At recent final-night
galas in New York City, attendees were dazzled by creative lighting
and centerpieces from Fourth Wall Events.
If an association planner’s
worst fear is miniscule attendance, then the second
biggest fear is attendees scooting out before the final night
banquet. Often commanding the biggest chunk of the budget and
requiring a lot of legwork, the final night gala is the last chance
for planners to make an impression, get the message out and send
attendees home thinking, “Wow!”
“Toward the end of a conference, the
most important thing you can do is keep the energy going and keep
it flowing beyond the conference,” says Jennie Campbell, CMP, CMM,
who is CEO of New Orleans-based Meet Your Market, a meeting
planning, public relations and research company.
Easier said than done. “We found no
matter what we did, a certain percentage of the group is going to
ditch early,” says Stephanie Marshall, CMP, director of meeting
services for the American Council on Education, based in
Washington, D.C. In agreement is Beth Hecquet, director of member
services for the Cincinnati-based National Association of Sports
Commissions: “It’s always hard to find a way to keep attendees
around for the last function of any conference or show,” she says.
“We’ve tried a few different approaches, and no matter what, we’ve
had drop-off.”
“I’m even guilty of going to a
conference and leaving early,” admits Barbara Parker, CMP, vice
president of meetings and conferences for the Institute of
Management Accountants in Montvale, N.J. “People are just very
busy, and I think associations are a little less important to
people than they were in previous years.”
To add to the equation, there’s a
lingering impression that a final night event is a big, bloated
to-do, where attendees are expected to break out their gowns and
tuxes and sit through an endless multicourse meal. Parker, a
planner for more than 20 years, says a conference services manager
at a hotel got a kick out of the fancy awards dinner she still
plans for her group’s annual conference. “He said, ‘I didn’t know
people even went to those anymore; those are dinosaurs!’?”
But, for the most part, times have
changed, and so have final night festivities, which now can range
from a crowd-thumping concert to a laid-back cocktail reception.
What follows are the top 10 tips from planners -- call them “wrap
artists” -- who have learned how to end the agenda on a high
note.
1. Get the word out.
Create some buzz from the start so attendees are thinking
about the big night ahead of time. “We include an advertisement for
[the awards ceremony] in our e-newsletters,” says Tammy Seldon,
conference and membership director for the Giant Screen Cinema
Association in Leesburg, Va. “On our final night of the conference,
we hold an awards program, dinner and closing ceremony. It’s kind
of like the Oscars.” Even so, she says, “We see a decline of about
25 percent.”
This year, however, Seldon says the
association is mailing out real paper invitations to attract
notice. “We’re continually talking about the awards ceremony to
generate more interest,” she says. “During the conference, we’ll
attach ‘award nominee’ ribbons to badges, and the only way people
will be able to find out who wins is by staying.”
2. Use star
power.Saving the biggest celebrity
speaker or flashiest entertainment for the ultimate event is a
proven way to keep attendance numbers high.
“We know that people will be strong in
the beginning of the conference, so we anchor the keynote speaker
at the end so attendees will stay,” says Karen Malone, vice
president of meeting services for the Chicago-based Healthcare
Information and Management Systems Society.
Amy Ledoux, CMP, CAE, and vice
president of meetings and expositions for the American Society of
Association Executives in Washington, D.C., booked singer Natalie
Cole for the final night of the group’s annual meeting this past
August. The event was sponsored by the Chicago Convention and
Visitors Bureau and held at Northerly Island, a stretch of parkland
that juts into Lake Michigan. “It’s key to build excitement,” she
says. “Pique people’s interest early. If they hadn’t planned on
staying before, maybe they will change their minds.” Ledoux had
Natalie Cole record a voice message that was sent out to every
attendee. For past conventions, she has had gifts, such as a CD
from a sponsor, delivered to attendees’ rooms.
DO AWARDS SEND THEM AWAY?
Barbara ParkerDoes your final night banquet include an awards ceremony? It could be hurting your attendance, say some industry insiders. Take a good hard look at the event: Are guests snoozing or cheering?
“The awards ceremony can draw crowds if the awards are truly respected,” says Jennie Campbell, CMP, CMM, who is CEO of New Orleans-based Meet Your Market. In addition, it’s important to consider how many out of the pool of attendees are giving or receiving an award. If 90 percent aren’t involved in some way, many of them might think, “Why go?”
Barbara Parker, vice president, conferences and events, for the Institute of Management Accountants in Montvale, N.J., plans an alternative for the institute’s awards banquet given at its annual conference. “People who aren’t involved with the awards tend to opt out,” she notes. “It’s like watching other people’s kids in a ballet program: If it’s not your kid, you don’t really care.”
So Parker plans an after party that is open to everyone. Many who skip the awards often will choose to head out to a local restaurant and then stop by the after party for a nightcap. -- J.N.D.
3. Raffle some feathers.
Get attendee pulses going with games, auctions and
raffles. Kristi Wallace, the executive director for the Oregon
Association of Mortgage Professionals in Portland, planned a casino
night for last year’s convention. “It’s a draw; people stick
around,” she says. “After the convention is over, they just want to
have fun, have a drink and win a few prizes.” If you have a raffle,
require winners to be present to claim prizes.
