Attendee engagement and your ability as an event planner to improve it will ultimately determine the success or failure of your event. The venue, lighting, and buffet won’t matter if your event guests aren’t having fun, gaining knowledge, or perceiving their attendance as valuable to them. So, how can you make sure your event attendees are enjoying their event experience? And more importantly, what can you be doing to improve attendee engagement? Keep reading as we share how today’s most successful event professionals make their events spectacular!
Know Your Audience
You can’t deliver an incredible event experience without first getting to know your audience. Take the time to understand who they are so you can discern what they like. And with unique personas in mind, you can make all the relevant event decisions accordingly. From entertainment to seating, knowing your guests first will make sure you choose just the perfect elements.
Mobile Event Apps
More event professionals today are using mobile event apps for their celebrations and conferences. Consider implementing a mobile app for your event to build anticipation and effectively communicate with your guests. You can use your event app to share new announcements, provide parking or hospitality information, and send reminders. All of these connections to your attendees will only improve their experience.
The Right Speakers and Moderators
Don’t just book any keynote speaker; find and hire those motivational speakers and moderators who have experience with your type of event and target audience. Look for those influencers and speakers who are fun and engaging as presenters.
Thoughtful Event Aesthetics
Choosing the right venue, menu, and design themes will either support a more engaging attendee experience or contradict it. Make sure you’re being thoughtful and deliberate about every event detail you plan. That means moving through the venue yourself, navigating to find the restrooms, sampling the catering options, and sitting in the conference room chairs to gauge comfort. Every aesthetic should play a role in improving the guest experience.
Swag and Take Home Goodies
Show your appreciation to your event guests by sending them home with goodies. From cool branded tech to door prizes and swag, event attendees always love a great take-home item. But just as you took the time to carefully select other details for your event, be thoughtful about choosing items your guests will actually use, share, or enjoy.
Don’t Forget About Post-Event Engagement
Today’s event planners are taking the event engagement efforts well beyond the event itself. Consider developing a post-event engagement strategy that maybe includes a follow-up survey and thank-you messaging. You can even share highlight reels and footage from the event using your mobile event app!
Boost your event engagement with these insights! Today’s event planners are getting more creative and savvy about creating incredible and memorable event experiences.
As always, check back often to our ongoing blog series for more event planner industry tips, business practices, and advice. And be sure to get on the waitlist for The Event Planner Expo 2023!