Keeping your guests active and involved during an event can be complex. However, a long-lasting and positive guest experience is crucial in your event’s success. You’ll want to make an impression on guests that they’ll remember long after they leave. Creating a fun and interactive experience ensures they make connections and return to your business in the future.
How to Engage Attendees at Events
Crowd engagement is a critical component of any memorable event. Without it, guests may leave feeling bored or forget your marketing attempts after leaving. Here are five event engagement tips for you to consider.
1. Start Building Excitement Before the Event
Aim to generate excitement with your promotional efforts. Without an initial buzz, your attendance might be lower than you’d hoped. From posting on a blog to using social media, there are many ways to encourage engagement before the event begins.
If you have a blog, it can be one of the best promotional resources at your fingertips. Generate anticipation by writing blog posts promoting various aspects of the event. You can also create a unique Twitter hashtag to get people talking.
2. Have the Right Entertainment for Your Audience
Knowing your audience can help you choose entertainment. For example, if you organize a community event, you will want family-friendly activities for all ages. Ask yourself if the entertainment you’re planning is relevant to the type of event you are hosting.
If you are hosting an in-person event, consider adding games or competitions to the schedule. When hosting a virtual event, consider live chats, polls or Q&A opportunities to keep members engaged. However you incorporate entertainment, attendees will appreciate the break.
3. Leverage Interactive and Immersive Experiences
Using interactive and immersive experiences can keep guests intrigued throughout the event. Without games, vendors or themed attractions, your guests might become bored or want to leave early without fully interacting with your brand. Give them something to look forward to before the event starts and keep them interested throughout the day.
For example, you can create live polls to encourage interactions during live speaker events. Even the most captivating speaker can’t hold people’s attention for hours. Many attendees enjoy interactive elements incorporated into a keynote session. Ask your attendees to weigh in on various aspects of the presentation, or use the poll as an icebreaker before the session begins. Marketers and communications experts can also use the data collected from polls to predict what guests might want for future events. In many cases, the information they receive can be valuable in improving events for years to come.
Next, create a game, themed attraction, award or competition for your guests to enjoy. Many brands like to incorporate scavenger hunts into their event. Guests can travel through the venue and collect items or cross off a list of visual cues to try and win a prize at the end of the day. To encourage brand interaction, you can keep the entry information at your booth — people must stop by and talk to your staff to participate.
Most people enjoy playing games and receiving rewards due to a principle called gamification. Gamification ensures the audience becomes the story’s narrator, making them more likely to interact with your brand. You can promote networking while also encouraging them to revisit you.
4. Hire a Professional Event Planner
Hiring a professional planner can make your event smooth, efficient and streamlined. You can also leverage their ideas and industry experience to bring new ideas to your event.
Treadway Events offers reliable and professional event planning and production services. We provide various services, including event design, creative planning, sponsorship planning and concept development. Our company can also assist with marketing tactics and advertising campaigns, helping you drive more guests to your events and brand.
With advice from our experienced event planners, you can choose plans and solutions that fit you, your customers and your team members. Our seasoned producers can save you time and money while maximizing the event’s impact on your guests. If planning your next exciting event, consider partnering with a trustworthy company like Treadway Events.
5. Post-Event Engagement Matters, Too
Keep your company and brand in your guests’ minds long after they leave the event. First, thank your guests for attending the event through a well-worded email. Thank-you emails help keep the engagement going post-event, and can be relatively simple to put together.
In the email, tell your guests how much you enjoyed seeing them at the event. You can also make the email personal to each guest by automatically inserting their name and creating content that fits their likes and needs. The email should also recap the event with photos, videos or a collection of social media posts using the hashtag you created. Send a thank-you email after every event to increase engagement and encourage further connection to your brand.
Next, you should send a survey to collect feedback. Incorporate audience suggestions into your next event to make it even better than the last.
In the survey, ask the attendees these questions.
- Was it helpful?
- Was it informative?
- What would you change?
- What would you keep?
- Will you engage with our brand in the future?
Finally, start marketing for your next event by encouraging attendees to save the date or giving them a sneak peek of your plans. When you stay in touch with guests and keep your brand top of mind long after the event is over, they are more likely to attend the next thing you host.
Contact Treadway Events to Get Started on Your Next Event
Treadway Events is an event planning agency servicing various companies and industry types, including Fortune 500 companies, private clients, nonprofit organizations and consumer brands. Our company can create memorable events for guests through reliable event planning and marketing support. We offer services such as planning and project management, creative development, event marketing and sponsorship and live event production. Whether you want to create memorable festivals and concerts or fun brand activities to excite your guests, Treadway Events can help you find the best solution for your needs. Contact us today to speak to a representative or call us at 971-257-1797.
