Technology and creativity create lasting memories for event attendees
In the minds of today’s experienced audiences, the standard event elements – keynote speeches, exhibition booths, meeting rooms and so on – are becoming quite similar and mundane. For an event to become unforgettable means organizers and managers must use the unusual, the unconventional and the unpredictable.
This is perfectly possible thanks to two powerful weapons: creativity and technology.
Making the conventional unconventional
Event professionals are going to great lengths to break out of traditional venues and formats. Two out-of-the-ordinary test drive events put on for Denza and Ducati by Pico underline how quickly things are changing. With the stunning scenery of Tibet and Zhangjiajie’s Tianzi Mountain as the backdrop, participants braved challenging roads and conditions to try out both car brands’ new offerings. These scenic landscapes and stunning roads were worlds away from the usual test drive routes and provided unforgettable experiences to everyone who took part.
In the hospitality sector, the InterContinental Hotels Group’s ‘Unique Meetings’ is a portfolio of ‘one-of-a-kind event spaces and experiences for those looking for non-traditional meetings’. The idea is to take conferences out of bland meeting rooms and relocate them to unique venues like beach lagoons, rooftops, vineyards and more. By taking advantage of their hotels’ unique surroundings, IHG leaves guests with long-lasting impressions.
Breathing new life into familiar places
While using new venues is a great way of injecting novelty into the traditional, this is not always possible, especially when events are regularly scheduled or have budgetary restrictions. How can we deliver originality within the same four walls? By unleashing the creative power of multimedia to make participants feel like they are in a completely different environment.
Creative studios like Moment Factory explore innovative storytelling through multimedia activations. One of their most talked-about projects is the Lumina experience, which repurposes existing outdoor destinations and spaces like zoos, valleys, forests and even islands; engaging people’s emotions through interactive technologies, special lighting, projections and scenography.
The Foresta Lumina experience activated the Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook in Canada – turning a traditional hiking trail into a magical forest night walk and creating a significant boost in visitors to the area, improving F&B, hospitality and leisure businesses around the park.
Using tech to boost ingenuity
For every event, there are countless creative possibilities on how to drive engagement. Today’s technology is helping more and more of these inventive ideas come to life. A recent Samsung product event demonstrated how to break with tradition and create a memorable brand-product-audience connection through tech. The event used Michelin-starred dining as an incentive for participants to explore the new phones’ capabilities – unlocking interactive Augmented Reality elements for example. Dishes were ‘served’ using Virtual Reality before the real food was presented to them. All engagements were designed to give participants a brand-new impression of what future product testing events could look like.
Now, before you rush off into the nearest park with strings of lights in hand or start designing elaborate VR meals, remember that no matter how you unleash your creativity, the rule of thumb is to create ‘the right kind of memories’ – of the brand and its messages – not of the place or the special effects used to land those messages.
