Event engagement refers to the ability to grasp or hold someone’s attention for the duration of an event. Unlike personal engagement, where you need only hold a single person’s attention, event engagement engages multiple persons.
There are two fundamental types of event engagements, though both use the same techniques: traditional event engagement and digital event engagement.
Importance of Event Management
Ninety-seven percent of B2B marketers believe in in-person events and their importance in landing sales. Similarly, 82% of these marketers also believe that attendee engagement is a very important performance indicator for their success.
There are many benefits to event engagement, such as gaining helpful insight into current & potential customers and business partners, increased brand loyalty, better interaction as well as marketing.
Event Management Three Crucial Stages
-
Pre-event engagement.
Pre-event engagement is a vital part of the process, mainly because this is where you get potential attendees for your event. Pre-event engagement deals with creating an interest for the event: making posts on social media and inviting people & companies. A good tactic is to make attractive invitations and engage regularly with invitees.
-
Audience engagement during an event.
People have finally started joining your event. The second part of event engagement is to ensure that your audience is being engaged during the event. 37% of companies that participated in a survey reported that attendee engagement is the primary KPI for their event’s success. A good tactic to keep your audience engaged is to incentivize your attendees with fun things to do.
-
Post-event engagement.
Most people forget this part of the process: post-event engagement is equally as important as pre-event engagement. Post-event engagement includes keeping up with people who attended your event. You can use this stage to gain useful insight on how to improve your events further down the lane.
How To Boost Your Pre-Event Engagement?
Pre-event engagement isn’t easy to conquer: many people stumble at this vital part of the process. Here are a few strategies to gain a maximum number of attendees for your event:
-
Streamline Event Communications
Just like how a popular saying goes, communication is key to making anything work. Communicating with your potential attendees on a regular basis can help ensure that they will join your event.
-
Launch Event Registration Campaigns
The most important part of pre-event engagement is proper marketing. Marketing is what increases your reach and helps you propagate your invitations to people who you want to visit your event. Thoroughly process through the different plans of action that you might want to take to market your registration: how many people will be a part of your event, how many tickets will sell, and so on.
-
Employ Social Media Marketing
Social media is your best friend for engagement. Use all the popular social media platforms available to you for the maximum reach: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Try to make unique posts on each platform to ensure maximum interest.
-
Countdown Effect
The “countdown effect” helps indicate a sense of scarcity, which increases sales or engagement. Use social media to make regular posts that coordinate a countdown until the event begins. This will help dramatically increase potential engagement.
-
Listen to your audience
Two-way communication is key to a successful event. This works before the event actually begin too. Listen to your audience and engage them in the comment section of your social media platforms.
( Also Read: How To Improve Your Event Management Skills )
How to Maximize Engagement During the Event?
Now that your event has started, you must keep a keen eye out until the end. This is the most stressful part of the process.
-
Incorporate Effective Seating Arrangement
Seating arrangements that are aesthetically pleasing usually don’t promote engagement. Ensure that at least two people per arrangement can easily converse with each other.
-
Include participatory activities and games
Invite people onto the stage, incentivize them with rewards if they get something right can dramatically increase attendees’ engagement during the event.
-
Keep Track of Engagements on Social Media
Have someone at your beck and call always be ready to measure the number of engagements you are getting not only physically but on your event app or social media platform too. This works for both traditional as well as virtual events.
-
Communicate with Attendees Using an App
Everyone has a smartphone these days. By having a special mobile app to communicate with event attendees, you can not only increase communication but also manifest how much effort you are putting into the event, increasing event engagement.
-
Gift swag bags to your event attendees.
Swag bags don’t have to be something expensive or luxurious. They are a very good and cheap alternative to marketing: you can gift attendees with company-labeled products. Many attendees will keep such products as souvenirs, which can thus produce a positive land-sliding effect for your engagement and marketing. Fifty percent of people report using swag bag products regularly.
How To Maximize Post-Event Engagement?
Your work doesn’t end when the event ends. In fact, post-event is the stage where you have to start planning and reaching out to ensure your future events go smoothly.
-
Send Thank You Letters or Emails
Send dedicated emails, private messages, or even mails to all attendees who have attended the event. This helps remind them of the event in a fond manner.
-
Use Follow-up Surveys
A follow-up survey can help you gain helpful comprehension of your event. You can use this information to improve your future events.
-
Launch Marketing Campaigns for Next Event
The time after your event is when engagement is the highest. Use this small window to start marketing another event or agenda. This will further increase your event engagement and ensure that you have the maximum number of followers.
-
Send Event Highlights to the Attendees
The human mind relives various moments of an eventful day many times in the future. Try sending a photo collage of the event’s best moments to your attendees to remind them of the fun memories.
-
Ask Attendees to Share on Social Media with Relevant Hashtags
Leaving feedback on social media is a bold move, but one that dramatically increases your brand’s recognition. You can also use this feedback to track your post-event engagement.
How To Maximize Virtual Event Engagement?
Virtual events are new and have been gaining a lot of traction in the last year. Ninety-three percent of event marketers say they will invest in virtual events moving forward.
-
Use the Right Event Management Software
There are a lot of tools available online: Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Airmeet, Socio, and so on. Test to check what app will work the best for you and your attendees way before the event starts.
-
Set Engagement Rules and Explain Them to Attendees
Virtual events are unknown grounds for many people. Explain the rules of engagement thoroughly to your attendees so there aren’t any hiccups during the event.
-
Breaks Are Important
Looking at a screen is stressful and can lead to fatigue. Take regular breaks during your event so you can keep your attendees engaged.
-
Include small group discussions or team exercises.
Take time out of your event or have dedicated sessions after the event where you interact with your attendees or have them interact with each other.
-
Make Sure to have Reliable Tech Support
Our technology hasn’t evolved so much that we can leave everything unattended. Have a professional at your beck and call so if anything goes wrong during the event, you can get everything sorted on time.
-
Track Your Attendees Presence
Have a person or two keep track of how many attendees are in the session and viewing the event. Incentivize people to actively participate in the events.
Final Thought
Event engagement is not an easy ordeal: you must constantly be on your tiptoes to ensure maximum engagement. Human beings are very complex creatures, so you cannot use the same tactics every time to increase participation. Keep note of the various tactics that we have shared, and you should be able to make your event a success.