After your association wraps up an event, don’t let your valuable event content go to waste! This content can have a second life on your organization’s blog, allowing you to engage members and share valuable insights from your event with individuals who may not have been able to attend. 
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Let’s review four steps to create blog content after your association’s events. 

1. Review your event and brainstorm content ideas.

First, review each day or session from your event. What are the stand-out moments that would make for the most intriguing blog content? Use these strategies to brainstorm initial content ideas: 

• Pinpoint the best moments. We define this as “identifying the gold.” What were your event’s most special interactions, valuable information, engaging sessions, and unique presentations? Focus on the elements that made this event distinct from similar events you’ve hosted. 
• Consider your blog audience’s interests. Your blog audience might have slightly different interests than the audience of individuals who attended your event. Consider their needs when choosing content to highlight. 
• Review attendee feedback to see which moments stood out the most. Send surveys to event attendees to gather their input on the event. Ask participants to share their favorite moments, such as the best session they attended, the most memorable speaker they heard from, or their best networking experience. 

This exercise should give you a better sense of direction for the experiences and sessions from your event that you want to highlight on your blog. Remember: if your attendees loved a particular element at your event, they’ll probably be interested in seeing a recap after the fact. 

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2. Gather multimedia elements. 

Now that you know which aspects of your event you want to highlight in blog content, it’s time to gather media elements to bring the experience to life. Research supports the idea that blog readers love to see multimedia embedded throughout content:

• Articles with images receive 94% more views than those without images.
• 89% of customers want to see more videos from brands in 2024. 
• Infographics are 30x more likely to be read than written posts. 

To tap into these trends, create a media library from your event to pull from when creating blog content. Upload the following types of content to a shared drive or platform: 

• Videos
• Photos
• Infographics
• Audio clips
• Direct quotes from attendees
• Social media posts published during the event
• Slideshows
• User-generated social media content

Incorporate these media elements throughout your blog content to engage readers on multiple levels and appeal to different learning styles. For example, you could create an event recap blog post with photos and videos of attendees interspersed throughout the written content. Or you could create an infographic highlighting your event’s logistics, such as how many attendees and speakers participated. 

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3. Create a blogging calendar. 

The next step in the event blogging process is to get down to brass tacks by defining content creation roles and creating a content calendar. It’s worth it to nail down a productive blogging schedule because you can stay organized and replicate your strategy for future events.

Take these steps to get your content live: 

1. Assign roles. Who will write, edit, and upload the content to your website? Who will promote the content across marketing platforms? Determine whether one or multiple individuals will take on these roles. 
2. Determine your content frequency. You’ll likely want to post event content more regularly in the days and weeks after the event when the experience is fresh in members’ minds. This allows you to ensure all audience members have access to the need-to-know content and insights shared at the event. 
3. Plan out your content schedule. Get out your calendar and create a detailed content schedule for your event blog posts. Whether you post every other day for two weeks or once a week for a month, write down your plans using a shared calendar platform. Ensure every entry includes the individual(s) responsible for getting the content live and marketing it to your audience. If content has to be moved to a different day for any reason, ensure all team members are notified of the change. 
4. Evaluate metrics. How will you track the success of your event blog content? Plan to track engagement metrics like time on page, bounce rate, total pageviews, traffic sources, and conversion rates for content that includes calls to action. Schedule recurring meetings with your content team to assess your progress as a group, address any negative metrics, and create a game plan for maximizing your successes. 

Here’s an example of a content calendar you might use to keep the content creation and metrics review processes organized:

Celebrate key milestones with your content team, too, such as reaching a specific page views goal or number of email click-throughs to your blog posts. Consider offering incentives for reaching certain goals, such as prizes or a small one-time bonus. 

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4. Prioritize accessibility and inclusivity.

Making events more inclusive and accessible has been a major focus in the association space, and your blog posts should be no different. Make accessibility a top priority as you create event blog content by taking these steps: 

• Include captions for video or audio clips.
• Incorporate alternative text for images that accurately describes the content of each image.
• Make your site’s navigation keyboard accessible so users can easily navigate using assistive technology. 
• Ensure infographics and typography have sufficient color contrast—you can check your site’s color palette using WebAIM’s free Contrast Checker. 
• Make blog content available in multiple languages depending on your audience’s needs.
• Facilitate fast load speeds by compressing images and optimizing code.
• Prioritize mobile accessibility by ensuring all forms can be easily accessed and completed on mobile devices.

Test your blog content for accessibility using tools such as Lighthouse or WAVE. In addition, you should manually test your site using your keyboard or by enlisting the help of real users with a variety of disabilities (User Interviews has a great resource for advice on connecting with these individuals). Fairly compensate those who help you for their assistance, as they’re offering their skills and time to support your efforts.  

Assistive technologies and accessibility best practices are constantly evolving, so keep an eye out to ensure your website offers the highest-quality experience possible for all visitors. 

Additionally, make your blog content more inclusive to everyone in your association’s audience. For example, let’s say you’re creating a healthcare content strategy after a recent conference for your medical association. Perhaps your conference was tailored to new grads in your field, while your online audience contains everyone in your target market, including long-time professionals. Highlight aspects of your conference that interest all audience members, such as new research developments in your sector.

Your blog can serve as an effective audience stewardship tool after your association’s events. Event-related blog content can help keep members informed and updated on need-to-know information coming out of your events. It can also bring your membership community together by recapping a valuable shared experience. These steps will help bring your event content to life on your blog so that it can continue benefiting attendees and non-attendees alike.