If you have one goal for your company event, it should be to make it memorable – for all the right reasons. Engaging, interactive experiences leave a lasting impression on guests, immersing them in your brand story. Endless hours of slides and speeches are a thing of the past, and forward-thinking organisations need to unleash their creativity to energise teams and reinforce company culture. If you’re looking for inspiration for your next event, take a look at some of our tried-and-tested ideas…
6 Ways to Create Immersive Event Experiences
1. Multisensory Experiences
Our senses play a huge role in how we feel so make use of their power at your corporate event. Use ambient scent marketing to energise your delegates first thing in the morning or during the post-lunch slump. Fresh, zesty scents work well, but they shouldn’t be overpowering. Smell is surprisingly powerful with one famous study revealing that buyers were 84% more likely to make a purchase of Nike trainers in a scented room than in a non-scented environment. You could take the power of aroma one step further and arrange a perfume workshop as a team building activity to develop a signature scent for your business.
Background music plays an equally important role in dictating the energy levels in the room. While high-octane party anthems are usually too distracting, don’t make the musical vibes so mellow they’re sleep inducing. Music from film soundtracks are always a good place to start (Pirates of the Caribbean works well as guests enter an evening event) and streaming apps like Spotify will have great suggestions too.
As an example – music from the Interactive tasting stations work well to re-energise guests between meals. Get attendees standing up and moving around to try food bowls from different countries, jellybean waterfalls, branded biscuits, chocolate selfies, ice cream rolls or mocktail slushies. At Octopus Events, we’ve got some fantastic contacts in experiential food.
On the movement theme, a short yoga stretch or mindful breathing session from an external expert can do wonders for focus and concentration.
2. Technology-Driven Ideas
Leverage technology to create immersive experiences for your guests. For an internal conference, this could involve a virtual memory wall with photos and company milestones. You might use projection mapping to transform the venue’s ceiling or exterior walls with spectacular dynamic visuals or use digital dashboards for real-time polls. The latter will help you gauge the mood and energy of the group – how people are feeling, whether they’re enjoying the venue and catering, and which sessions have had the biggest impact.
Hologram technology can allow you to bring people together regardless of geography. A hologram of your busy CEO could allow them to speak simultaneously at several different events at the same time, saving time and air miles.
3. Storytelling
A story-driven environment will bring your event messaging to life. Design themed zones that encourage attendees to move, interact and collaborate as part of your brand story. Bring in an immersive pop-up themed photo parlour with costumes and props. Or use theatre-style engagement for corporate family fun days using characters and actors.
For team building activities, a customised Escape Room experience based on the main message of the event can get people from different departments collaborating to achieve a shared goal. At Octopus Events, our little black book is bursting with trusted suppliers who can create brand activations your guests will never forget.
4. Creativity and Customisation
People learn from doing, rather than listening, so facilitate your guests’ creativity with activities like group murals, themed graffiti or an interactive merchandise station where guests can choose from a myriad of options and get their items personalised on the spot. Consider using a local calligrapher to do live freehand engraving for a special keepsake. We have a great supplier we can recommend for this service.
An “event passport” is a useful tool to encourage delegates to tick off all of the activities on offer, perhaps with the incentive of earning a day’s holiday.
Think sustainably about the displays and materials at your event and how they can be reused to add value to your guests. If you’ve used big floral displays for an internal event, create bouquets at the end and leave them in reception for staff to take home. This will work even better if it’s close to Mother’s Day or Easter.
5. Shareable Moments
Build excitement and generate PR-able moments with immersive experiences like AI generated content booths that can create personalised videos and portraits using attendee data.
Or take it back to pen and ink with live artists who can create a cartoon or larger sketch of the conference room, or go for an artist who can create fine art drawings of each guest to take away as a memento.
6. Cultural and Wellness Touchpoints
Show guests how much you value their wellbeing with mindfulness areas, immersive zones, massage sessions and aromatherapy. Invite regional chefs to give demonstrations, local musicians to perform or arrange interactive mixology classes with signature cocktails.
At Octopus Events, we believe that the most magical, memorable events are a feast for the senses. Get in touch with Sarah today on hello@octopusevents.com 07860 145 950 to discuss immersive experiences at your next corporate or private event.
