off with “The Box,” a space at the WSA Show that gives exhibitors a place to promote upscale or unique merchandise in a sophisticated area within the main show.

What it is: Following in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter, Foursquare is the latest craze among the social media savvy. Foursquare members use the site to alert others in their social networks (including Twitter and Facebook) where they are at any given moment by either logging on to the Web site (www.foursquare.com) or using a smartphone application to “check in.” The people that check in to a given spot or location the most often become the “mayor” of that location.

Not every show has the time or resources to invest in a full-time public relations expert or create an intricate press strategy. But even if you don’t have someone devoted to the press full time, you shouldn’t relegate the media to second- or third-priority status when it comes to prepping for your next show.

Whether they’re using a virtual platform to complement or replace a live event, organizers worry that their attendees won’t sign up, won’t show up or won’t know how to participate once they get there.

As more and more stories about the H1N1 virus permeate the national news, show organizers are wondering how to deal with an illness that may give attendees — and exhibitors — just one more reason to miss an event. Organizers concerned about H1N1 need to have two strategies in place: one for pre-event planning and one for on-site execution. Here are a few easy, effective tips that all show organizers can put into place for their next event.

While many event organizers are watching attendance — and budgets — fall as a result of the recession, others are actually seeing growth. The key: creative thinking. One b-to-b publisher saw growth from events in 2009 and is predicting 10 percent growth from events in 2010. “Based on the way people got squeezed this year, marketers are going into 2010 with compromised budgets,” says Nancy Hammervik, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Everything Channel Events. “One of the positive outcomes of a challenging market is that it causes you to think smarter. You get as tight as you can while evaluating everything you do.” Here are some of the steps Hammervik is taking:

Sure, you refresh your show or reposition a couple of elements every year. But how often do attendees or exhibitors notice and, more importantly, is it driving attendance or exhibit sales?

Yes, social networking is officially the hot new tool for promoting your event. But too often the mainstream sites (think: Facebook and MySpace) don’t have the business vibe event organizers are going for. Check out www.biztravelconnect.com, which is positioning itself as a social networking site — free of charge — targeted at business travelers from all industries.