Everyone loves a good story! The best stories forge emotional connections between the audience, the characters, the story world, and the central ideas. It’s no wonder that event storytelling is a core part of a successful planner’s toolkit!
Even though we live with stories every day, from beloved TV shows to anecdotes shared over mimosas, crafting a cohesive narrative out of the many elements of an event experience can be tricky. However, mastering this approach will enable you to plan more impactful experiences and foster stronger bonds with your audience.
Read on for our tips and tricks for crafting irresistible event narratives that flawlessly carry your audience from one stage to the next.
Why incorporate storytelling?
What is event storytelling? Every event experience has a goal, whether empowering industry members with emerging technology or promoting eco-friendly practices. Event experiences bring these ideas to life, enabling attendees to explore the tools and strategies and network with the key players behind these big, often abstract ideas.
Event storytelling is how you organize your event—including everything from sound design to featured keynotes—to communicate these big ideas as effectively and enjoyably as possible. It’s an approach that packages technical information into an emotional journey, transforming the event experience for everyone.
Benefits of Event Storytelling
- Maximize emotional connection with attendees
- Increase engagement
- Make virtual meetings more exciting
- Personalize event content
- Communicate complex information efficiently
Event storytelling makes planning more intuitive by providing a creative framework. This structure simplifies the choices you have before you, ensuring every element lines up to your primary purpose. Measuring each decision against the story you’re trying to tell and deciding whether it contributes is a great way to simplify the process.
How to create a narrative arc.
Let’s start with the basics. Like any good story, event storytelling has a beginning, middle, and end. The arc of your story depends on your event’s purpose. This is where understanding your “why” comes in. What do you want attendees to get out of the experience?
Speaking of attendees, understanding your demographics will enable you to craft an event experience that speaks to their diverse interests. Using your event purpose and attendee data, you’ll construct a general “arc” for the day or days that make up your event.
Beginning
This is where you introduce the big idea (or ideas) that attendees will explore. Start strong to grab your attendee’s attention and provide context for the experience. For example, if your event focuses on AI technology, open with a review of current AI-related news while teasing the potential benefits of these new tools.
Middle (conflict)
This is where you pressure test the ideas, technology, strategies, etc. Introduce challenges that attendees can relate to, fostering a sense of tension and uncertainty that keeps people engaged. In a keynote, this is the moment when the speaker describes moments of doubt or setbacks. You can use this time to cultivate empathy in your audience, too.
End
By the end of your event, keynote, or product demonstration, your audience should understand how the critical idea(s) helped you overcome the challenges presented in the middle. If they can feel the impact of the fundamental concept, they’re more likely to remember and implement it.
The critical aspect of this narrative arc is that it’s applicable at every level of the event experience, from weeklong events to a single session. Don’t forget to conclude with a strong call to action. This element is unique to event storytelling and vital for taking the relationship beyond the event timeline.
Personalized storytelling.
Personal stories make a bigger impact because they engage our empathy. If attendees can empathize with your brand and speakers, they’re more likely to stay engaged and remember what they’ve learned after the event ends.
Your story concerns the relationship between your brand (or your client’s brand) and your audience. You’ll foster a lasting bond by emphasizing how you’ve worked together to fulfill each other’s goals. Personalized storytelling benefits the event itself but should also be utilized for event marketing to build hype for the experience.
Finding a way to center the personal stories of your attendees will encourage them to engage deeper with the experience. Social media walls, in-event competitions, and other strategies allow attendees to infuse their voices into the event narrative.
Speakers present an excellent opportunity to introduce personal elements into your event narrative. Speakers can share their personal history, successes, and relationships with the industry or brand. These personal narratives flow throughout the main storyline, supporting it with emotional details.
Personal storytelling at your event fosters empathetic connections, transforming technical information into an emotional experience that attendees can relate to.
Multimedia elements.
Enrich the storytelling experience using multimedia elements, including sound, lighting, and video. Correctly utilizing these elements transforms big ideas, helping attendees connect deeper with your story. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Event storytelling begins before the introductory keynote. The decor and lighting you choose set the stage for the kind of story you’re telling. Think of them as the genre style of your event. It immerses attendees in your world and provides regular cues about its values and goals.
A visual metaphor is a powerful tool for making technical or complex ideas easily understandable. Use photos, videos, and infographics to bring key concepts to life and elicit an emotional response from your audience. Visuals make the experience more exciting and entertaining, increasing engagement.
Music is a powerful tool for guiding an audience through the various levels of your event storytelling. Use music to set the mood, from inspired to thoughtful, or to transition attendees from one session to the next. This tactic creates a sense of progression and flow within the event experience.
Different mediums offer different ways to connect. Think of them as different languages. Not all attendees respond to or understand the same language. By using a dynamic array of media options—print, audio, visual, and even virtual—you’ll increase your chances of connecting with the most attendees possible.
Make it interactive.
Events offer the most immersive storytelling experiences possible. Include interactive elements throughout the event experience to encourage attendees to interact directly with the products, strategies, and big ideas you want them to embrace.
Scavenger hunts, role-playing demonstrations, competitions, trivia games, and other immersive activities allow attendees to live the story you’re telling. Encourage attendees to participate actively in the experience to make it more personal and impactful.
Virtual and augmented reality technologies provide exciting opportunities for attendees to engage directly with big concepts. Imagine taking a virtual tour of an eco-friendly construction project or meeting for a virtual networking session.
Immersive storytelling is the most efficient method for giving attendees a personal experience that they’ll remember long after the event ends.
Great storytelling is unforgettable.
Event storytelling is the key to unlocking your planning potential. This approach considers the event experience as an emotional experience, breaking up big ideas into digestible chunks and then optimizing them with personalization, media elements, and interactive moments.
Event storytelling increases engagement, strengthens audience connections, and leaves a more lasting impact. It also simplifies the event planning process by reducing the choices you have before you. Not every option will work for the story you’re telling, making the choices you embrace so valuable.
Great events, just like great storytelling, are unforgettable!
