With every detail worked out in an event, we take another step in creating a unique experience for each participant. Every extra detail – from the first interaction with the event, and here we refer to the official announcement of the event, to the last information received after the event – takes the experience of the participants to another level.

Every time we organize an event, we look for new ways to involve the participants in the event. We create the participant’s experience from the moment we receive the event brief, we put ourselves in his position, we create an imaginary route for him in the event and we find those twists that would make him remember the lived experience and remember it often.

Below you will find a list of twists that will help you take the experience lived by the participants to another level:
1. Event registration system
In recent years, an improvement has been observed in the way registration in the event takes place. The infinite lists and endless queues at the entrance to the event are slowly being abandoned. For example, for a conference with a clear agenda and diverse speakers, offer the possibility for participants to interact with each other and with the speaker before or in during the event offers a complete experience.

2. Giveaways
Gone are the days when participants were used to receiving diaries, pens or mugs, now we are increasingly talking about gadgets such as external or solar batteries, USB sticks in different forms or wireless speakers, things that are aligned with the theme and message of the conference .

3. The content of the event
In order to gain all the attention of the participant in an event, it is necessary to act differently than you have done so far. Try to put aside the classic power point presentations, or if you want you can improve the experience through the design of the presentations. As we mentioned in the Organizational Design article, companies must align themselves with the new changes in the industry.

4. Location setup
Location branding plays a very important role in shaping a complete experience. We recommend to clients that the entire location is aligned with the message of the event – from the hall, to the foyer or the terrace. For example, in the hall we can talk about an imposing scene aligned with the theme of the event, in the lobby we can have an activation that lends itself and challenges the participants, or if we are talking about an event that takes place over several days, and the participants are staying at the hotel, we can take considering a welcome package that will wait for them in the room. It is recommended that the experience of the participants does not stop in the room where the event takes place, for example we accepted the challenge to hold a sales conference on top of the mountain, at an altitude of over 2200 m.

5. Entertainment
Most of the time, the entertainment stops at a band that enlivens a party or a celebration. But we don’t want to stop here, we are looking for out-of-the-box solutions that will bring the WOW of the event, from artistic moments customized to the event to props that will bring a smile to your face, a different Gala Awards, Company or Family Day celebrated on the edge of a lake and with different activities than a banal barbeque.

Conclusion
When you make the brief for an event of your company, raise the bar! Go ahead with the experience you want to offer, we guarantee that the desired results from the participants will come faster and more quickly from them.

If you want to learn more about how you can organize WOW events for your company, write to us and an event consultant will be at your disposal to design and implement WOW events!

By Andrew Fieldhouse, Head of Team Building at Biz Group in Dubai

What is the number 1 trend of human capital in 2016?

“Organizational Design: The Rise of the Team”. It may sound like a Hollywood movie title, but it was identified in “Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2016 report” as the most important trend in 2016. This report contains over 7000 answers given by people from over 130 countries. The reason why Deloitte makes this report is: “Deloitte’s Human Capital specialists make maximum use of research, analysis and industry information to help design and execute human resources, talent development, leadership, organization and change programs that allow the development of business performance through people’s performance.”

We consider that this questionnaire is important for us (implicitly also for you) because the Catalyst Global network exists to change the way people think and work every day – people’s performances enable business development. From the leadership position of Biz Group’s teambuilding division, I am happy to see that teams are taken more and more seriously at the global level.

What are the results of the research?
The report has 124 pages – but as we are all Modern Learners who will not view a video longer than 4 minutes (according to the Bersin by Deloitte infographic):

I will summarize in 20 seconds from the team’s perspective. Number 1 on the list is “Organizational Design”. The report essentially ranks the top 10 trends in order of importance. Research participants were asked to consider terms such as “Learning”, “Culture or engagement” as either “somewhat/not at all important” or “very important/important”. 92% of respondents classified it as very important. Here are 3 essential points from the report:

• “…the executive directors see the need to restructure the organization… the new organization, as we call it, is built around extremely independent teams…”
• “…as companies become more and more agile and customer-oriented, organizations change their structure from the traditional form of functional models to the form given by interconnected and flexible teams.”
• “A new organizational model is growing: “a network of teams” in which companies build independent teams that work on specific projects and challenges.”

