Do you know the three styles of event attendees?
Not all attendees approach an event the same way—personality types and learning styles greatly influence how your attendees will engage.
And once an events team recognizes that each of these styles has different needs and motivations, the better job you can do crafting experiences that work for everyone.
So, what are the three different attendee styles (not to be confused with the five attendee types), and how can you use this information to boost engagement?
The Networkers
These attendees are driven by connections. Networkers are the ones seeking out opportunities to meet, discuss, and collaborate with peers. They tend to prioritize opportunities for interaction—facilitated networking sessions, breakout rooms in virtual events, or dedicated chat lounges.
To cater to your Networkers, you want:
- Strong matchmaking algorithms
- Attendee directory and messaging and meeting tools
- Ample space – physical or virtual – for conversation
The Learners
Learners come for content. They are looking for new ideas, expert insights, and practical skills they can take back to their job. To keep them engaged and coming back for more, it’s essential to deliver high-quality content for learners of all levels of expertise.
To cater to your Learners, you want to:
- Deliver content in a variety of formats — live talks, Q&As, pre-recorded tutorials, roundtables
- Share session resources before and after the session
- Make replays easily available
The Explorers
When you are an Explorer, you want to see it all! These are the people who spend their time bouncing from experience to experience, trying to take it all in. Petting zoo? Check. Tasting experience? Check. Robot barista? Check.
To cater to your Explorers, you want to:
- Add gamification. As someone who recently staffed a help desk at an event with gamification, I can assure you that a well-designed game will push these people out of their comfort zones
- Create a variety of experiences – they want to see it all, but it doesn’t all have to be Instagrammable
- Provide experiences for a variety of energy levels
When you take each of these styles into account in your event planning – from registration through to attendee tools to the onsite delivery – you increase the odds that they will leave happy, want to return, and encourage others to join them.
