The Power of a Simple Welcome -

Welcome cards, handwritten by a member of the FICP staff or board, were given to every person who came through registration at the the Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals’ most recent annual conference.

We know it is harder than ever to get people to attend our events. And it is even harder to get them to come back again. There is a lot of talk right now about retention, engagement, and loyalty. The shift that we are seeing is that participation cannot be assumed. It must be earned.

That is exactly what the Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals (FICP) set out to do at its own recent Annual Conference for meetings professionals and hospitality partners. The FICP team and board wanted to level up and make their event stand out. For inspiration, they read Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara.

Beth Surmont, CMP-Fellow, FASAE, CAE

“We wanted to create that same type of feeling of being seen and cared for,” said Ellie Hurley, SEPC, event director at Smithbucklin, FICP’s association management company.

Their low-cost and high-impact solution? Welcome cards, handwritten by a member of the FICP staff or board. Every person who came through registration received one.

Attendees, sponsors, vendors, press. No exceptions. “We didn’t want anyone to feel like they were left out,” Hurley said. “If you were there, you were welcomed.” Handed out at registration with name badges, the cards turned a typically transactional moment into something personal.

If a registrant had answered an optional question on the registration form to share something about themselves, their card included a reference to that, making it even more personalized. Hurley said they didn’t yet know what they were going to do with that information when they opened registration, “but we thought it would be helpful to know a little more about them.” Not everyone responded, and that was expected. But those who did gave the card writers context: a first-time attendee, a topic they were interested in, a love for slow-cooker recipes.

The execution was made intentionally easy. The registrant list was divided among staff and board members, with most assignments made randomly. If someone had an existing connection, they could choose to write to that person. The stationery came from what the team already had on hand. The main investment was time. In total, more than 800 handwritten notes were created, filled with tips for first timers, session suggestions, and even the writers’ own favorite recipes.

Subscribe to Convene.

Want deep-dive insights on events delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletters.

The impact was visible. “It added a whole new vibe to the event,” Hurley said. “You could feel it. People were even seeking out their card writers to talk more.” The cards became a point of connection that bonded the audience to the event.

The fun facts from registration were also adapted to the main stage, where the emcee leveraged them to create memorable, shareable moments and unexpected joy with the audience.

When asked what she learned from the experience, Hurley said, “Sometimes we overcomplicate things. We can forget that a simple personal touch can do so much.”

My takeaway is that the magic wasn’t in the cards themselves, it was the moment the team decided to get to know their audience. You can take a leaf out of FICP’s book for your own events:

Use a collective vision to align your team. If having everyone read the same book seems too much, try a podcast, a TED Talk, or even a commercial to build shared understanding.
Station smiling greeters at the venue door or ask your speakers to stand outside their session rooms and greet attendees as they arrive.
Offer fun, instant connectors that allow people to express something personal — like a sticker that indicates if that person is a cat or dog person — and coach your team to interact and ask questions about their selections.

Beth Surmont, CMP-Fellow, FASAE, CAE, is head of event strategy and design for marketing, strategy, and experience agency 360 Live Media.