What does this mean for you and your company?

Here are the things we need to pay attention to:
If you think that “this does not apply to me”, think again. The world is heading in this direction and if you don’t listen and adapt, you will be left behind. You have the opportunity to adopt this thinking right now.
The workforce is changing, and the people around you (especially young people) have collaborative, cross-functional thinking and with technology in their foreground. Capitalize on this power and turn it to your advantage.
Thirdly, quoting from the report, “the rate of change has increased. 50 years operating under Moore’s law – not only has it propelled technological innovation but also significantly increased the rate of change in business, a rate that requires organizations to be more agile.” Things change only to get everything much faster – don’t swim against the current, be the one who rides the wave.

Article taken and translated from our colleagues, Biz Group.

When the participants are actively involved in a conference, they retain and apply the information taken from the event much more easily.

Turn participation in the event into an experience. When his entire participation in the event turns into an experience, the participants they will be grateful to you by applying the information provided.

Presentations take on a new form
We know how difficult it is to keep the attention of a room of 200-300 participants when you present reports or presentations that seem endless. That is precisely why we propose that the respective presentations be presented in the form of Pecha Kucha or Ignite – two forms of short and dynamic presentations. They limit the speaker to designing the presentation in 20 slides and 20 seconds (Pecha Kucha) or 15 seconds (Ignite) per slide. While these presentations bring smiles to faces and capture the audience’s attention, their impact is maximized by the post-presentation discussion sessions with the speakers.

For example, last year, we organized a conference for a banking client who presented the results of the previous year and the objectives of the following year in the Pecha Kucha format. The presentations captured the attention of the entire hall through an entertaining method.

Q&A session
To avoid the moments when only one person speaks and the rest of the people participate by listening, launch the challenge for everyone to form teams of two, so everyone has the opportunity to get involved by listening, speaking and thinking. The questions released will take the form of discussions, and pairs of participants will have 30-60 seconds to think of an answer that will be discussed in pairs.

Body Voting
Also known as Human Graphs, Human Spectrogram or Continuum Voting, it is one of the most versatile participatory techniques used. Basically, the speaker asks a question and offers a certain number of answers, and the participants must distribute themselves in the room according to the desired answer.

For example, ask the people in the room to move to a certain place in the room that corresponds to the place where they live or work. Once you arrive at the right place, invite them to introduce themselves to the people next to them, offer their business card, etc.

An alternative with a techy twist to this method is Who’s Who – using tablets installed on 6 colored pillars, the participants are challenged to express their choices regarding certain given themes. Learn more about this activity >>

Change of places
In order to encourage networking between the participants at the tables, between two sessions they announce a change of seats. For example, the change can be done in a funny way, in which each person whose name starts with a letter from the first half of the alphabet takes a seat in the first 3 rows of tables.

In addition, the badge used by the participants can be a creative method of involving the participants. For example, it can contain messages that encourage networking or belonging to a group.

We challenge you to use one of the above techniques for the next conference to see the difference in the involvement of the participants in the event.

by Victor Georgescu, M.I.C.E. Division Manager

The impact of a conference, be it presentation of results or planning, is directly proportional to the understanding of the topics by the participants. Moreover, the achievement of the proposed objectives depends on the extent to which the participants assume and can pass on, in the company, the information received during the event. For this reason, the level of involvement of the participants is often vital for the propagation of information to the implementation levels of the firm.

