Take a moment to think about the most fun you’ve ever had at an event. What made the experience so memorable? Chances are this event stuck out in your mind because you had fun.
Creating an engaging attendee experience starts with getting attendees excited to participate and return year after year. The right mix of crowd engagement activities and interactive meeting tools can help you encourage interactions, create conversations, and foster discussions in a more meaningful way. Read on to find our list of our favorite ideas.
A live Q&A session is the perfect way to deliver useful information, promptly answer questions, and tailor event content according to the needs and interests of your audience. Q&A sessions also offer a more personalized, two-way conversational experience, which gives attendees a deeper understanding of your speaker’s topic.
Want to make a session interactive and get your audience to participate in your presentation? Make an activity out of the experience! Tossable microphones are a unique way to break down barriers, improve participation, and help people feel more confident about sharing their insights. When the microphone is not in use, it can be used to record keynote and breakout session audio.
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It’s a smart idea to get to know your meeting’s audience. For example, why are they attending your event? Are they first-timers or returning attendees? What do they want to gain from your event? These questions can be answered by sending out a survey or poll before, during, or after your meeting. This feedback can help you quickly measure opinions, make improvements, and get to know your attendees on a personal level.
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Conference gamification is a great tactic for enhancing digital marketing strategies and audience participation. Many game apps can be customized to your organization to engage new prospects and capture new leads. Consider adding digital scavenger hunts, custom QR code routes, arcade games, “spin to win,” or other immersive games that add excitement to your event’s agenda.
Playing trivia games can be a blast for attendees. Not only do they challenge us to think creatively, but they also create the perfect opportunity for friendly competition. Invite event attendees to cheer on their team, create new connections, and learn new knowledge in the process. Don’t forget to offer branded promotional products as an incentive to participate!
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Virtual photo booths are the perfect addition to your hybrid event or virtual event, especially if not all attendees can gather in person. While many live events feature a live photographer, online events can accomplish the same task by using a self-serve virtual photo booth.
This way, online attendees will still feel like they're a part of the event. They’ll also get an event-branded keepsake which they can post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms. Design a custom photo frame with your event’s logo, branding, or unique hashtag to increase brand awareness and shareability on social media.
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A “word cloud” is an artistic cluster of words typically shown in different sizes, colors, and orientations. The bigger and bolder the word, the more often it is selected or voted for by meeting participants.
Word clouds are an interactive way to visualize how attendees feel about a topic or to summarize what they’ve learned from your meeting. You may find that your audience is more likely to participate when given a visual-based activity for an icebreaker or reflection activity.
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At events, time is precious. Attendees might not want to wait for a wireless microphone to be passed around the room during large sessions. Instead, allow attendees to use their smartphones as a microphone. Broadcast attendees’ voices over the PA system while also selecting speakers, disabling microphones, and conducting real-time polls.
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After your opening ceremony or welcome party, ask attendees to submit their own content, such as photos, ideas, thoughts, or suggestions, which you can then incorporate into the presentation. This makes the audience feel like they are part of the presentation.
Structure your presentation so that at certain points, the audience can choose between different paths or topics. This can be done through live voting or branching slides in your presentation.
Digital tools, mobile apps, and audience engagement technology are the future of event planning and attendee interaction. Whether you’re using event technology for live streaming, lead retrieval, social sharing, attendee tracking, event fundraising, or live data tracking, there’s a solution out there to help you improve engagement and ROI.
Need audience response software on a budget? We've got you. Here are our favorite free engagement tools for virtual meetings and in-person events.
Add fun to any event with free trivia, leaderboards, and more. Use CrowdPurr to create interactive, mobile-driven experiences for on-site, virtual, and hybrid events. Invite up to 20 participants to answer up to 15 questions for free, or upgrade for expanded access.
Loquiz is a gamification platform that lets event professionals create their own adventure games and scavenger hunts for conferences and events. Sign up for a 14-day free trial.
Quizizz allows users to create quizzes, presentations, and polls that anyone can play on any device. Start for free with no credit card required.
Visualize feedback in real-time while also measuring event attendee engagement. Poll Everywhere lets you get started for free with unlimited users and questions for groups of up to 25 people.
Vevox is a top-rated polling and Q&A program for businesses. Invite up to 100 participants for free, with unlimited basic multi-choice polling and Q&A, quiz leaderboard, and no downloads required.
There are limitless options for event professionals in need of audience interaction software Improve audience interactions, engagement, and participation with the following paid software options.
Angage is a mobile engagement and interactive platform that lets event organizers engage with their audience during keynote sessions, breakout sessions, and more. Click here to see pricing options.
Make it simple for your attendees to actively participate in session discussions. CrowdCompass features real-time engagement features for learning and networking.
Looking for live digital engagement experiences that deliver results? Glisser lets event professionals build polls, quizzes, word clouds, and games directly into presentations.
Level up your event's engagement with gamification features, polling capabilities, and integrated social media widgets! You can even incentivize the experience with a points system that awards participation.
Activate your audience by learning about their opinions! Worksup lets users set up Q&As, quizzes, and polls quickly, even during a session. Then, broadcast live results and download findings for later use.
When it comes to audience engagement tools, it can be difficult to know which solutions are worth your investment. If you’re unsure of where to start, make it a goal to capture as much feedback as possible from your attendees before, during, and after your event to get the best audience engagement tools.
Use tools like surveys, polls, digital response cards, and more to ask attendees for their thoughts and feedback. With the right data, you’ll feel empowered to increase attendee satisfaction and improve your event’s ROI. Tell us, what fun interactive presentation ideas have you used?