What makes a meeting truly
stand out from others? It's not necessarily how much money was spent,
but how many truly memorable experiences the attendees recall.
Many successful conferences take pains to create an overarching
theme -- expressed and consistently reinforced by logos, events,
speakers, etc. -- to establish an overall "feel" throughout
the convention.
Why not further imprint your meeting's content and mood on attendees
by enveloping them in planned sequences of memorable moments? Use
a combination of smells, tastes, sounds, sights, and even "touchable"
experiences that will drive home the message you want the meeting
to convey.
Few meetings can or should be able to compete with the sizzle of
a modern amusement park or an action movie. But meeting planners
and hotel and other site managers can multiple the number of positive
exposures attendees experience -- and thus increase the possibility
that those attendees will rave about their meeting.
Conduct a "Sensory Exposures" Audit
To make the most of the event, conduct a "Sensory Exposures
Audit" of all the images to which your attendees will be exposed,
from the pre-meeting mailings and other contacts, through the meeting
itself and post-meeting reinforcements.
Just as political campaigns have "advance agents" who
walk through every step of an event ahead of time to consider all
that might go right or wrong (from slippery steps to photo-opportunity
backdrops), planners should mentally visualize each "vignette"
attendees might experience.
For visual effect, ask hotel and convention center staff for photos
of the actual colors and patterns most frequently used in their
sleeping, eating, meeting, and gathering spaces, and take notes
on the combinations during your site visit, so your theme colors
and images are compatible and even complementary.
To make sure noise doesn't distract from your meeting's mood, ask
the staff where you're going to find the most conflicting (or perhaps
even comforting) background sounds from piped-in music, other meetings,
mechanical operations, catering procedures, or beyond-the-facility
sounds.
And don't ignore these other sensory questions:
- Where do the smells go from the cooking and catering areas?
- Are the walkways carpeted? What is the carpet's "comfort
factor" -- is it plush or thin?
- Is the facility signage large and easy to understand?
- What do the chairs in the meeting rooms feel like? Are there
many comfortable places to relax and converse between organized
activities?
- Is there much access to natural light (to elevate attendees'
moods) during some of the daytime activities?
Create a Sensory "Storyboard" for your Meeting
Drive and walk through the major and minor "paths" your
attendees will use from the time they leave an airport (if they
use one) to the time they arrive back at the airport -- and observe
what sensory delights -- or nightmares -- they might receive during
their stay.
It might be helpful to borrow a story boarding trick from TV advertisement
creators. Write out the meeting "story" as a three-part
series of sequences or "exposures" that attendees will
experience: pre-meeting, meeting, and post-meeting.
For each "exposure" you identify: Write a brief description
of the all the exposures, in the meeting's chronological sequence,
which the attendee is likely to experience. Next to each one, mark
whether it is a positive, negative, or neutral exposure.
An example of a positive exposure would be: Candid photos taken
of attendees as they enter the opening-night mixer, with the photos
then placed in pressed-board white frames inscribed with the meeting
theme and hung on fish line strings in the buffet breakfast room
the next day for a take-away souvenir.
A negative exposure: Inevitably long treks between certain meeting
rooms.
A mostly neutral one: Conventionally decorated hotel rooms.
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Sensory Upgrades
Then write out what the potential attendee will see, hear, smell,
taste, and/or touch. How many of the senses can you include in each
exposure to make it more positively memorable?
Try creating more "low-tech" sensory experiences, such
as more human touch, like increasing the number of times an attendee
is greeted by name or a handshake.
Two studies were done in 1996 and 1997 in which two groups experienced
the same public event, with the only difference that people in one
group were safely touched (for example, shaking hands, touch on
the top of the hand) just twice in a three-hour period. The so-called
"touched group" described the people sponsoring the event
as more intelligent, caring, and good looking than did the other,
"non-touched" group.
Also try higher-tech sensory moments, such as scenting a general
session in keeping with the speaker and convention theme. Or gradually
changing the scent three times, from lemon to lime to suntan lotion
during the course of the 40-minute, midwinter, pre-lunch keynote
speech. Lightly scent the handouts to match. Technology does now
make it possible to add scents that refresh, relax, or renew --
without allergic reactions.
Planners should begin to see their meetings as theatrical productions
and should consider what the attendees are experiencing at every
waking moment. The possible payoffs? You'll find ways to move more
of the exposures to the positive side, often not through more costs,
but through changes in planning.
Inflame Their Imaginations
For a "negative" exposure such as a long, boring walk
between meeting rooms, you could "Burma Shave" the build-up
of interest and excitement in the trek with a sequence of messages
on stands or on the walls -- like the old highway signs of rhyming
phrases car passengers passed on long stretches of road.
On the way to a luncheon, the messages could build suspense toward
the identity of award recipients or hint at an entertainment event
with a surprise guest. If the trek is from meeting rooms to the
trade show floor, the hallway signs could ask questions as part
of an exhibitor-sponsored trivia contest. Attendees who get the
right answers get their names entered in a drawing, etc. -- all
of a sudden, that long walk seems to fly right by.
Prior to the meeting, you might send a "Burma Shave"
series of postcards (sending them with increasing frequency as the
event approaches), offering more reasons to attend and to sign up
early.
