Yes, You Can Have 100% Engagement At Your Event Too

Memorable events all have one thing in common: attendee engagement. If you want to make a lasting impression on your guests, they need to connect to your event message and to each other. Make them feel part of the event, instead of just a witness.

It’s up to you, the event organizer, to provide such a meaningful experience.

Find out what your attendees want to get out of your event — networking, learning, developing their skills,… — and focus on those aspects. This way, you can create an interactive experience that involves and really benefits the attendees.

Here are 6 ways to get 100% engagement at your event.

1. Create a well-balanced event schedule

Remember those long, dull school days? Dragging yourself from class to class, until you’re practically brain dead. That’s not how you want the guests to experience your event. How do you keep everyone energized?

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Creating an engaging experience starts with developing a well-balanced event schedule.

Variation is the key to keeping the attendees’ experience fresh and their minds sharp. Alternate theoretical talks with interactive experiences such as workshops and networking sessions. Attendees will connect to speakers more easily, and time will fly by.

A 30 minute break time in between longer activities is also crucial. Don’t make your attendees tired, or worse: bored. Give them a break to stretch their legs, get some coffee or network with other attendees. After having a relaxing break, they will be more involved with the next session.

2. Organize engaging presentations

What do you prefer to listen to: a 1 hour long monologue or a compelling, concise TED-style talk? Right. Your attendees will as well.

This second tip is an obvious but essential one: make sure your speakers really connect with their audience.

Here are a few ways to make sure a talk is engaging:

  • Speak directly to the audience and make eye contact – No reading notes word-for-word
  • Show highly visual slides, with pictures and graphics – No text based PowerPoint presentation
  • Ask questions and encourage audience participation – No long monologue

3. Make time for networking during your event

A lot of the networking occurs during the break time and area. So you want to set aside an area for this. – Stephanie S. Selesnick, CEM, President, International Trade Information, Inc. (source)

A networking area is always a good idea, especially if your event attracts mostly business people. Also make sure you create enough time for people to engage and network with each other. A networking session before the event, long breaks and an after party are excellent occasions for your attendees to get to know each other.

4. Hand out personalized name badges

Your guests now have time and an area to network. Make it even easier for them to start talking and connecting, by making personalized name badges. Here are the 3 basics to print on such a badge:

  • name
  • job title
  • Twitter name

Afraid your attendees won’t know what to say?

You can avoid awkward “Hello, I’m X. – I’m Y. – OK. – …”-conversations by also including a topic of interest on the attendee badges. “Talk to me about…” stimulates conversation more than “Hello, my name is…”.

5. Organize a contest

Everybody loves free giveaways. An exclusive prize? Even better. A contest to win a prize will definitely grab your attendees’ attention. Ask them to share a selfie on your social media channels or to vote for their favourite speaker, and reward them for it.

A fun contest makes participation and engagement rates fly up.

6. Encourage social sharing

Being sociable at an event isn’t only about shaking hands and exchanging business cards. It’s also about tweeting, retweeting and posting pictures online.

If you’re lucky – or have a well-rounded marketing strategy – some attendees are already active on your online platforms before they step foot in your venue. Now is the time to integrate social in the live event. Stimulate guests to engage in the online conversation. Draw attention to your event’s online social channels. Promote the event’s user name and hashtag.

Displaying a live Twitter feed is the easiest and most effective way to make attendees aware of the online discussion. There are many reasons and creative ways to display a Twitter wall. But even a simple display will immediately show attendees that there’s an online conversation is going on, and how they can join in.

Don’t wait for your guests. As an organiser, you should start and keep the conversation going. There are many ways to do that. You can share:

  • questions
  • memorable quotes of speakers
  • fun photos of attendees and the event
  • practical information about the time schedule

Feel creative? Then you can also organize online games and contests, using your event hashtag.

Increase event engagement to make a lasting impression on your attendees

100% attendee engagement at your event is not just a dream. With these 6 strategies and these powerful ways to increase pre and post event engagement, it becomes a real attainable goal. Your attendees will have an amazing time and look forward to your next event.

Know any other ways to engage attendees? We love to hear your stories!

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