Planning an event? You need a persona (or five) – here’s why…

Whether you’re planning a corporate fundraiser, conference or team building day, you need (at least one) persona. Allow us to show you why…

Rachel is 32. Degree educated, she’s a manager who’s worked her way up from a mid-level professional position. She’s a lover of adrenaline-pumping outdoor activities, and if you were to describe in three words, it would be fun-loving, outgoing and competitive. 

That’s a persona of a team building delegate. And without it, creating an effective day that builds teams, sell tickets or raises funds will be left to little more than guesswork. All in all, if you’re planning an event, you’d better get your persona together. So let’s step you through the process. 

First, let’s be clear… Personas are NOT about a single delegate. Instead they are an average representation of a group of people – demonstrating the typical goals and behaviours of your guests. They encapsulate key pieces of information such as behavioural patterns, goals, skills, and attitudes, alongside the odd fictional element to create more realism.  

Guesswork versus endless benefits: Just some of the persuasive advantages that a persona can hand an event organiser include…

·        Consistency for the event goal (such as improving team communication, resilience or calmness under pressure)

·    Nail down a powerful corporate message (such as the focus of a conference)

·        Gain a deeper organisational understanding of delegate needs, wants, desires, goals or challenges

·        The ability to create an event that is tailored and personalised to your guests

Here’s your persona template…

Your persona should get to grips with the following key pieces of information:

·        Age range

·        Educational level

·        Social interest

·        Job status

·        Typical work experience

·        Sources of information? (TV, Internet, Facebook, Linked in, Twitter, etc.)?

·        Three adjectives they’d use to describe themselves

A persona to shape your next big event - Three top tips from Accolade Events

1.     Share your persona with the entire team – From those working on the day’s main messaging, to others who’ve been tasked with arranging activities

2.     Consider whether one persona is enough – In the realm of events you could have a wide and far ranging collective of people arriving – it’s quite possible that you may even need four or five personas, and the activities of your event should be shaped by them.

3.     If your event doesn’t require compulsory attendance (such as a family fun day, fundraiser or client evening) then your personas should be closely linked with your marketing. Take your email marketing as just one example - personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14 percent and behaviour-targeted ads are twice as effective as non-targeted ads. So you could say your attendance rates rely on the effectiveness of your personas.

Get to know your event attendees before they’ve even heard about your upcoming event. Talk with our team about how our team days and corporate evenings revolve around your guests.

Call the Accolade Events team on 0800 083 1172, or send us a message.