Valuable Face-to-Face Experiences
Sunday, June 4, 2017
When we began the ILEA Global Event Summit, we started with one BIG question: How can we make face- to-face experiences even more valuable and meaningful?
As the event creator, you can easily enhance experiences with thoughtful elements to differentiate an event from its competition. You can make it memorable and shareable and help ensure guests return because they feel a deeper connection to the organization and the event. In my experience, it begins with an understanding of neuroscience. Perhaps this is not what you were expecting – traditionally, an understanding of logistics, or design, or creating a great flow, or even technology are the starting points. In reality, event professionals need to understand people. These days, we know more about how people respond to sound, (natural) and subtle scent, texture, and audio and visual cues, than ever before, yet we don’t always take advantage of this powerful knowledge.
Start with a big venue entrance moment; a wow that raises expectations (gets them excited). Use alternate seating styles, such as a simple mix of sizes and heights of tables, chairs and stools, to create an impact and heighten awareness – this sets the stage for positive interactions to begin. Mix hard and soft textures and create areas where people feel comfortable – tall tables they can stand at with satin, low tables with rich damask, chairs they can sit on briefly to eat, and comfy sofas they can sink into (at last) for a long conversation.
Make the food and beverage irresistible, approachable and when you can, surprising. Chou pastry filled with delectable fillings in shoe boxes (chou – get it?) as seen at TSE; mini red velvet cupcakes with bacon; there are so many choices – work with your caterer to excite your guests and give them a reason to start a conversation while in line.
Ask yourself: Are you engaging every guest through environment, food, scent, music and positive surprise? Are you connecting the dots in ways that will enhance the event experience so they simply ‘have to return’?
We also asked: What role can science and technology play in creating meaningful life events? (when everyone arrives with a supercomputer in their pocket or purse)
We made some PURPLE POINTS
- Gain better understanding of how technology can be used
- Integrate technology with live events to enhance them, not replace them
- Don’t forget the importance of personal interaction
Technology can and should be used to enhance your event. Music provides connections to a place and time and adds energy to a room – use it thoughtfully and it is incredibly powerful. Choose your lighting color to shift moods and you can control where and how people view any element. Lighting is critical to defining an event space, including DMX controlled wrist bands or other personalized elements. Mobile allows us to track movement through an event; to have participants spend in-hand during fundraising events; to deliver social content to all their followers and fellow participants; to enhance learning with polls and surveys; and to allow our participants to be connected in our event and to their “real” worlds in real time – families, friends and yes, work, as needed. Ultimately, understanding our participants and their needs in this new digital reality is our challenge and our greatest opportunity, and I say bring it on!
Tags: event planning , food and beverage , event decor