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Tips & Trends

Successful live captioning isn’t only about supporting remote attendees. Done well, they can be an accessibility boon for in-person attendees who are hard of hearing, whose first language is not the language of the presenter, and who are easily distracted.
In other words, it helps <a target="_blank" href="https://www.td.org/atd-blog/failure-to-focus-distractions-are-killing-our-ability-to-focus-at-work-and-at-home">most of us</a>.
“Live captioning boosts accessibility and inclusivity, allowing meeting planners to ensure a seamless experience for all attendees, regardless of their hearing abilities,” says Ryan Sheehan, digital solutions product manager at Encore, an event experience organization that includes live captioning among its services.
Consider it a variant of the <a target="_blank" href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect">“curb cut effect,”</a> or the idea that supporting one group supports everyone. If live captioning makes your meetings more accessible for some, it benefits everyone.
Tech companies such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.xander.tech/xanderglasses">XanderGlasses</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://xrai.glass/">XRAI Glass</a> are developing live captioning wearables that could someday shift the entire captioning landscape. Until then, though, following <a target="_blank" href="https://dcmp.org/learn/599-captioning-key---elements-of-quality-captioning">the protocols set forth by DCMP</a>, the Described and Captioned Media Program, can go some way toward ensuring you’re making your event accessible. Take it a step further by learning about these five live captioning mistakes—and how to avoid them.

<h3>Live Captioning Pitfall #1: Letting the Visuals Speak for Themselves</h3>
Accessibility isn’t the only reason to use live captioning, but it’s a big one. Yet if presenters rely on visuals to “speak for themselves,” the presentation becomes less accessible overall.
Instead, invite presenters to follow <a target="_blank" href="https://dcmp.org/learn/617-description-key---how-to-describe">DCMP’s guidelines for describing visual features</a> within a presentation. Clear, contextualized, intent-oriented descriptions of onscreen content support accessibility, and it also clears room for attendees without accessibility needs to take in visual content without competing with spoken content.

<h3>Live Captioning Pitfall #2: Skimping on Context</h3>
This tip isn’t solely about live captioning, but rather about how our brains retain information—which live captioning supports. Beginning sessions with a brief anchor text, even a scripted one, helps root the attendee in what they’re about to take in. By priming the brain to help attendees understand the overview of what’s to come, they’re more likely to be able to draw meaning from the session instead of being overwhelmed by both reading and listening to a presentation.

<h3>Live Captioning Pitfall #3: Relying on the Machines</h3>
Automatic speech recognition (ASR) programs have come a long way in recent years. But the goal of captioning is errorless consistency—something that ASR programs haven’t yet mastered.
Adding a professional captioner to the equation costs more, but for big-ticket or high-profile sessions or keynotes, the investment in quality pays off.
“While both solutions offer captioning, their costs and accuracy vary greatly,” Sheenan says. “Each solution has specific scenarios where it is more applicable than the other.” He suggests that planners work with professional captioners for critical events or those with legal implications, while ASR programs may be more efficient for routine meetings or webinars.
Professionals often work in tandem with ASR technology to ensure real-time, error-free captioning (including when the human captioner has to, say, sneeze). Their superior skill in distinguishing between voices, transmitting the right word thanks to context cues, and making captions more readable make for a more accessible experience that can last well after the event.
Also note that ASR programs do not yet meet the standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act. As Samantha Evans, certification manager at the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, <a target="_blank" href="https://associationsnow.com/article/accessibility-is-an-opportunity-not-an-obstacle/">told Associations Now in 2022</a>, “They’re a great starting point, but should not be the goal. You wouldn’t want to get your prescription instructions read to you with captions that were right maybe 80% of the time.”

<h3>Live Captioning Pitfall #4: Letting Captions Overtake Visuals</h3>
As noted above, visuals add key context to a presentation. If an in-room (or remote) screen has live captioning plastered over those visuals, it diminishes the value of both.
“Graphical content should leave 20% of screen real estate for the display of any onscreen captioning if applicable,” Sheehan says.
Work with your presenters ahead of time to understand when they’ll be using visuals that would be marred by captioning, and work with an in-room technician to change the area where the visuals display during those periods, or to temporarily adjust the size of the visuals.

