Have you ever noticed how people may change during your event? Those excited happy morning faces have become grumpy and indifferent? Although you did your best to plan a flawless event and make attendees happy, things seem to go wrong.
“We can’t fight against tiredness. It’s normal for the attendees to experience it, especially after an intense day,” you might be thinking, trying to ignore the situation.
But then you look at your watch and realize the event started only two hours ago.
Want to make attendees happy, you say? Let’s take another look at your guests.
Apart from the fatigue, your attendees look detached from what’s happening, strangely agitated, and eager to find distractions (a.k.a. social media, Bejeweled Blitz, or Pokémon Go)
Congratulations, you have officially bored your attendees to death.
As researchers Colleen Merrifield and James Danckert note in their research study “Characterizing the psychophysiological signature of boredom,”
“Boredom, relative to sadness, can be described as a negative affective state associated with higher arousal.”
The experts show that when experiencing boredom, the stress hormone level increases and people feel a series of unpleasant effects.
When bored, people feel disconnected from the world around them. Moreover, they manifest the desire “to engage in meaningful activities, but unable to do so.”
In other words, boredom makes people unhappy and your attendees aren’t an exception.
A boring event can have a negative impact on your attendees. They will experience disconnection, disengagement, tiredness, and sleepiness. They won’t be able to maintain their attention, and will also sense the irreversible loss of time.
Is your desire to plan events which will induce all these side effects? Most likely, it isn’t. So if you want to make attendees happy, be serious about fighting against boredom at your events.
Here are a few solutions that can help.
Solution #1. Design the event schedule carefully
Take a quick look at the event program.
Is it fully packed with activities? What type of activities? How dense will your attendees’ day will be?
Make attendees happy by designing a balanced, yet interesting schedule. Plan different dynamics to keep your attendees engaged.
For example, after a presentation, go for a PechaKucha session. Then, invite your guests to a roundtable and an extensive Q&A session. Afterward, offer them a creative workshop. This way, you’ll diversify their experience and avoid boring them with just one singular, repetitive dynamic.
Also, pay attention to the intensity of the event sessions. Don’t pack your agenda with heavy or dense activities trying to cover every single minute. Make attendees happy by offering them multiple coffee breaks and time to interact with others.
Solution #2. Instruct your speakers to deliver attention-grabbing presentations
Is there anything worse than a boring speaker who goes over his speech time?
This experience can be truly unbearable.
Make attendees happy and help them avoid these sort of moments. Talk to your speakers and explain the house rules. Specify how much time they have to deliver their material. Also, give them guidelines to help them create a good presentation. And don’t forget to ask them to engage the audience during the presentation.
Solution #3. Encourage your attendees the restore their energy
Apart from coffee breaks, your guests may need some additional moments to regain their focus. To accommodate that, arrange for a few energetic activities.
One of the most prominent examples of this practice is the well-known entrepreneur, Tony Robbins, who encourages his guests to jump, dance, or exercise during his incredibly long sessions.
This enables attendees to restore their energy and boost their mood.
Call to action
Is your event engaging enough?
Are you sure you’ve everything you can to make attendees happy and help them avoid experiencing boredom during your events?
Pay attention to your event schedule. Avoid heavily packed programs. Also, alternate with different types of event dynamics. Instruct your guest speakers to deliver good presentations and engage the attendees. And finally, plan a few activities that will boost the audience’s energy.
