How can you use visuals to effectively communicate with stakeholders at an event?

1 Know your stakeholders

Before you create or choose any visuals for your event, you need to know who your stakeholders are and what they want from your event. Stakeholders are any individuals or groups who have an interest or influence in your event, such as sponsors, partners, speakers, attendees, media, or staff. Each stakeholder may have different needs, preferences, and objectives for your event, so you need to tailor your visuals accordingly. For example, sponsors may want to see their logo prominently displayed, speakers may want to use their own slides or videos, attendees may want to see the agenda and the speakers' bios, media may want to access high-quality images and press releases, and staff may want to see clear instructions and guidelines.

2 Choose the right visuals

Once you have identified your stakeholders and their expectations, you need to choose the right visuals that match your event theme, message, and tone. Visuals can include anything from logos, banners, posters, flyers, brochures, invitations, badges, slides, videos, photos, infographics, charts, graphs, icons, emojis, stickers, or gifs. The right visuals should be relevant, consistent, attractive, and easy to understand. They should also align with your brand identity and values, and reflect your event's purpose and personality. For example, if your event is a professional conference, you may want to use formal and elegant visuals that showcase your expertise and authority. If your event is a fun and casual workshop, you may want to use colorful and playful visuals that create a friendly and inviting atmosphere.

3 Use visuals strategically

After you have selected your visuals, you need to use them strategically to communicate with your stakeholders before, during, and after your event. Visuals can be an effective tool for attracting attention, generating interest, creating excitement, building trust, and fostering loyalty. They can also help to reinforce your key messages, highlight your main points, emphasize your call to action, and provide feedback and recognition. To use visuals strategically at different stages of your event, consider the following: before the event, use visuals to promote it on various channels and answer stakeholder questions; during the event, use visuals to welcome stakeholders and support presentations; after the event, use visuals to thank stakeholders, share highlights, gather feedback and promote future events.

4 Test and optimize your visuals

Finally, you need to test and optimize your visuals to ensure they are effective and efficient. You need to check your visuals for quality, clarity, accuracy, and compatibility. You need to make sure your visuals are readable, understandable, and accessible. You need to avoid any errors, mistakes, or inconsistencies that may confuse or mislead your stakeholders. You also need to measure and analyze your visuals' performance and impact. You need to use tools and metrics that can help you track and evaluate your visuals' reach, engagement, conversion, retention, and satisfaction. You need to use feedback and data to improve and refine your visuals for future events.

Visuals are essential for communicating with stakeholders at an event. By following these tips and best practices, you can use visuals to create a memorable and meaningful event experience for your stakeholders and achieve your event objectives.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?