When planning a corporate event you should consider audience engagement as the number one goal as it creates a greater return and a healthier outcome. Remember that engaged attendees are more likely to become loyal advocates and provide genuine investment in the actual event. We're definitely living in a more “experience†based culture and firmly believe that attendees are hungry for more interaction. It's important to remember a corporate event takes place in a physical space and not on a screen. If your audience is engaged it means that as an organiser you've successfully taken advantage of your space and turned attendees into viewers.
Here are our top tips for creating audience engagement at your next corporate event:
Icebreakers are designed to drive morale and provide your conference with some high, energy fun. These quick, fun activities will get all delegates off their seats and set the tone for the rest of the conference. Incorporating these can even tackle the post-lunch energy slump and re-energise delegates halfway through. Icebreakers such as the fast paced musical activity tube grooves and high energy clap happy will provide high energy entertainment for delegates.
Social Media
Everyone can take part in social media and it's a great way to build rapport in the run up to your corporate event. The presenter can even take part by showing a live stream of attendee posts onscreen and encourages everyone to get involved in the action. You could even create your own unique event hashtag to create opportunities and build momentum before, during and post event.
Find the right presenter for your event
Whether you're presenting or showcasing an icebreaker just remember to choose the correct onstage talent. These individuals are the glue that holds the whole event together so ensure they're well prepared, confident and articulate in delivery. This can be easily achieved through good preparation. Try to meet up with the presenter pre-event to discuss how they can engage with the audience better and make them pivotal part of the event.
Share the glory
There's no need to apply all the pressure on the presenter, share the stage with other presenters or audience members when delivering. Remember Steve Jobs never presented alone, he often invited guest speakers such as partners and executives to help introduce the latest product. There are a number of ways to bring someone in from the audience and get them interacting in a relevant way, this technique should be well planned but it's a great engagement technique.
At Off Limits Event Professionals our audience engagement tool Interactive Presentations are a great way to make your conference presentation a roaring success. The audience software is ideal and allows delegates to access the presentation via their smartphone devices and the URL provided. Each delegate will be able to access the presentation, scroll through the slides provided and send personalised messages to the presenter. It's a great way for the presenter to create tailored questions for their audience, collect valuable feedback and share data post event. It's the ideal option for generating interaction and encouraging engagement with the speaker. How about incorporating polls and surveys into your presentation? Polls not only get audiences to think about their questions but also think about their answers. It helps to create mental breaks so the audience can regain attention and stay focused throughout. Including the whole audience creates a group experience that leaves delegates feeling like they've all been part of the presentation. The audience being able to take part improves ROI and enhances overall engagement.
What are your thoughts on improving audience engagement? We'd love to hear from you on Linkedin or Twitter.
