At your last event, did you maximise your opportunity to grow event engagement? Did you have the most engaging stand? Who attracted the most buzz?
Was it the company who had a stand enticing passers-by with a computer game, clever app, or freebie give-away to their delegates?
Maybe – but what if you could be doing so much more to authentically connect with your delegates…….?
By incorporating a charity or CSR challenge into your stand, you can add authenticity AND purpose to your event.
This will support you to authentically and easily grow event engagement at your next expo, through providing more value from the experience for both you and your attendees.
Consequently you will be able to create a common legacy upon which to build a lasting relationship for you both.
Pause for a moment and think – in a world where consumers are more and more conscious of their footprint on Planet Earth (and rightly so),
do you want to be the company who are handing out free promotional bits of plastic?
Or
do you want to be the company, using that opportunity to engage your footfall through genuine connection, fun and purposeful activities. Resulting in a direct and positive impact on local communities and charity?
4 Key Advantages of Using CSR to grow your Event Engagement
1. As a visual tool to cut through event clutter
Using an eye-catching CSR activity is a fantastic way to cut through the visual clutter at a large event.
We recently worked with our client VMWare at several of the AWS Summit events. These are huge IT software events, so the sight of 20+ skateboards hanging up, waiting to be painted for charity, really had impact. As did the 20 bikes we took to a previous AWS Summit event, all waiting to be built for local charities.
As a consequence of this visual disruption, the CSR activity did all of the hard work to grow event engagement. All in a truly engaging, meaningful and authentic way!
What did the delegates think?
“the skateboards caught my eye, but also there was something creative going on, that you wouldn’t normally expect at an IT conference. There was a real buzz about the stand. Once I found out it was for kids from less privileged backgrounds who would benefit, I was in!”
James Carnie, Mobilise Cloud, AWS Summit, London
We’ve attended 3 AWS Summit Expo’s now, with our partner VMWare, bringing along both our Charity Bike Build and our Skateboarding OnBoard challenge to their stand. Visitors to the stand got to help us assemble bikes for charity and to artwork and build skateboards for charity.
The result is that the events were visually appealing, stopping people in their tracks, leading to questions being asked and conversations starting. The power of CSR to start a conversation is why it is so valuable as an event tool. In fact, one of our clients has stated that they grew their engagement levels by 50%, by incorporating the CSR activity to their stand. That’s staggering.
We even took our OnBoard challenge to Stockholm earlier this year, as well as Barcelona with Cisco last year! We are busy planning our next expo with them right now. The skateboards built at the Barcelona Expo, are being well loved and used by charities in the Barcelona area.
The impact on engagement, of your CSR challenge doesn’t stop with your event. It’s such a perfect message for you to communicate across social media, giving a valuable message to share during the event to encourage more attendees to visit you. It’s also a wonderful and authentic excuse to carry on talking after the event.
To maximise your event engagement through CSR, please download our free “CSR Event Engagement Guide” here:
2. As a proven tool to Grow Event Engagement
According to an article in Sustainable Brands;
80% of consumers will tell their friends and family about a company’s CSR efforts. Thus supporting the idea that your CSR activity will drive referrals both at the event and beyond. Your CSR challenge is certainly a talking point and something that will be remembered.
The article goes on to say that where CSR practice is clear, 93% of consumers will have a positive image of a company and 90% are more likely to trust a company. It also states that 88% will be more loyal (stick with that company). And 84% will consider CSR when deciding which companies to spend their time and money with.
The article also confirms how powerful CSR is in driving brand switching. 90% of consumers switched or opted for a company with strong CSR policies and goals. From this we can see that CSR is a compelling and powerful tool for engagement. CSR really is (not only an incredibly important thing to do), but also offers clear leverage over a busy competitive playing field. And what’s more, you can easily incorporate it into your plans.
By choosing to add a CSR activity or challenge to your stand, you are giving delegates a purpose and a reason to stop by, without being ‘sold to’. You delegates will feel that their time is being valued and that they’re giving value with their time.
“Cutting through the event noise with authenticity and purpose, is one of the most powerful tools you could use”
3. For Authenticity
A CSR activity really does provide you with the opportunity to add authenticity at your event/stand, over and above any promotional gimmicks. By creating a stand-out purpose over and above the competition, you are creating the opportunity to network, engage and bond with your delegates over a ‘higher purpose’.
You will create genuine opportunities for you to make human connections. From which, you can build mutually beneficial working relationships. It’s stops being all about “me, me,me” and creates a collaborative relationship from the offset.
3. For Impact and Legacy
Think about it. At the end of your delegates’ very busy day, which part of the event do you think they will remember most? And not only remember – but remember positively and talk to other people about? You can bet it will be the time spent adding true value with you. It certainly aids with recall and connection, right?
Not only will you CSR activity be creating a legacy that is amazing for the charity you’re working with. It also creates an ongoing relationship and reason to communicate with your delegates.
The opportunities for you to continue talking are plentiful. These include sharing pictures of the bikes and skateboards in use, feedback, messages of thanks and updates from the charity who received your equipment. You get to create a genuine reason and purpose to maintain and build your communications and relationship with your contacts.
What next?
Have we piqued your interest? If, so we would love to support you to incorporate a CSR activity into your next event stand.
There are so many opportunities to incorporate something of value to your community whilst creatively engaging your delegates. Did you know that our Cisco display of Skateboards, when all art-worked, built and displayed, spelt out the word ‘Imagine’, which was Cisco’s theme for the event. What a fantastic, eye catching and creative way for you to have even more impact and get your message across to your audience. It looks pretty awesome on your social media afterwards too!
To find out more about incorporating a CSR challenge into your next event, please contact us at hello@o3e.co.uk or call us on 033 01137170
