From Sprint To Marathon: 6 Reasons Associations Should Rethink Annual Meetings
An annual meeting is many things—a gathering, an experience, and a way to build connections.
Bringing together thousands of people passionate about the same cause or industry is a great way to get a shot of energy for a few days. (That’s especially true once you hit the trade show floor.) By the time the event is over, an attendee is likely to feel pretty good about their association.
But an annual meeting is only three days out of the year, maybe four. Is there a way to keep those good vibes going after everyone goes home?
EventMobi Director of Sales Ian Webb thinks so. As a U.K.-based event-industry veteran who has been to hundreds of events over his 20-year career, he’s experienced it all, and knows how great events can center the organization as a whole.
“The annual meeting’s always been the highlight of the year for both the association and its members—especially for the medical, scientific or technical associations I’ve done a lot of my work in,” Webb said in an interview.
What makes an in-person event so powerful—and how can you carry the torch of a great event throughout the year? Here are a few ideas that could get you thinking:
The Power of In-Person Education
After a couple of years of sharp, unexpected transition for the events industry, in-person meetings have reemerged—stronger, sharper, and more focused than ever. The meetings sector has shown resilience, even amid shifting budgetary pictures and economic uncertainty, and associations have found momentum in meetings that lean into the traditional strengths of in-person interaction and unique event experiences. The result? Many organizations are producing better meetings than ever.
Per PCMA Convene’s 30th Meetings Market Survey, the interest in in-person meetings has leaped significantly, with 40% of respondents reporting an increase in attendance compared to the days before the pandemic.
But that said, the growing interest doesn’t necessarily mean attendees want the same old annual meeting education experience. Knowing that more people are coming in person, Webb says, opens up an opportunity to create more interactive elements that lean into events—offering something distinct from what you get from a laptop screen.
“I think even more so now, the opportunities to meet, learn, and collaborate in person are obviously huge,” Webb says. “There’s a focus now on events being more of a designed experience and an immersive experience of how that content is delivered.”
(In other words, fewer lectures, more hands-on sessions.)
Bring the Education Home
The scale of events is such that annual meetings have room to cover both extremely broad topics in keynotes and narrow education offerings in breakout sessions, and the two come together to offer a more fulfilling result. But the problem is, the narrow options are often so plentiful that they compete for your attention. That, says Webb, is secretly a prime engagement opportunity for associations.
“There should now be opportunities for me to continue to engage with that content—and learn, and receive that education, outside of the event itself,” he says.
In one way, having lots of appealing sessions is good, because it encourages a “fear of missing out” among attendees. But that could potentially be damaging, if the bevy of choices means those attendees miss those education opportunities.
“I’m not going to be able to attend all of those sessions,” he says. “I’m not going to be able to get to all of that content in a three-day conference—but I think that probably presents the opportunity now.”
How does that look? Webb suggests recording as many sessions as possible, with the idea that the content offerings could be converted into digital-first on-demand education offerings or post-event webinars—both solving the FOMO problem and making the education offerings last beyond the event itself. (Plus, just imagine all the ways you could chunk up great event content for your members!)
Don’t Drop Hybrid Just Yet
That said, there’s a real risk of missing the opportunity amid a post-pandemic rollback. As the PCMA Convene report states, 42% of respondents said they are back to being fully in-person without a digital element, compared to 24% streaming in real-time and 21% offering asynchronous events.
In other words, the hybrid door could be closing before you’ve properly explored its post-event value. Webb says now is the time to rethink what is possible with events—because it could have value not just from an engagement standpoint, but a financial one.
“I think, as part of designing the event slightly differently, we have to think about the event not as this three-day conference where that education, that content, is kind of used up,” Webb says. “You need to make sure that you provide opportunities to engage with that outside of the conference itself.”
Keep Attendees In Touch
Another benefit of building engagement opportunities outside the event is that you can build upon the connections attendees make during the conference.
Connecting with actual people is, of course, one of the best parts of attending an annual meeting. If you’re going to all these interactive sessions, you’re likely to make some friends. And while tactics like offering well-designed name tags can help break the ice, the fact is, a strong networking relationship only starts at an annual meeting.
But keeping connected to those people is another task entirely. Fortunately, event applications—which often get used during the event itself, then forgotten about until the next event—are well-positioned to help.
Webb notes that tools like EventMobi, while initially designed for in-event communication, now “allow you to continue conversations that you’ve had at the event, by connecting and continuing that post-event.”
Perhaps it shifts the scope of how you view your event app—but given the recent disruption of social networks like X (formerly Twitter), is that a bad thing? It could be just the opportunity to bolster your owned media channels.
Broaden Your Sponsor Perspective
Another factor in expanding the reach of annual meetings beyond the actual event? Sponsors! As Association Chat creator KiKi L’Italien wrote last year, it’s important to stop looking at sponsor relationships in terms of your conferences, and instead lean into more year-round offerings that may make more sense for organizations trying to reach your members throughout the year.
By combining elements of in-person events with year-round digital offerings, Webb adds, it also means you get the benefits of both worlds, including the pop of in-event marketing and the more granular approach favored in the digital realm, making it possible for sponsors to track how much attention their profiles get throughout the year, for example.
“I think that the traditional event sponsorship package can transcend now into a different offering using technology,” he says.
Leverage Events As The Catalyst For Engagement & Retention
An annual meeting is ultimately an opportunity to put all your marbles in a single basket. As member engagement opportunities go, it is the 100-meter dash.
But there’s no reason to put all your collective energy into one single event to benefit your association—when there’s plenty of opportunity to also do a marathon throughout the year. There’s room for both strategies.
“I think, if you start going down that route, you could go off onto a whole other area in a way. That can actually bring value to membership retention and growth of the membership as a whole. So I definitely think now it’s much easier to bring the event strategy and the association membership strategy into one linear conversation.”
In the past, this kind of integrated full-circle approach tying in-person events to a year-round member engagement strategy might have remained the domain of the association with tens of thousands of members—and a budget to match. But tools like EventMobi can help close the loop, even for smaller associations that might not have the budget to match their ambitions. (Or so they thought!)
Ultimately, though, the ground around event tech is shifting—just like our mindset of what makes a good annual meeting. And our tactics should likely shift to reflect that.
To find out how EventMobi can help you create more engaging meetings and events throughout the year, sign up for a free demo!