Looking to go the extra mile to appeal to your event attendees on-site? It can be tricky to know exactly what’s going to resonate with ALL of your attendees across the board, especially with all of the varying reasons and expectations of attending any event.

To provide some inspiration, take a look at these five tips that might help you woo your attendees on-site at your next event.

Provide a Conference App
To help your attendees feel more in control of their event experience, try offering a conference app! This is a real win-win for any event planner, as it means you can have your staff focus on other in-person responsibilities.

And consider this: As an attendee, would you rather search around on-site for an agenda, guide, or general conference info or simply have all of that information at your fingertips on your own mobile device? To us, it’s a no brainer!

Create a Cool Photo Area
Come on, who doesn’t love a great instagramable moment? Most of your attendees are going to be keeping their eye out for that perfect photo to showcase your event so why not make it easy for them? Depending on the purpose of your event, try getting a little playful such as:

  • Cozy (but practical) lounge spaces. Pro-tip: have a sponsor for the space and brand it!

  • Interactive walls (graffiti, instagram feed, branded images)

  • Performers (musicians, dancers, artists)

Get Feedback in Real Time
Have you ever reflected on one of your previous events and wished you could have been omnipresent on-site to avoid some hiccups? Knowing what’s happening live on-site can also let you know where to focus your efforts next time. We recommend:

  • Remember that conference app? Quite often, these applications will provide you the ability to complete polls and surveys in real time. Depending on your man power, you can have someone reviewing these and keep you up-to-date if anything is amiss.

  • Keep promoting your event’s hashtag for social media and continue checking to see what your attendee’s perspective is in real time.

Include Interactive Group Activities
Whether it’s for networking, meals, or general sessions, group activities can oftentimes make networking a little easier as it takes off the edge of having to try and start new connections on your own. We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve had to make some awkward small talk and it’s unanimously no fun!

Try including:

  • Group games (giant jenga, cornhole, etc)

  • Networking event based around an activity (zoo, museum, live music, etc)

  • Table groups with suggested talking points (plus topic leader)

And remember that conference app we mentioned earlier, you can also engage attendees through gamification with an activities module that’s featured in the conference app.

Incorporate Movement
It’s commonly known that one of the biggest complains you’ll hear about all day events is how stiff your attendees will feel at the end of each day. Consider including some 5-10 minute stretching exercises, yoga exercises or even throw in a 5k race to begin your day!

When it comes to planning an event, you obviously want people to attend. But how? What can you do to spread the word (effectively!) and really draw a crowd? Check out our free Event Marketing: Promotional Tactics to Amplify Attendance for some tips!


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