Have you ever considered attendee satisfaction as the primary focus for your events? I’m sure you have, but satisfaction means different things to different people.

In this roundup, we share a few things you can do to know whether your audience really liked your event. The best way to measure satisfaction is by what people do without prompting and not by what they say.

And why are we focused on this topic? Because satisfaction is key to audience engagement, which also leads to audience growth. If you plan to make a long and fruitful career out of events, you need to know how to grow and keep an audience.

And to truly maximize engagement at your next event, take our free webinar.

Dig the Data for Attendee Growth

Driving attendee growth doesn’t mean coming up with gimmicks every time. You can go back to basics and look at the data and the story it tells about your audience. After collecting and sorting the usual data, you’ll find patterns about what types of people attend and when and for what reason. You can correlate the various information you have and see what could be the primary drivers for attendance. This methodical approach works best in tandem with any existing strategies you already have. This way, you gain a holistic view of your attendee growth patterns.

How to Really Measure Satisfaction

Attendee satisfaction is more than just a survey with a happy and a sad face. True satisfaction is measured by how the audience acts within and towards the event. For example, repeat registrants would mean they are really engaged, and a high level of social media activity means they are spreading the word. You also need to measure your Net Promoter Score, which has become an industry standard. Feedback on specific sessions, speakers, and various event aspects would also lend an insight into the true satisfaction levels of your attendees and how they talk about the event after it’s finished.

Rope These 5 People into Your Trade Shows

There are 5 kinds of people that attend trade shows. There’s the “usual” attendee who has his own agenda and can be attracted by having a large or open booth (just because they love visiting booths like that). There’s the enthusiastic type who visits around three times more booths than the usual. You can simply have a large booth and expect this guy to come in. There’s the niche buyer which sticks to his trade show goals at all costs, and if you’re after this type you’ll actually need a smaller booth. If you want to attract brand buyers, on the other hand, you’ll need to have a larger booth again! Finally, there are newcomers, who also gravitate to larger booths with a lot going on. Which type would benefit your trade show the most?

Attendee satisfaction is more than just a survey with a happy and a sad face. True satisfaction is measured by how the audience acts within and towards the event.
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Can You Protect Your Event Attendees?

Security has become an increasingly important component of any event. You need to know the number and profiles of attendees and their level of mobility in case of an emergency. There should be concrete plans to handle any situation that arises without causing any undue panic among the guests. This would extend into all sorts of emergency protocols that will be implemented by a highly-trained staff, who will, in turn, maintain constant communication with first responders.

Instituting Inclusion

On top of the tech hype that has caught the eye of every event professional, today’s events are focusing more and more on inclusion and diversity. This is a process that has crept into each and every portion of event planning, from the screening of speakers through blind submissions to creating different ways of letting the audience consume the contents of the event. There are special areas for attendees with special needs, such as parents who need to care for a crying child or those who need to engage in prayer or meditation. Even the vocabulary used in events are now evolving, using gender-inclusive pronouns for the most common things such as badges and restrooms.

Using Technology to Drive Engagement

The old way of doing business is past. Instead of pen and paper, we now have gadgets. Why should events be any different? Instead of a business card, equip your attendees with smart tags. Let them download event-specific mobile apps in lieu of personal planners. Use digital polls to let them give out real-time comments, and use live streaming to reach out to the world. Instead of dioramas, use interactive touchscreens and video walls. All these would come hand-in-hand to create a completely new and engaging experience that is both modern and exciting.

An Event Venue… for Free?

Event venues tend to take up a huge chunk of the budget, which is a concern when the budget is light. But what if you can get it for free instead? Maybe you can set aside an area of your company premises as a venue.Or maybe you can combine the venue and activities, as you could do with outdoor team building-style events. There are also venues you can hire at rock-bottom prices, or those that you can rent for free provided you spend a minimum amount on food and drinks. And of course, there are community venues such as public parks, centers, and the like.

The concept of “tribe” has been a driving force in the creation of communities, and it is also an important idea when thinking of ways to engage audiences.
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Set Your Venue Priorities

There are a lot of things you should consider when finding a venue, but when you strip these to the core they all boil down to very specific priorities. Of course, your venue needs to be able to accommodate everyone including any surprise attendees. There should be enough space for all slated activities (including the tech to be used), and the area should also allow for a timely set-up of equipment. Preferably, there should also be enough time for rehearsals before the big day.

Don’t Get Your Event Management Software Wrong

Getting an event management software can be a big move for your team, so you need to make sure you get it right. The 8 steps in this guide would be helpful in doing just that. It all starts with understanding the driving force behind this change, the main reason you are looking for new software. You need to gather the right people and the right data, which will lead you to the right supplier. Testing is a whole new step, which includes evaluating your expectations for the software. In the end, you need to make sure the contract is properly accomplished.

Tribal Marketing to Engage Audiences

The concept of “tribe” has been a driving force in the creation of communities, and it is also an important idea when thinking of ways to engage audiences. Of course, it only works once you have found your own tribe, a group of like-minded folks whose niche you intend to dominate. Doing this will let you engage them based on their unique characteristics, by identifying the perfect marketing channels and by keeping up with the changes that affect this tribe.

While it might seem that your audience these days are fickle and hard to please, they still like the same things they’ve loved. And one thing everyone looks for in an event is something new and exciting.

How do you make your event “new” for your audience while sticking to the core value you want to offer?