Struggling to get your team and stakeholders excited about attendee-centric events? You're not alone! In this episode of Not The Same As Last Year, I tackle the challenge of building a compelling case for prioritizing the attendee experience.

We'll explore the benefits of attendee-centric events, from increased ROI and happier attendees to a positive brand perception and share practical strategies to address common concerns and get everyone on board, including:

• Framing the benefits in a way that resonates with stakeholders.
• Using data and success stories to showcase the power of attendee-centricity.
• Encouraging collaboration to brainstorm engaging event experiences.

Ready to ditch the tired event format and create events your attendees will love? Tune in and learn how to build a case for attendee-centric events that stakeholders get!

Ready to dive deeper? Download your free guide, five ways to elevate your attendee experience without breaking the bank HERE

Connect with Clare:

WEBSITE

LINKEDIN

YOUTUBE

1:02

welcome back to not the same as last

1:04

year I'm Clare Forestier I'm your host and

1:07

today we are tackling a really important

1:10

topic for anyone that is passionate

1:11

about creating events that put the

1:14

attendee at the heart of your event and

1:16

that is getting your internal team on

1:19

board with this approach now if you've

1:22

been following me or listening to my

1:24

rants here or on social media the

1:27

chances are you are now really up for

1:29

design siging events that put the

1:31

attendee first and you probably have a

1:34

vision for an event that really

1:35

prioritizes their engagement but if it

1:38

means doing things a little bit

1:41

differently from last year and chances

1:43

are it does sometimes convincing your

1:46

colleagues and your bosses and

1:48

potentially your clients to move in this

1:50

direction can be tricky so let's start

1:53

by acknowledging the challenges internal

1:56

teams often have different priorities

2:00

they might be focused on budgets

2:02

Logistics or meeting internal goals of

2:04

the business that don't always align

2:06

with the attendee

2:08

experience additionally there can be

2:11

resistance to change especially if your

2:14

company has a history of traditional

2:17

event formats and to be fair I think

2:19

we're all a little bit institutionalized

2:22

into expecting our events to follow the

2:25

default event setting of coffee breaks

2:27

masquerading as networking and

2:30

PowerPoint presentations over busy

2:32

schedules crappy lighting too much noise

2:35

etc

2:36

etc but there is a way we can make a

2:39

compelling case for prioritizing the

2:42

attendee first of all tell them happy

2:46

attendees lead to Better Business

2:48

outcomes the satisfied attendees are the

2:50

ones that are more likely to become

2:52

loyal customers brand Advocates and

2:55

potential Partners secondly they will

2:58

increase your Roi why because an Engaged

3:01

attendee is much more perceptive much

3:03

more receptive secondly it will increase

3:07

Roi an Engaged attendee is much more

3:10

receptive to your message leading to

3:13

better lead generation and sales

3:15

opportunities and thirdly it's going to

3:18

mean a positive brand perception when

3:21

you prioritize a tende experience it

3:24

actually reflects a company that values

3:26

its customers and the way they feel so

3:30

how do we translate this why then into

3:33

action I think we've got to learn to

3:36

speak their language of the people that

3:38

we're trying to persuade you can't just

3:40

talk about the term attendee experience

3:43

to your colleagues and your bosses they

3:45

don't necessarily work in events they're

3:47

not necessarily going to get that so

3:48

you've got to connect it to what matters

3:51

to them their priorities so you frame

3:54

increased attendee engagement as a way

3:56

to improve lead generation for sales or

4:00

brand awareness for

4:02

marketing and you show them the money

4:05

data is your friend here gather all you

4:08

can from past events like attendee

4:10

feedback or post event surveys not just

4:13

your own but also what other people are

4:15

sharing out there on social media around

4:18

best practice and event Trend reports

4:21

and you can use this data to really

4:23

highlight the benefits of the attendees

4:24

Centric approach and I think it's also

4:27

important to think just in terms of

4:30

starting with small winds people like me

4:33

MC's and others who are out here loudly

4:36

pushing for change I know we often talk

4:39

really big about the potential but the

4:41

reality is you may have to start quite

4:44

small you can't overhaul everything in

4:47

your event overnight how about

4:49

suggesting that you implement some more

4:51

attendee Centric elements into a pilot

4:54

event to showcase the effectiveness of

4:57

them or ask if you can maybe prove

4:59

Concept in a smaller internal

5:03

event now it's frustrated me for ages

5:06

why the concept of of an attend Centric

5:09

event is so slow to really start

5:12

happening um at business events and I

5:14

suppose it's like when you're looking

5:17

for a place to live with your partner

5:19

some of us can easily see the potential

5:22

in a space and visualize its

5:24

transformation my husband tends to be

5:26

discouraged by limitations for example

5:28

like a small living room he can't see

5:31

like I can that we could make it look

5:33

amazing and have an open layout if we

5:35

just knock down some walls and it's a

5:38

similar idea with

5:39

events now be warned wondering why some

5:42

people are not able to picture what to

5:44

them as an unfamiliar event experience

5:46

and why they then reject it despite what

5:48

we tell them it has led me down quite a

5:50

few weird paths or two in researching

5:53

online but it's apparently because we

5:56

tend to understand things only by

5:58

relating them to a previous experience

6:01

cognitive psychologists suggests this

6:03

thing that humans rely heavily on is

6:05

called schema it is a mental framework

6:08

that we use to organize information it's

6:11

a template if you like that helps us

6:14

understand new experiences by relating

6:16

them to things we already know I mean

6:18

it's what helps us make sense of the

