Interacting with your social event guests can be a fun challenge. It pushes you to think outside the box in order to keep your attendees engaged. There are many ways to engage your guests spanning from live music to local artists and even immersive experiences.
Below are 7 ways you can engage your guests at your next social event.
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Include your local community
Including your local community in your social event is a great way to bring everybody together. Creating positive memories with your community will make your neighbourhood enjoyable to live in! It’s important to make an effort with your community as you can create a much more successful event with all hands on deck to help plan and execute.
A way you can involve your local community is by hosting a craft fair. A free (or ticketed) craft fair will give an outlet to the members of your community to get creative and work together!
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Showcase a local artist
Having art displayed around your event venue can be great for engaging your social event guests. Everyone loves to appreciate art, especially when it’s created by a local artist!
You can set up an exhibition area specifically so guests can spend time looking at the artwork. This can be great for engaging with guests but also for your guests to engage with each other. A quiet corner will allow guests to discuss the art in front of them, creating conversation and bringing people together.
There are many ways to find local artists for your event. You can:
- Search Facebook
- Go to exhibitions
- Look in your local newspaper
In case you are still stuck, we’ve compiled a list of ways to find a local artist for your social events.
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Hire a speaker
Depending on the type of social event you are hosting, getting a speaker to share some words is a great technique for engaging your attendees.
If your live event is for educational purposes, choosing an expert in their field to talk about your chosen subject will be the best course of action.
After the speech, you can open the floor to questions to start discussion or debate. You can also stream the live event so the speaker can reach a wider audience. Using a streaming platform will also allow you to record your live event for later use.
If you don’t have the budget for a speaker or wish to make your own speech, we have created a guide to help you!
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Host interactive activities
Hosting an interactive activity will engage your guests as they can focus their energy on the activity you’ve planned. Interactive event ideas include:
- Quizzes
- Bingo
- Scavenger hunt
Pub style trivia quizzes are a great way to engage your guests as you can get them to work together in a team. People can share ideas and knowledge to win prizes. These prizes can even be donated from local businesses to keep the support strong with the local community.
The team spirit and friendly competition will lighten the mood for your social event, keeping it happy, positive and engaging.
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Create immersive experiences
To keep your attendees engaged you can create immersive experiences for them using virtual reality. This experience is good for corporate events as you can put your guests in scenarios that will help them in their career.
According to Bizaboo, “many law enforcement branches are using programs like Virtra to let officers get hands-on experience in different situations before hitting the field. While you might not be running a police training exercise this example points to the potential power of AR and VR at events.”
Read 4 tips for planning corporate event entertainment here.
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Create the perfect playlist
The perfect playlist is integral to setting the mood for your social event. Knowing your guests is key! Define what your goal is. Are you wanting to create a relaxing atmosphere? Or do you want to boost the energy in the room?
Other things to keep in mind when you create your playlist are:
- Having a variety of music
- Including new releases
- Creating it in a mix tape
- Check your venue
According to Sir Christopher Wren “an engaging playlist should be both diverse and cohesive, which is often a difficult balance to create without some forward thinking and planning. The music for any type of event can really make or break the atmosphere and overall success of the function.”
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Hire a live performer
Having entertainment such as live performances is ideal for engaging your audience. Read the 10 major benefits from hiring a live artist here.
Types of live performances include:
- Spoken word
- Live musical performers
- Theatrical performance
- Dance
- DJ
- Stand-Up Comedy
Finding the perfect fit for your social event can be tough. That’s why we’ve written all about how to find the perfect live performer.