Association Marketing Tip: Up the Fun Factor for a Great Conference Experience

Association marketing tip for success: By creating a fun, festive and fantastic attendee experience at your next conference you’ll find more people in their seats, fewer people hanging out at the pool, and even more people planning to pre-register for next year.

Offsite adventures and happy hour networking are great ways to create some fun, but don’t stop there. Here are some new twists on ways to generate an energetic, positive buzz and put smiles on faces.

Anticipation: Build the Fun Before the Conference Starts

• Make it fun from the start, the registration process, through lively catchphrases and bright graphics.
• With registration packets send info on interesting things to see, do, eat and experience in and around the conference location (be sure to send a family-friendly version also).
• Build anticipation through a captivating agenda written with active language.
• Use social media to promote your meetings in light, creative ways.
• Use social media to broadcast lively testimonials from previous conferences.  
• If you’re having a fun theme carry it through from registration to finale.
• Ask presenters for short promo videos to post on your website to pique interest.
• Send attendees a fresh and fun “Conference Survival Tips” sheet with unusual ways to help them get the most out of their experience.

Arrival: Your First Impression Sets the Tone

• Use lively graphics and fun phrases on directional signs in the lobby and hallways.
• Use a “town crier” and themed greeters to direct people to registration tables and help attendees navigate to the various events.
• Gotta love the fun name tag. A name tag with their name followed by “Superman in Disguise” or something non-threatening yet funny will get conversations started.
• Put a giftbag of festive conference swag in attendee hotel rooms.

Attendance: Keep People Energized and Excited During the Conference

• Shoot videos to capture impromptu attendee thoughts at arrival and throughout the conference and show the clips on your video kiosks.
• Hold a conference scavenger hunt over the course of the meetings that links to your theme and offers unusual prizes.
• Stage a “get to know you” attendee scavenger hunt where people must find attendees who match unusual characteristics/traits/hobbies as listed on a sheet.
• Stage a social media showdown where teams Tweet or post pictures from events with descriptions or hashtags to see who can get the most interaction online.
• Place fun trivia games or engaging questionnaires on attendee tables. This can keep people attentive until meetings start.
• Select presenters who are lively, interesting and yet still deliver information of real value.
• Award prizes to the attendee who has traveled the furthest and also the least, for the best idea on how to improve next year’s meeting, and so on.
• Have fun theme days such as “High Five Day.”

After: Remembering a Great Experience

• Create an energetic, post-event video to remind attendees of the fun they had and to generate interest for next year’s event.
• Distribute a funny “Top 10” list of happenings at the conference to further reinforce their great experience.
• Enable attendees to upload short, conference-focused and fun video testimonials to your website. They’re able to share their enjoyable experiences which, in turn, will motivate others for next year’s event.

With a little creativity and listening to feedback from attendees, your imagination can come up with creative ways to up the fun factor of your next conference.