<h3>Live Captioning Pitfall #5: Ignoring Specialized Vocabulary</h3>
Even skilled professional captioners will produce more reliable transcriptions if they know what to expect. Giving captioners or advanced ASR programs a word list before the session increases the chances that they’ll be able to successfully distinguish between terms that may be bandied about in a session but that aren’t a part of the vernacular.
Technical or specialized terms are the clearest example—some ASR programs wouldn’t be able to handle, say, a gathering of otorhinolaryngologists. But a word list can also help distinguish between similar-sounding words that may be used in a session. A psychology conference with a presentation about the relationship between interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence, for example, would benefit from a word list containing both interpersonal and intrapersonal.
Sheehan also suggests breaking down long paragraphs into shorter phrases, omitting non-essential details, and simplifying complex sentences. He also recommends ensuring that presenters are aware of the importance of clear pronunciation and advising them to pause when introducing new terms.
Whatever option you choose for live captioning, know that you’re fulfilling attendee expectations. When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/tiktok-will-automatically-enable-captions-on-every-video-uploaded/">TikTok added automatic captioning</a> to its videos in 2023, it laid down a clear line: People want information shared in ways that will help them understand what they’re experiencing—and as a meeting planner, that’s what you want too.

Global

Everyone Wins With Live Captioning. Learn How to Do It Right.

Avoid These Five Live Captioning Pitfalls

According to <a target="_blank" href="https://ovationdmc.com/__trashed/">research from Ovation Global DMC</a>, chances are you haven’t jumped into artificial intelligence headfirst—yet. Curious about AI’s potential for creating better events, meeting planners are taking tentative steps into AI: 21% say they’ve tried a few tools, and 36% say they’re considering doing so.
Planners report that a lack of understanding and fear of losing the human touch are stopping them from embracing AI. But the heart of the meetings and hospitality industry is built upon that human touch, indicating that AI’s place will be to supplement, not replace, human talent.
“We are in the hospitality industry,” Anthony Capuano, president and CEO of Marriott International, said in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yxC8GVTMR4">an interview with CNBC-TV18</a>. “Of course technology will continue to drive efficiency in the operation of our hotels, but my hope and my expectation is that what technology will also do is create capacity for our associates so that they have more capacity to really engage in a personal way with our guests.”
For proof, look at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pcma.org/humans-versus-ai-event-challenge/">a recent AI-versus-human competition</a>, which showed that human meeting planners retain a strong edge against the machine. As event-specific AI platforms such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sparkit.ai/">Spark</a> continue to make headway in the industry, human event planners may find that AI cooperation, not competition, will give the best results.
To start bolstering your #teamhuman capabilities with AI, here are three simple ways to deploy this technology.

<h3>Before the Meeting: Marketing</h3>
Creating personas for attendees can drive registrations. It can also be difficult to get it right: Your own preconceived notions about the attendee group may steer you toward or away from certain personas, and even the most savvy marketer might struggle with nailing the right voice to speak to each type of attendee.
When Margaret Launzel-Pennes was developing personas for an event, she used job descriptions as inputs for ChatGPT, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.meetingsnet.com/event-tech-virtual-meetings/ai-power-user-case-study-marketing">she told MeetingsNet</a>. From there, the tool came up with four personas that Launzel-Pennes used to create appropriate marketing content through email and social campaigns—again, with the help of ChatGPT. She then worked with an AI video creation platform to make videos that highlighted aspects of the event that would speak to each persona.
Using AI to augment your approach to understanding your attendees can save you labor. PCMA’s Event Leadership Institute offers <a target="_blank" href="https://eventleadershipinstitute.com/course/social-listening-ai-deep-personalization/">a course on using AI to go further with social listening</a>, for example—something you’re probably already doing, but that takes considerable time to do as thoroughly as AI can do in a snap.

<h3>During the Meeting: Live Summarization</h3>
You may already be familiar with live captioning and auto-transcription, which aren’t yet as accurate as human transcription services but are useful for instant transcription. Live summarization takes it a step further on the intelligence front by using what has been transcribed to craft a meeting narrative, much as a professional note-taker would.
Providing delegates with summarizations for all sessions can help them catch up on content they had to miss in order to attend higher-priority sessions. It can also give them a preview of what to expect before they decide to devote time to watching a recording of the full session, if you’ve made one available.
You can benefit too: If you host summarizations on the event website, you can track which summarizations are most frequently visited. This can give you insight into future planning, illuminating which sessions were popular after the fact versus which sessions were most highly attended in person. (If that sounds daunting, remember that you can lean on ChatGPT to help you out here.)

