The OpenWater Blog

3 Ways to Provide Greater Value at Events

Between paying for travel, a hotel, and taking time off work, attendees spare no expense when they want to attend your event. This puts a massive amount of pressure on conference managers to ensure everything is perfect and that attendee expectations are met. Perhaps more importantly, it means you should go beyond what’s expected to provide greater value at events.

Proving the value of your event is the simplest way to ensure those who attend will continue to do so in the future. Likewise, it’s a simple way to encourage those who may be attending for the first time to continue attending in the future as well.

No matter the reason why you want to provide additional value, there are some simple ways to accomplish this. Below, we’ll discuss three ways to provide greater value at your next event to keep attendees engaged, satisfied, and likely to return.

1. Offer Access to Speaker Content Before and After the Conference

The presentations, slides, and handouts your speakers create are invaluable to audience members. So, why restrict access to these materials to the event when you can do more?

Giving attendees access before the event allows them to preview materials and come prepared with questions or better narrow down which presentations they’d like to attend. Offering access after the event offers attendees an opportunity to remind themselves of what was talked about to continue learning long after the event is over.

2. Use a Mobile Event App

Mobile event apps are becoming less of an option and more of a requirement at events today. However, not all event apps are created equal and for that reason, you must ensure yours is fully functional before promoting its use.

Mobile event apps allow attendees to quickly download and interact with the materials while taking notes or otherwise customizing them to suit their needs. Moreover, mobile event apps serve those who favor the digital side of conference materials. Needless to say, a mobile event app will undoubtedly enrich attendee experience at the event (so get one).

3. Use Printed Conference Materials

While a mobile event app is great it still can’t completely replace printed conference materials. This means programs, schedules, and conference proceedings should all be printed in a high quality manner and be available to all attendees throughout your event.

After all, there are sure to be some attendees who prefer digital over print materials whereas others will prefer print to digital. With high-quality conference materials available, you won’t have to worry about who prefers what.

Add Value to Add Prestige, Members, and More to Your Organization

Each of the suggestions above require minimal effort but will have a significant impact on your organization. Most importantly, taking the time to provide additional value will set your organization apart from others and encourage attendees to remain loyal to you over others.

All it takes is access to speaker materials, a mobile web app, and printed conference materials to set your organization apart from others and provide value. What will you do?

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