The contacts and ideas that the participant gains during the event determine the success of the event in the eyes of the participant. Not to mention whether the event is worth repeating!
When people are actively involved in an event they learn more and have more contact with fellow attendees. The trick is to turn the attendees at an event into actual participants that you effectively connect with their peers, preferably at a higher level than at a regular event.
Below are 5 simple and effective tips to increase active participation in your event.
1 A good badge!
Something as simple as a badge can ensure that two individual participants find each other at your event and can do something for each other. Use a large clear badge and reserve some space where the participant can indicate his or her area of interest. This can be done, for example, by describing areas of interest that people can check off. This badge makes it much easier for delegates to approach each other’s.
2. Change seats
Make sure the participants change seats a few times during the event. This can easily be done during lunch between courses, but also after a break. In this way you double the number of contacts per time. The chance of making a valuable contact increases many times over.
3. Interaction
Ask the participants to submit questions and topics they would like to discuss prior to a session. You can do this by means of a large poster on which everyone can write, by SMS, a Tweet, or simply with an old-fashioned post-it. The trick is that everyone has a stake in the session and gets value out of it. This increases participant engagement.
4. Vote
Ask participants to vote on a particular topic. This can be done by means of cards that are held up, beautiful high-tech voting systems but certainly also by asking people to take a seat in a certain section. The latter is doubly effective because in this way one also meets new like-minded contacts. Also, simply being in motion by walking from A to B benefits the attention.
5. Chairman of the day
Last but not least: a good chairman! Someone who stimulates thought and reinforces all the above tools. A good chairman stimulates, connects and challenges.
No more excuses and get to work with these simple but very effective tips! Do you need our help with the organization of your events? Get in touch with us.