6:20

world quickly it allows us to fill in

6:22

gaps in our knowledge and to then be

6:24

able to make predictions but the problem

6:26

is it can also sometimes lead to biases

6:29

or stereotypes and it can make it

6:32

difficult for us to understand things

6:34

that are completely new or outside our

6:36

existing knowledge Bas so if your team

6:39

don't immediately get you and your plans

6:42

don't despair it's not that they're

6:44

being bloody minded and old fashioned it

6:46

is their schema bias and that's when you

6:48

need things like good old behavioral

6:50

psychology to help move them don't worry

6:53

I'm not about to LGE into that because

6:55

it isn't my area of expertise although

6:57

it is fascinating but the one bit of

7:01

psychology that I think always works is

7:03

finding the humanity the Common Ground

7:07

bonding so collaboration here I think

7:11

it's vital you want to get your wider

7:13

team involved in the whole brainstorming

7:16

process around your event rather than

7:18

just hectoring them about all the shizel

7:20

I talk about in this podcast try and get

7:23

their input on the ideas that you have

7:26

for making things more fun and engaging

7:28

ask them what matters to them what they

7:31

would want to achieve from the event and

7:33

what they would want to achieve if they

7:34

were going to the event and then you can

7:36

see how your ideas might help them see

7:39

that specific thing happening I think

7:42

another way is to Showcase success

7:45

stories share examples from other

7:48

companies and what they've done those

7:50

that have successfully implemented

7:52

attendee Centric events and the positive

7:54

impact it had on their business and then

7:57

you will really get them to see the

8:00

impact and you can then follow that up

8:02

by following the surveys and reading the

8:04

research getting the data showing that

8:06

to them and follow the influences in

8:08

this field I would suggest subscribing

8:10

to Julius solis's newsletter about

8:13

research the event psychologist Victoria

8:16

matey on LinkedIn she's great look at

8:18

her research on her website and she

8:20

shares actually loads of other links to

8:22

the great resources event design that

8:24

puts the attendee first also check out

8:28

the event well consultant David C

8:30

Stevens's podcast it's called um return

8:33

on wellness and in fact both Victoria

8:36

and David are joining me on the podcast

8:38

in the next few months and I will share

8:40

all the details of everything I just

8:42

mentioned in the show notes and of

8:43

course there are many more people to

8:45

follow if you've heard episode five I

8:47

think it was with Liz lean you're

8:49

hopefully already paying attention to

8:51

what she says around experience at

8:54

events now even if you do all of the

8:57

above let's be honest there may still be

9:00

some concerns so here are a few common

9:03

ones and how I think you could address

9:05

them so there's going to be budget

9:07

concerns often if you want to change

9:09

something and maybe spend money in a

9:10

different place from where you spent it

9:12

last time on the event so always focus

9:15

on the potential for the increased Roi

9:18

to demonstrate that attendee centricity

9:21

at events going attendee first can be

9:23

cost

9:24

effective time constraints highlight the

9:28

efficiency of inter acve formats and

9:30

collaboration within the team to

9:32

streamline event planning so show them

9:34

how it can actually make things more

9:36

effective when you're planning things to

9:38

have lots of collaboration and

9:40

interactive formats because if people

9:42

see that happening with your planning

9:44

they'll go oh that could really work in

9:45

an

9:46

event fear of the unknown I mean we've

9:48

been talking about that but you need to

9:51

maybe get them to just say look maybe we

9:52

could experiment so kind of try de with

9:54

knowledge There's an opportunity there

9:56

to try something new and and experiment

10:00

whilst emphasizing how you could then

10:01

grow that out later and and any positive

10:04

results make sure they are really

10:06

highlighted now we've talked about some

10:09

ideas of how to help people come along

10:12

with you on this on this goal towards an

10:14

attendee

10:15

firstand and I think the thing to really

10:17

remember is it's about getting building

10:20

a shared Vision if you can really

10:23

demonstrate the value proposition of

10:25

attendee first and this idea of making

10:28

things really open and open

10:30

communication then hopefully you're

10:31

going to create a really collaborative

10:34

environment for your event which leads

10:36

to a more collaborative environment at

10:39

your

10:40

event so do share your thoughts I know

10:43

some of my clients have struggled to get

10:45

their team or their bosses on board and

10:47

so I'm sure you're in the same boat

10:49

sometimes how do you bring all the

10:51

stakeholders on board with this attendee

10:53

first approach what strategies have

10:55

worked for you I'd love it if we could

10:57

keep the conversation going on social

10:59

media maybe tag me in CLA Forest dear or

11:02

use the not the same as last year

11:05

hashtag I'm determined to get that hash

11:07

viral and of course join me next time

11:10

when I will be talking to an event

11:12

psychologist yes my next guest actually

11:15

has anology in how to make events better

11:18

so see you next

11:24

week and there you have it I hope you're

11:28

inspired to re revolutionize the

11:30

attendee experience at your next event

11:33

ready to dive deeper download your free

11:35

guide five ways to elevate your attendee

11:38

experience without breaking the bank the

11:40

link is in the show notes subscribe to

11:43

not the same as last year podcast

11:46

connect with me CLA Forest here on

11:47

LinkedIn or visit my YouTube channel for

11:50

even more tips and insights to make your

11:52

events a hit with your attendees don't

11:55

forget to leave a review wherever you

11:56

get your podcasts your feedback is going

11:59

to fuel my mission stay tuned next week

12:02

for another episode packed with

12:03

inspiring ideas and practical strategies

12:06

to put your attend first