Engaging attendees at your event

An event is nothing without its attendees. They’re the ones who make up your event with their talks and their engagement hence it becomes of utmost importance that their engagement and satisfaction is accounted for.

Here are some ways to engage your attendees at your event.

Engagement strategies can be applied pre, post or during the event. Let’s have a look.

Be aware of the expectations: Know what your attendees are expecting from your event and shape your content accordingly. Crowdsourcing your content is a good idea. Also be aware of your content delivery methods.
Don’t be too lengthy and continuous: Not everyone has the capacity to sit and listen to a 40 minute talk at a length. It can become monotonous for many people hence it is advisable for the content to be broken into short speeches. The speakers can divide their presentation into parts each being of 10–15 minutes at a length.Hence the attention span is maintained and the interest not lost.
Maintain dialogue: A human interactive aspect is important for every presented talk. There can always be questions involved regarding a presented talk/paper and it is important to be interactive.To do this, speakers can have a small discussion at the end of their talk addressing the various questions.
Don’t be boring: There’s no need to be 100% completely traditional when it comes to event organisation. There is no one right way to go about it. You don’t HAVE to be formal about it until and unless the situation demands so. Don’t be stuck in a rut otherwise. Include break sessions, game sessions or anything that might entertain to your targeted, present crowd.
Have your attendees identify with you: If you are a motivational speaker, it is crucial for the people to identify with what you’re saying nobody will bother listening after a certain time. It is advisable to include content which the audience can feel a connect with and would WANT to listen to further. It is about capturing the interest of the attendees for your talk to have an impact.
Make the attendees a part of the talk: It is easy to lose the attention of people when it comes to a large crowd. Some might be interested however some may feel lost. To stop them from feeling alienated it is advisable to make them a part of the talk. Keep maintaining a dialogue and have them, once in a while, present something they’d like to add to the talk.
Since in any event a large part of the attendees may belong to a similar professional background a little to and fro of ideas hurts no one.
Keep the flow going: There is no need for too long a break. Don’t break the continuity of the event. Have short breaks between each talk however do not give the people a chance to lose focus about what’s going on.
Use attendee specific energizers: Be aware of your crowd and organize the energizers accordingly. For example in a business meeting, use of stress balls and slinkies can be there however don’t be afraid to experiment. People in general are always up for trying out something new, so if your event gives them that opportunity it will have a positive impact.
Know thy audience: Not everyone present at your event would be alike, however they might have something that’ll be common to them all since they decided to attend your event which would be based on a certain theme/topic. Focus on the common point and shape certain aspects of your event according to that. As much your audience feels comfortable and identifiable with your event the more interested they’d be.
Brainstorming sessions: Give your attendees a chance to engage with each other. They’ve all witnessed the event and everyone will have their own ideas and opinions. Divide your attendees in groups and let them discuss. You can take the general feedback from them once they’re done.

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