Whether you are hosting a new employee orientation, a compliance seminar, or yearly continuing education course, engagement is a persistent challenge. Even the most seasoned event planners still find themselves on the endless quest for better engagement strategies. Here’s a few tips to ensure everyone walks away with a rich and memorable experience.
It Starts with Registration
Set the tone for your next training or meeting with a simple to use online form and registration system. Utilize the registration processes to identify points of interest that would be relevant to your content. If your training event has many facets including: course levels, varying schedules, and credit hours, find a platform that is intuitive to your needs. Google forms and spreadsheets may do the trick for simple sign ups. However, the lack of depth and functionality of using these methods will end up costing you more time in the long run and take away from the goal of providing a rich and informative training session.
Use a Meeting App
Event apps are no longer just reserved for recreational events and large tradeshows. The technology has evolved over time, and savvy professionals are finding more opportunity in connecting their teams across the globe using apps. Using an event app that allows you to share session materials, instructor bios, and event logistics is a great way to keep all participants connected. In addition to sharing important logistical information, they are also great for fostering engagement. With in-app communications, social feed, and meeting request features, your team members can experience added interaction and networking. Find an event app that is turnkey and can easily meet your meetings needs whether it’s a 20-person class or multi-day 500-person retreat.
Push for Feedback
Using push notifications to prompt attendees for feedback is a great way to engage your attendees where it counts, their smartphone. Also, setting aside time to ask for feedback towards the end of a session is a great way to make team members feel they are part of the training, and provides the real-time feedback that a follow-up survey can’t capture. Using an app with push notifications can encourage groups to respond together, fostering a better team experience and can encourage participants who may not otherwise have submitted their feedback.
Always be Tracking
For many companies, training is a way to ensure their workforce has the necessary and, in many cases, mandated skills and product knowledge to be successful. Typically, this comes in the form of continuing education credits. Tracking employees to ensure they attended these courses can be a challenge in itself. Depending on what field you work in, the old paper sign-in-sheet can be a compliance nightmare. Find a technology provider that allows you to track attendees as they enter sessions. By having a digital record that you can view real-time course attendance. A seamless tracking process will give you less headaches to worry about during certificate time and will make it easier on keeping your team members engaged.
Keep it Going
Employee training should never end when the last sessions close. Professional development is an ongoing process and training should mirror that. For the organizer, it’s important to have a place that stores important event data, whether it’s session tracking, feedback, or overall attendance. For attendees it’s important to have place to reference previous course material and instructor info. Using an all-in-one event platform provides all you need to ensure an engaging training experience that lasts after the meeting closes.