If you’ve ever worked in the marketing arena, you’re well aware of personas—composite sketches of your core or target audience meant to deliver some demographic insight. While some says personas provide inspiration and direction to writers, others contest that they are a waste of time.

“Personas tend to reflect the average, not the median,” writes Jimmy Daly in a recent Animalz blog post. “This means you end up writing for a person well outside the stated demographics.”

Daly goes on to say that writers don’t actually know what it means to write to a specific persona, because personas often don’t have real meaning and can feel fictitious.

Because of this, he proposes an alternative, where you focus less on who the target is and instead ask, “At what level is our target reader thinking?”

In addition, Daly shares tips for writing strategically, including writing at the leadership level and not being beholden to a strict publishing schedule. “If you’re planning on writing twice each week, don’t expect to write strategic posts every time,” he says. “These high level ideas are harder to come by and more challenging to write.”

CES Takeaways

5 things #EventProfs should know after CES 2018 https://t.co/T3offhIeJ3 #CES2018 #tech #eventtech

— Event Industry News (@EventNewsBlog) January 16, 2018

Last week’s CES 2018 in Las Vegas is all wrapped up. If you weren’t following along closely to all the news, you may have missed out on a few tech announcements relevant to event pros.

Voice-command technology continues to be added to all different types of products. “LG have added their own CLOi voice-activated robot to their upcoming line of washing machines and fridges and they’re also planning to embed the CLOi into a series of robots that could help you whilst you’re out and about at hotels, supermarkets, and airports (and presumably, live events too),” writes Adam Parry in an Event Industry News article.

What does that mean for your events?

“As events move increasingly toward ‘bring your own device’, delegates will expect fully interactive environments that respond quickly and efficiently, whether through voice control or NFC technology that allows you to tap to activate,” he says.

Other Links of Note

What’s the one word that should not appear in your email subject lines? The Bloomerang blog reveals the pros and cons of using the word “newsletter.”

Traveling for a meeting doesn’t mean you have to ignore health goals. Eventpedia shares ways to make your next event healthier for attendees.

Are you looking at the right fundraising metrics? Digital marketing expert John Haydon shares  three numbers you need to track.

(GaudiLab/iStock)