Arinex: Six Ways to Prioritise your Attendees

11 July 2024

With over fifty years’ experience in managing conferences, incentives and events, the Arinex team spread across Australasia deeply understand the importance of delivering exceptional and memorable experiences for attendees. In the ever-evolving expectations for business events, it’s crucial to stay ahead of the curve and incorporate emerging trends into your programme that contribute to your attendee journey mapping and ultimately fit with your event mission.

Here are six key trends worth considering:

1. Prioritise Wellbeing:Attendees are increasingly seeking a balance between their professional and personal lives. Incorporate wellness offerings like guided meditation, yoga sessions, digital detox zones and chill-out spaces into your event agenda. Provide expert-led sessions on stress management, resilience and work-life balance to demonstrate your commitment to holistic health.

Arinex Tips:

• Gone are days of heavy carb and sugar-loaded catering breaks. Recognise the impact of nutrition on productivity and energy levels of your delegates and your staff by making catering selections that aim to provide diverse and nourishing choices that also accommodate various dietary restrictions and preferences.
• Jetlagged delegates passively sitting in conference sessions for 8–10 hours a day resulting in overstimulated / over-caffeinated attendees trying to force the energy to keep up. Schedule auxiliary conference sessions – nothing too technical but they can still be inspirational whilst providing a mental break from heavier programme content. One gentle activity to offer attendees is a guided tea therapy session experience in a tranquil/low sensory environment.
• For incentive programmes, incorporate two-hour leisure time after lunch or before dinner to offer space to re-set and rally for the afternoon or evenings activities help optimise energy and engagement.

2. Build a Sense of Community: Foster meaningful connections among attendees by creating opportunities for networking, team-building activities and shared experiences.

Arinex Tips:

• Provide moments for attendees to connect with one another rather than experience the event ‘alongside each other’ is key to fostering meaningful relationships. For example, games, sports or cultural activities can promote camaraderie and healthy competition.
• Promote an extended event legacy, longer term knowledge sharing, idea generation and future referrals to your organisation or your event by giving attendees time and space to genuinely connect.
• Create a way for attendees to feel a sense of belonging. Gift attendees with a sentimental keepsake to remind them of their experience but also something they can proudly wear during the event such as a commemorative pin or branded t-shirt.

3. Leverage Technology: Utilise technology to engage attendees before, during and after the event. Gamification through mobile apps can inspire connections among attendees. Using technology as a tool to gain insights on the behaviour of your attendees feeds back to the journey mapping exercise.

Arinex Tips:

• Gamification provides more opportunities for new or introverted attendees to meet others and build connections they otherwise would not have the confidence to develop.
• Use polling and feedback mechanisms to tailor the event flow based on attendee preferences – or let individuals design their own experience by providing options.
• Tapping into event production to create personalised experiences such as a custom playlist of songs pre-selected by attendees when they registered for the event or a digital welcome screen at the entrance that displays greeting messages as an attendee approaches, for example ‘Welcome Jessica! We are so pleased you have joined us today!’

4. Embrace Social Impact: Incorporate authentic cultural experiences and interactions with local communities into your programme. Engage community leaders, organise walking tours and leverage storytelling to educate attendees and create emotionally charged moments.

Arinex Tips:

• Find community leaders to spend time with attendees in small discussion groups.
• Use local suppliers and get them involved in the process. For example, for award prizes, seek a local artist to create a one-of-a-kind award trophy. Recipients will treasure something made with a meaningful story behind it.
• Reach out to a local charitable organisation that could be aligned with the event. For example, organising a blood donation office to come onsite during your event or incorporating a tree planting or conservation focused site visit in your programme.

5. Prioritise Sustainability: Engage local suppliers committed to environmental sustainability and indigenous-owned businesses to align with the values of your event mission.

Arinex Tips:

• Strive to engage local suppliers that are indigenous owned or are dedicated to environmental sustainability – an event we recently managed used primarily Māori owned businesses which set a benchmark of 85 per cent of the total expenditure value of the overall budget.
• Include the option for attendees to contribute to offsetting or reducing the events’ carbon emissions at the point of registration.
• Survey attendees about their willingness to participate in eco-friendly initiatives, such as opting for plant-based or vegetarian meals or low carbon emitting activities.
• Consider making your event carbon neutral. Arinex have supported multiple events on becoming carbon neutral recently and experienced great support from attendees for doing this. The cost can be supported by partnering with a Carbon Neutral Sponsor.

6. Personalise Experiences: Offer attendees the flexibility to design their own experiences by providing options, regularly polling for feedback and preferences. Be prepared to adapt your programme to best meet the energy levels and needs of the individual attendees.

Arinex Tips:

• For incentive groups – ask attendees to indicate their preferred rest or work periods throughout a programme or each day.
• A good time to check-in with attendees is between activities or on board transport to and from destinations – gauge and anticipate what they need next.
• Choose reputable suppliers that have the resources, infrastructure and expertise to allow for a versatile range of activities to support the energy of the group and individual attendees.

By considering these trends in your event programme, you can create balanced, diverse and sustainable experiences that foster meaningful connections, promote their own personal growth and help grow the event through enhanced overall attendee satisfaction and future referrals.