Picture the scene – a beautiful ballroom in a classically decorated hotel, playing the role of a conference room for the day. There are big screens with presentations and a speaker on stage at the front, passionately describing a breakthrough in their research. In front of the stage are 12 round tables with jugs of water, pens, notes pads and guests who have flown in from all over Europe, most of whom are engaged in this in person event and taking down notes.
However, here and there you can see the guest who does not look interested. Despite the setting, the luxury of the surroundings and all their peers around them, the presentation is losing their attention. It is a topic they have great interest in, but for whatever reason (learning styles, external stresses), they find themselves looking at their phone and having a game of Tetris?!
This scenario isn’t uncommon at events. The speakers might not be able to see it, the client may not always notice it, but those supporting event teams (AV staff, catering, event software team) see this a lot. We once saw a trained physician try to lift their bread out of a live toaster with a metal knife at the breakfast buffet. You can teach some things, but not others.
So how do you engage the person checking their social media while the speaker is reaching their prominent point? Your venue is booked, the speakers are contracted, but how do you measure if the content is has been delivered and absorbed by your audience? How can you measure the return on investment?
The key is engagement—something that actively connects the audience with the content. When you capture their attention, the phones go down.
In this particular scenario, we provided iPads with a custom-built platform for all guests. This platform hosted presentations, documents, forms, and interactive elements.
As the speaker is passionately presenting onstage, they posed a poll question to gage the audiences level of knowledge on the subject. The poll appears on the iPad, prompting the audience to respond and drawing them into the discussion. This interaction leads to further questions from the audience, which could be submitted directly through the iPad and instantly appeared on the speaker’s device.
In the following session, a speaker has created a quiz which pops up on the iPad. This lights up the competitive members of the audience, emboldened by the leaderboard that appears in between each question and their fingers poised, ready to answer the next. It’s exciting and the atmosphere in the room is alive.
Building on this momentum, the platform’s chat forum is used to spark further discussion. Attendees exchange ideas and insights in real time, enriching their experience. During the workshop sessions, people gather in small groups to collaborate on problem-solving tasks and contribute their collective thoughts through the forum. Now everyone has the opportunity to have their voice heard, making them feel like a meaningful part of the conversation.
As the day drew to a close, the iPads lit up with a feedback form, inviting the audience to share their thoughts from the conference. This final interactive moment gave everyone a chance to voice their opinions, ensuring that their feedback would help shape future events.
Post event, all interactions, log ins, questions and feedback are collated in a coherent report, providing clear measure of return on investment. Your guests have left not only with new insights but also with memorable experiences, eager to share their learnings with other specialists in their field.
By Lela Keighley – Senior Project Manager
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