Innovative Meetings By Scott Cullather
Take Away
Attendees Just Want toHave Fun
With a little planning, you can make your attendees part of the live entertainment.
Corporations,associations,andlive-event agen- cies alike have discovered an inexpensive asset that’s longbeen underutilized: the attendees them-
selves.Attendeesmayhave hidden talents that they maybe willing to share to entertain their colleagues or fellow customers. Enthusiasm is infectious, and with some initiative and a little creativity, an entire crowd of people can become part of the show. A fun way to boost audience participation is
through a flash mob—a group of people who gather unexpectedly in a single area and perform
itsown sales force—whoenthusiastically agreed —to participate in a talent show in the style of “America’s GotTalent.” The competition included a punk band, a rap
group, a solo singer, a comedic performance-arts group (performing a “land-based water ballet”), and a stand-up comedy routine. The company treated the acts as if they wereworkingwith pro- fessional musicians, comedians, and entertainers. It pre-screened those interested in showcasing their talents, worked with them to provide the
Ideas inspired by pop culture are very successful, because there is little to no learning curve required on the part of attendees.
a songor dance act in unison. Several bigconfer- ences and conventions in 2010—includingthe 12,000-attendee Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)AnnualConference and the 42,000-attendee National Restaurant Associa- tion(NRA)Show—featured flash mobs as away to inject energy into their events. Anotherwayto give attendees a boost is by cre-
ating knowledge-based competitive and gaming environments where attendees play against each other as teams or individuals during the event. If designed properly, the competition can challenge attendees to learn while havingfun. Ideas inspired by pop culture are very successful, because there is little to no learningcurve required for attendees to understand the concept or rules, allowingthemto focus on the business messages at hand.
Showcasing Your Audience’s Talents A medical sales company holding its national sales meetingrecently didn’t want to spend a lot of money on professional entertainment. So it asked
appropriate audiovisual resources, and promoted the show to the rest of the attendees. A panel of judges critiqued the performances—all in good fun—and chose winners. The winners received cash prizes ranging from $500 to $2,000. Onanother night during the same meeting, the
company organized a mock “triathlon” at the event
site.Competitors—executives pulled from the audience — tested their watermelon- seed–spittingprowess, ability to identify bad-tast- ingbeers, and horseshoe-pitchingskills for laughs. The competitionwas cappedby abuffetdinner.
The evening cost significantly less than bringing the group out to a formal dinner or professional per- formance. But more importantly, it created a sense of camaraderie amongthe employees and gave themthe chance to see their colleagues in a dif- ferent, and more human, light. When you create opportunities for attendees to
participate in—rather than be a passive observer of—your event’s live entertainment, youcan keep their interest level high.
ON_THE_WEB: To see how a flash mob can surprise and delight an audience, check out a YouTube video filmed at a Belgian train station—to a well-known Julie Andrews song, no less—at
http://bit.ly/19WvJT.
28 pcma convene February 2011 ILLUSTRATION BY MICK WIGGINS
Part ofthe Action Some other attendee-participant activities to consider, depending on the audience: a friendly competition, such as a relay race or industry-related trivia contest a knowledge- driven scavenger hunt playing Rock Band, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, or other music-related video games.
Scott Cullather is managing partner of inVNT (
www.invnt.com),a specialized communications agency focused on the creation and execution of meetings and events, as well as brand initiatives, product launches, custom- training programs, virtual meetings, print collateral, and video and digital media.
Innovative Meetings is sponsored by the Irving, Texas, Convention and Visitors Bureau,
www.irvingtexas.com.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108