Choose Speakers Wisely

Good speakers can deliver a massive amount of information and be highly valuable, but a poor speaker, can sour the mood of a good event. Select your speaker wisely, brief them and encourage them to increase participation and be more engaging.

An excellent and engaging speaker can brighten the mood and make the event as well as allowing the attendees to walk away feeling like they took extra value from your event as a whole which makes it worth their time!

Improve Accessibility

Make the event accessible for everyone, whether an attendee is a wheelchair user, has a disability, a special request or dietary requirements, ensure that everyone is well looked after and able to participate fully. Make sure you ask about any needs in advance so you are fully prepared and can double check all the arrangements before their arrival.

Accessibility can also include the ease of getting to or from your event so consider this when selecting a venue. If it is difficult to get to, consider providing your own transport or shuttle services to make it more accessible and encourage more attendees to come. If an event is easy and caters to your guests, they are going to have a better time. The last thing you want is for those with special requirements to feel excluded in any way.

Add Tech

Technology can enhance the event experience and make attendees happy, as well as making their lives easier (and the event planners!). Utilizing it in the right way can make a big difference. For example, use event apps to allow attendees to check in and beat the queues, offer exclusive entertainment value with things such as VR or drones.

Even if you don’t have a high budget for the latest in virtual reality, you can still provide the basics such as free WiFi so that attendees can stay connected. There are plenty of accessible 360 degree cameras available for events to add some flair as well as the latest technology trends offering great sponsorship opportunities, so get inventive!

Be Honest

There is nothing like having your expectations raised and then dashed at the last minute when you realise something is not happening, or if someone wasn’t communicated properly in the first place. Attendees will appreciate the truth from the outset so if something falls through, try to re-arrange or go to your plan B. If there is no alternative, be up front about it. For some attendees it may be the whole reason they chose to come and it will not go down well, but they will appreciate having the information early.

You’re bound to get something wrong in some way or another and honestly you can’t please everyone (plus we are all human) but there is nothing worse than a company or brand that won’t admit they could have done things a little differently. If you know you have made a mistake, apologise and make up for it in some way to the attendee so it won’t affect their event experience too badly.