For example, the first postcards for a midwinter meeting in a sunny
locale might be a series with images of blue water and yellow sun,
or messages to come prepared for warm sun and sizzling topics, with
the cards scented with coconut suntan lotion. Send companion messages
via e-mail, directing attendees to your web site for a convention
preview and contest.
Use the Tricks of Blockbuster Movies
As in a blockbuster movie, the most important exposures are the
"opening scene," the handling of potentially slow times,
the climax, and the ending. Since many meetings have a slow beginning
(hotel check-in, meeting registration, dead time before the first
meeting) -- and since the first few hours can set an attendee's
mood for the rest of the meeting -- planners should pay extra attention
to sprucing up these "opening scenes."
Make attendees feel coddled and cared for from the first moments
of their arrival. Consider having a team of people greet arrivals
at the hotel door(s), perhaps in costume, and with a welcome gift.
Make the gift fun to see, touch, and/or taste. Have a second gift
waiting for them in their room, perhaps a contest announcement.
The more cared for attendees feel from the get-go, the more they
will perceive subsequent meeting experiences in a positive light,
want to participate, and forgive later mishaps.
Move to Emotion and Playtime
In all "waiting times," from registration to coffee areas,
plan amusements that catch the eye or that people can hold or play
with or hear. For example, have modern clowns or ventriloquists
or magicians roam the gathering areas around registration areas
to build movement, excitement, and involvement. Or mimes might follow
and imitate attendees in gentle fun, and perhaps give them mementos
provided by exhibitors that make them eligible for a drawing if
they visit a booth.
Create ways to get attendees involved and interested soon after
they arrive. The best ways are to get them in motion and to let
them see motion around them, because motion literally increases
the emotion people feel.
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Here are some examples:
- A videographer can capture attendees' responses to the interactions
(with the clowns, musicians, mimes, pranksters) for later use
in a continuous-feed loop shown on TV monitors at eye-level in
gathering places between meeting rooms.
- The videographer can interview people for their opinion on a
meeting topic and/or comments on a favorite co-attendee. Let the
resultant video run as a continuous-feed loop on eye-level TV
monitors for future waiting times.
- Several photographers with Polaroid cameras can photograph groups
and individuals. These can quickly be taken to a local copy center
and produced as enlargements for an ever-enlarging "Meeting
Montage" on a central wall attendees see frequently.
The Halls Are Alive with the Sound of Meetings
Consider adding "localized sound" along the "paths"
attendees will walk. At strategic times and in excitement-starved
places, place portable audiotape and CD machines. Obviously the
security of needed equipment is a consideration, so you'll want
to place equipment where staff or volunteers can see it. Consider
the registration area or inside the doors people enter for banquets.
The "sounds" can be music related to the meeting theme;
or sound bites of attendees who have been interviewed about their
advice or praise for their peers; or an "Eavesdrop": lively
conversation between meeting leaders about the meeting high points.
Change the tapes sometimes so attendees can look forward to new
experiences.
Sweet Smell of Success
At an association conference designed to strengthen member unity
and celebrate success, our theme was "Success is Sweet."
Here's how to replicate it:
When participants enter the opening evening "Five Heavenly
Chocolates" mixer in a ballroom, they are enveloped in the
enticing, wafting scent of chocolate from the AromaSys-designed
scent machines. As they arrive, they are given scented "player
cards" with the name and "stats" of a person's accomplishments,
printed in brown ink in the format of a baseball card, and invited
to find the person who matches the accomplishments. Huge enlargements
of the cards are projected on the walls and constantly changing.
When attendees find their person, they can return to get a new
card for a different person. The ten people who find the most matches
win chocolate, player-card prizes and chocolate "MVP"
statues later in the evening. People can use roving mikes to ask
for help in finding their person. As attendees mingle, a singer's
song list naturally features chocolate and athletic themes.
Continue this success theme throughout the meeting: At breakfast
the next day, all attendees receive two forms: one to fill out their
own MVP player accomplishments and another to fill out for a colleague
they admire, who is attending the convention.
All attendees who fill out forms are eligible to have their photo
taken for their own two-sided MVP Player card, enlarged to poster
size. The poster of the attendee who is most written up by his or
her colleagues is blown up to wall size and mounted on a wall the
last day of the convention, when the person's name is announced
with game music in the background and a rally squad dancing to celebrate.
Happy, Surprise Endings
Before the convention even starts, lay out a post-meeting newsletter
filled with comments the speakers will offer, awards announcements,
and news of important dates. Include actions such as signing up
for the next meeting or volunteering for a committee.
Leave places for photos and attendee comments you gather during
the convention. Place them in the holes left in the newsletter,
and then quick-copy and label the newsletter on the last day of
the convention so attendees receive this unexpected "Meeting
Memento" very soon after returning home. Send an e-mail version
of the newsletter, too, with a "Thank you for participating"
message.
A week later, send a gift pack of gifts provided by some exhibitors,
along with their product offers, and your message, again thanking
attendees and reminding them of the calls for action on their part.
Few meetings include immediate follow-up to attendees. Fewer still
follow up more than once, soon after a meeting. Stand out in their
senses and their minds, so they'll step forward for your next meeting.
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Kare Anderson is the founder of the Say It Better
Center, located in Sausalito, CA. She can be reached via email at
kare@sayitbetter.com.
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