<h3>After the Meeting: Data Analytics</h3>
Data can reveal undercurrents of your event that aren’t visible just by looking at attendance numbers. But sorting through that data can be time-consuming—except for the robots.
That’s what Heather Munnell found when she shared Excel files and event-app data with ChatGPT. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.meetingsnet.com/event-tech-virtual-meetings/ai-power-user-case-study-data-analysis">According to MeetingsNet</a>, the platform helped her spot unexpected trends, such as a high number of people in sales positions attending technology sessions.
Once AI has helped you see things about your event data that you hadn’t seen before, you can further refine participant personas for your next event and shape your agenda accordingly to avoid competing sessions.

<h3>Proceed With Zest—and Vigilance</h3>
The more you experiment with AI, the more you’ll come to realize its promise. But in doing so, take care to avoid two common pitfalls:
● Use smart inputs. You might have heard the saying “garbage in, garbage out.” Generative AI isn’t actually intelligent—it draws from a vast repository of information, but it needs concise yet thorough direction in order to be helpful. If your initial prompt doesn’t give you what you need, continue to refine your inputs. Spending time on developing the right prompts will still save you time in the long run.
● Always verify. AI can’t distinguish between what’s true and untrue. And in generating output, it might even make up facts or words. Remember that AI is a starting point, not the endpoint. Your events probably aren’t technically subject to President Biden’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/30/fact-sheet-president-biden-issues-executive-order-on-safe-secure-and-trustworthy-artificial-intelligence/?utm_campaign=NewsWatch%20Today&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsmi=280528244&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--535sFzrTslxTozeK689hXb04Sk1uaIC_uBnGpB-p3OO7qDqF66-YmuvQJQCsGQCD2sqGQJ5mfV6in2fnLDVO_-QzEkiw3ujVSXNspWPXv5mE5c8g&amp;utm_content=280528097&amp;utm_source=hs_email">executive order on ethical AI</a>, but it’s a useful standard-bearer to guide your events.
If you’re interested in learning more as you start experimenting, check out the Event Leadership Institute’s <a target="_blank" href="https://eventleadershipinstitute.com/course/webinar-dissecting-the-chat-gpt-generative-ai-disruption-use-cases-concerns-threats-opportunities-for-event-profs-recorded-june-2-2023/">webinar on AI in the events industry</a>. Spoiler alert: It’s led by humans.

AI Has Big Implications. But It’s Smart to Start Small.

Three Ways for Beginners to Try Out AI

When meeting planners think about accessibility, their minds might reach for visible cues of venue accessibility: elevators, accessible bathrooms, Braille signage.
You’re right to invest time in researching your venue’s accessibility—but the fact is, venues have their own experts who are in charge of making sure they’re addressing people’s needs. But unless you make your meeting’s programming accessible, some of your attendees might be left out.
Here’s a starter guide on how to incorporate accessibility planning into your programming before, during, and after your event.

<h3>What to Consider Before the Event</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Review all materials for plain language. Clear, concise language helps everyone, not just attendees with language processing difficulties. Icons, illustrations, and simple language will help you distill your messaging and give attendees what they need without confusion. (You can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/">start here with the U.S. government’s guidelines on plain language communication</a>.)</li>
 <li>Determine what your attendees and presenters need. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.respectability.org/inclusive-philanthropy/executive-summary/">Only 30% of nonprofit executives say that their event registration forms ask about accessibility and accommodation needs.</a> You can help up that percentage with pre-event surveys on event registration forms. Offering specific options can help signal that your organization is investing in accessibility, but if you don’t yet have a starting point, try issuing a blanket accommodations statement in your pre-event materials asking people to notify you about alternative formats, interpreters, and other reasonable accommodations by a certain date. Make sure to give a specific way to make those requests (e.g., email address or phone number).</li>
 <li>Figure out what equipment you’ll need. Your audiovisual and tech teams can help advise you on the types of equipment you will need to accommodate your attendees. For event-specific technology such as floor plans and networking tools, evaluate potential vendors with accessibility in mind.</li>
 <li>Use your hybrid tools for in-person meetings. Hybrid and remote meetings gave planners a wealth of tools that can come to life as accessibility helpers. One example: live captioning, now easily available with automated tools. A simple A/V setup can enable live captioning to help people who are hard of hearing follow the day’s events.</li>
 <li>Establish your personnel needs. Are you hiring sign language interpreters? Give them access to relevant programming materials beforehand, particularly if the material is technical. Is there a sensory room or another space dedicated to making meetings accessible to all? You’ll need someone to make sure the space is maintained. Consider designating one staff member as the accessibility chief who can manage and direct accommodations.</li>
 <li>Include your presenters. This means two things: Consider your speakers’ accommodation needs, and make sure they are aware of any accommodations you’re expecting them to make in their presentations.</li>
</ul>

