We have a problem. Our attendees are required to attend our events.
A walk on the beach with a mimosa in hand, ah, the ease of corporate events. Not a kink in my neck or a hair out of place!
We send an invitation, load up a three-hour agenda, lackluster food (when we were in-person!), and tada, an audience appears.
It sounds like an event producer's dream life!
But is it?
Attendance isn't necessarily an issue, but does the audience want to be there? Do we even know what they want?
Understanding that Corporate Events can provide:
A plethora of benefits to engaging teammates.
An increase in morale.
A communication vehicle.
Unification of the individuals within a company.
And a direct positive influence on the organization's bottom line.
Even still, the benefits of hosting a specific corporate event shouldn't outweigh the fact that the employees required to attend are people.
Every week it seems there's a new article reinforcing that individual attention spans are shrinking, "Zoom Fatigue" is real, and we're one 2-hour sitting-fest away from tipping Earth off its axis.
Yet, some internal employee-centered events continue beating the same drum -- Throw every piece of content imaginable into this event, forget its flow; six hours isn't too long -- teammates must be there.
See, teammate populations are no different from an external consumer or client or the small sample of individuals from which data-driven articles are derived. The big mistake is not seeing employees or treating them that way. When considering teammate individuals like fatigue-immune, hyper-focused mutants, this can result in experiences that make these required attendees feel like you don't care about their attendee journey or overall experience.
Wow. A company not caring about employees… I don't think I've ever heard that one before!
Events have the power to show that you care, even when the content shared is imperative to move the company forward. But you have to go about it the right way.
That starts with understanding your consumer, your target market, and your teammates as individuals and a cohesive group. When defining goals, it's imperative to keep the audience at the forefront of these events.
Some of us who have created event experiences in this space may not have an attendance problem with the audience's required events. However, being complacent in event production and not pushing the attendee's journey to the forefront may disservice teammates. Besides, it could undermine the information shared and not resonate with employees. At that point, why even host an event? Send an email instead.
Outside of defining who your target market is, how else have you gone about determining what drives your employees to want to attend your required corporate events?
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