Staging a great event is all about emotions.  You need to illicit strong emotions from your audience, or simply, your event will go down in the ever-growing list of dull events.  Especially in the post-covid age where we once lost much of our ability to connect with people face-to-face, your attendees are chomping at the bit to connect, make meaningful relationships and be inspired into action at your next event.

I have been to enough drab corporate events to know one when I see one, but I’ve also had enough life-affirming moments at these things to know that there’s a recipe for this stuff. It’s a science and an art, and what may not resonate on a phone screen on the daily commute can reduce an audience to tears on a big screen at a special location surrounded by inspirational people.

I recently took the kids on the Harry Potter Studio Tour.  My youngest was so moved by the scale model of Hogwarts because it was surrounded by light and music in a special place at a special time.  He wept and his eight-year-old mind couldn’t quite figure out why.  The genius of this was that immediately following that moving experience was the gift shop.  Even I, as the stingy parent, entered that shop with the intention of commemorating that moment with a purchase.

To put it into context, your audience is much more likely to follow through, make a purchase, donate, or sign up, when they are in a heightened state of emotion. Without rebuilding Hogwarts in your venue, in my experience you can create this emotion with well-crafted video.

Here are three ways that video can help you in your next event:

1. The charity appeal.

I’ve created content for countless charity events in the last decade or so, and one thing is for sure, there is always an ‘ask’.  Especially as government funding gets slashed, donations from event attendees are another way to bolster income.  Towards the end of the event, a highly impactful video that shows the outcomes of the charity’s work is an essential part of that request for donations. Don’t just leave envelopes on the tables, your audience needs to see and feel the outcomes of a charity’s work, and this will help them make that emotion-powered decision to donate or donate more as a result.

• Register for the next event.

If your event is part of a series, surprising attendees with details of the next iteration is a great way to convert them into repeat customers. Quite often this will be the organiser, at the end of the day talking about the dates, times, venue and keynote speaker, while attendees slink carefully out the back of the venue.  Why not hit them with a movie-like trailer for the next event?  Make it a huge deal with music, sound, impact, key takeaways, and a link to register all before they leave the room.  Hook them in and make the process so easy, they’ve registered before they even know it. Just beware the readability of an on-screen QR code!

• Purchase the product.

If you have a product for sale, quite often a live demonstration is a great way to show your audience the real benefits it will bring to their lives. It’s a great way to get into the nuts and bolts of it all, take questions, challenge perceptions, offer a discount and get that audience on-board.  Why not take it a step further with high-impact video featuring a key existing customer.  Building up an audience into an emotional state over your latest innovation or product features isn’t always easy in-person, especially for those who aren’t gifted orators. Video can give you much more control over the emotional response of the audience.  Your one-liners might fall flat, but if you had the chance to rehearse, test and edit them, you might have a different outcome. 

Your aim isn’t always to make the audience cry, but it certainly should be to illicit and emotional response, and that is always possible through well planned and executed video.  Before you next take to the stage, think about not showing your tired old corporate video, but creating something fresh that is tailored to the desired outcome of your event.  Then when you make that ‘ask’, your audience will be like kids in your very own gift shop with their parents’ wallets in hand. 

See some of our work and find out more about how the ATTNx Event Boost can make your next event stand out at www.attnx.co.uk/attnx-event-boost, or reach me at al@attnx.co.uk or 07311 283716.