If you organize events, you know that innovating is essential to keep your audience engaged. But how do you bring in new ideas without losing the essence of your event? In this post, we’ve gathered 20 ideas for events that can turn your next edition into an unforgettable experience. Get inspired!
Get Inspired With 20 Ideas for Events
1. Gamification With Badges
Gamification is the strategy of applying game mechanics to teach, engage, and entertain.
It’s usually put into practice with challenges, rankings, and rewards to help meet the event’s goals.
But it can be adapted to different types of events to boost the experience for everyone involved.
For example, at CBIS’24, organizers wanted to encourage attendees to show up for paper presentations and sponsor booths.
So they created a system that rewarded people for meeting those goals.
In practice, it worked like this: CBIS attendees received badges with large empty spaces on them.
Whenever they met a goal, like attending a presentation, they earned stickers to place on the empty area of their badge.
Finally, anyone who collected 10 stickers of the same color could trade them for exclusive collectible pins. This encouraged active participation and interaction at the event.
The initiative worked so well that 90% of attendees said they wanted more gamification at future editions of CBIS.
As a result, the event built a stronger, more engaged community.
2. Escape Room: Virtual and In-Person
Still on the topic of gamification, an escape room strategy can be a great way to boost participation at your event!
Escape rooms are immersive challenges where attendees have to solve puzzles and find clues to “escape” a themed space, stimulating creativity and problem-solving in a fun, engaging way.
At in-person events, you can build a themed space with interactive physical elements.
On the other hand, the virtual format lets you create digital escape rooms using platforms built for this, like Genially or Room Escape Maker.
That way, attendees interact through videos and real-time puzzles, making the experience accessible to any audience.
3. Photo Booths
Collecting items and taking home mementos from your event creates a really positive experience for attendees.
Among these options, the photo booth is a crowd favorite!
It lets attendees take fun photos, use themed props, and customize their images with frames and filters.
Besides creating instant memories, the photos can be printed or shared directly on social media, extending the event’s reach.
These items usually generate engagement and a strong connection to the event and the memories made there.
4. Live Streams Translated With Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made it easier than ever to organize complex events.
With AI tools, it’s now much easier to run international events. In fact, you can translate live broadcasts with just one tool, like Rask, Wordly, or VMEG.
Use the latest technologies on the market to elevate your events and add value to them.
If you want, use the There’s an AI for That tool to find other AI tools that can solve problems for you. They can make your event more efficient and even cut down on costs!
5. Writing Assistant
Speaking of AI for events, use event platforms that already offer this kind of solution.
This will make your organization faster, more effective, and centralized in one place.
On Even3, for example, you get access to the Writing Assistant.
It uses artificial intelligence to write your event and activity description copy.
That way, it quickly fills in the essential event information and makes it more professional in seconds.
The Writing Assistant also helps standardize your communication, boosting your event’s credibility and making promotion more efficient.
With smart suggestions and tone adaptation, it helps you create clear, focused, and persuasive copy.
That way, your event becomes much more appealing to your audience.
6. Chatbots
Another form of AI that will make your event more efficient is chatbots.
That’s because they tend to offer quick answers to attendees’ most common questions.
That way, they handle most simple issues, while your team can focus on solving more complex problems.
In practice, chatbots work great for providing quick answers on the event website, offering detailed schedule information, and even helping with the registration process.
Some chatbot tools can be integrated into your event website on Even3, like Hubspot, Zendesk, and others.
7. Open Space for Pets
Real connections and activities in touch with nature have become a priority for many people.
With that in mind, pet-friendly events are an option for creating a welcoming, inclusive experience.
Beyond boosting attendee satisfaction, this kind of initiative can attract a new type of attendee, and even partnerships with pet industry brands.
So, it’s worth offering adapted spaces, like rest areas for pets and hydration stations.
8. Blood Donation Truck
Blood donation trucks are mobile units equipped to safely and conveniently collect donations right at your event venue.
To do this, you can partner with blood centers in your city. They usually offer this service for businesses and events that want to contribute without traveling to their facilities.
Beyond raising awareness about the importance of blood donation, this initiative makes it easier for people to become regular donors, and it can make a real difference in many lives.
9. Digital Caricatures
Events are becoming more and more personalized, even virtual ones!
So, to make the digital experience feel even more intimate and special, many organizers have turned to options that let attendees feel represented.
In this context, digital caricatures or avatars offer a creative way for attendees to express themselves online.
You can create avatars using tools like Canva and Adobe, or hire caricature artists.
The drawings should also include your logo and be shareable on social media, becoming a post-event keepsake too.
10. Comedians as Event Hosts
Innovate the way you present your event!
Hire hosts or emcees who engage the audience and get them excited.
A good option is investing in someone with stand-up comedy experience. After all, humor can make the schedule feel lighter and keep the audience engaged.
