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As event organizers we want to always be one step ahead and always surprise our audience. And on our to do list there is no “something to suit everyone” or “it’s been done before”.
Over 260 events organized last year and just as many reasons to want to take the event experience to another level. Reviewing what we learned from their organization and what we liked about others, we leave below some ideas to offer an interactive format of a conference.
#1 Demo Day
If your company has a wide range of products and services, you can organize a Demo Day event. Offer clients and potential clients the experience of your company. For example, if you have a large community that you normally keep engaged through various forms of digital communication, dedicate a day to invite them “to your home”. Or organize an in-house event where they have the possibility to interact with your employees, to test their favorite products and services. Either, you organize an event in a dedicated location, where you have a conference and expo type event format.
We organize Universum Inspiration Day. A day in which we invite people from the HR, Internal Comm or Marketing departments to present them with all the news regarding events – from information in the form of presentations, interesting speakers, apps and tech events. There are also activations or expo areas with the newest products from our portfolio.
#2 Eventex: Time allotted for Q&A preparation
At most conferences, the Q&A session is the only moment dedicated to the interaction between participants and speakers or the content presented.
At the Eventex Conference, the moderator invited the participants to write down 3 questions they have for the next speaker. Thus, the participants were attentive if the speaker answered their questions. After the presentation, the speaker proposed to those who have not yet received an answer to ask the questions through an event application. Afterwards, the questions with the most votes received the answers. Thus, most questions were answered through a 10-minute Q&A session.
#3 IMEX: replacing presentations with polls< /span>
I noticed that it has become a trend for speakers to energize the audience using live polls. Most of the time, they are just a bridge to the presentation. However, there are also speakers who support their presentation through these surveys, and the experience is truly impressive.
For example, last year at IMEX, Padraic Giligan and Patrick Delaney from SoolNua gave up any type of presentation and sent their message through live polls. They started with two more “light” questions to get people comfortable with the app and the format.
#4 Shorter and more dynamic presentations
I was talking in a previous article about speakers’ presentations. About how you can bring WOW, a faster learning process and greater engagement of the participants. From Poster Sessions, PechaKucha 20×20, Ignite Talks or interactive sessions with several speakers.
Event applications can also be used. A panel is organized with 4-5 speakers and a moderator, and the participants can ask questions to the speakers through the application. Thus, the speakers’ discussion is personalized and in accordance with the audience’s expectations.
Depending on the objective of the event, the type of audience and the format of the event, you can create a quality experience for the participants. We live in times where the quality offered is within the reach of any event organizer, you only need a minimum of information about your audience.