Stop sucking at first impressions

You only get one chance to make a great first impression. So why have you been squandering it for years with your onsite event registration experience? If you manage a large conference, you know it well – the dread of the lines of participants picking up badges and bags and getting ready for a conference that you’ve been creating for months. Managing the staff at satellite locations all over the city. The crush of the moment is intense!

Your team has worked through every possible way to reduce lines. To remove staff. To make things touchless for kiosk check-in. To speed things up. To add satellite check-in. To mail badges in advance. But at what cost?

Now instead of serendipitously chitchatting in line with fellow excited participants while you wait to pick up your badge and get a quick 30-second orientation from the registration staffer handing you your bag and conference brochure, attendees walk into a big open room with kiosks, type in their info, and walk away with a badge – and maybe they remembered to download the app from the big sign with a QR code on it.

But what if you defied convention. What if you (*gasp*) BROUGHT BACK the line but made it part of the experience?

Nicole and I recently caught a couple of rides at EPCOT in Orlando. The experience design brilliance of Disney lies primarily in how well they hide the length of the line. From the outside of the Chevrolet Test Track experience, you see about 20 people. “Wow!” You think, “We lucked out on our timing! We can totally pop into this ride real quick!” You’re lured inside the building where you discover that the snaking queue is approximately 4,387 miles long.

But now you’re in it. And for some reason, you’re not mad at all!

Along the way and at every turn, there’s interactive education to learn how they design cars, a showcase of what aerodynamics mean for fuel efficiency, and touchscreens for you to try your hand at designing your very own racecar. Before you know it, 30 minutes has passed and you’re coming up on the ride. Incredible! That’s the real magic.

So let’s take this to our large conferences and events.

Imagine this scenario:

The registration desk is open for a limited amount of time, encouraging people to come and stand in line. But the line is part of the experience!

Let's call this new experience Regutainment. (That's registration meets education meets entertainment!)

Not only are there entertainers and fun characters, but a mini expo hall with interactive displays along the path to engage with exhibitors before you even get to the registration desk so you are prepared for who to look for when you get to the expo hall.

As the event producer, you have the ability to share your narrative throughout the wait, immersing participants in your content and priming them for the red thread that strings your conference content together.

A photo moment for “snaps with strangers” to capture the excitement of standing in line together and meeting new people before the conference even begins.

What about an F&B moment to have that welcome experience that evokes nostalgia and amusement – popcorn, cotton candy, churros! Things that you have to eat with two hands so you put your phone in your pocket and interact with your line neighbor. But pepper the line experience with high top tables to allow them to sit things down for a second, take a picture, then pick it back up and move along.

At the edges of the line, your not-so-roving-reporter is interviewing attendees and asking questions that tie to the content and drive the excitement level even higher.

When it’s your turn up to the line, the cheerleaders on the sidelines applaud your approach, signaling that you’ve scored a place at the event and are about to enter this epic celebration.

And even better – now that you have picked up your badge and conference materials, you exit through the red carpet paparazzi line where the photographers capture your celebratory walk out of the Regutainment zone and into the open and welcoming expo hall where you can relax, get oriented to the next chapter, and kick off the rest of the conference.

First impressions mean everything and THAT would be a magical beginning to a big event.?

Liz Lathan, CMP, is co-founder of?The Community Factory?and pioneered?Haute's Return on Emotion? business metric for experiential programs. The Community Factory creates better belonging through transformative gatherings that activate, grow, and engage your community. Contact Liz at [email protected]