This means conference days of six hours of speakers with lunch and tea breaks are no longer the recipe for a successful event.
“But I don’t want my staff just stuffing around!” comes the call from senior management. It’s true too. It doesn’t mean that you just pad the day with fun but meaningless activities. So, what can you do?
Here are some options:
- Set a requirement for all speakers to have audience engagement
- Minimise sessions with senior managers telling delegates how things are and create sessions where delegates have the chance to share how things are for them
- Increase your break times for more networking
- Have structured networking activities where delegates get to share expertise
- Run “Fishbowl” or interactive delegate sessions where they are the experts
- Take advantage of the venue and all the specialities it has to offer
- Take advantage of the location and include off-site activities
- Include more facilitated or workshop sessions that are active learning opportunities with measured outcomes
- Engage more senses – use music, movement, singing, taste and smell
- Be more inclusive – too many of our delegates are unintentionally excluded by our language, access or methods. We can do better
- Have more fun
Our delegates demand that we take risks on our stage to lift our events to the next level. Let’s face it, why have an event that is “ho hum” when it could really be a “WAHOY!”
Let’s take it to the next level, your delegates will love you for it (and so will your bottom line!).
Warwick Merry is a global award-winning event host and event evangelist. For 25 years he has been hosting and producing online, hybrid and in-person events. He is the host of the Making Events Awesome livestream and monthly Conference Organisers Forum.