As we showed you at the beginning of the year, it is increasingly important transforming events into experiences < /a>as attractive and relevant to the people in the room. Also, the connection between the context built for the delivery of the conference and its content is very important. Some of our favorite methods of turning one-way conferences (where participants just sit in a chair and listen) into modern and effective conferences are:

• Breaking the monotony of speeches with energizing activities adapted to the context of the conference. These activities do not only have the effect of relaxing the participants (for better concentration later) , but also the delivery of learning objectives related to the main theme of the event, in an original way.
• Synchronization of the setting with the objectives of the conference. For example, if the goals are ambitious, growth ones, and the participants need to be motivated to be more ambitious, then organizing a grand conference with spectacular decor, with five-star menus and accommodation goes a long way in visualizing success for the participants.
• Challenging participants to take an active role in the development of the agenda. For example, once the conference program is announced, attendees are notified that their progress through the entire agenda depends on the number of interactions between them and the speakers. The more relevant interactions, the more “points” accumulated by the whole group. Condition the achievement of the last points in the program on the total number of points collected up to that point and build a very effective leverage for engaging the participants in the discussions.

The importance of “breaking up” the monotony of conferences grows exponentially as your company’s events become an increasingly common reality. To keep the interest awake, something new is needed, something that can increase the impact of the whole event: the involvement of the participants in real conferences-experience.

We are increasing our team and not anyway! With 5 super cool people!

We made the plan for 2016, we have a new headquarters with a more than perfect attic… but we need 5 more colleagues to do the work, the work!

So, we are looking for 5 uber awesome people for the following jobs:

1. CORPORATE TEAM BUILDING – Project Manager / Facilitator – a professional trainer for our Team Building team –> Apply!

2. KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER Personalized Events – a lucky guy because sales are more beautiful than with us, rarely; unique, desirable products with a super brand behind them -> Apply!

3. SALES SUPPORT Personalized Events – another lucky guy who will learn everything and it’s an excellent first step in the world of events; keyword: super smart -> Apply!

4. SALES AMBASSADOR – Bucharest Technology Week and Internet & Mobile World – active role in the ticket sales team for the 2 biggest technology events in RO –> Apply!

5. KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER – Bucharest Technology Week and Internet & Mobile World – active role in the corporate sales team -> Apply!

You can find out more about our activity on Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #viata_la_universum.

We can’t wait to meet you!

Happy Holidays from us to your house! ? #life_at_the_universe

A photo posted by Universum Events (@universum_events) on December 23, 2015 at 6:48 PST

Because it’s the beginning of the year, the time has come for the most desired article: 2016 trends in events.

The last years have brought major changes in the events industry, in 2015 we talked about technology, participants and end-to solutions -end.

2016 continues to invest in the foundations laid in recent years and takes the event experience to the next level. So, in 2016 the events industry is about:

Events that become Experiences
In 2016, we are no longer talking about events… but about the experience offered by them. The whole event becomes an experience. In the dictionary of experts in events, the word “experience” is very present, and the entire arsenal of an event has adapted in this direction. For example, new event technologies offer many more opportunities for interaction, both during and before and after the event, which turns everything into an experience.

Creating an Emotional Link between Brand and Consumers
It is more and more clearly visible that the relationship between the consumer and the brand is no longer as transactional as it used to be. By giving the participant as many elements of a complete experience as possible, he gets to invest emotions in the respective brand. From here to the growth of brand awareness and loyalty, there is still… just one more experience to offer!

Technology integration
One very important thing that the events industry has understood is automation. The need to have a clearer ROI (Return on Investment) of an event, but also to save time invested in painstaking activities, led to the creation of technologies to automate processes. Not only do they make the life of an event planner much easier, but they remove from the system processes that made the experience of the participants low-quality.

Use of Event Applications
The need for an application for the event is becoming more and more evident. The experience of the participants becomes much more complete with its help. For example, My Connector, not only helps the registration process to be much faster, but also facilitates the interaction with the other participants in event as well as the speakers. The application is also useful post-event, offering valuable insights about the participants and their experience.

Creativity
Surprise or not… creativity “is the new black”. This trend is constantly present every year. If one thing is certain in the events industry, it is the use of creativity. Right from its design process to the moment of development, from the set-up of the location, to the names of the food and drinks or the way the bar is arranged and the way the staff interacts.

So, 2016 is about the legacy left by 2015: complete experiences, technology and personalization.

We like to learn from:

• Event Farm
• Event Manager Blog
• Ungerboeck
• Meetings Imagined