If you host or exhibit at events, you know all too well that engaging an audience can be difficult. As new technologies become available to consumers, it’s become more difficult to engage audiences due to short attention spans, yet paradoxically easier to get their attention through the prevalent use of technology in almost every aspect of their lives.
While implementing new technology can be expensive, there multiple are ways to harness the power of a charging station to engage as many of your audience members as possible- without breaking the bank. Here are just a few ways a charging station can boost audience engagement at your next event.
Incorporate Videos
If you’re an exhibitor at a trade show looking to attract attendees to your booth, consider investing in a charging station with an HD display (such as our Flex units or charging lockers). Having a video display incorporated into a custom branded charging station will grab attendees’ attention from afar (like moths to a flame) and help keep them engaged while they’re at your booth.
Utilize Photos
If you’ve ever seen someone walk into a wall or risk falling over while taking a selfie, you’ve witnessed just how obsessed people can be with photos (I mean really, if an event isn’t photographed, did it even happen?). Encourage attendees to take photos either at your booth or in specific locations within your event venue. They should also be encouraged to share photos with people outside of the event via social media. This can be done by creating an event hashtag and promoting its use (pro-tip: this can easily be done by incorporating your hashtag into your charging station’s custom wrap of HD display). With our units, you can also easily update the content displayed on your HD display, so it’s easy to pull in images that are being taken on-site by your attendees as they’re being posted!
Share, Don’t Promote
Going along with the point above, you should encourage your attendees and audience members to share their experiences on social media. This can be done through event hashtags or by encouraging attendees to tag your organization’s profile on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Still, just throwing a hashtag out into the universe may not do much for engagement. When posting content before and during your event, pose questions to your audience so they’re invited to share their thoughts and experiences with and others. You can also utilize flashy displays like Twitter walls that show all posts tagged with your event hashtag for a greater level of engagement. Consider using a Twitter wall in combination with your charging station to help pull in attendees- they’ll have a place to tweet and charge up while interacting with your brand and getting a bit of immediate recognition as their name appears on screen.
Live Polls
Events aren’t all about selling and marketing, but also about gathering insights about your attendees. Depending on your business model or product, you may want to capture things such as preferences, satisfaction levels, ways to improve, etc. Conducting live polls through a polling app or through social media can help them engage with your brand because they feel welcome to contribute and participate without being put on the spot. You can display the steps for accessing and taking the poll directly on your charging unit, or encourage attendees to take the poll using a separate device while their phone is charging.
FUN FACT: InCharged also offers PeopleCounter, an optional service that captures real-time demographic information about attendees that interact with your charging station. We’ll capture information such as age, gender, race, satisfaction, etc. and send you a report after your event has ended with your attendee data.
Technology is being used more and more at events to increase engagement and sell more products. While some of the higher end technologies such as RFID and virtual reality can come at a shockingly high price and can only be used for their express purposes, some investments can be utilized in more than one way to increase your ROI. A charging station is a great example of this- the sky is the limit when it comes to engagement and branding opportunities and, as one of the highest coveted commodities at an event, attendees will almost always be seeking a way to charge their phone!
