Crystal Interactive Goes Inside the Delegateís Mind

A new Report, Inside the Mind of the Delegate, launched today, for the first time provides HR departments charged with managing internal events, with a minds eye view of delegates.

To develop the Report, Crystal Interactive, which specialises in facilitating and building interactivity into events, has used its expertise to draw together and analyse the feedback of almost 5,000 delegates who collectively have attended 51 events in the past 18 months.

Uniquely, the feedback is based on open-ended questions ñ what delegates liked and what they would do differently. These questions were posed immediately after events and gave the respondents the opportunity to say anything they liked. This created thousands of text based comments and feedback which Crystal Interactive has analysed to identify common issues and event problems.

Chris Elmitt, director of Crystal Interactive and author of the Report, explains why the feedback is so powerful.

ìThe open ended nature of our approach meant that we werenít channelling the comments into well-worn event survey areas such as the quality of the venue, speakers or food. As a result we unearthed event areas that repeatedly dissatisfy delegates, and which typical event research never explores.î

These key areas are content, organisation and interactivity. The Report from Crystal Interactive examines each of these areas in turn, with the lessons including:

Content-cramming ñ almost 24% of the organisational criticisms centre on timing issues. The main fault appears to be that organisers are trying to pack too much in. Content-cramming puts a squeeze on networking which is far more important to the delegates questioned than organisers appreciate.

Workshops not working ñ workshops are a practical way for attendees to mix with others in informal groups yet 28% of criticisms centre on them. The main problem is that workshops often lack focus, arenít given enough time or seem to produce meaningless output.

Cut some slack ñ delegates want more slack time built into agendas so that important issues unearthed at a conference can be further discussed. Create zones in lounge areas where further discussion can be captured/facilitated during coffee breaks mid-event. If this is not possible improve the follow up, which many feel is negligible, so that the discussion can continue after the event.

Travel bug - donít go all out for a smart venue, as unnecessary travel impresses no one.

Focus & depth ñ donít try to have something for everyone and become shallow as a result. Allow content to be focused and deep ñ this works far better than broad agendas.

Real time content shaping - 42% of content criticisms are because attendees have preferred topics they wanted the event to cover. Many event planners may carry out broad research exploring areas potential delegates are interested in, but this is too blunt an approach to guarantee that the content works for delegates. To remedy this, organisers should gather delegate views at the event and allow this to inform and shape the speaker slots in real time. This kind of event modification takes courage and speaker dexterity but delivers a far better event experience.

Involvement ñ 25% of delegates spontaneously said they want an active not passive role in events. 10% said they also want far more debating and Q&A time.

Crystal Interactive specialises in facilitating and building interactivity into events, working with companies such as Unilever, Defra, London Underground and Vodafone, so this last comment doesnít surprise Chris Elmitt:

ìRemember, these are impromptu thoughts of thousands of delegates. Having one in ten saying things like ëcapitalise on the community brought together,í ëit was a powerful group - push the debate harder,í ëinclude less speeches and a bit more teamworkí gives a powerful mandate to all organisers.î

ìDelegates are saying loud and clear that they want the agenda space and opportunity to really get value out of an event ñ be it a conference or a meeting. Whatís fundamentally required is a real act of faith by event organisers, to see delegates as a group to be engaged with and listened to rather than seeing them as a passive audience.î