Tag Archives: event planning

Lessons Learned from Tailgating

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With college football season in full swing, we've gotten inspired by the age-old tradition of tailgating.  Tailgating is closely tied to college football, but looking at the history, the first tailgates had nothing to do with sport.[Tweet "College football season is in full swing, take a look at the tradition of tailgating. #GovEventsBlog"] The first recorded tailgate in the U.S. may have occurred in mid-summer of 1861 in Manassas, Virginia, before Confederate forces and Union soldiers met in the First Battle of Bull Run. Civilians arrived at the battlefield in wagons loaded with wine, whiskey, and food. This is not unlike the party atmosphere that surrounded the late 18th century French guillotine executions during which people gathered to eat in the square near the scaffolds while the list of people to be executed was read.

Today's tailgates may take place before less gory events, but the idea remains the same: people with a common interest gather together to share food and drink and talk about the event they are about to witness.  While there may be many "I'll never do that again" personal lessons learned from tailgating, there are other things a successful tailgate can teach us about holding a fun and engaging event.[Tweet "Things a successful tailgate party can teach us about event planning. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

The Show Without a Speaker

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It may seem revolutionary, but imagine an event without any big name speakers, no keynote, or any session led by a single speaker. What would attendees do? How would they learn? Likely, there would be a lot of collaboration among the attendees, as well as ad hoc discussions and demonstrations. While it's not realistic to cut out speakers completely, there is something to be said for limiting their place in the agenda, and we may be more ready for it than you'd think.[Tweet "The show without a speaker... What would attendees do? #GovEventsBlog"]

Today when we make a purchase online - anything from a car to a new pair of shoes to a new shampoo -  many of us scroll first to the comments and ratings of previous buyers. Peer review has become a powerful part of the decision making process. Incorporating this type of "experience sharing" into events is a great way to extend how we are making many decisions in life. Continue reading →

Harnessing the Power of FOMO

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Fear of Missing Out, popularly known as FOMO, is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is a modern take on "the grass is always greener" which is a rendition of a Latin proverb translated into English in the 1500s. Today, we may feel it more acutely because social media gives us constant connectivity to what others are doing and what they have.

Social media both feeds this compulsion to compare as well as overwhelms us with information. How do marketers rise above the online noise? One way is to understand and embrace FOMO as a natural human emotion. Marketers across industries do this including AT&T's "Don't be left behind" campaign, Duracell Powermat "Stay in charge" campaign, and the Heineken "Sunrise" campaign. The Heineken campaign, in particular, aimed to encourage responsible drinking by portraying excessive drinking as a way to miss out on the best parts of a party. This gets across the message of safe alcohol consumption without the traditional, "it's dangerous" or "bad for your health." Continue reading →

Catching Pokémon Go Fever: How to Infect Your Event

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Looking back at the summer of 2016, Pokémon Go jumps out as the craze of the season. From getting sedentary kids up off the couch and walking, to providing exercise for shelter dogs, Pokémon Go has become a social phenomenon. While the app may seem revolutionary, it is really just a new type of check-in tool in the same vein as Four Square and geocaching.[Tweet "Catching Pokémon Go fever: how to infect your event. #GovEventsBlog"]

With this in mind, we took a look at how the excitement people experience over hatching an egg or catching Pikachu can be applied to events.

  1. Blending of real and virtual - Seeing cartoon monsters within your actual environment is a huge draw of the app. This is augmented reality, a close relative of virtual reality. In augmented reality, digital components are added to the real environment; this contrasts with virtual reality where the environment is completely digital but mimics a real world space. While virtual reality has become a frequent tool in consumer events, it is unlikely to catch on quickly in the government world due to expense and complexity. Augmented reality, however, is easier to insert into government events with easy to use apps available.[Tweet "Augmented reality is easier to insert into government events. #GovEventsBlog"]  Consider adding Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or geolocation technologies that serve up information to people when they are in a particular area of your venue. You can also think of augmented reality as an extension of hybrid events. You could pull virtual attendees into your event via Skype or streaming video.
  2. Exercise - There is an overall trend in events to serve healthier food options and to build in time for more breaks for exercise and fresh air. The success Pokémon Go has had with people at all levels of fitness shows that people will get active if they have a goal to motivate them. To bring this to your event, think about planning a pedometer competition that encourages people to walk the show floor.
  3. Fun - Government event organizers should not be scared of the F-word: Fun! The wide-ranging appeal of Pokémon Go shows that gamification works no matter the age or demographic. Look for ways to build competitions into your events to get people mingling and collaborating with one another such as scavenger hunts or trivia contests.[Tweet "Build competitions into your events to get people mingling. #GovEventsBlog"]
  4. Meet people on their phones - love it or hate it, we live on our phones. While Nintendo (owners of Pokémon Go) resisted the urge to go mobile - wanting to cling to their legacy of hardware-based games - they found that "giving in" to the mobile trend pays huge rewards. While you want people to focus on what is happening at your event, you may as well embrace the fact that they will use their phones. Make it work to your benefit by promoting your event on social media or using apps to push information to attendees throughout the event.
  5. It does not have to be perfect - Pokémon Go has had plenty of glitches, from servers crashing to multiple requests for logins, but generally users have excused these because of the overall fun experience they're having. Don't feel like the technology you roll out has to be perfect. Let attendees know you are trying something new and there may be glitches, but the best way to improve the tech is to start using it (you can equate this to the agile software development philosophy). Give new technologies a try. Even if they fail, it likely won't have a negative impact on overall event satisfaction or plans to return for future events.

We'd love to hear from you. What takeaways have you learned while playing or watching people play Pokémon Go? How can you apply those to your everyday life and work?

Behind the Curtain: Rio Olympics

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While planning events (and sometimes even attending them) can feel like an Olympic accomplishment, our day-to-day events can't hold a torch to the history, pomp, and complexity of the actual Olympics. This year's summer games take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5-24 and will mark the first time a South American country has hosted the games.[Tweet "Behind the Curtain: Rio Olympics #GovEventsBlog"]

The bay that Rio sits on is one of the most recognizable features and in fact was the inspiration for naming the city. Legend says that Portuguese explorers, who landed in present day Rio in January 1502, mistook the bay for the mouth of a river. They named the area Rio de Janeiro ("River of January"). The iconic Christ the Redeemer statue that looks over the bay is the largest Art Deco statue in the world but only the fifth largest Jesus statue. Continue reading →