<h3>What to Consider During the Event</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Account for real-time feedback. You can’t please everyone, and sometimes when attendees’ needs conflict, you might not even be able to fully accommodate everyone. But you can listen to everyone, keeping in mind that they are the experts on their own experience.</li>
 <li>Continue your plain language quest. Signage and materials should be easily accessible to all attendees. That goes for “live” communication, too: Make sure there’s a “translator” in sessions who can repeat and synthesize audience questions in Q&amp;A formats in a way that all attendees can easily understand.</li>
 <li>Gather your supplies. Tech and signage are already a part of your setup, but consider adding an “accommodations” section to your checklist. For example, having noise-canceling headphones available for attendees to borrow can help prevent sensory overload, as can having rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs to help guests remove perfume they may not have recognized is overpowering for some.</li>
</ul>

<h3>What to Consider After the Event</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Make all materials available. It’s easier than ever to make recordings and digital materials available after the fact. And just as with most forms of accommodation, making these materials available helps everyone. If an attendee needs to listen to a session again, it doesn’t matter whether it’s because she’s hard of hearing or conducting research.</li>
 <li>Ask what you can do better. Include questions about accessibility in your post-event surveys. Remember that ease of comprehension can be even more important in surveys; the easier you make it for attendees to fill out the survey, the more likely you are to get the information you need.</li>
</ul>

Accessibility Doesn’t Stop at the Front Door. Here’s How to Make Meeting Content Accessible.

Is Your Programming as Accessible as Your Venue?

Celebrate

If you’re like <a target="_blank" href="https://globaldmcpartners.com/sites/default/files/media/files/GDPPulseSurvey2022Q4/2022_GDP%20Q4%20Pulse%20Survey%20Summary%20Report.pdf">45% of meeting planners</a>, you’re working with a flat budget from last year—or a smaller one—but are being asked to produce the same quality of event. One area you might be loath to touch is your audiovisual budget. With good reason: Poor sound or visual quality can make even the most brilliant programming feel dull.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t dig deep to find savings. Read on for three ways to make the most of your A/V budget.

<h3>Plan ahead.</h3>
Starting early is hardly a groundbreaking tip for professional meeting planners. But particularly for tech-shy meeting planners, it’s easy to keep your A/V needs vague until the last minute or to trust that if there’s sound and screens, it’s all good.
That leaves money on the table. When you account for your needs well in advance, you’re better able to <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/481/five-tips-for-better-communication-with-your-tech-team">communicate with your tech team</a>, which can then rightsize your equipment and staffing needs. Start by knowing your priorities so you’ll understand when you truly need top-of-the-line equipment and when any old speaker will do, helping you avoid the trap of panicking and splurging on high-end equipment where it’s not necessary. Plus, you’ll avoid stressing out your tech team with last-minute requests, which may make them more willing to work with you on figuring out how to get the best value for your budget.
<h3>Schedule your sessions wisely.</h3>
Beginning and ending the day with a plenary session makes a certain sort of sense—get attendees jazzed up for the day’s events, then bring them together to seal in all they’ve absorbed. Trouble is, that can be pricey.
“One of the biggest money-wasters is the general session sandwich,” says <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brandtkrueger.com/">Brandt Krueger</a>, a veteran production manager in the meetings and events industry. “You know, you get the 12 people for the crew to come in and do the general session first thing in the morning, and then they sit around all day because you’re doing breakouts, and then they have to come back at four o’clock for a one-hour closing general session. So now you’ve got a full 12-person crew on all day.”
Opening up the day’s end for other types of events not only releases your A/V crew early, it can also provide more breathing room for attendees. Small-group networking, off-sites, or even an early release can be a budget-saving, attendee-friendly option.
<h3>Know exactly what you’re getting.</h3>
The price tag is one thing; the value you’re getting is another. If you’re working with an independent A/V provider, they may offer services that you might be searching for elsewhere—or already paying your venue for—such as stage management and visual design. If you’re working with your venue’s A/V team, your payment may include things like Wi-Fi. But without examining your contract and asking questions, you could wind up double-paying or missing an opportunity to bundle services.

