10 tips to keeping your attendees engaged

So you are organising a meeting that is more than a couple of hours in duration, but keeping your attendees engaged will be one of the crucial elements in achieving the objectives you need to achieve. Strong engagement ensures that the meeting will have a high level of success and can unlock ideas to the benefit of the organisation. To keep up levels of engagement consider mixing up the location of the meeting, introducing interactive activities and providing food and drink. Avoiding monotony will re-energise your attendees and keep them focused.

1. Switch location

If you usually hold your event at your offices then consider holding it offsite. Selecting a meeting venue that offers offsite facilities adds an element of surprise to your attendees. A change of scenery will energise attendees and can bring a different perspective to your meeting.

2. Serve food and drink

Serving food and drink will keep attendees happy and comfortable. It also gives the opportunity for strangers to interact over discussions about what is being served. If you are not on a budget throw in some treats as surprises.

3. Create interaction

Get your attendees participating and interacting with each other. An icebreaker question is a great way to introduce interaction and for attendees to get to know each other. Games and quizzes, group discussions, challenges and debates are a great way for interaction to be introduced into your meeting.

4. Break up content

If you are holding a training event or imparting a lot of knowledge then avoid information overload for your attendees and mix up your information content with fun segments. Concentration levels tend to dip after 40 minutes so consider this when you are structuring your meeting to get the best out of your attendees.

5. Get moving

To avoid boredom don’t let your attendees sit still for long periods of time. If room and time permits encourage your attendees to get up and stretch their legs. Factor in regular breaks to allow them to move around so that they come back to the meeting focused. Use break out areas that are away from your meeting room to encourage movement.

6. Make it personal and relevant

Your attendees are investing their time, energy and effort into your meeting so make sure they understand what they will gain from attending. Attempt to make clear how each attendees will benefit from attending and where possible include individual attendees in to any examples you will be highlighting in the meeting.

7. Visualise your messages

Loading up screens full of written content can drain the energy in a room and take the focus off the presenter. As visual creatures, we engage more with something that is visually appealing. Be wise when it comes to incorporating visuals into a presentation and have a theme to any images you select. Infographics are very popular in getting across a message that is complicated and playing a video with audio can underline a point you are trying to convey.

8. Encourage collaboration

Working together on a solution highlight cross departmental cooperations that have been unchecked. Working off different skillsets and sharing knowledge could encourage collaboration outside the meeting to the benefit of the organisation.

9. Adopt tech

Wherever possible consider a range of tech to facilitate your meeting. Access to a neat board and the ability to save down and email to yourself notes made on the day is a time saving and effective way of documenting your meeting. Be mindful that if you are deploying tech platforms for your meeting that your meeting venue can facilitate them on the day of your meeting.

10. Follow up post event

When your meeting has drawn to a close and your attendees have left follow up with an email to thank them for attending, attach action points and don’t forget to ask for their feedback.

The get the best outcome for your meeting, ensure that those attending are fully engaged and are prepped to make of the time they are spending with you.