Nine Simple Ideas to Make Your Conference More Memorable
While planning an industry conference on machine learning recently, the KE team brainstormed a down-and-dirty list of ideas to make the event more memorable. This list proves that you don’t have to sacrifice your budget to provide an experience your guests won’t soon forget. From upping your event swag game to improving your brand through signage, you can adapt these ideas to all sorts of conferences, meetings, and special events.
1) Add Visual interest to your stage
People are going to be staring at your stage for a long time so make it interesting.
Incorporate stock or custom scenic elements on your backdrop, visible behind presenters, to polish the look of the event in addition to projection screens on either side of your stage.
Choose a plexiglass podium and contemporary lounge furniture for your panel of speakers or one-on-one interview presentations to boost the onstage look and feel.
Warm up the stage with rented greenery. We love bringing greenery into event spaces in any situation, but especially when our client has a tight floral budget or if we’re working in a large “blank slate” venue (the kind that comes with just four walls and a roof). We use trees to create framing or fill space on a large stage or to bring the outdoors in and warm up an otherwise cold space.
2) Increase Your Brand visibility With Signage
Events are not only an opportunity to network and sell your products or services, but also a chance to give your brand more exposure.
Boost event signage from foam core on easels to vertical, floor-supported banners or vinyl wall art. This will not only increase the space available for branding but also add to your brand’s visibility.
Immerse your attendees in a fully branded experience by including your conference name, logo or graphics on all signage from the main stage to the breakfast buffet.
3) Keep the crowd energized with Live Music
At some point, especially if you are planning a multi-day event, you need to consider the steps you can take to keep attendees occupied and having a good time. One way to keep your guests involved and energized is live music.
Put a priority on live music or a DJ at your cocktail reception, taking an average affair and making it a memorable one.
Play music during breakfast, main stage arrivals, lunch, and breaks to give your guests a nice energy boost.
If live music is outside your budget, consider hiring a DJ to play between speakers and during breaks.
4) Morning Live Entertainment
Kick off the day with a produced, flashmob-feel, three-minute dance and music performance before your keynote. Done well, it will be the talk of the town!
5) Boost Food at Meals, Breaks, and Receptions
When you’re planning a networking event, a team building session, an office party, or any other type of corporate event, you need the right food.
Granola and healthful smoothies at breakfast.
Beer and warm pretzels at afternoon break.
Cookies or other snacks branded with the event logo at lunch.
Consider moving beyond box lunches to buffet and food-truck inspired bites.
Buffet-style setups work well for nearly any meal type, and they also keep the crowd moving from station to station.
Don’t miss out on opportunities for sponsors, like logos on box lunch labels!
Think of event food as an opportunity for your attendees to make connections; you’re providing another networking opportunity while providing a chance for guests to recharge.
6) Boost Post-Conference Video AND Editorial Content
Mix up your final product to gain more viewers. Split each video up into full-length sessions and several 30-, 60-, and 90-second snippets.
To make the most of your videos, create–and stick to–an editorial schedule to blog about each one. Unsure how to do this or short on the internal bandwidth to manage this sort of content? Talk to our good friends at Conference Publishers Inc. They are truly the experts at leveraging content from conferences into year-round social media content.
Partner with media or industry sites to share broadly with their audiences.
7) Pre-Event Reception
Invite sponsors, speakers, VIPs, and their clients to a cocktail party several weeks before the event to generate interest with them, and in turn, they will be buzzing about your upcoming event.
8) Improved Conference Bag
Let’s be honest, anyone who attends conferences regularly has enough of those cheap totes for the grocery store. Raise the bar with a bag from Timbuk2, Rickshaw Bagworks, or other locally sourced and sophisticated companies. Local goods are always a plus! Brand your event bag with the conference name and offer space to your top sponsor. A great bag from a memorable conference will be used long after the conference ends.
9) Go Beyond Event Swag
When considering event swag, your goal should be memorable gift items for every participant or gifts to hand out throughout your event.
Track-specific gifts for participants in the first session of each track.
Coffee or travel mugs at breakfast and coffee break.
Raffle or random-winner gifts based on a drawing or “golden ticket” at the morning keynote.
Make the gifts memorable, relevant, and optional. Keep a light environmental footprint by considering whether or not it’s something that YOU would want, need, or use after the event. Don’t give out swag for swag’s sake. If you’re going to spend the money, make it count!
What’s Your Next Event?
We’d love to hear about your next event and brainstorm with you about how we can make it memorable! Our creative wheels get spinning from the very first phone call, and we would love to start dreaming about your creative vision.
Send us a note, and we’ll be in touch soon. We’re already excited for your event!
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Paige Buck
Paige Buck is the co-owner of Kennedy Events is a large-scale event management company based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. Our team creates stress-free conferences and events with a positive impact, which allow our clients to resonate with their audience. Kennedy Events specializes in producing flawless product launches, award ceremonies, fundraisers and multi-day conferences while keeping our eye on retention and engagement goals.
About Kennedy Events
Kennedy Events began in 2000 with one goal in mind—to produce corporate events with just as much strategy as style. Since then, Paige, Maggie, and their team have built one of the most sought after corporate event companies in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.
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