Have you ever wondered about the main reason why attendees come to your events? From engaging in unique experiences to exploring networking opportunities, there are likely several answers.
However, there's one thing that can influence people's decision to attend an event: the quality of the content. According to a study conducted by The Experience Institute, 92% of all generations indicate that education is important, whether it is gleaned from a formal program or the exhibit floor.
In other words, the number-one reason to attend events is knowledge transfer. Before deciding whether to attend an event, people usually check the program, specifically the topics to be covered. They'll also evaluate the calibre of the speakers you've invited and assess the learning value they can provide.
Your guests care greatly about the quality of the event content. They are eager to learn as much as possible and gain new insights or solutions to their professional doubts. Moreover, as the same report indicates, "91% of all generations possess the will or strong propensity to continue their personal or professional education as adult learners, with both Gen Y Millennials and Gen Xers the highest at 95%."
If you haven't paid too much attention to the education component of your events in the past, it's time to change that. It's your responsibility to thoroughly plan the content delivery dynamic and design powerful knowledge sessions for your guests. Here's how you can do it:
Tip 1. Ask the experts and the attendees
As a planner, you are probably familiar with managing events across various sectors. However, it’s always tricky to design an attractive program, especially in an industry that you don’t know very well. That’s why you must rely on professional help. Usually, special committees decide the structure and topics of each knowledge session. But if you have to plan an event without any help whatsoever, it’s important to reach out to experts (or the clients who approached you to plan it) and learn as much as you can about what's worth sharing and discussing.
It's also important to know your attendees and their interests. You could double your efforts and run a survey (before the event) to identify their content-related expectations.
Tip 2. Group the knowledge sessions around one leitmotif
It's a mistake to write a blog post about everything under the sun. Similarly, it's also erroneous to plan an event around multiple topics. You can always set up powerful knowledge sessions where attendees can explore subtopics in depth.
However, there must be a leitmotif (one main theme) that showcases your entire event’s narrative. If you're planning a conference about Bitcoin, for example, you can't run a session about how to foster cats. But you can plan a knowledge session about CryptoKitties (the world's first game built on blockchain technology).
Tip 3. Find interesting speakers who will engage your attendees
This part is crucial. Apart from a powerful event program, your attendees will also be looking for valuable speakers who are thought leaders with meaningful insights to share. Apart from that, these speakers should bring something new to the table and offer valuable insights that will help attendees expand their knowledge and skills.
Tip 4. Alternate the knowledge sessions with other dynamics, such as fireside chats
If you tire your attendees with dense content and repetitive dynamics, you risk diminishing their learning (and boring them to death). Plan a varied event with different session formats that allow your guests to stay focused, absorb as much knowledge as possible, and experience varying levels of engagement with the event content.
Tip 5. Help your attendees test their knowledge
A good way to potentiate the information transfer during the events is to quiz the attendees. To make it more fun, you can encourage friendly competition among your guests by having them answer event-related content questions via a mobile app. To boost engagement, you can incentivise those who earn more points by offering them goodies. This will help your guests brush up on the insights they gained during the event and test their knowledge by highlighting the most important takeaways.
Wrap-up
The key elements that will determine if people attend your event are the quality of your speakers and the value of your content. Your entire event must be designed around the delivery of insights. The substance of the knowledge sessions you run will dictate the success level you’ve reached in planning the event.