Rule #1 Goes Beyond A/V, Too.

Three Ways to Rescue Your A/V Budget

Maybe you have a full-fledged production team; maybe you’re just working with the general email address at an event management app (and little else). No matter the size and scope of your technology support, your event’s success will soar if you’re better able to communicate with the tech and production experts who help bring your event to life.
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.brandtkrueger.com/">Brandt Krueger</a>, a veteran production manager in the meetings and events industry—and a communication specialist in his own right, as tech correspondent for Smart Meetings and host of <a target="_blank" href="https://audio.eventtechpodcast.com/">Event Tech Podcast</a>—shares his top tips for planners who want to communicate more effectively with tech teams.

I always tell planners, ‘You can speak in your terms.'

1. Be Comfortable Asking Questions
Production teams don’t expect you to come in with their expert level of knowledge. But they do expect you to be able to communicate your needs, and asking questions is an integral part of that. It also helps ensure that you’re being understood correctly. Asking questions can help avoid misunderstandings down the road, and can help keep your budget on point too.
“If there’s a piece of gear on your bid and you don’t know what it is, you should absolutely ask about it,” Krueger says. “You can ask, ‘Is this something that we need?’” You don’t need to know every functionality of every piece of equipment on your production company’s bid. But you do need to know whether it’s necessary.
And if you’re getting resistance about your questions? “That’s a huge red flag to me,” Krueger says. “If they’re in any way cagey about it or come back at you with a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo, they might be trying to take advantage of you or something along those lines. They should be able to explain every single piece of equipment and why you’re paying for it in a way that makes sense. Same with software. And if they can’t, maybe they’re not the right fit.”
2. Have Confidence in Your Core Skills
Remember one of the principal traits of successful meeting planners (that’s you): versatility. You’ve had to learn about catering, hospitality, programming, communications, executive priorities, and more. If you take a little time and learn the bare-bone basics of how your gear works, that will be enough to communicate with your tech teams.
Unsure about that? Look back at how your skills came into play in the biggest shakeup the meetings industry has ever seen. “Going into the pandemic, we had all these seasoned planners who were great at in-person events, and for some reason they thought their skill set didn’t apply to remote events,” Krueger says. “And it did apply. You have 20 years of evaluating vendors, you’ve got your own sniff tests, and you can apply all of those skills to when you’re choosing a virtual platform or an online vendor. It took some getting over that hump for planners to remember, ‘OK, I do have these skills.’” The same principle applies to event tech. You know more than you think you do.

3. Know What Needs to Happen—and Let Your Team Get You There
You’re the expert in what needs to happen for your event to be a success. Your production team members are the experts in actually making it happen. Starting from your mutual points of expertise can lead to stronger collaboration and less confusion.
Krueger has seen planners cut-and-paste equipment lists from other shows and hand them over to their team, thinking that they’re supplying useful information. “I would rather have a planner approach any event technology company with what they’re trying to do than with a cut-and-paste gear list that might not be what they actually need,” he says. “Most A/V people would rather know more about the show and then figure out how to make it happen.”
For example, if you’re discussing audio needs for a panel event, your production team needs to hear from you how many people will be sharing the stage, not your stab-in-the-dark guess at how the stage needs to be wired.
Take the time to walk your production through the entire course of the event and consider your needs at each point to avoid last-minute realizations that create A/V or tech emergencies. “Are we going to have music? That’s one audio output,” Krueger says. “Are we going to have video playback? That’s another. The technical terms would be stepping through your inputs and outputs. But for the layperson, you’re stepping through the things that need to go onscreen and the things that need to make noise.” Defining these beforehand instead of realizing 10 minutes before the event starts that you’ll need entry music will help you create the ambiance you’re after.
 
