If you are planning a conference at one of the hotels in Cheshire, you want your event to be remembered for being interesting, entertaining and engaging. The more engaging your event is, the more people will talk about it and the more popular your conference will become next year! So how can you make sure that your conference is an event that people remember? Here are some great tips.
PRESENT ONLY INFORMATION THAT IS VALUABLE TO YOUR AUDIENCE
When you are choosing guest speakers and presenters for your conference, it’s not enough just to select a guest speaker who is in your industry. This might seem obvious, but one of the mistakes that presenters make is assuming that any information is important information. You want to streamline the content of your conference so that you are only offering valuable information that your delegates will find useful in their day to day lives.
DEFINE YOUR GOALS FOR THE CONFERENCE
Before the conference even begins you should define your goals and distribute an agenda in advance. Creating a structure for the conference will help to make your participants more engaged and will make the conference more productive overall.
STAY ON SCHEDULE
When things start to drag on and your conference goes on longer than expected, your attendees will start to become bored and annoyed and will lose interest. They will be much more engaged if you respect their time by staying on schedule with the agenda. Keep things moving along and stick to the schedule whenever possible.
ENGAGE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a great way to get everyone engaged in your conference. Start a hashtag on Twitter so that everyone can join in with their comments, links and photos. Create a Facebook page for the event where you can post photos and status updates about how the conference is going. Encourage your delegates to add their photos to the Facebook page as well. You can also use Instagram to share photos of the conference, as well as any other social media network that will engage your audience.
ENCOURAGE Q&A SESSIONS
One of the most effective ways that you can engage your audience is to leave some time for Q&A sessions. If your attendees have to listen to long one way lectures they will start to get bored after a little while and lose interest. If the guest speaker encourages audience participation they will be much more interested. They might even get a good debate happening, which can really bring out some interesting issues and points.
There are even some great Q&A tools out there that allow attendees to submit their questions on their smartphones and then vote up the ones that they find the most interesting and relevant for discussion. This ensures that the interactive discussion part of the presentation will be as efficient and helpful as possible.
PRESENT WITH A VARIETY OF MEDIA
The more varied the presentations at your conference are, the more intriguing they will be for your delegates. To capture their interest, make sure that these presentations include a variety of media – such as videos, music, slideshows, photos, live demonstrations, case studies, dramatic recreations and any other creative way of presenting information. Switching up the media and presenting in a more creative way will keep your audience captivated and engaged. Make sure the meeting venues in Cheshire that you choose have the right audio-visual equipment you need for the presentation.
GET THE AUDIENCE ON THEIR FEET
Your audience will always be more alert and engaged if they are up and moving around, rather than sitting down in a chair for hours. Try to incorporate some interactive activities, such as a mingling meet and greet game, a walking tour or some group stretches. This is a great thing to do in the afternoon, when everyone is suffering from the post-lunch slump and feeling tired and groggy.
ASK FOR FEEDBACK
At the end of the conference, ask your attendees for their feedback on how you can make the conference even better next year. When you ask your delegates for feedback you are showing them that you care about their experience and want to make it as great as possible. The feedback that they offer can be very valuable for planning next year’s conference and ensuring that it is a success.
Keep these tips in mind for an exciting conference that will keep your visitors engaged and interested!
