Creative Ways To Connect

I recently worked on an event for an well known airline who wanted to find an innovative way to promote their new routes to the south of France. If we were to go back to the days of the good old-fashioned press launch, this would have probably involved serving some wine from the region, perhaps some nibbles in the form of fromage and saucisson, followed by a presentation with some delightful photos of the Cote d'Azur beaches.

Unfortunately, this approach now has about as much memorability as drinking a bottle of finest Provence rosé; - lovely at the time, but rather hazy afterwards.

Events are no longer passive. Getting your guests to interact and engage with their surroundings is a crucial part of a memorable event. In fact, as an event planner, you should really be asking yourself "How do I make this event more of an experience? "

At this juncture I'm going to drop in a very short note on terminology. If you are confused about the difference between ‘Experiential’ and ‘Immersive’, I'm not surprised. Both are bandied around to describe everything from marketing techniques, to virtual reality, to theatre performances.

My personal interpretation is this: An experiential event is any live environment with interactive elements such as a game, physical challenge, or hands-on activity that you can choose to participate in (or not). An immersive event puts audience participation at the heart of the experience; the entire environment - the set, staff, and sensory elements - is sculpted around a concept and you are immersed in that world.

So how do you go about introducing some of these memorable elements to your events? Here are a few pointers to get your creative juices flowing as freely as that French wine;