When Planning Events, Don’t forget the Attendees

So, it’s no secret that the event business–like the rest of the economy–is suffering big time right now.  Corporations are cutting back both their budgets for hosting conferences, as well as their employee’s travel budgets to attend conferences, so it’s more important now than ever that your conferences deliver maximum value.

Over the last several months, we’ve been involved in several events are operating with 50% to 70% budget cuts over the same event last year.  In all of those cases, the focus from the event planners, sponsors, and senior executives has been on cutting out the frills and delivering more content.  And while we’d argue that the goal of an event should always be to find more ways to deliver content, we understand the impulse now more than ever.

However, those are your goals, the content you want to deliver at the lowest price possible, presumably because it’s what you think your attendees want.  But Luis Suarez recently put up a post from the viewpoint of an attendees that got us thinking.  What else do attendees want?

Yes, they want maximum content, the opportunity to network, be exposed to new ideas, and maybe even have a bit of fun.  But Lois argues that attendees also want to be healthy and comfortable.  So, being in the business of conference logistics, we thought we’d offer an easy set of questions you can ask yourself or your event planner before your next event (and most of these things, if you have a knowledgeable event team, can be done with little or no additional cost). Consider the following:

• How will your attendees be participating? Will they be taking notes?  How about using their laptops?  Will they be trying to juggle both?  (Have you ever tried to balance a laptop, iPhone, and event program on your knees while trying to sit in one of those generic conference-center chairs?)  If this is a serious possibility, what about adding classroom tables (the narrow ones) to your room layouts to make it possible for people to conformable spread out and participate in the event however they’d like.
• How long are you holding them hostage for? Yes, we’ve all heard it: attention spans are ever shorter, and while this is a concern, a good program producer will keep the content moving so people don’t get board.  Rather, think back to the mental image above.  If you’re keeping your attendees trapped in a chair, balancing their different devices, for long periods, they’re going to be less likely to focus on the engaging content you’re delivering.  What about more short breaks (especially if you don’t have room to add tables or more comfortable chairs)?  If you’ve got water-stations at the back of the room, but you don’t give them a chance to get up, what’s the point?  No doubt, there is a balance here, but you can work with your events team to strike the right balance.  (And trust us, conferences attendees are A.D.D., so learn to work with their distraction, not against it.)
• What about the “networking” portions? One of the biggest goals for most attendees is networking, but are you making it easy for them?  As the demand grows for “content” over “fluff” in hard economic times, let’s not forget that a lot of the best “outcomes” of events happens during the portions that are considered “fluffy”: receptions, breaks, even galas and parties.  So, even as you cut back the expensive portions of these elements (the entertainment, the decorations, maybe even the food and drink) remember, these are among the highest priorities for event-attendees. Could you have light snacks and only beer and wine?  Could you forgo the expensive entertainment for a bit of ambiance from a local band. Could you skip on the expense of decorating a boring hotel ballroom and walk down the street to a beautiful restaurant, or spacious winery? (Don’t underestimate the value of getting off site, and it often opens up possibilities for bringing in cheaper food and beverage when you’re not locked into catering contracts.)  Again, there is a balance. Know work with your events team to determine what’s right, but as a starter,

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