7 Tips for Engaging Your Conference Participants

Are your guests really participating in the conference, or are they just physically present? In smaller meetings, most people feel a shared responsibility, but in larger gatherings, it's easy to get lost in the crowd and take on a more passive role. "No one will notice if I check my email over here in the corner..." or "Someone else will probably ask a question; not me..."

A meeting where participants are not engaged, except for being physically present, is often a poor investment. If you have spent a lot of time and thought preparing the conference, make sure you get the maximum return by ensuring that participants actively engage. Here are seven tips:

1. Clear Purpose

Ensure that participants understand the purpose of the meeting. If they know why they are there and what they can gain from the conference, they are much more likely to get involved.

2. Bring Out Paper and Pen

Despite today’s smartphones and laptops, research shows that taking notes by hand makes the brain process information more actively. You note down the most important points since it’s impossible to write down every word (unlike transcribing on a laptop), thereby improving learning and memory.

2. Phone Daycare

A somewhat quirky but highly effective method. According to psychiatrist Anders Hansen, it requires active brain function to ignore the phone in your pocket and avoid picking it up. The phone is so tempting (and rewarding for the brain) that we immediately perceive our surroundings as less interesting if a phone is within reach.

3. Digital Discussions

Today, there are a plethora of digital services designed for meetings and conferences. Voting devices are just the tip of the iceberg; participants can also use their phones (if not left in phone daycare...) or tablets to ask questions to speakers on stage, vote on questions posed by other participants, interact with each other, share pictures, knowledge, and suggestions. Digital tools can also be used to gamify challenging topics, offering new perspectives on challenges your company faces. This is far more engaging and fun than several hours of one-way communication from the stage.

4. Analog Activities

Gather participants into groups that create their own posters to convey the company’s vision or make a board game about the company’s products, which is then presented to the other groups followed by a vote on the best proposals. Voting can be done by raising colorful cards just as easily as voting on a phone, avoiding the distractions that arise when phones are brought out.

5. Start the Engagement with the Invitation

Create buzz around the meeting already in the planning and invitation stage, making participants curious and eager for more. Allow them to suggest topics they want to be covered at the conference, speakers they wish to see on stage, and what they want to hear them talk about. If the speaker is already decided, participants can submit questions for the speaker to answer during the conference. With input from participants, the program can be better tailored to them, making it more engaging.

6. Let the Engagement Continue

Keep the engagement alive after the conference by allowing participants to evaluate the event and provide suggestions for what they want to see at the next conference. Show that you follow up on what was decided and continue working on the topics discussed. Don’t let the conference be an isolated event; connect it back to the purpose (as communicated) and demonstrate how the conference ties into your vision and work moving forward.

Read more tips on active conference participation from meeting designer Jörgen Dyssvold in the magazine Kick Off, or contact us at Blick for help planning your next engaging conference!