As we all know, boosting attendee engagement is an important exercise for a conference to succeed. When attendees interact and their experience becomes fun, it ensures that the attendees are not just entertained but also might be willing to re-participate in future conferences organized by the conference organizing company. It also gives a chance to collect a good amount of attendees’ data.
The conference organizing companies know well the importance of attendee engagement and this process begins well before the conference takes place.
So, here are 10 tips to boost attendee engagement at your next conference.
1. Who are your Attendees?
Before planning out the nitty gritty of the conference, the first step towards boosting attendees’ engagement is knowing who the attendees are. It is essential to know the kind of people who are going to be a part of the conference and plan out all the activities accordingly. If the attendees are mostly from the medical field, you can plan the activities that would interest them. Similarly, if they are from some other profession then the activities should be according to their interest.
2. Social Media or Digital Presence
Well, before the conference happens, it is important to create a social media presence for that conference. We can create social media accounts and start posting content on social media related to the conference. It helps attendees to stay well informed about all the important pieces of information related to the conference. For example, when is the last date of registration, who are the participants, the abstract submission timeline, etc. This activity not just helps in keeping the attendees informed but it also keeps the curiosity intact amongst the attendees.
3. Fun Activities
During the conference, conference organizers need to organize fun-filled activities that would increase engagement amongst the attendees. It would also pave a path for future attendance at the conference.
4. Planning Lively Sessions and Compelling Speakers
The sole purpose of organizing a conference is to let the attendees learn, network, and share experiences, tips, or information amongst themselves. It is the responsibility of the conference organizers to have first-class speakers and lively sessions so that the attendees have a gala time during the conference. So, it should be your duty to have well-known and intelligent speakers and to have informative and compelling sessions. This will ensure that the attendees look forward to attending more conferences organized by you.
5. Live Polls
The speakers should engage the attendees by integrating live polls during the conference. It makes the session more interactive and it also allows you to collect data, which can then be leveraged for future events to make them more relevant and helpful to attendees.
6. Preparing for Competitions
One of the most entertaining ways of increasing attendees’ engagement is by preparing for fun games, competitions, awards, etc. When the participants have a chance of winning something and the games are entertaining it increases the chances of participants attending future conferences as well. This is a great way of making sure that there is a boost in attendee engagement at your conference.
7. Keeping Attendees Posted
During the event, if you make sure that attendees are well notified about the upcoming events or sessions during the conference, it helps in keeping the excitement of the attendees intact. This also makes them feel that you care about them and you feel responsible that they do not miss out on any important event. For example- Creating a mobile application that ensures that the attendees have all the information related to the conference or they get a notification of an upcoming session during the conference is a great way of boosting attendee engagement in the conference.
8. Designing The Booths
When the booth is designed well, it attracts the attendees. You can accessorize your booth or organize fun games at the booths that would ensure that attendees are engaged and enjoying their time at the conference. It is difficult to attract attendees to booths with boring designs. So, attractive designs can play a huge role in increasing attendee engagement.
9. Using Advanced Technology
These days there are numerous advanced conference-related applications that you can use to organize an interactive and entertaining event that can increase attendee engagement. For instance, you can use an app that takes out an instant picture of an attendee who uses the conference hashtag and uploads the picture on social media. This is a great way of getting attendees engaged and entertained during a conference.
10. Sending Surveys
Once a conference is done, the conference organizers shall send out surveys for the attendees to give their feedback. This activity not just gives a perspective to you regarding how the attendees liked the conference, but it also provides a scope for improvement. If the feedback is mostly positive you will be encouraged to organize more such engaging conferences and the attendees would also be curious to attend the conference organized by you.
These were 10 tips that you can follow to boost attendee engagement in your next conference. There are many other ways like sending Thank you emails, hosting after party for the attendees, etc. which you can follow to increase attendee engagement. IA-Meetings is a more than 23 years old conference-organizing company that has been following these steps to keep its attendees entertained and engaged. So, anyone who is interested to learn more about it can visit IA-Meetings.
Happy Conferencing!
