9 creative concepts that will impress event participants

Visitors of events are eager to gain experience that will open up new opportunities for them. Of particular interest in this is the so-called generation of millennials. In Ukraine, studies have not been conducted, but according to Eventbrite (USA), 3 out of 4 American millennials prefer to spend money not on material things, but education and new experience. This significantly affected the development of the event industry.

As the demand for events grows, the needs of event managers for innovative ideas that can impress visitors and give them useful experience along with bright impressions grow too. We present several interesting concepts of events that correspond to the current trend.

Secret events

Secrets and mysteries continue to attract people. This concept almost guarantees the popularity of the event. Unique, unknown locations and “secret” instructions enhance the effect of surprise. For such events, an unusual place is chosen, which is disclosed only when the interest of potential visitors is already at its peak.

Lectures in “Forgotten Places”

These are events in a special atmosphere that allow you to revalue the standard approach to events. The organizers rethink the concept of the event and add new meanings to it, create a special fascinating world. The essence of the lectures “in forgotten places” is to attract a famous speaker and choose a location that will atmospherically complement the main topic. The participants of these events are representatives of the academic and corporate environment. Locations range from abandoned businesses to buildings with limited access. For example, one of the lectures was held in the building of the London Theater, which has been closed to the public for 65 years.

Secret Cinema

A concept that got thousands of rave reviews in London (where it was founded). The modern concept of Secret Cinema is quite broad: from showing films in unusual places to full-scale filming. In general, the essence of the idea is the combination of your favorite movie with specially created scenery from it. Participants of the event are given roles, without being fully let into the essence of what is happening. On Day X, they find themselves on the “set”: the location recreates the atmosphere of the film, its iconic places, and characters. Visitors become actors, get into character. The event ends with a movie screening: moreover, the action on the screen is combined with the playback of individual scenes by specially invited actors. This creates maximum immersion.

Silent Conferences

There are “silent discos”: wireless headphones are handed out to the participants, and they dance to the music that is played back from the DJ console. At the same time, there is silence on the dance floor.

A similar experience is used by conference organizers. Participants are also given wireless headphones in which they hear speeches of speakers and lecturers. The popularity of such events is growing. The fact is that “silent conferences” solve the common problem of loss of concentration. When the viewer is wearing headphones, nothing distracts him from listening.

Club parties … at dinner

Instead of the usual lunch in a nearby cafe, visitors spend a lunch break after a dance rave. Daniel Odelstad, the author of the Lunch Beat Stockholm concept, came up with a 60-minute dinner party format dedicated to as many dances as possible. The idea of ​​the “Dance Club” has is somewhat similar to the “Fight Club”: if you come here, it means you have to dance.

The cafes participating in the program do not sell alcohol. The entrance ticket gives the right to get on the dance floor. And the price includes a burger. The organizers are sure that such events give the participants great impressions, and common dances bring people together.

Individual events of «Questions and answers»

Who would not like to hear the answer to the question addressed to the famous speaker: whether it is the CEO of the company or the “opinion leader”? However, the event program is limited, and rarely provides enough time for questions and answers.

The international startup community Startup Grind at one of the recent events took this problem into account. The participants were offered a separate stage of the conference, which was mainly dedicated to interactive. While the speaker was speaking, everyone could ask him questions through a special software environment. After the speech, a half-hour interactive session began, during which the speaker gave his answers.

Open space for participants

Any event can be made even more dynamic and interactive if you give its participants all the opportunities to create an event plan starting from the first points. Thomas Heiser from Focal Point enabled Open 2017 delegates to participate in the creation of program and organization of the 30%of the event. The organizing team gave the participants the right to offer performances that they would like to prepare or attend. After joint voting, they chose sessions that seemed potentially interesting to the majority.

Result: the number of people wishing to take part was double the number of available seats. The event turned out to be more exciting and larger, and the content was effective and fully focused on the interests of participants.

Quick presentation

This format was introduced back in 2003 by creators from Tokyo. The official name is Pecha Kucha. This is a simple presentation during which speakers are given 20 seconds per slide. The maximum number of slides is 20. The slides change automatically, so the speaker adjusts to the set tempo.

During one presentation, the attendees can watch from 8 to 15 of the participants’ presentations. This format has become appropriate for students, creators, startups, speaking at relevant events. Currently, Pecha Kucha presentations are being held in more than 700 cities around the world.

Recently, another concept was born -” Ignite Talks”: 5 minutes per speaker, up to 20 slides, 15 seconds each. There is also “Lightning Talks “- an informal presentation lasting up to 5 minutes, usually consisting of one slide.

Hackathon

Project-oriented software developers like to practice, share experiences and improve their skills. They implement a similar approach in their thematic events.

Hackathons are marathons of coding, brainstorming and other teamwork that usually bring people from the same field or internal groups together to implement a specific project. They can last from one day to a whole week.

Such events always have a tangible purpose. It ranges from the development of user-friendly software to collaborative creation of a list of innovative ideas or editing of particular type content.

Hackathons gradually penetrate the event industry. For example, the FRESH conference in Barcelona ended with the first hackathon at sea, where participants brainstormed on the implementation of innovative, creative and artistic solutions for pharmaceutical meetings.

Instead of a conclusion

When preparing events, modern event managers are increasingly striving to provide an impressive experience. The above concepts can fully be taken as a basis to enliven the classic event, expand opportunities for participants, achieve an immersive effect and get efficiency that was not even expected.