10 TIPS TO BOOST ATTENDEE EXPERIENCE
Here are 10 easy ways to make your attendee's experience seamless, personalized, and engaging.
Here are 10 easy ways to make your attendee's experience seamless, personalized, and engaging.
Attendee experience encompasses more than simply how your event attendees feel on-site at your event. It is important to consider how they feel before, during and after your event. If you improve your attendee experience, it means a higher percentage of repeat attendance year-over-year and a positive impact on your company’s reputation and bottom line.
Here are our top tips on how you can deliver the best attendee experience at your next event.
Choose Your ToolsSet yourself up for success and choose the right tools for your event. Do you have the resources to manage event housing yourself? If so, consider using Meetingmax’s licenced software.
Next up, your registration platform. There’s so many options out there! Ensure your platform of choice has an open-API so attendees can move seamlessly from registration to housing, pulling their data over to avoid re-entering their information all over again. Rainfocus and Aventri are great platforms with stellar integrations with Meetingmax. This means an easy-breezy experience for your attendees.
Integrate the ExperienceIntegration between your housing software and other event tech means an easy-breezy digital experience for your attendees. If your platforms are integrated, attendees can move seamlessly from registration to housing, pulling their data over to avoid re-entering their data all over again. For our own Event, Unconvention, we used Aventri registration and integrated with Meetingmax for Room Block Management.
Left: Registration site on Aventri as seen by the attendee. Right: Room Block reservation site through Meetingmax. The consistent branding and integrated platforms make the attendee experience seamless.
Choose the Right VenueYour host city really sets the tone for your event. Choose a host city that is central for attendees and offers unique and exciting venues. It’s been proven that switching up the scenery and moving between venues for different sessions enhances the learning experience at events. Consider offering pre or post event activities that allow your attendees to explore the city and the opportunity to do something new and exciting!
Negotiate Your Room BlockOnce you’ve chosen your destination, it’s time to lock it in. It’s important to do your homework and conduct a rate audit before signing that contract. See what rates other hotels in the area are offering, and use that as a point of leverage in your negotiations. Don’t forget, CVBs and DMOs are your friends! They are great allies to help you get the most out of your contract and might be able to give you incentives (cash or otherwise) to entice you into their city.
When you’re in negotiations, don’t let attrition be the death of you. Reduce the risk of attrition costs by negotiating tiered rates, offer to increase F&B spending if you know that won’t be an issue, or see if you can add more concessions to your agreement. If budget allows, consider passing some of these benefits on to your attendees such as discounted rates or complimentary enhanced wi-fi as a concession. Any added benefits you can provide will help to improve attendee experience.
Optimize Your Room BlockOnce you have your room block locked in, you need to make sure the attendees actually use it. If you want to make sure attendees are booking within your room block, make it easy for them. 24/7 system access, real time inventory, and advanced sub-block capabilities make Meetingmax super handy in keeping your guests in the room block you worked so hard to negotiate. Attendees appreciate being able to make reservations and room changes at a time that works for them.
Don’t kick off your attendee’s experience by making them wait in a long check-in line. Use tools like mobile check in kiosks or on-demand badge printing to get your attendees on their way ASAP. Or for a more personal touch, turn badge distribution into an ice-breaking game! Pick up a name badge that isn’t your own, and try and find its owner.
Event BrandingBranding your event has a huge impact on attendee experience. Ensuring consistent colours, fonts, and messaging will let your attendee know they’re in the right place. This goes for directional signage, powerpoint templates, and digital communications.
Events are all about connections. Attendees are there not only to connect with your brand, but also with each other. To boost attendee experience, give people the nudge they might need to get to know one another a little better. Get creative with your icebreakers, and leave plenty of time for networking.
Make it your goal to foster meaningful relationships rather than just LinkedIn connections.
You can’t improve what you don’t know. After each event, be sure to send out a satisfaction survey to gather feedback. This will give you valuable feedback to improve your next event, and hopefully provide great sound bytes to use in next year’s marketing.
You just put on a great event, congrats! Now you’ve got folders of keynote presentations and hundreds of photos, don’t let them die in your archives. Keep attendees engaged by publishing blog posts with takeaways from your sessions, post photo albums on social media, and generate hype for your next event.
This allows those who attended to be reminded of the great time they had, and follow up on any calls to action. If someone couldn’t attend, they’ll see what they missed out on and mark next year’s event on their calendar.
Follow these 10 simple tricks to boost attendee experience at your next event!