Is "engagement" even a thing?
We've been hearing the phrase a lot lately: "Our event had really high engagement!" "The content was amazing, but engagement was low." "Can you make sure to add a slide in the post-event report with all the engagement stats?"
Engagement comes in all shapes and sizes. I'm a Game of Thrones fan, but my "engagement" is just watching all of the episodes and talking with friends about it... HBO has no idea that I'm an engaged fan who is eagerly awaiting the new prequels, but I consider myself highly engaged.
I just watched a Wall Street Journal CMO webinar series that was pre-recorded and I had it playing behind my 783 open tabs so I could listen while working - was I engaging with anything? Not really. Was I listening? Mostly, yes. And I enjoyed the content enough to consider joining their CMO network, so I consider myself highly engaged.
When I posted the news of our rebrand as Haute, I got nearly 230 reactions, 52 comments, and over 7,500 views. That's solid engagement on my post, but doesn't even come close to someone like Gary V posting.
Engagement means so many things that it's not even worth defining it for the purposes of dissecting it. That's why for this month's Pulse check, we decided to get right to the meat of the meal and ask directly: What engages you as a participant? When do you actually feel engaged with something, and then how do you drive engagement and measure it? Will you continue to measure engagement when you move back to in-person events? If the ultimate measure of event success is pipeline and revenue, do you even really need measure engagement?
Engagement as a participant
Question #1: When do you truly feel engaged by a virtual event and how do you show it?
We explored a variety of virtual event formats from conversation-based to broadcasts of pre-recorded content. For the conversation-based event - or even webcasts - our participants love the opportunity to contribute to the conversation through the use of Mural or Miro boards or being able to be on screen to ask a question of the speaker. Chat activity came in a close second to that, with lots of us agreeing that the ability to drop in giphy, memes or emojis added to the enjoyment of the experience. However, some participants said too much activity in the chat was extremely distracting when they wanted to be able to focus on the content, and also a distraction to the speaker who may be trying to focus but also trying to catch the questions in the chat to stay in touch with the audience as they contribute.
A few other small moments of impact that participants highlighted were being welcomed by name when they join, having the speaker ask the audience why they are there and what they hope to get from the content (and then using that information), good production, but not TOO perfect - keeping authenticity is key, and if you're going to throw a poll up to the crowd then use the poll results in the content.
When actively engaging, it was split on whether we as participants do anything to show their engagement - most said they participate in the chat or may opt to have their cameras on, but others didn't feel obligated to show they were engaged, figuring the organizers were getting enough data about them from the dwell time.
Question #2: When do you truly feel engaged at an in-person event and how do you show it?
Because in-person engagement hasn't been something that we traditionally measure at an event, this question was interesting. Most responses were around connecting, meeting, networking with fellow participants. They show it by adding to the synergy and getting involved in the activities. Having an emotional connection to the content was another way one participant said they feel engaged at an event, and another offered that including the event location experience (local foods, etc.) made them feel engaged with the destination and want to share that with others.
Engagement as a producer
Question #1: What elements do you try to incorporate to engage your audience?
Our conversation began with virtual in mind and then drifted to hybrid and the pros and cons of engaging both audiences. Some of the most simple engagement initiatives that our participants like to use are music, social media, mixing up speakers' delivery style, designating someone to monitor and engage in chat, polls and Mentimeter, and gamification around activities.
Digging deeper, we saw some ideas around supplying printed or downloadable documents that help attendees follow along to take notes, leaving space in the agenda for impromptu sessions based on attendee needs/interests, gathering attendees' interests in advance of the event, and pre-event community-building so the networking has more value.
Question #2: What makes you most excited to see during your event... what makes you FEEL like engagement is high?
Because engagement is so hard to measure, we wanted to get a gauge on the unmeasurable. Most participants agreed that an active chat is a sure sign of an engaged audience. If it's a camera-forward event, then lots of cameras on feel most engaging. When we feel the speaker engaging with the audience either through responding to chat questions and comments or by bringing people on the virtual stage with them, we get a good, engaged-audience vibe.
In person, laughter and audiences not looking at their phones was a great sign of engagement.
The clear winning sign of engagement was when the event producer notices the introverts actively engaging in some way!
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Measurement
Question #1: What metrics do you look for to claim "high engagement"?
The amazing thing about digital events is ALL.THE.DATA. - we can measure literally everything our attendees are doing. A few key digital metrics that participants said they are using right now are:
Question #2: Is engagement a metric you will use when we return to in-person?
Most of our participants believe that YES we need to add engagement metrics into in-person events when we come back.
Our execs love the data they got with virtual, so how do we ensure they can make data-driven decisions again for in person. Is now the time for beacon technology to come back in full force (will it finally be affordable?)? Or cell phone tracking through event apps? Where are the participants congregating and why?
In action
Question #1: What programs, events, or campaigns are doing it right?
PCMA's "OG" hybrid events back in 201 and EventCamp were highlighted as winners. Untethered is doing a great job, and Hubilo was brought up as a great example. CODA and MPI WEC were both mentioned as awesome. Google Cloud Next has created a great platform that lets you build a customized "playlist" of sessions for your agenda. And One participant couldn't speak highly enough about Marriott Bonvoy moments and watching those in her hotel instead of watching TV!
Question #2: What is MISSING from your programs to drive greater engagement?
On the content front, post-event searchable content and better ways to navigate large events' enormous library of sessions. One participant said that everything moving to "broadcast" format makes it feel less engaging.
But since we all agreed that we feel most engaged when we are meeting with other people, the big focus here was being able to reply to people individually in the chat, making it easier to connect with people post-event, having ways for people to meet privately with each other but stay within the platform.
Summary
Well it certainly was an "engaging" session! But for real... I felt it was engaging because we were all talking over each other to share and ask questions and learn from each other. Chat was BLOWING UP with more ideas and thoughts, and I left excited and full of ideas to implement in future program. And that's where true engagement comes in - did I get something out it while I was present? Yes. Did I get useful information that I can use elsewhere? Yes. Will I share what I learned with others? Yes.
Success.
Great conversation, great insights! We look forward to doing it again in November - Join us for our next Pulse Check on November 16th at 11am Central (scooting it to Tuesday so we don't lose all the "headed-out-for-Thanksgiving" friends!). This one-hour insights session is free to join.?https://bit.ly/HDPulseCheck
Liz Lathan, CMP, is Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of?H aute , a creative and events powerhouse formed by combing Haute Dokimazo, Haute Rock Creative, and EventWorks into one incredible agency.
Haute is part of?Haute Companies , a family of companies that includes our concert and event venue Haute Spot , our luxury speed shop Haute Motorworks , and our SaaS branded merchandise platform Swag Hub .
Contact Liz at [email protected] to inquire about how Haute can help you create programs that foster deep and trusting relationships with your customers and workforce.
Creating content & experiences that educate, entertain & inspire action since ‘07 | Building intentional company culture is my jam | Providing an oasis?? in your feed | Views are mine & do not reflect that of my employer
3 年This was a good one - thanks as always for hosting these conversations!