4. Use Your Own Words
One specific callout of letting your tech team be the tech experts: If you don’t speak their language, don’t try to fake it.
“I always tell planners, ‘You can speak in your terms,’” Krueger says. You might think you’re being helpful by using the language of the person you’re talking with. But unless you can say with confidence what the term you’re using actually means, you might wind up causing more confusion than communication.
And as the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you’re communicating with a production team member remotely, take pictures or screenshots of what you’re looking at.
 
5. Share What You Know, When You Know It
Meeting planners are known for trying to make things as easy as possible on everyone else. Take care not to let that translate to holding back information that could help your production team better collaborate with you.
“Sometimes planners hold information too close to the vest—they’re like, ‘Well, it’s not set in stone, so I don’t want to give wrong information,’” Krueger says. “But we all know that things change between the RFP and the day of production. Don’t be afraid to give us what little information you have as early as possible, even if it’s possible that it’ll change.”
In fact, inviting your production team into your venue visits, or even the venue negotiation process, can help you anticipate your needs in areas that don’t appear to be technical at first. “Let us help you,” Krueger says. “Meeting planners are looking at the beautiful resort and the food and spas and amenities, so let us look at the power setup and the freight elevator. If you’ve got the most beautiful resort in the world but it takes you an hour to push from the loading dock to the ballroom, that’s something you’re going to need to know.”

You Don’t Need to Talk Tech to Talk With Tech Experts.

Five Tips for Better Communication With Your Tech Team

Gen Z is entering the workforce in droves — they now outnumber baby boomers in the workplace — and they’re bringing new expectations with them. This digital-native generation, born between 1997 and 2012, wants seamless technology, work-life balance, careers that provide a sense of purpose, and attention to diversity.
Though more than 17.5 million Gen Zers are now working full time —and likely planning to attend their first professional meeting or career development conference in the coming year—only 1 in 4 event planners are leaning into the innovation that this generation expects, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.freeman.com/resources/freeman-trends-report-q4-2024/">according to a Freeman trends report</a>.&nbsp;
Read on for four ways you can engage Gen Z professionals with thoughtful touches tailored to their needs and preferences.

<h2>1. Prioritize Digital Communication</h2>
As the first generation of digital natives, Gen Zers have grown up with phones, computers, and smart devices at their fingertips. Their tech-friendly upbringing heavily influences their professional expectations, too.
“Gen Z isn’t just comfortable with technology—they expect it,” says Madeline Miller, a Gen Z career and leadership coach. “They want constant communication and seamless transitions between their physical and digital lives.”
What to try: Communicate about your event early and often, including on social media, so attendees know exactly what to expect before they even get there. Make event hashtags easily accessible so guests can share their experiences with their networks. And consider creating an app that enables eventgoers to easily access schedules, connect with peers, register for workshops, and share feedback in real time.

<h2>2. Include Purpose-Driven Touches</h2>
Gen Zers want to find meaning in the work they do, and they expect the same from the brands and companies with which they affiliate. “They need to feel they are turning up to do something purposeful each day,” Miller says, “and they want their values to align with their work.”
What to try: Focus on sustainability. Print event communications on recycled paper—or, better yet, go completely paperless. Partner with a meeting and events provider that <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/#sustainability">prioritizes eco-friendly initiatives</a> and offers opportunities to offset carbon emissions from your event. “At the end of the day, they can feel good knowing the meeting they’re attending pays close attention to social responsibility and takes those things seriously,” Miller says.

<h2>3. Emphasize Diversity</h2>
Miller says that Gen Z is highly conscious of diversity. “They want to see that there are accommodations for people of different abilities and backgrounds,” she says. That means, in addition to being inclusive of all genders and races, events should be considerate of attendees who live with disabilities, neurodivergent guests, and people with food and dietary restrictions.
What to try: Create a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sensoryfriendly.net/how-to-create-a-sensory-friendly-event/">low-sensory zone</a> for neurodivergent guests or anyone who needs a break from the highly stimulating event environment. In a quiet space, offer comfortable seating, low lighting, and reduced noise. You can set up sensory activity zones so attendees can complete a puzzle, sculpt with clay, draw, or play with fidget toys as they unwind. Remind visitors that while everyone is welcome to use the space, it is not meant for loud conversations or phone calls.

