The energy in the room

There’s nothing worse for a speaker than to see members of the audience snoozing during their keynote. It might have something to do with the previous night’s cocktail hour, but the chances are, they’re just not that engaged. Holly Patrick explores how you can get things buzzing...

The promise of a well-stocked buffet, a few educational sessions and clinking a cold-one at the bar with colleagues at the end of congress doesn’t do a lot to excite and energise delegates anymore.

While those three factors remain integral to the success of an offline conference, delegates expect more now, especially in the current online-meeting landscape. So how can you excite and engage your delegates?

Attract the right audience

Eric de Groot, co-founder of MindMeeting, explains that to get delegates in the right frame of mind pre-event, whether it’s on or offline, you must be specific about what your event is and what it is offering, in order for the right audience to engage and attend.

“Don't put energy in people that are not engaged or not interested, forget them,” says de Groot, but in order to do this, you need to communicate the purpose of the conference. “Very seldom is it clearly articulated why that conference needs to take place in that specific moment in time. It explains the content, yes, and it assumes that people will understand but there's no extra information. So, your communication needs to be 10 times more specific.”

EuropeanIssuers’ event manager, Bade Kizilaslan agrees that planners need to be, ‘clear about what you are offering’, and not just “consider what the sexiest topic is but to consider what your target audience is interested in and what they want to learn or discuss.”

Get back to basics

Maarten Vanneste, senior consultant at Meeting Design Institute, argues that webinars shouldn't be the norm when it comes to virtual events. “We have to stop doing webinars atart doing online meetings – we need to get back to basics.”

Vanneste adds that if you apply the basic principles of a successful conference, which are learning, networking and motivation, to an online meeting format, your delegates will be engaged pre-event and throughout.

“But if you’re only doing one - education, you’re dumping all this information into the brains of people and after 15 minutes, we need time to process the information. So, give us a break and let us think about the content and talk to other people about it. While we do that, we meet other people, and we’ll reconnect with old friends.”

Networking & interaction

According to a survey conducted by IAEE, PCMA, and The Experience Institute, three out of every four of the respondents stated that networking was one of the most important reasons for attending events. So, the promise of structured networking in online or offline events is necessary to get delegates in the right frame of mind. But leaving networking to chance during coffee and lunch breaks could devalue these interactions and Vanneste explains that networking should be brought into the education sessions.

In an offline event, this can be achieved by issuing a seating plan and reducing the speakers’ time so more networking can happen at tables. Vanneste adds that in-session networking during online events presents more of a challenge but it can be achieved with planning.

In-session networking also allows delegates to participate and contribute, as Mireille Swakhoven, senior congress manager at FIP explains. “Give delegates a chance to actively participate, by asking questions, sharing comments and providing their own experience, I think that especially for virtual events, people like to have the feeling that they are included and that their contribution is appreciated.”

Creating fun

Fun is an essential element to creating excitement and according to Elling Hamso, former president of the European MPI Chapter and co-planner of its AGM, “You can do the most childish, hilarious things with CEOs in pinstripe suits and they love it.”

As was the case at the first online European MPI Chapter Presidents’ Alumni AGM and Dinner in May 2020 which involved digitalising traditional initiations, comedy and a lot of planning.

Stats show that 80 per cent of attendees stayed until the end, 95 per cent said the event met or exceeded they expectation and 70 per cent they were ‘very much’ engaged throughout. So, how did the European MPI Chapter pull this off? Firstly, “by getting off on the right footing” says Hamso.

Ensuring each guest felt personally welcome was high on the engagement-agenda for Hamso and his team who greeted each guest in the Zoom waiting room before they were ‘admitted’ into the larger networking room. “It's important to get off on the right footing. Just that little detail, so everyone feels incredibly important.”

In keeping with previous years, new members were also inaugurated to the Chapter in which, “they kneel on a pillow and I have a syringe prefilled with beetroot juice and pretend to draw the ‘blood’ which is mixed into this jar of beetroot juice.

“Everybody knows it a whole load of nonsense,” Hamso adds, but that’s the point.

Content vs Destination

Not too long ago, the lure of an intriguing destination and a beautiful hotel would be a guaranteed way to excite delegates. While this will ring true once more when international travel and physical events resume, for now, the home office is as exciting as it gets. Vanneste argues that “with all of that taken away, we have to focus more on providing good education to get your delegates excited.”

And this education must be tailored, says CWT Meetings & Events global VP, Ian Cummings, “We need to give attendees options to tailor the agenda to suit their needs. Make sure they can answer the question, ‘what’s in it for me?’ easily. Serious content needs to be complimented with fun and learning, engaging CSR activities connecting with local environment and plenty of networking opportunities with new colleagues.

“It’s critically important that we are creative with agendas, guest speakers, engagement activities and tailored takeaways.

Instead of investing in a high-end hotel with five-star catering, Cummings explains budgets can be spent “investing in a creative platform, specifically designed to look and feel like the company, but in a virtual world. Create separate rooms for people navigate around, to make it exciting, engaging and exceptional. Whatever happens, whether its live, face-to-face or virtual – invest sensibly.”

Whether it’s an online or offline event, if a delegate is excited to attend an event, they’re likely to stay engaged throughout and leave feeling inspired, which means you, as an event planner, have done your job.