Event organizers work long hours and juggle busy schedules to pull off a great event. If the audience fails to engage during the event, they may not deliver the level of ROI organizers, sponsors, and speakers expect. Maximum engagement is the ultimate goal of conferences, workshops, seminars, and tradeshows. To boost engagement in an increasingly digitalized world, speakers, organizers, and other stakeholders often leverage cutting-edge technology.
- Develop multi-channel content. In the past, getting in front of a real person during the event offered the only valuable engagement opportunity. Today, attendees engage with content through a variety of mediums. They may listen to a seminar, follow along on a mobile app, peruse printed brochures, conduct a mobile search for speaker background information, and download information to explore later.
Successful event organizers anticipate the most common audience interaction channels and use them to strengthen the event’s theme and messages, and create a cohesive brand and voice across all mediums. Technology is a tool, but the content generated through that tool can ultimately shape attendee takeaways and future actions.
- Explore the power in technology demonstrations. New technology demonstrations usually create buzz at live events. Head to any tech tradeshow and watch where the crowds gather. You’ll likely see them standing in line to experience an entertaining, tech-driven demonstration.
Virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence personalities, and gesture control products all reveal a window into the world of tomorrow. Savvy event organizers use these crowd-pleasing technologies to tell stories, offer insights, and deliver valuable content to a captivated audience.
- Get social. Roughly 76% of Americans check their Facebook accounts on a daily basis. Professionals also spend time on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. The world is social and events should be, too. The number of ways event organizers can use social media to drive audience engagement is endless. Consider:
- Livestreaming the event on a supported platform
- Creating an event hashtag on Twitter and participating in the conversation
- Updating social accounts with event videos, images, and messages
- Encouraging attendees to continue the conversation online
- Promoting vendors and sponsors on social media
- Use mobile technology. Around 77% of U.S. citizens own smartphones. Most attendees wouldn’t consider going to an event without a mobile phone for networking, research, and communication purposes. Vendors, speakers, and organizers can take advantage of this with mobile-friendly event activities.
- Feedback applications. Live poll applications like Poll Everwhere, Glisser, and social media polls allow audience members to engage with presentations in real time.
- Microphone applications. Applications can turn audience members’ phones into mobile microphones for increased clarity. Try Crowd Mics.
- Informational applications. Custom event apps and mobile-friendly sites streamline registration and give attendees all the event information they need on a mobile device.
- Digitalize event swag. Instead of sending attendees away with yet another USB stick, a lanyard, or other branded swag, consider a digital goodie bag filled with content, coupons, and tokens attendees can use after the event. Unlike a physical swag bag, digital bags give event organizers and vendors an opportunity to track all activities and optimize bags for future events. Eventbaxx and Virtual Event Bags both offer customizable setups that organizers can use to create a value-enhanced digital swag bag.
Brighten audience engagement outlooks with technology solutions you can invest in today. These ideas offer value to both event organizers and audience members who want more from an event than a day of speeches and a handful of brochures.
