I was on vacation last week. For a gal who values travel and down time nearly as much as I value homemade pasta or Mexican food, it had been far too long since I’ve had a true vacation with little to no work. It was blissful.
Typically, on the first couple days of vacation I’m still thinking about work. And with the world at our fingertips, it’s easy to get sucked in to “just checking emails”. Not this time!
After a quick stop over in Carmel-by-the-sea we hit the California coast and Big Sur. Translation – no cell service! Even the hotel Wi-Fi was mostly useless. So, for the better part of nine days I had little or no service. It gave me time to be present and focus and take in what was happening around me. (Exactly what we want for our event attendees.)
Creating Memorable Experiences
Vacations are all about creating memorable experiences that we will talk about for years to come. We tell stories and share pictures and reminisce about what we saw and learned. We talk about who we met on the journey. A great vacation lasts a life-time in our memories.
What if we as event hosts created experiences for our guests that, like a vacation would last a lifetime? We can. And we should. Let’s start by exploring the elements that create a great vacation.
They must take you out of your “normal”
A vacation takes you away from your normal day-to-day routine and puts you in a new atmosphere. A great event should do the same. We can do this for our audience by being really intentional about using a good opener. The opener should require full attention and focus in a way that does not allow for outside distraction. It should pull them out of their routine and shift fully toward the task at hand.
They must provide a story to tell
Vacations are filled with little moments and big adventures, all of which provide ample food for storytelling. A memorable event does the same. We as hosts must create memorable moments throughout the event. And just to make sure the audience doesn’t miss that memorable moment, feel free to tell them when they are in the middle of it. We are all so busy and distracted these days that attention is a difficult asset to capture. Be assertive about asking for it.
Use statements like; “You’ll want to remember this.” Or “Imagine sharing this with your colleagues.” Or “Look around you now, what do you most want to remember about this moment?” These types of statements are one way to help create stories, there are many others.
They must provide something new to talk about
Vacations are full of firsts. We meet new people, try new foods, do new activities, see new places. These are the things we talk about and remember for years to come. Like that cheese fondue I had at a café in Paris. My mouth waters thinking about it, and I’ve talked about it often. What will you give your audience that is new? What’s the cheese fondue they will tell their friends about?
Create avenues for attendees to meet new people. Teach them new skills or tools. Show them new ways to accomplish things. Then help them tell the story. One way to tell it is with great photo ops.
They must include great photo ops
OK, maybe not actual photo ops – but maybe. A photo op is a memorable moment. A trigger to help your audience recall important information or details. Memorable moments might be a visual queue that you use repeatedly. It might be a phrase that you repeat often to drive home a critical point. It might be a prompt that requires recall of important information. Photo ops at your event, live or virtual could be actual photos with memorable people. A group shot, or a shot in front of a backdrop.
In a virtual event, your photo op could be a certificate or social post template they can share. Or you sharing a great post and tagging your audience.
We take photos because we want to recall the feeling and the sensation of the moment. Giving your audience photo ops or memorable moments gives them something to hold on to in the future. Something that is connected to you and your event.
So, maybe we can’t take our audience on a physical vacation, but we create an adventure that will be memorable and story worthy. Hey, Disney figured this out decades ago and reaped the benefits of word-of-mouth advertising. You can too.
I’ve created this menu of high-engagement activities to build into your next event so can begin creating memorable experiences today!
