GVSCrowd Engagement Activities & Games – How to Engage a Crowd at an Event
On the lookout for ways to keep a crowd captivated and enthralled? Look no further!
Keeping an audience engaged for the entirety of an event – no matter how big or small – is no mean feat. However, here at Global Vending Solutions, we like to think of ourselves as experts in the field of crowd engagement. For years we’ve been helping small start-ups as well as international giants engage crowds in an exciting and memorable way, taking brand awareness to the next level.
If your hosting an event, this guide is sure to provide you with some ideas and strategies as to how you can effectively engage attendees.
Create an Event Hashtag
Creating a unique Twitter and Instagram hashtag prior to the event is a great thing to do.
Encourage everyone to use the hashtag when they post about your event so that all tweets and images are in one space for everyone to see. Live hashtag feeds let your audience become part of the online conversation, enabling them to ask questions, react to statements, share their experience, respond to questions you ask and much more.
What’s more, everyone who uses the hashtag suddenly exposes your event to all of their followers. They then become aware of your event and start checking out your brand, thus increasing brand awareness.
We recommend including this dedicated hashtag on any promotional materials (flyers, posters, tickets, wristbands etc.) so that attendees are constantly reminded of it.
Organise a Giveaway
Running a giveaway is the ultimate way of gauging the interest of your crowd. Everyone loves the chance of winning and there’s nothing more joyful than delivering the good news to your winners.
Having the prize be one of your products will fuel excitement and get people talking about your brand. To enter perhaps people have to share your social media post – more people will be inclined to enter because it’s free, but it also means you event is exposed to an even larger audience.
Run Games & Competitions
Introducing gamification to your event is another effective method of boosting audience engagement.
For example, you could organise a scavenger hunt whereby clues are spread out across various sections of your event, therefore encouraging people to visit the less-visited areas. Or you could organise a series of games like Twister or tug of war throughout the event, handing out prizes such as free drinks tokens to the winners. Most people have a competitive streak in them so introducing an element of competition to the event can help to create a buzz and is likely to result in more visitors wanting to enter.
Keep Social Media Channels Active
We’ve already discussed creating a hashtag, but this isn’t where your social media effort should stop. Keep everyone in the loop by regularly posting and updating your social media accounts (using the event hashtag of course!) throughout the entirety of the event.
Why not broadcast live from the event? Live videos directly from your event allows viewers near and far access to an experience that they may have otherwise missed out on. Alternatively, if you’re hosting an event with speakers, tweet their key quotes or highlight exclusive interviews. You could also share photos and videos that give people a look backstage or behind-the-scenes.
Interactive Staff
If you have large crowds but minimal space, one of our favourite ideas is to have interactive wait staff. No one likes queueing, so rather than having just the one bar or kiosk, equip your staff so that they can head directly into the crowds and serve food and drink.
Comfortable and stylish, thirst packs are perfect for delivering cold and hot beverages to attendees. The 11.3 litre keg is insulated to maintain optimum temperature, allowing you to dispense 21 pints of product, whether this be coffee, soft drinks or beer.
Equally, usherette trays provide the one-stop-shop for hot and cold food vending. Holding up to 15kg of stock, attendees will no longer have to join a queue to be served, instead your staff can bring the food to them.
If you’re launching a new product, you may even consider handing out free samples to encourage people to try before they buy.
Crowd Engagement with Global Vending Solutions
If you’re interested in utilising mobile vending solutions like thirst packs and usherette trays at your next event, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of the Global Vending Solutions team today. We specialise in helping brands to engage crowds and provide the ultimate event experience to attendees. We offer a wide range of mobile vending and sampling solutions, so whatever your requirements, we’ll have a solution for you.
