Trade Shows, National Sales Meetings, Regional Meetings, Company Events - large and small have been canceled due to Covid19. These events usually meant groups of people getting together in person every year to meet, discuss business, maintain connections and relationships with customers, suppliers, team members, etc. If the in person meetings are canceled is everything lost, or are there other options? Yes, there is another option, however, the key here is to create expectations, add a little creativity, and include a few Moments of Delight. Typically at these meetings there are surprises during the event and tools are provided that attendees might need. The same can be done at your virtual event as well. The key here is to drum up some excitement and expectations before hand, during and after your meeting. So, what to do. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing and make your meeting one to remember and one of the best yet which is the ultimate goal after all. Create a introductory mailing which could be a box carefully decorated to highlight the overriding message of the meeting or event. Inside could be all sorts of surprises and instill a sense of curiosity as to what to expect at the upcoming meeting. A series of posts to the attendees could create a sense of interest and mystery as to what is to come. Most events have happy hours, so include one in yours. Send to all recipients a special cocktail recipe, include maybe one or two of the ingredients, and a special cocktail glass to drink it in. You can meet all in one room and then break into small meeting rooms for people to chat over their drinks. If so desired, you could provide snacks for people to munch on. If the event allows it, change who is in the rooms to continue the networking. There could be a simple networking game or quiz to get people talking and sharing information. Schedule a luncheon. You could have a Grub Hub delivery to everyone. The lunch could have a theme, taco Tuesday as an example. In addition, everyone could have received in the mail a cooler, hot sauce, or other eating utensils like straws, napkins, to make the meal special as they meet in their groups. To change up the meeting, put in activities like an exercise session, yoga, meditation etc. There could be options that attendees could sign up for. Think about a virtual scavenger hunt or bingo to change up the day. Keep the interaction going all through the meeting. If this is a meeting where vendors participate, they could sponsor some of these events. You maybe thinking of cost and it is not in your budget. If you were doing the normal scheduled event you might have costs built in for lunch, extra curricular activities, shirts, portfolios, name tags, travel, etc. I am suggesting you take the the budget and allocate it for these moments of delight instead. Attendees will be talking about your event for a long time. If you are looking for ideas, give me a call. Peter Fishburn, Brown & Bigelow 775-883-9428
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