Sarah Danzl is the chief marketing officer at Skillable.
While events are a key strategy for many marketing teams, they involve a large commitment in time and money, with the estimated cost per attendee rising by 25% between 2019 and 2022. Even with the economic climate, however, people are returning to the in-person event circuit, according to American Express.
When planning their 2024 events, marketers must navigate goals, budgets and metrics. With these factors in mind, here are some important considerations for the upcoming yearâs event plans:
Memorable Experiences
Iconic locations can drive even locals to attend. Think about a networking event in the Eiffel Tower, a client event on an NYC rooftop, dinner inside Tower Bridge. These ideas can turn every moment into an experience.
The examples above may be on the pricier side, but being memorable doesnât have to be unaffordable. You can bring the local city to your event with food, signature drinks, local music and gifts.
Engaging Content
Start with deciding the purpose of the event. If the goal is to drive registrations, a big-name keynote can help. If your goal is to drive pipeline progression, a smaller event with client speakers might do the trick.
Either way, content is the heart. Make it informative, engaging and relevant. Incorporate interactive elements like gamification, workshopping and live polls. You can also release exclusive content (research, product announcements, a surprise speaker) at your event.
Accessibility
As diversity and inclusion continue to be a big part of the corporate agenda, making events more accessible is a crucial aspect of the modern gathering. Consider everything from lighting to dietary restrictions to dress code modifications.
Itâs important to do a walk-through of the venue and speak to staff to ensure the event can support differently-abled people, but diversity and inclusion should be key to every aspect of event planning.
For example, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 15.5% of adult Americans have hearing disabilities. Subtitles or closed-captioning are easy and cost-effective accommodations for presentations or video content. These are not only great for people with different hearing needs but also help some neurodiverse populations process at a better speed.
For another example, in one of my recent roles, the event team had a sensory-friendly breakroom at the event. As someone who is neurodiverse, itâs quite easy to get overstimulated or stressed during long days with unfamiliar stimuliâwhich can devalue the conference, as stress leads to memory deficits. The sensory-friendly room was quiet, had snacks, no flashing lights and many places to sit. Puzzles and stress balls can be great additions.
Education
Continuous learning should be a key part of every event. Many workers feel like they lack opportunities to learn new skillsâand itâs one of the main reasons to attend a conference. As of 2019, 71% of attendees reported their second highest priority at events is learning something new.
This can take on many forms, such as having product gurus on-site. The skill doesnât always have to be directly relevant to the conference, though. Look for opportunities to build fun or adjacent skills with ideas like cooking classes, PowerPoint 101 or Spanish for beginners.
Sustainability
The world dumps 2.12 billion tons of waste each year. Reducing this impact should be top of mind, considering trade shows can be big offenders. (Weâve all seen a bag full of swag end up in the trash.)
Like accessibility, sustainability takes many forms. Consider raffles for higher-priced items at your booth instead of plastic tchotchkes. Use digital codes for brochures instead of printing. Use water-saving fixtures instead of water bottles. Also, consider venues with eco-friendly certifications, using local stores for food, having compostable serving ware and eco-friendly décor and reducing plastic wherever possible.
Sustainability can also be a factor when considering a virtual event.
Wellness
While this is a newer trend for events, making well-being a part of the experience is good for our minds and bodiesâand for attendee satisfaction.
This can mean offering free workouts, such as yoga or walking groups, as part of the programming. It can also mean offering healthy food options or finding activities other than food and alcohol for networkingâperhaps, going to a local sports game or museum.
You can also work wellness into the content by slowing down the event pace. Just thinking about trade shows makes me tiredâhours of walking an expo floor with back-to-back speaking sessions. Your attendees will likely be grateful for longer breaks and shorter sessions.
Connection
Connections and networking come just behind the content in importance. Make it easy for people of similar interests to find one another with themed lunch tables and pre-organized meetings for customers around topics or products of interest.
This starts ahead of the eventâask attendees to share important topics, products and issues, and then meet their needs. Event apps are also great for keeping attendees informed and encouraging networking.
Partnerships
Itâs becoming harder and harder for brands to stand out in crowded markets. Because of this, as part of what they call âEcosystem 2.0,â McKinsey predicts that businesses will increasingly collaborate.
Expect to see a rise in ecosystem marketing, as well. Events and joint content, in particular, are easy, mutually exclusive ways to partner.
This can come from event referrals or setting up vendor areas on-site. Be sure to sponsor the content of your partners and go to their events. The key here is to partner with your indirect or channel sales teams to build out broader ecosystems.
CredSpark suggests developing data-driven sponsorships that match sponsors and exhibitors with highly qualified attendees: âSponsors and exhibitors will pay a premium for excellent sales intelligence. Donât rely on attendees stumbling their way through the exhibition hall; give them precision guidance!â
Post-Event Hygiene
Finally, think about creative ways to reuse insights from events, like infographics, one-pagers, case studies and videos. These are great ways to generate additional leads and create content for specific audiences.
And donât forget feedback. Continually ask for feedback throughout the event life cycle via in-app surveys (speakers and sessions) and post-event surveys via email.
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