HOW TO Are your events delivering the best delegate experiences, or do they fall short? Liz Lathan, CMP, CMO, and a cofounder of Haute Companies took it upon herself to identify attendees’ pet peeves to create The Attendee Bill of Rights: A Guide to Creating AttendeeFirst Experiences, As Told by Attendees. Meetings delves into the heart of the matter.
The Attendee Bill of Rights
W
hile there is a clear push for attendees to be together in person, certified meeting professional Liz Lathan, cofounder of Haute Companies, took exception to some of the experiences she was having at face-to-face events as a post-pandemic delegate. Through her company’s LinkedIn page, she asked for the worst personal gripes and experiences from event attendees to give planners and organisers insights from the other side. This led to the birth of The Attendee Bill of Rights: A Guide to Creating Attendee-First Experiences, As Told by Attendees. “My biggest surprise from the responses has been that it confirms what I’ve been experiencing at the events I’m attending: people all want the same thing – to be around each other. They want to talk, they want to commiserate, they want to share, and they want to help each other. And yet the agendas are lots of keynote presentations trying to inspire them into action or addressing burnout. And while many of these events have expanded their coffee break to 30 minutes instead of 15, they are not helping to facilitate the conversations that the attendees want,” Liz notes in an interview with Skift Meetings. Her motivation for putting together the guide came from observing how the return of physical events was taking shape, and that many event professionals currently appear to be thinly stretched. “Colleagues are quitting; our inputs come from at least seven different channels... To further complicate the job, we’re not just planning inperson events; we’re planning hybrid strategies, digital experiences, full-funnel audience acquisition, and follow-ups,” says Liz. So, what is it that attendees need? Here is a summary of delegates’ expectations, according to The Attendee Bill of Rights: A Guide to Creating Attendee-First Experiences, As Told by Attendees:
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CONTENT •A ttendees have a right to know if the session will be (or include) a sales pitch. •A ttendees have a right to presenters who have worked in the industry and speak with clear examples and from experience. •A ttendees have a right to hear the content that was promised in the agenda. •A ttendees have a right to have speakers who will present, not read, their presentations. •A ttendees have a right to walk out of any session that doesn’t suit their needs. •A ttendees (and panellists) have a right to panel discussions with a manageable number of panellists (no more than three), so all voices can be heard. •A ttendees have a right to a variety of content, and not be in the same room in listen-only mode for more than 90 minutes.
•A ttendees have a right to spread out from their neighbours in the sessions and not have to sit hip-to-hip with others. •A ttendees have a right to be treated like people and not herded like cows. •A ttendees have a right to have their feedback used in the planning, not asked on a survey and ignored.
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The Attendee Bill of Rights
F&B •A ttendees have a right to healthy and indulgent treats. •A ttendees have a right to have protein at breakfast. •A ttendees have a right to bring their own water bottles and fill them up at no cost. •A ttendees have a right to access the food and drinks (i.e. planners must order enough for everyone).
EXPERIENCE •A ttendees have a right to access charging stations for devices (and not sit on the floor for it). •A ttendees have a right to useful swag, not landfill junk.
A GUIDE TO CREATING ATTENDEE-FIRST EXPERIENCES, AS TOLD BY ATTENDEES CROWDSOURCED BY LIZ LATHAN, CMP, SPRING 2022
MEETINGS l MAY/JUNE 2022 •
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