Though 2014 has barely begun, Do Good Events and other Minnesota event planners are already thinking about the big events the New Year has in store for us. We are looking forward to sharing some of the hottest new trends in the event planning industry with our clients to improve guest experience and increase guest engagement.
Use Technology to Wow Your Guests
Several new tools will help you and your event planner impress guests in 2014. New websites and apps help improve guest experience before they even arrive. One of the most interesting trends is using technology to seat guests socially. Almost everyone enjoys sitting at a conference, meeting, or dinner with people they know and like.
Online tools and apps such as seats.io and socialtables help event planners create seating charts. Create a seating chart on seats.io and allow guests to pick their seats as they register. Use socialtables’ intelligent software to use information about your guests, such as position within a company or department, to arrange seating. Or, register your event on tagseats so attendees can tag their seats at your event and share with friends.
Other apps allow event planners and hosts to check in guests quickly. Event planners with a smartphone or tablet can use the zkipster app to create guest lists and check guests in. Then, information about those guests can be gathered and analyzed to improve future events.
Event planners are often burdened by many different guest lists. They may have a list from CRM systems, online event planning tools like Eventbrite, or on Excel spreadsheets. The app boomset syncs all these lists together so planners can work off of one list at the check-in table.
Tools to Increase Guest Engagement
In 2014, take advantage of several tools to increase guest engagement during and after your event. Tap your guests’ interest with video and infographics. Include them on slide presentations that you share using sli.do and encourage attendees to use them to start a conversation online. Create buzz for your organization by encouraging guests to share photos of the event online.
Another great trend for 2014 is incorporating giving into events. Not only is this extremely important for non-profits, but businesses can support the giving of its employees by offering chances to donate to charity at events. There is even a charitable online survey tool organizations can use. For every survey completed on eval.me, the organization can pledge $1 to its favorite charity.
Look out for these trends in 2014 at the events you attend, and try out a few of these tools at your next event. To learn more, contact Kalsey at Do Good Events today.