Become an Experience Curator

Now Is the Time to Rethink Event Production and Become an Experience Curator

Social media and technology have had a profound impact on how we interact every day. We’ve certainly seen changes in event fundraising — people have migrated from emailing fundraising letters, to leveraging CRM systems like Blackbaud and Convio to benefitting from social networking and other integrated online fundraising platforms like StayClassy. As the fundraising side of our work is changing, so too are the expectations for the actual event.

Direct outgrowth of social networking is a big reason why more people are craving in-person contact, which makes a live event even more desirable. Social sites and an influx of portable gadgets have contributed to a loss of human interaction. As a result, we are finding that people want to maximize their face-to-face experiences and don’t want to deal with small inconveniences that distract from the event. JWT Intelligence’s “10 Trends for 2012” forecasts that to “balance out our increasing immersion in the digital world, people will embrace face-to-face gatherings and digital downtime.”

This trend impacts the most basic interactions we have with participants, like how to collect donations at an event, which is a simple transaction. People are now used to “anywhere, anyway shopping.” The best example is the Apple Store. Apple makes everything seamless from being greeted, to direct interaction with the products (touching computers and gadgets is encouraged) to a sales person checking you out anywhere in the store. Those of us in event fundraising need to learn lessons from such experiences and maximize the point of sale on event – making things quick and easy certainly helps. (See JWT Intelligence’s “2012 and Beyond” for more examples.)

Participants don’t want to spend their time waiting in line when they’d rather be out interacting with people and doing the activity. Ideally, registration should happen online before a participant arrives on site (for some of our events we allow participants to navigate registration self-serve online and even print their own credential to bring to the event). In cases when you offer check-in and registration on-site, that experience has to be unobtrusive. Kiosk or iPad systems allow us to make the process an easy self-serve task, registering a higher number of participants more quickly and efficiently.

I believe our future is going to be less about event production and more focused on being experience curators. What’s the difference? Event production is more of a one-way street: “We build it, they show up.” But experience curating is social: “We build it together, we participate together, and we communicate about it together.” Events will be about providing a venue with multiple experiences where people can move through focus points that we design. There will be a major emphasis on being able to meet with others to discuss what’s happening or just be social in various spaces, a focus on human interaction. Think Burning Man and South by Southwest (SXSW) — models for the next generation of events.

Socializing through Twitter and Facebook can start relationships that lead to positive in-person connections. So when people shut down the computer and show up at your event, be sure there are ways to grab their interest and make connections to grow. In this cluttered Attention Economy, events will need to provide more than one focus and plentiful peer-to-peer opportunities. Participants now expect to contribute to building the experience. Events need to be immersive and multi-faceted with elements of surprise. People need to walk away feeling like they learned something about themselves, a cause or others. And they want to get online and talk about your event and post photos and feedback via Instagram and Twitter. This combination of online and live buzz provides memorable experiences for event-goers, and also makes others feel they missed something big if they did not attend – they’ll be sure to get involved next time. Offer sharable content and never underestimate the power of a good photo opportunity.

As we adjust to “Event 2.0” as an industry and strive to be experience curators, the opportunities are endless since our participants will want to help us build the experience.

Article by Patrick Riley and Sarah Coniglio, Event 360

10 Recommendations for Improving Event Production in 2012

Those of us at Event 360 who focus on event production have one goal in mind: creating impactful experiences for participants. Here are 10 ways to do just that in the year ahead.

1. Leverage technology.
Event professionals can employ all kinds of technology to be more efficient and provide a better product. Use Google Earth to scout sites and lay out site plans to scale. Provide GPS for staff and volunteers to navigate routes more effectively. Incorporate barcode scanners for credentialing (e.g. you can scan in participants who have printed their credentials and brought them to the event).  

2. Plan surprises.

Introduce unexpected elements to create a "wow" factor at your events. This can involve something simple (offering popsicles on a hot day or hot chocolates at the end of a rainy day) or poignant (capping a multi-day event with a compelling ceremony highlighting survivors). It's all about exceeding your participants' expectations and making them feel like they experienced something special.

3. Plan for the unexpected.
Don't let unplanned surprises ruin the participant experience. As part of your standard operating procedures, have a contingency plan in place for everything from bad weather (heat, cold, rain, snow) to a participant losing her backpack. That way, staff and volunteers know how to respond before — or right after — something goes wrong.

4. Strengthen community ties.
Reach out to the communities where your event takes place. Let residents know your walk will be coming right through their towns. It's not only considerate but also a subtle way to encourage support (e.g. we've seen some communities line an entire block with balloons and cookies to welcome participants). Who knows? You might even convert a few locals to your cause.

5. Walk in your participants' shoes.
Anyone who is involved in planning and executing an event should experience it firsthand. Eat your own dog food. Sign up for your own event or find one that is similar in your area. Find out what it's like to ride that 50-mile cycling route, work as a volunteer on the check-in team or navigate a new event with 5,000 other people. The lessons you learn will only help you make next year's event even better.

6. Make a good first impression.
Traffic flow and parking: If you don't manage these well, participants will be irritated before the event has even begun.

7. Make a good second impression too.
Once participants have arrived, they should immediately know what to do next. Use clear, prominent signage that guides them through registration, credentialing and any other preliminary steps. Having sufficient staffing and good line management also helps. When you handle logistical items like these flawlessly, participants become fully immersed in the event experience.

8. Survey participants.
Does your organization regularly collect comments from participants after the event? If not, make it a priority — this should be standard practice for every event professional. Find out what participants did or didn't like about the event, and then put that information to good use. Some of the best ideas we've implemented were inspired by participant feedback.

9. Master relationship-building 101.
Fire and police departments. Vendors. Sponsors. You should be nurturing your relationships with all these parties year round. Check in with them periodically — not just when you need something from them.

10. Kill a sacred cow (or two).
It's easy to get into a rut with an annual event. Maybe you've always held it at the same site or did things in a certain order. Well, don't be afraid to shake things up. We've flipped our start and ending sites, started at a new time of the day or year, and eliminated packet pick-up, all with great success.

How do you create impactful experiences for participants?