How did the last exhibition go? Did you maximise the opportunity to grow your exhibition engagement? Did you have the most engaging stand? Who attracted the most buzz? Was it the company who had a stand enticing passersby with a computer game, clever app, or freebie give-away to their delegates?
What if you could be doing so much more to authentically connect with your delegates?
Grow event engagement with a CSR activity. Adding authenticity and purpose to your proposition will support your desire to grow engagement at your next expo.
Providing more value from the experience for both you and your attendees will enable a common legacy upon which to build a lasting relationship.
Pause for a moment and think – in a world where consumers are more and more conscious of their footprint in the World, do you want to be the company handing out promotional bits of plastic?
Be the change and use CSR to increase your footfall through genuine connection, fun, and purposeful activities? Resulting in a direct and positive impact on local communities and charity?
4 Key Advantages of Using CSR to grow your Event Engagement
1. As a visual tool to cut through event clutter
We recently worked with our client VMWare at several of the AWS Summit events. These are huge IT software events, so the sight of 20+ skateboards hanging up, waiting to be painted for charity, really had impact. As did the 20 bikes we took to a previous AWS Summit event, all waiting to be built for local charities.
As a consequence of this visual disruption, the CSR activity did all of the hard work to grow event engagement. The result is that the events were visually appealing, stopping people in their tracks, leading to questions being asked and conversations starting.
The power of CSR to start a conversation is why it is so valuable as an event tool. In fact, one of our clients has stated that they grew their engagement levels by 50%, by incorporating the CSR activity to their stand. That’s staggering.
“The skateboards caught my eye, but also there was something creative going on, that you wouldn’t normally expect at an IT conference. There was a real buzz about the stand. Once I found out it was for kids from less privileged backgrounds who would benefit, I was in!”
James Carnie, Mobilise Cloud, AWS Summit, London
2. As a proven tool to Grow Event Engagement
According to an article in Sustainable Brands, 80% of consumers will tell their friends and family about a company’s CSR efforts. Thus supporting the idea that your CSR activity will drive referrals both at the event and beyond. Your CSR challenge is certainly a talking point and something that will be remembered.
The article goes on to say that where CSR practice is clear, 93% of consumers will have a positive image of a company and 90% are more likely to trust a company. It also states that 88% will be more loyal (stick with that company). And 84% will consider CSR when deciding which companies to spend their time and money with.
The article also confirms how powerful CSR is in driving brand switching. 90% of consumers switched or opted for a company with strong CSR policies and goals. From this, we can see that CSR is a compelling and powerful tool for engagement.
By choosing to add a CSR activity or challenge to your stand, you are giving delegates a purpose and a reason to stop by, without being ‘sold to’. Your delegates will feel that their time is being valued and that they’re giving value to their time.
3. For Authenticity
A CSR exhibition activity really does provide you with the opportunity to promote your authenticity. This is not a gimmick but a genuine programme for social change enabling others. CSR activities really deliver a clear leverage over a busy competitive playing field.
By creating a stand-out purpose over and above the competition, you are creating the opportunity to network, engage and bond with your delegates over a ‘higher purpose’.
You will create genuine opportunities for you to make human connections. From which, you can build mutually beneficial working relationships.
It is a win, win, win and creates a collaborative relationship from the offset.
4. For Impact and Legacy
Think about it. At the end of a delegates’ very busy day, which part of the event will be remembered most? And not only remember – but remember positively and talk to other people about? You can bet it will be the time spent adding true value the company with social purpose built in to their offering. It certainly aids with recall and connection.
The opportunities for you to continue talking are plentiful. These include sharing pictures of the activity, feedback and messages of thanks and updates from the charity that received the fruits of the effort.
Create a genuine reason and purpose to maintain and build the relationships with your prospects.
What next?
Have we piqued your interest? If so, we would love to support you to incorporate a CSR activity into your next exhibition.
There are so many opportunities to incorporate something of value to your community whilst creatively engaging your delegates. Did you know that our Cisco display of Skateboards, when all art-worked, built and displayed, spelt out the word ‘Imagine’, which was Cisco’s theme for the event?
What a fantastic, eye catching and creative way for you to have even more impact and get your message across to your audience. It looks pretty awesome on your social media afterwards too!
To find out more about incorporating a CSR challenge into your next event, please contact us at hello@o3e.co.uk or call us on 0330 113 7170.