<h2>4. Make Networking Approachable</h2>
Because they entered the workforce during or after the pandemic, many Gen Z professionals are unimpressed by 9-to-5 office work and dated networking expectations. “They find the traditional work structure very constraining,” Miller explains. “They are looking for work-life balance, and that applies to networking, too.”
What’s more, a large networking event can trigger anxiety, especially for first-time eventgoers and Gen Z attendees who may not have many peers with them. “If you’re at a cocktail party facing a big open room of strangers, it can feel like too much,” Miller says.
What to try: Offer thoughtful socialization opportunities. At larger events, try grouping guests by discipline, background, or interests so they have easy conversation topics with other guests. And to facilitate more intimate conversations, allow guests to book short one-on-one sessions with other guests, speakers, or industry experts during a coffee hour. “The barrier to entry is really low, and it can really make it less intimidating to walk up to a stranger and introduce yourself,” Miller says.

Discover more ways to offer meaningful experiences at your next event with our <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/704/designing-for-engagement">Designing for Engagement Toolkit</a>.&nbsp;

From Purpose-Driven Mixers to Paper-Free Programming, Here’s What Really Resonates.

4 Ways to Engage Gen Z Professionals at Your Next Event

As a planner, you probably recognize that personalizing your events can deepen engagement, but accommodating a wide variety of attendee needs takes time. Tech can help you with this monumental task—if you know how to use it right.
Custom mobile event apps, artificial intelligence for itinerary assistance, and on-site engagement tools might be familiar technology to you, but they include features that you may not be using to the fullest extent to personalize experiences for attendees. Here’s a look at the possibilities.

<h2>1. Custom Mobile Event Apps</h2>
Attendees are going to have their smartphones with them during events for quick access to everything they need. Mobile apps, a longtime staple of planners, are one way to provide a personalized journey.
You know that event apps show attendees the schedule and can give them the ability to personalize their agenda. Taking it a step further, when users complete their profile and set up notification preferences, it generates valuable data to help you tailor your communications to them, from welcome messages to targeted event reminders and updates.
As you research app developers—including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cvent.com/en/event-marketing-management/mobile-event-apps">Cvent</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nunify.com/event-app">Nunify</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://swoogo.events/mobile/">Swoogo</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://whova.com/whova-event-app/">Whova</a>—and explore their suite of features, make sure you keep attendee personalization top of mind. Do you want to communicate to attendees or have them chat with each other? What about an interactive map for easier navigation to exhibit floors and meeting rooms? Or <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/561/survey-says-three-ways-to-add-polling-to-the-program">polls</a>, Q&amp;A chats, and surveys to boost engagement? Maybe a virtual help desk so people can get their questions answered?
Apps can be branded to include your event name and match your theme (called white-label apps), or they can carry the provider’s branding and direct people to select your event from a list inside the app (referred to as container apps). Branded apps usually cost more but offer a richer, more personalized experience for your event that attendees will appreciate.

<h2>2. Artificial Intelligence for Itinerary Assistance</h2>
Acting as a tireless and talented assistant, AI systems such as ChatGPT can help you develop itineraries—leveraging huge amounts of data and churning out actionable insights—so you are free to be more strategic in your work.
In the early stages of planning, AI tools can be useful in brainstorming. Ask AI to generate options for destinations or themes for your event, and you’ll soon have plenty of information to react to and refine. By adding past attendee data to the search, you’ll get results that are grounded in what people are looking for.
When it comes to content, for example, AI can analyze registration data and past event behaviors, so you’re able to cater to your audience’s interests. For instance, AI might identify a large segment that is interested in <a target="_blank" href="https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/417/innovative-wellness-strategies-spark-today-s-most-successful-events">wellness</a>, and you can add sessions around those topics.
At an individual level, platforms such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.glueup.com/features/ai-copilot">Glue Up</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://splashthat.com">Splash</a> use AI algorithms to review people’s profiles and past data and personalize agendas that ensure everyone gets the most relevant content. AI could also recommend that someone attend a one-on-one meeting or a small group session with others who share similar interests.

