If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten
- Registrations have gradually decreased over the past few years, or tickets are just generally harder to sell
- Fewer sponsorship from businesses you’ve worked with in the past
- Finding that you’ve reused the same value proposition year after year
- General feedback that potential participants feel they’ve “already been to” your event
- Having a hard time generating “buzz” or interest
- Do you really know why you’re delivering THIS conference?
- How does this event add value to your business, your delegates, your customers?
- What have you done to ensure that you really know what your attendees want? (One way to figure this out is to use post-conference surveys to inform next year’s planning!)
The point is, the best thing you can do for the success of your event is to take a good look at what you’re doing and how your conference is being delivered to the attendees. If they can’t identify the value they’re receiving, then your event strategy needs some tweaking!
This part of conference organising is what the Auaha team calls the strategic event planning phase. We love to partner up with you and help develop event strategies that your events team can then implement with confidence. (These strategy sessions surprise some people…often there is a misperception that we only take on entire events. Not true!)
If you know you have a team capable of taking on the actual event creation, we’re more than happy to sit down with you and develop a strong framework and sensible strategy that will make your event shine.
- A clear vision for WHY the event is happening, as well as how the event fits into your business model and contributes to outcomes
- A clear understanding of WHO your ideal delegate is and what they really want (and need) to gain from attending your event
- A stated event objective, such as education, skill building, networking, or incentive/offering
It also helps if you’re able to fully consider who your attendees are and what their experience is going to be. One way of doing this is to put yourself in their shoes as you plan out the programme. This includes considering their entire experience:
- How will they park and get into the event (do you need to have signs in areas that might be tricky to navigate for out-of-towners?)
- What does the time between doors opening and first session beginning offer? Never underestimate the power of great coffee and light refreshments here! Try to provide space for networking, make access to bathrooms easy, and set the tone with lighting, a automated slideshow presentation, or music.
- How will delegates spend their day? You must find a way to balance educational content and fun activities, as no one wants to sit in a chair from 9am to 5pm without a chance to move, speak, or mingle.
- What connections will your delegates make? Although some people are notorious for making new friends wherever they go, many find social networking difficult. How are you creating intentional moments to help all attendees connect and form new relationships? (Happy hour doesn’t count if it is your only plan for socialising!)
- Is technology necessary? Discouraged? Communicate clearly about supplies delegates should bring to the event, and try to provide a charging area if technology is encouraged.
- Printing handouts? Do your best to make one packet that can be handed out at once and used throughout the day (rather than many single handouts being passed out throughout the course of the day).