3 Ways to Ensure That Your Event is Truly Experiential – Avoid the Gimmicks and Focus on the Substance

Getting experiential with events is the hottest trend for event and integrated marketers. You've seen us write about it a few times, but how can you be sure that you are putting on or participating in a true experiential event? Conferences That Work has put together a list of three attributes that signify genuine experiential conferences, and conversely, those that are just borrowing the title.

Actual Needs & Wants Are Being Met

It's easy enough to hire performers or stage elaborate in-booth entertainment, but your guests won't make a genuine connection if they aren't learning and engaging with you and each other. Event attendees go to the time and expense of conferences because they expect to learn, to answer questions about their job or industry, to reach out to others who can relate to their challenges and provide solutions.

True experiential events respond directly to attendee needs and don't sacrifice your brand for the sake of novelty or just to be "cool." Instead, plan attendee experiences that are logical extensions of your brand so that the experience is both educational and entertaining.

Experiences Impact Attendees' Professional Lives

Professional conferences are intended to provide more than a good time. Attendees should find value that they take back to their offices and put into practice, altering their understanding of a challenge in their field or providing insights toward a new approach. By providing just a good time, attendees aren't deriving the real value from a conference.

If you instead connect attendees with one another, providing sessions or small groups in which they can genuinely interact and support one another, attendees will receive real and lasting professional benefits.

Real Experiences Build Communities

While some experiential conference events are fun, they may not build communities or serve to identify commonalities that allow participants to learn from one another. Group experiences can contribute to deeper learning and more effective engagement. Integrated marketers that facilitate topical sessions that dive deeply into a particular subject, or debrief on lessons learned during the conference, are better serving attendees than those who put all of their effort into flash without substance.

In order to build community amongst attendees, consider exclusive presentations, networking events, or some type of immersive event that retains these important factors: make them relevant, make them impactful, and make sure that they resonate within the audience. Events are your time to get to know and interact with your customers and prospects, so make sure that you are providing a truly experiential event.