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Incorporating low-stress opportunities for games — like a “Happy Play Hour” — can help spur creativity and connection at events.
Eventgoers no longer wish to attend an event just for the sake of attending. They want to know that their most valuable investment — their time — is justified and that they will get something in return. The key to ensuring that they do? Designing an event for engagement.
Engagement in an event setting is a holistic approach to helping like-minded people connect through shared interests to achieve purpose. It is time well spent. By producing meetings and events focused on engagement, industry professionals can increase an event’s return on investment for attendees which will benefit their business’ bottom line, too.
From creating flexible content to utilizing polls to evaluate real-time sentiments, what follows are tried-and-tested tactics for designing an event that will successfully engage attendees, plus easy tips for getting started.
1. Empower Attendees to Customize Their Experience
Event organizers can ensure diverse preferences are met through flexible content, formats, and offerings. By giving more options, organizers empower attendees to make the most of their event experience. Identifying attendee personas is one way organizers can kickstart the creation of more personalized pathways.
Expert tip: Describe sessions and what participants can expect at the start of an event, allowing attendees to make better, faster decisions about what will meet their needs. To help encourage easier networking, offer participants identifiers — such as a badge or visual cue — to help break the ice with each other.
2. Foster Authentic Connections Between Guests
People have an inherent need to bond. Creating a safe, welcoming environment where people can share more than surface-level information is essential for increasing attendee engagement.
Expert tip: Incorporate reflective activities and gamification into networking opportunities to foster deeper connections using themes like family, home and travel.
3. Survey Audience Engagement by Measuring Feelings
Understanding how attendees feel during an event offers insight into how engaged they are in an experience. This can help designers produce more impactful experiences in the future.
Expert tip: Use emoji stickers or other interactive polling methods to gather feedback and assess emotional resonance throughout the event.
4. Encourage Collaboration Through Play
Play fosters collaboration, co-creation and personal expression. It is a wonderful way to transform passive attendees into active participants to ensure engagement during an event.
Expert tip: For example, while exploring how play can increase engagement at events, Marriott International found success using tactile tools like building blocks and slime to provide inclusive sensory experiences that every attendee can enjoy.
5. Focus on Values That Matter Most to Customers
Aligning event activities with customer values leads to meaningful interactions and engagement. For example, according to Business Wire, 75 percent of U.S. and U.K. consumers are uncomfortable purchasing from brands with poor personal data ethics. Similar sentiments regarding honoring values are expected from events.
Expert tip: Develop event content that showcases how your organization or company demonstrates its values within the community, like highlighting partnerships, employee volunteerism, or support for local initiatives.
Find more detailed insights and practical steps for increasing engagement at meetings and events within Marriott International’s Designing for Engagement toolkit.
