Create Memorable Events with Creative Contests
There’s no point in organizing an event if you don’t expect people to buzz about it for weeks after the door is closed. Memorable events are those that make people recall each engaging moment, the smell of delicious snacks and brilliant conversations, for a long time. If you’re in the dark about how to make an event memorable, you should learn one thing: creative contests are the best natural boosters for your event attendees’ memory.
Why should you make your events memorable
Remember those delicious cinnamon rolls that your grandma used to bake many years ago? No matter how much time passed, you’d never miss a chance to have one or two when you returned to the grandma’s house. A memorable event works the same way. The more unique the concept of your event is, the more attendees will keep it in mind and return to you in the future. Building a network of loyal attendees is a prerequisite for having sold-out events and a golden reputation in the event industry. So, games are worthwhile, aren’t they?
How can contests make events memorable?
Launching contests is a natural way of building engagement and rapport between event attendees. First, whether it’s an in-house awarding or an online giveaway, contests are great instruments for building anticipation. Secondly, you can make an event memorable by providing the contest winners with prizes that will be used in their households after the event. Lastly, creative contests encourage participation and usually provide some kind of a challenge for attendees. The good thing is people are less likely to forget about the experiences they participate with than those that they just observe.
How to create contests that make an event memorable
So, what’s the holy grail? How do you make your event memorable with the help of creative contests? Let’s take step-by-step journey.
- Craft a resonating vision. If the event is fun for the sake of fun, a creative Instagram photo contest that asks attendees to capture the craziest event moments would be a perfect fit. If you’d like to get some new business solutions showcased at the event, go for a well planned pitching contest. The main thing is you have to stay focused.
- Surprise, surprise. The element of surprise is exactly the thing that will make your event attendees take the bait. Invest as much effort into pre-show marketing as possible: advertise a secret speaker; promise to announce a winner of the online contest; promote anything that intrigues and encourages attendance.
- Prepare a recap. Sometimes it’s perfectly enough to incorporate a contest into the schedule of an event. Entertain the audience by facilitating a photo booth and collecting fun moments from the event. Reward the best snaps and prepare a bucket of great memories for attendees.
- Wow people with automation. Do you know what creates the best event memories? Smoothness. Automate your contest to wow your attendees at the event produce the greatest effect. Use advanced tools to set up contests, get immediate voting results and report the winners to create a positive impression.
- Stretch contest communication. You can leverage and stretch contest activities to magnify event memories. Set up post-event contests online that will keep the audience committed and construct a long-term communication strategy.
The tips for building creative contests
Contests work great if you want to make an event more memorable. But, the key point here is to make contests memorable in the first place. Here are some tips on how to launch excellent creative contests that can spice up your event:
- Establish crystal-clear rules. Contests that increase foot traffic for events have to be of an “easy-to-understand” type. Think of an idea that can captivate your target audience and define the rules. The more catchy and understandable it is, the more attendees will volunteer to participate.
- Promise awesome prizes. Let’s face it. A valuable prize can turn into the one and only reason to attend. From the other side, you won’t manage to make it buzzy without dangling a value reward. To maintain a balance, offer fantastic prizes but make sure they are fantastic only for the target audience. For instance, if you organize a medical conference, set up a creative contest for which the winner will be honored by publishing one of his/her scientific works in a popular health-care journal.
- Use the potential of tech. Technology is a great tool for driving engagement. This means being aware of the latest tech possibilities maximizes your chances for building a fantastic creative contest. As an example, if you focus on a video contest, use live streaming to set it up. Encourage people to record videos directly at the event and process them in real time. This will reduce pre-event labor and balloon engagement.
- Brand it. The most memorable event is the one that has a well recognized brand behind it. What if you invest in contest branding as well? Launching branded contests at each of your events will result in a publicity boost. And how do people react to famous contests? Exactly! They strive to participate.
The best examples of creative contests at events
Here’s how the most exciting world events do it. Here’s how you can do it as well.
The world’s largest tech conference, Web Summit, is a profile in building event excitement. Every year, the organizers set up a huge PITCH contest that aims at showcasing the most promising startups. Participants from all over the globe are encouraged to share their solutions with the public and afterwards are evaluated by professional judges. The winner gets great publicity and a cash prize.
RSAConference is one more example of how a popular event drums up interest with the help of creative contests. The conference focuses on security information and cyber threats. Annually, the organizers also run an RSAConference Sandbox Contest that aims at selecting the company with the strongest security position. Concerning the creative part, the companies have to develop a creative story about how they leverage security.
Conclusion
Memorable events are capable of producing many beautiful things like bringing out your brand and attracting new attendees. Arm yourself with some clever contest ideas and contest voting management before launching an event and go for it! To automate your contest experiences, get started with Judgify!