4. Design a morning
after. Adding a morning or half day after the final night
can significantly bump up attendance. “You need a reason for
attendees to stay,” says Catherine Mullen, president of Meeting
Logistics, an event planning company in New Providence, N.J. “We
always make sure to include something engaging on the last day.
Involve your audience, have a workshop, make people walk away
saying, ‘This is awesome, I can’t wait to go home and use
this.’?”
5. Make it
ticket-only. Requiring attendees to purchase and/or pick
up an admission ticket lends an air of exclusivity to the final
night event and makes people feel special to be included. “I
always do a ticket exchange,” says Jennie Campbell, noting
that it also helps with making projections for the following year.
“And it gives me a time frame to make adjustments on site,” she
adds.
Plus, ticket sales can add a little bit
of relief to the budget. Karen Malone says she charges $35 to $40
per ticket for the “special networking event” on the last night of
her association’s annual conference. “The cost of the ticket isn’t
nearly enough to cover the event, but we charge it to make sure
people will come,” she says. “We thought about giving tickets away,
but attendees won’t come if it’s free.”
6. Balance venue with
entertainment. If the budget is tight, decide whether the
venue has enough built-in entertainment value to
keep attendees around for the final night. If the place doesn’t
offer much on its own, Malone recommends bringing in some fabulous
entertainment.
“We had our last event at a large,
empty event space in New Orleans, so we booked the Temptations,”
Malone says. For her association’s 2006 convention, she booked the
USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego, which had lots
of nooks and crannies for attendees to explore, and brought in a
smaller act, an ABBA cover band.
7. Know your
attendees. Jennifer Brown, CMP and partner of Meeting
Sites Resource, a full-service meeting planning company in Irvine,
Calif., says, “When I give my meeting planning workshops, I always
say it doesn’t matter if you like it, it matters if the attendees
like it. Are they blue-collar workers? High-level executives? Look
at the whole gamut, then make decisions.”
Indeed, it helps to focus on who your
attendees are -- where they’re from, how old they are, the
breakdown of men and women. Study past years’ surveys, and pay
attention to the comments, compliments and criticisms, all to
better tailor the final night doings.
Of course, every association is
different. Some attendees would appreciate an inspiring
motivational speaker more than a rock star. Others would rather use
the extra time to network than sit through an awards ceremony.
For Barbara Parker, tradition is the
key to keeping attendees from leaving early. For more than 50
years, the Institute of Management Accountants has hired bagpipers
to march through the final night gala. “Everyone knows about it,”
Parker says. “It’s a showstopper. Other hotel guests will stop and
watch.”
8. Think outside the
hotel. Finding an offbeat venue to get attendees up and
out of the general session ballroom they’ve been holed up in for
five days might take some creative maneuvering but can be a lot of
fun -- and sometimes even cost-effective.
Jennie Campbell, who has planned
numerous conferences and meetings for nonprofit associations with
small budgets, once took advantage of one prominent attendee’s
beautiful home in one of New Orleans’ historical neighborhoods. “We
asked the family if they would mind donating their home as a
venue,” she says, noting that most participants love such
arrangements. “The owner gets to meet everyone, and it gets members
out of the typical hotel environment. And I don’t have to worry
about a rental rate. We promote it in the brochure, and it draws so
many people because it’s so unique. And the owner gets good PR,
too.”
Campbell advises planners to let the
hosts do the welcoming themselves -- and be sure to hire a crew to
clean up immediately afterward.
9. Ring in the old.
Some planners find that bringing back the glamour of dinner and
dancing has fresh appeal. “I think going back to the older,
traditional five-course dinner with cocktail attire is better,”
Campbell says. “You don’t see a formal dinner and dance anymore. I
personally think if it’s the closing to your conference, it should
be nice.”
Parker finds in today’s business-casual
society, her attendees look forward to putting on the glitz. “At
our awards dinner, women wear long dresses and men wear suits and
ties,” she says. “It’s like the Academy Awards. I think our
attendees crave an opportunity to be civilized again. They can sit
down and break bread with people, instead of standing around with
drinks, which creates a great networking opportunity.”
10. Make the best of what you
have. If you can’t afford to rent out a venue just for
your final night, reuse the general session room, but mix up the
look so attendees won’t feel like they’re in the same space.
“Be innovative. Change the chairs and
the lighting,” says Mullen, who has planned upward of 50 final
night events over the course of her seven years of planning.
Jeff Guberman, owner of Fourth Wall
Events in New York City, says planners working within the
constraints of a strict budget should choose one feature or theme
element that will stand out in the eyes of attendees.
“For example, we worked with an
association that wanted us to create a Central Park theme,”
Guberman recalls. “So we custom-built a gazebo bar and had
bartenders welcoming guests at the entrance. It was the focal point
of the room without us having to decorate the entire
20,000-square-foot ballroom.”