11. Sustainable Giveaways
Giveaways can be a powerful marketing tool, boosting engagement and brand visibility.
However, it’s essential to consider the environmental impact of these choices.
More and more, eco-friendly giveaways are well received by attendees.
And it’s not just items made from recyclable materials that are trending; items that encourage eco-friendly habits, like cotton bags, bottles, eco cups, and seed kits, are on the rise too.
When customized with your event’s branding, these giveaways become valuable keepsakes for attendees.
12. Collectible Giveaways by Edition
Speaking of giveaways, a great idea is to create exclusive giveaway series for each edition of your event.
That way, if you run recurring events, the giveaways become trophies for your most loyal attendees.
For example, the Olympics have had pins for athletes at every edition since 1896. Can you believe it?
There are also special pins that have become sought-after collector’s items, worn by athletes on their badge lanyards.
13. 360° Video
Have you seen a 360° video around? I’m sure it’s crossed your timeline before! The format is quite trendy these days.
Basically, it’s a rotating platform where attendees stand in the center while a camera circles around them, capturing dynamic, engaging footage.
Since it’s highly shareable on social media, 360° videos have become increasingly common at events.
They usually generate videos branded with the event’s or sponsors’ logos, organically boosting brand visibility.
They also offer an unforgettable, engaging experience for attendees.
14. On-Site Recording Studios
Speaking of recordings at events, a great idea is to offer spaces where attendees can create video or music content spontaneously.
These spaces can be professional studios, separate rooms, or simpler setups, like photo walls or Instagram-worthy backdrops.
This will generate organic marketing from the content created at your event and shared on social media. So, remember to make your branding clearly visible in the decor!
These spaces can also work as coworking areas, promoting networking, cooperation, and collaboration.
The benefit of creating and working alongside different people will definitely attract more people to your event!
15. 2D Hall
Basically, a 2D Hall is a virtual projection of an event hall.
In it, exhibitor and sponsor booths are displayed in a creative, interactive way.
That way, your attendees can interact within the event “space” in an immersive way.
At the booths, attendees can access exclusive content and even chat with representatives in real time.
This kind of content adds a real differentiator to virtual events.
That’s why event platforms like Even3 offer this feature to organizers.
Without leaving the platform, you can set up booths with videos, informational materials, buttons, and many other features to engage your audience.
16. Sightseeing Tours in the Schedule
Sightseeing tours are a great way to make your event schedule more engaging.
After all, they let attendees explore the local culture and attractions.
Beyond offering moments of leisure and relaxation, these experiences strengthen networking between attendees and create unforgettable memories.
CBIS’24, for example, made good use of its location in Belo Horizonte and added a visit to the Inhotim art museum to the schedule, one of the largest open-air contemporary art collections in the world.
Tickets were sold separately at registration, making this part of the schedule optional, only for those genuinely interested in that experience.
17. Email Marketing for Website Visitors
You probably already know what email marketing is, right? It’s an essential tool for engaging and converting attendees through email campaigns.
And you can boost your results by sending emails to the right audience!
On Even3, you can capture the emails of your event website visitors and send personalized messages to encourage them to register.
Since this audience has already shown interest or curiosity about your event, building a relationship with them increases the chances of turning them into registrants.
This strategy also lets you nurture the interest of potential attendees by sharing relevant information, event updates, and exclusive offers.
18. Speaker Kits
Prepare your speakers by offering speaker kits.
This is a strategy to ensure more professional presentations at online events.
What can the kits include?
Microphones, ring lights, green screens, slides, giveaways, and notepads.
These kits will help improve audio and video quality, making presentations more appealing and impactful for the audience.
They also show attendees that the organizer cares about the quality of the event experience.
19. Augmented Reality (AR) for Engagement
Incorporate augmented reality (AR) technology into your event to create interactive, immersive experiences.
With AR, you can offer attendees a virtual tour of the venue, showcase products or projects in 3D, or even gamify activities.
For example, you could create a game where attendees “unlock” exclusive content by scanning QR codes at certain points around the event.
This way, the technology not only boosts audience engagement, but also offers an innovative way to present information, making the experience memorable and unique.
20. An App to Connect Audiences
Having a dedicated app for hybrid events is one of the best ways to improve the attendee experience and streamline your organization.
After all, it lets you bring your in-person and virtual audiences together, make networking easier, create polls, and boost overall engagement.
An app also allows for real-time communication, personalized notifications, and quick access to the event schedule.
On Even3, creating an app is simple and intuitive.
Organizers can customize the branding, add essential information, and configure features in real time, directly on the platform.
But Even3’s benefits go beyond apps!
That’s because the platform offers several solutions for registration, check-in, certification, and much more.
With an event platform, you can make event management more efficient and automated.
Want to transform your event? Try Even3 and discover how to make your organization easier.
