The 5 Essentials to Make Your Gathering Meaningful to Attendees

Are you making this costly mistake in event planning?

In the high-stakes world of event planning and conferences, it’s all too easy to get swept up in the mechanics of execution while losing sight of the very people who breathe life into our events and conferences. Event coordinators spend time and resources perfecting the registration process, developing engaging materials, and implementing the latest software solutions. However, when the event draws to a close, and the attendees head home, there is a noticeable lack of investment in learning from these critical stakeholders. And this oversight is a big mistake.

By failing to gather meaningful insights and feedback from our attendees, we’re operating with limited insight for the next event, unable to identify the missed opportunities for growth and improvement. In a competitive landscape where attendees have more events to attend than ever before, neglecting to understand and learn from our audience is a risk we simply can’t afford to take. If we want to create truly exceptional events that leave a lasting impact, we must start by investing in learning from the people who matter most: our attendees.

We conduct a handful of annual evaluations for event planners for events from 150 to 5,500. As former event coordinators, we want to help take one more burden off the shoulders of those who are entrusted with creating special events. We all know that listening to attendees is important, but it takes a bit more time and effort to do that well and to get truly helpful insights.

By investing in having us conduct your event evaluations, we can almost guarantee that you’ll “earn that back” in more attendees than you would have had with just a more common way of listening to your attendees.

Here are a few things our research has learned about conferences:

1. The opening “big room” event is the most important session of your conference. The initial session sets the tone for the entire conference and most people, including exhibitors and talent, work to attend it. It’s the first major touchpoint where you capture the attendees’ attention and interest. Ensure that this event has dynamic content and engages your attendees’ interest. Our research continues to show that the content in the first main session has a higher chance of enduring long-term and is among the most significant at the end of the conference.
2. Up to half of your attendees will begin to unplug from your conference on the second day. Unfortunately, people get tired of sitting in rows and they also begin to meet with others outside of the formal programming. The exhibit hall tends to be a draw for vendor conversations and the seminar lineup becomes ala carte. These are all important for your event, but it also may be worthwhile to schedule your highest-profile talent on this day.
3. Those who have attended your event for seven years or more will hardly participate in anything. Unfortunately, unless your event offers credentials, those who have been there for a few years will only go to a few events that you’ve planned. You’ll otherwise find them in hotel restaurants or the bar down the street, connecting with other long-time attendees. In fact, our research has shown a significant line at “year seven” for this behavior change. We think it’s now closer to five. We recommend not fighting this and instead creating an explicit networking event or reception for those who have been long-time attendees.
4. 4. Good design matters. We live in a visual age, and recognizing that every event has a “look,” you need to think about backgrounds, signage, handouts, projection screens/TVs, and what those in front will wear. Good design matters more now than ever, and your attendees will notice.
5. Good content matters even more. When the event is long over, its meaningfulness will be determined by how attendees evaluate it. Trust us. It will be the content that keeps them spending the cash to come back, and that content looks like inspiration, ideas, and insider access that they can’t get anywhere else.
6. Networking is the number one value for attendees. Networking opportunities is often a primary draw for many attendees, offering them professional growth and business opportunities. Facilitate structured networking sessions, such as speed networking, topic tables, or networking apps tailored for your event. Ensure there are spaces conducive to informal interactions.
7. Discussions that aren’t Q&A are growing in demand among attendees. Our research shows this to be a growing trend, often the reason people attend an event. Most of your attendees are going to other conferences as well. You want yours to be the place to gather with others. The desire for discussion is real, an event where there can be a dialogue between attendees and those on stage. People don’t want to network or do Q and A; they want to “discuss,” and discussion has a back-and-forth quality.
8. Take care of your foodies. The icing on the cake (sometimes literally) will be the food. If it’s the “same ol’ same old” or it’s obviously cheap, that will contribute to poor memories. However, if the quality of food and beverage (and how it’s presented, see #4) is upbeat and healthy, it significantly impacts the overall event experience and attendees’ satisfaction. This gets trickier, we know, when you have to offer diverse and high-quality food options that cater to various dietary preferences and restrictions. But do it. It’s worth it.

Ironically, event organizers boast about creating community and dialogue, but when it comes to event evaluation, they give it scant attention and throw out a short survey that looks uninteresting. Ironically, it communicates a disinterest in hearing what attendees, talent, and vendors say about the event. And we know that about half of attendees are not planning to return for the next event (see #2).

We think we can help change that. Thrum provides a very affordable and fully customized event evaluation package that reveals the nuances and timelines of attendees’ participation and resistance while segmenting the audience into explanatory groups. Connect with us today to learn more.