<h2>3. On-Site Engagement Tools</h2>
Event planners can use various technologies to enhance on-site engagement and create a more personalized experience for attendees.
Mobile apps, mentioned earlier, can get the job done. Poring through attendee data, these platforms offer individualized schedules, session recommendations, targeted content, and personalized navigation.
Using badges or wristbands with radio-frequency identification (RFID) also can help to seamlessly personalize the attendee experience. For example, people can quickly register and check into sessions, and when they do, dynamic displays in the area can show them personalized messages. Also, when their movements are tracked with RFID, they can receive personalized recommendations, such as related sessions or other people they can meet who are nearby.
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.marriottbonvoyevents.com/news-and-highlights/article/421/push-play-on-your-next-meeting-with-games">Gamification</a> elements such as scavenger hunts, point systems, or leaderboards can be personalized based on attendee interests, encouraging participation and interaction as well.
Virtual reality (VR) technology offers many possibilities for customization and interaction that lead to memorable attendee experiences. Whether through personalized tours, virtual training, immersive storytelling, or team-building exercises, VR can transform the way attendees engage with events.

<h2>Tech Solutions for You</h2>
Technology in and of itself is not personal, but solutions such as mobile event apps, AI-powered itinerary assistance, and on-site engagement innovations are effective tools to have within reach. When used optimally in the events landscape, tech can help you create tailored attendee experiences that resonate on an individual level, driving deeper engagement—and lasting impressions.

Drive Engagement by Leveraging These Technology Tools.

Three Ways Tech Helps Personalize Events

Audience participation is one of the most tech-forward meeting developments today, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.iacconline.org/iacc-meeting-room-of-the-future">research from IACC</a>. In-session polling offers a particular benefit to presenters and planners: By giving attendees a real-time, active presence in programming, in-session polling can drive engagement and focus.
But there’s a difference between throwing a single question on the screen as a gimmick and truly leveraging the possibilities of live polling technology. Here are three tips for deploying polls in sessions, for you to use directly or to pass on to presenters.

<h2>Power Poll Tactic #1: Choose Your Own Adventure</h2>
Let the poll dictate the direction of a session by allowing attendees to choose at the start what they’d like to learn about. Give two options—or more if presenters are OK with it—and kick it off with the question to the audience.
This requires presenters or panelists to be on board with the plan, but the possibilities for an energetic, spontaneous session may be worth it to the right team. Written agendas should communicate the “choose your own adventure” aspect to attendees, which both builds anticipation for the structure of the session and sets expectations that attendees should be prepared to go with the flow.
This style of engagement works particularly well with panelists who are dynamic and have presented together before, or who otherwise have a strong rapport.

<h2>Power Poll Tactic #2: Repeat Yourself</h2>
Most sessions are meant to change or open attendees’ perspectives in some way, whether that’s through education, persuasion, or promotion. You can get real-time insight into a session’s effectiveness by posing the same question at the beginning and end of a session to gauge whether attendees have changed their mind in any way.
Launch a session by asking a question that’s central to the presentation’s message. Aim for a question that’s slightly provocative to generate intrigue, or simply ask a matter-of-fact question that leans into the possibility of someone changing their mind in-session, such as, “Do you believe that [topic] has the potential to significantly better our industry?”
Yes/no or multiple-choice questions can have a dramatic payoff, but they run the risk of indicating that the presenter has failed to change anyone’s perspective. Depending on the session, eliciting open-ended responses such as “What word comes to your mind when you think about [topic]?” can be effective. Some polling tools have word cloud generators built in; using these to do a before-and-after word cloud can show how an audience has evolved during the session.

Power Poll Tactic #3: Play With Contrast
Solemn topics may call for solemn poll questions to avoid seeming flippant. But a gently amusing question can also serve as an icebreaker—not to get attendees to mingle with each other, but to get attendees to engage more deeply with a topic. In fact, it can help the audience weather any stresses that might arise as a result of a sensitive topic: A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8012602/">2021 study</a> showed that humor lessened levels of the stress hormone cortisol when study participants were faced with a stressful task.
Ideally, a humorous poll question adds both levity and meaning. But if that bar is too high, a playful question with only tangential relevance to the session can still relax attendees. A session on developments for auto safety might, for example, begin by asking a trivia question about a well-known road-trip movie; a presentation about cybersecurity might begin by asking people to vote on what they think is the most commonly used password (<a target="_blank" href="https://nordpass.com/most-common-passwords-list/">it’s 123456</a>, for the record).
Asking questions during a session is more than an engagement gimmick. It can give presenters valuable information that they’ll carry into their future research, help anchor the session, and create a unified experience. And if your presenters are still having trouble getting on board, remind them that <a target="_blank" href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-18566-001">asking questions makes people appear more likable</a>. Who doesn’t want that?&nbsp;

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