Think Like an Innovator

Small changes to how event planners execute on strategy can have a big impact on engagement.

Some organizers and marketers are holding tight to what’s worked before — even as audiences, expectations, and metrics for success continue to change. Others (let’s call them the “Innovators”) are making bold, data-informed decisions to consistently evolve their events and attract new and highly qualified attendees. The good news? Anyone can be an Innovator. It starts with a few tweaks to the way you approach event planning and execution.

Be audience-obsessed. While a more conventional approach might rely heavily on last year’s post-show report to guide planning and marketing, Innovators start with real-time audience insights. And they go a step further by collecting and analyzing feedback from people who didn’t attend.

Innovators invest in persona development, qualitative surveys, and behavioral data to uncover what truly matters to attendees and non-attendees. What keeps them coming? What keeps them away? What would compel them to engage, or engage more? This helps build a better, more targeted experience for everyone.

Cut to create. One of the most impactful things Innovators do is make room for new ideas, better formats, and more audience-relevant content. That often means letting go of legacy programs that no longer deliver. It’s not always easy, but cutting initiatives that aren’t pulling their weight can free up budget and bandwidth for bolder programs and activations. You know that low-performing speaker series you’ve been doing for 10 years now? Use the budget from that to fund a new immersive learning lab which could draw new attendees and sponsors eager to align with something fresh.

Alternatively, you can reallocate that budget toward designing more intentional networking, which Freeman’s most recent round of audience sentiment research shows is the single-biggest driver of return attendance, with over half of survey participants saying it’s reason enough to come back to an event.

Empower teams to drive smart risk-taking. Freeman data suggests that many organizers want to evolve their events, but don’t feel empowered to do so. It’s imperative that leaders encourage experimentation and reward creativity. Rather than punishing failure, savvy managers view it as part of a test-and-learn cycle. They invite collaboration both within and across teams and foster environments wherein people aren’t afraid to speak up and are eager to share new ideas. That cultural shift — from “safe execution” to “strategic exploration” — often unlocks faster, more relevant innovation and creates new teams of Innovators.

Don’t just collect data — act on it. Innovators are plugged into market trends, sponsor feedback, and industry benchmarks. And they use those insights to justify changes to formats, content, marketing channels, and even pricing strategies. They can see that audiences are looking for more than traditional lectures, so they move quickly to diversify session formats with debates, hands-on workshops, and live case studies.

Innovators also bring data to the table when a stuck-in-their-ways manager gives them a hard time about doing things differently. They use the data to show why changes are needed, which programs are under-performing, and how the budget can be moved around.

Show Innovation

Based on Freeman research, the International Baking Industry Exposition knew attendees preferred shorter, more engaging education sessions. To improve their experience — and increase floor traffic — they added more space for education to their show floor, but shortened sessions from one hour to 20 minutes. As a result, they were able to double the number of sessions available to attendees, offer them in multiple languages, and streamline their pricing model.

In another example of demonstrating an innovator mindset, NAB Show organizers heard, after conducting surveys and attendee interviews, that the exhibit hall felt overwhelming. Organizers went back to the drawing board and completely reimagined the show floor, grouping exhibitors by broad specialty so attendees could speak to a variety of suppliers in one space. Attendees loved how easy it was to navigate the floor, saying their time at the event was more productive, as they spent far less time walking between show halls.

Kimberly Hardcastle-Geddes is chief marketing strategist at Freeman.

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