The document provides 8 ways to create engaging live, virtual and hybrid events. It discusses setting objectives, getting consensus from decision-makers, understanding the target audience, planning an experiential component, being engaging, amplifying engagement through pre-and post-event activities, training event staff, and measuring the event's success through lead capture and demonstrating return on investment. The overall guidance is focused on making events more impactful by deeply understanding objectives and audiences, creating interactive experiences, and integrating events as part of a broader marketing strategy.

1. 8 Ways to Create
Engaging Live,
Virtual and When it comes to your next live,
virtual or hybrid event, here are
Hybrid Events 8 ways to make your program
more engaging.

2. 1. Set your Objectives
Go into your event planning process knowing what you want to accomplish and how you will
measure its success. Make sure your objectives are SMART…
S SPECIFIC
M MEASURABLE
A ACTIONABLE
R REALISTIC
T TIME-BASED
“With our 10x10
exhibit space, we
needed a way
to stand out from
the crowd. Live
Marketing developed
several innovative
strategies that helped
us create brand 2. Get Consensus from the Decision-Makers
impressions, deliver
Involving all decision-makers—including executive/senior management, sales, marketing,
in-depth messaging, product development and more—is crucial. Get their input and consensus early on in the
engage and qualify decision-making process, but make it easy and fast for them.
prospects, and gain
the attention of Here are 7 questions to ask:
press/analysts. We • What are you trying to get out of this event? What would success look like to you?
exceeded our
• Who are you targeting based on these objectives?
expectations in
every area!” • What do you think our target audience is currently looking for? What are their
top-of-mind concerns?
—LANDesk Software
• How does our product or service fulfill their needs/solve their problems?
• What is the personality of our brand/our brand promise?
• What is our competition doing and saying?
• What will help you determine if this event program is a success?
© Live Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

3. 3. Know & Respect Your Target Audience
Now that you know what you want to get out of the event, it’s time to focus on your target
audience. Ask questions like:
• What are their titles? Are they decision-makers? Influencers?
• What are their care-abouts? Different industries have different care-abouts. Economic
conditions and culture also shape/define care-abouts.
• What are their pain points?
• What does our target audience need to get out of the event?
• What do we have to offer that will solve their problems, meet their needs, or get them
excited about working with us?
4. Plan Your Experience
Today’s event attendees are sophisticated—they want to know: what’s in it for them? The
best way to demonstrate that is to create an experience: get attendees involved physically,
intellectually and emotionally with your brand and solutions. But create an experience appro-
priate for your company, brand and message. It may be tempting to use a gimmick to gener-
ate large numbers, but does that kind experience drive your objectives and results?
Creating an experience serves dual-purposes. First, an experience can be used to generate
traffic, because you can’t have impactful engagements without audiences. Second, an experi-
ence, especially one designed as a one-to-many or one-to-few activity, allows you to effec-
tively communicate your message to as many people as possible.
© Live Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

4. For live events, consider a vehicle like a business theater, booth activity, experiential
demonstration, briefing zone or booth tour. They provide a structured way for attendees to
receive consistent, high-level messaging and introduce them to all you have to offer. These
one-to-many strategies can be used in any size exhibit and within any budget range, and
they provide measurable results. They also serve as a magnet to attract and focus large
audiences—providing opportunities to retain key customers, reinforce your company’s
branding and positioning, introduce
new products and services, and
generate qualified sales leads.
Don’t forget: the overall creative tone,
style and content of the experience
should be right for the industry and
your target audience, but it shouldn’t
overshadow your message.
Here are a few considerations when
creating an experience:
• What kind of experience will
resonate with our audience?
• What do guests need to think, feel
and do to understand the value of
our brand or solution?
• What actions should visitors take
to move them further through the
“Live Marketing sales funnel?
had a tremendous
impact on our
attendance. We
received a 66%
increase in booth
scans! It was
absolutely amazing
to us and all thanks
to you.”
—AiPhone
5. Be Engaging
Now that you have attendees’ attention, don’t let it go to waste. Create long-lasting impres-
sions by integrating a powerful story about your brand and solutions into the experience.
The best experiences ensure guests consistently hear your solutions and messaging story
(whether high-level or detailed) instead of just walking away after participating in something
cool or fun.
For example, provide a structured and cohesive way to tell your compelling story at live
events by using a highly-trained communicator or professional engager. These outgoing, en-
ergetic communicators serve as the first touchpoint your audience has with your brand. They
also deliver high-level messaging to educate and engage large audiences, taking the burden
off your staff and allowing them to focus on what they do best—communicating with qualified
prospects.
© Live Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. 4

