The goal of most meetings is to make sure attendees walk away with valuable information and, sometimes, industry connections. In the process, most meeting planners would like to see attendees enjoy themselves as well, particularly if those attendees are clients or prospects. With recent advances in event technology, organizers are beginning to appreciate meetings apps and other tools as methods to enhance the delegate experience.
In order to satisfy attendees, it's important for planners to stay connected with them, listen to what they have to say and adjust programs accordingly. This is exactly what consumer electronics company Almo Corp. did when it implemented SMM technology that allowed it to create robust and personalized attendee profiles and automated pre- and post-event attendee surveys.
"Any time you can assess feedback pre- or post-event, you're going to be able to enhance that experience," said Almo vice president of marketing Melody Craigmyle. "Having a complete profile of a person with survey feedback, including what sessions they have attended, integrated with Salesforce, allows us to feed more detailed information into our system about the customer, and we're sharing that information in real time with our sales representatives."
Craigmyle and her team are responsible for managing Almo's E4 AV Tour, an annual series of four one-day events for professionals in the audiovisual industry. Each year the tour changes locations, the events moving to different destinations in the United States.
"We first started out doing registration using a homegrown program, very rudimentary, on the website," Craigmyle said. "Then we decided we needed to get more information about the people who were attending these events." A year and a half after launching the tour, Almo deployed its SMM software integrated with Salesforce. "Now salespeople have insight into whether their clients attended certain events, and they have a profile of the customer that's more insightful."
Almo conducts a survey prior to each event, asking delegates why they are attending and which portion of the event is most important to them. "We start out by asking what their relationship is to Almo, and whether or not they are a reseller, a partner or an end-user consultant," Craigmyle said. "Right off the bat, we have an idea of our new prospects."
The company also partnered with lead management software company Capture Technologies to implement a system that allows attendees to scan a barcode and receive their badges at kiosks, and to scan into each individual education session. "There's no need for manual check-ins," Craigmyle said. "It's streamlined the process. Now we know the specific courses each individual attends. That's been very enlightening for us."
Craigmyle also has observed that attendee feedback varies according to the different regions in which the E4 events are held. "For example, in Washington D.C., we noticed how government policy may be influencing what kind of education content attendees want, so we pay attention to those correlations and give them what they want," she said. At those events, Almo has started to include more sessions concerning how legislation is affecting aspects of the audiovisual industry.
Almo also has relocated events based on attendee feedback. For its Chicago events, the organization reported a 30 percent increase in attendance year over year just by moving the meeting to a suburban area per attendees' requests. About three years ago, Almo also moved one annual event previously held in Times Square to the New Jersey Meadowlands, making the commute easier for attendees. As a result of the relocation, the company noticed delegates were spending more time at the meeting.
"Survey tools are a key part of allowing us to grow our program and understand regional needs and different location preferences and overall make it a really good experience," Craigmyle said.
Using survey insights, Almo has managed to significantly enhance its event experiences. For instance, attendees have reported that the number-one reason they attend E4 events is the product expos. This prompted Almo to place more attention on that portion of the conference, dedicating more marketing materials to the expos. "We're focused with our partners on enhancing that experience," Craigmyle said.
In addition to surveys, attendees are able to rate individual education sessions. As a result, Almo made adjustments to its educational content at meetings. "We've used [attendee feedback] to change our curriculum," Craigmyle said. "Some courses scored not as good as others, so we've used the feedback to change up instructors or change programs."
In fact, feedback has helped Almo improve its programming so much that after its last E4 event in Dallas, 100 percent of attendees said they wanted to return for the meeting. "I was blown away by the statistic," Craigmyle said. Plus, 96 percent of attendees said they'd recommend the event to a colleague. "We continue to make improvements based on what customers say."
Craigmyle said she provides incentives for attendees to fill out the surveys. "We've always found that if you offer people a little something for taking the survey, you'll see a higher response rate," she said. "We've offered everything from Starbucks gift cards to notebooks and backpacks." Craigmyle also makes sure to keep the surveys short and straightforward, adjusting them for each meeting. "Although we're evaluating data points, we're making sure the experience is easy," she said. "People like giving opinions, so we phrase it like 'Give us your opinion.' "