5. 6. Amplify the Engagement
Whether live or virtual, think beyond the space and time of your event—consider pre- and
post-event. And how can you stretch the event experience to those not in attendance?
Can online components and/or social media be used to amplify your experience and
engagement strategy?
Consider a variety of touchpoints and marketing channels—before, during and after—to en-
gage audiences and contribute to a strong return on investment. Make sure the story being
told is consistent throughout these integrated touchpoints too. Here is just a sampling of
touchpoints to consider integrating to amplify the engagement:
Pre-Event At-Event Post-Event
Social media Sponsorships Event-specific microsite
Advertising Exhibit Social media
Event-specific microsite Booth activities Targeted direct mails and
Web site banners Business theater emails
Direct mail Social media Follow up sales calls to A/B
leads
Email campaigns Participation/signage in
partner exhibits Post-event surveys
New product announce-
ments Speaking opportunities White papers
White papers Lead capture Promotional incentives
“BMA members Promotional incentives Giveaways / incentives
are knowledgeable Offer to meet a rep on-site Product launch
Pre-event survey Webcast from the booth
about social media, (ask what they want to Customer meetings/
so we have to take see on-site) hospitality
things beyond the
customary and
deliver new ideas
and applications they
haven’t seen yet.
The program Live
Marketing developed
allowed the content
and education from
our event to live
on and be shared
with the rest of
the marketing com-
munity that wasn’t
able to attend.”
—Business
Marketing
Association
© Live Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. 5

6. 7. Train Your Staff
The results of thousands of
studies on exhibit effectiveness
show the performance of the
booth staff affects booth
efficiency more than any other
single factor. Even if you’re host-
ing a virtual event, ensure your
team is on board with the mission,
objectives, and the program’s
strategies and tactics through
a pre-event meeting/strategic
briefing.
Your staff are great at meeting
one-on-one with prospects. But
they aren’t used to the unique demands of events. From only having a few seconds to en-
gage and qualify prospects, to the potential to interact with more guests in a few days than
a year of sales calls, a pre-event meeting and strategic briefing is the perfect time to polish
“We have
your booth staffers’ skills. Whether they’re event newbies or seasoned veterans, it’s worth
historically reviewing do’s and don’ts with a training program too.
struggled with
booth staff
enthusiasm and
effectiveness, and 8. Measurement
the training Live To clearly demonstrate the event’s success, measurement is critical. Before the event, make
Marketing provided plans to document—in a tangible way—the value of your program. Don’t get so carried away
increased our lead with creating an exciting or emotional experience that you lose sight of your end result and
capture by more your overall objectives.
than 300% from the During the event, if you’ve delivered on the above, you’ll have prospects interested in your
previous show.” offerings. To ultimately make sales, capture attendees’ qualifying information in a way that
—Tomax Corporation allows sales to follow up appropriately. Gather the right details (like specific areas of interest,
timeframe for purchase, and budget considerations) to make leads meaningful for sales.
And post-event, demonstrate a strong return on investment to key stakeholders by
communicating specific results achieved compared to your “SMART” objectives.
“Live Marketing helped to establish measures that are meaningful; especially
to senior management, to justify our Return on Investment and drive
business equity for all of our brands.”
—Nestlé Purina
© Live Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. 6

7. If your events aren’t generating enough leads and
sales; if your event programs aren’t delivering the
results you’re looking for; if you’re looking to
increase your business by making your events
more engaging…then contact Live Marketing for
more information.
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