The delegate journey

It is vital for conferences that they be able to create lasting memories for their delegates. Journey mapping helps organisers consciously encourage these memories. These days, most associations place the customer journey or the customer experience on the agenda of their conference. Various industries even dedicate annual conferences to this theme. Customer experience has experienced a sharp increase in attention because virtually every product or service has become a commodity within a short space of time. Far greater transparency due to the worldwide web, the removal of trade barriers and the economic downturn have all placed pressure on prices and customer loyalty. Most companies realise that participating in price wars is not a long-term solution, so they are looking for better ways to increase customer loyalty. Associations and their accompanying conferences have not escaped this social development. The advent of the internet has made it much easier to gather information. Generally speaking, there are no barriers to viewing a speaker in action. After all, there are countless videos of lectures circulating the web. And networking can now largely take place remotely via formal and informal communities that spring up on social media. Therefore, for live events, it's all the more important that organisers focus on the experience of the delegates. Ultimately, they are the ones who decide whether the conference has been worth the trip and the price of registration. The answer to that question will only be 'yes' when positive and lasting memories are created, or better still: life-changing experiences. And the analysis should be encouraging, because it determines whether delegates will participate the next time (and continue to pay the annual membership fee). Journey mapping is an indispensable tool to facilitate the creation of lasting memories. With journey mapping, the delegate's entire process is visually mapped. For every step in the process, you can think about how to optimize the experience and how this contributes to the total experience. We have posted various journey-mapping tools online. Before diving in and using these tools, it's a good idea to bear in mind the following considerations.  

A few observations

Keep in mind that this process is all about people, with all their quirks and foibles. “A participant is not a 'pax', not part of a herd,” Greg Bogue, Experience Architect at Maritz, says. “Approach him or her as a person. Keeping it practical in the design phase requires some generalisation, but it is important to consider several different personae as a starting point.” “Differentiate between attitude, behaviour and motivation. Describe some types of participants based on these three points and then take these personae as a starting point for the design of the meeting. It is important to repeatedly determine what expectations each person has and how you can surprise him or her in a positive manner.” It is not uncommon for a journey map to quickly emerge as a straight line. Naturally, the reality may prove otherwise. It is not a problem to begin with a single line, but do not expect it to become a reality. Don't forget that a delegate's journey is not solely restricted to what takes place in and around the conference. The before and after phases of the conference are also an integral part of the journey. Bogue: “When designing an event, the whole process should be taken into consideration. Organisers themselves, for example, rarely go through the registration process. If they were to do that, they would experience what a participant experiences who wishes to register.” A final area of concern is the full breadth and depth of the experience. Most conference organisers are particularly keen on logistics and hospitality. However, this carries a risk that the focus will be on hospitality and creating a pleasant experience for delegates, rather than on creating lasting memories for them. “An experience unravels itself over a specified time period,” Bogue explains. “It has to be a journey. Aspects are things like laughter and learning, but also the creation of a sense of being there and achieving something.”

Lasting memories

“Surprising the participants – really grabbing their attention – is essential for a successful event so that people will have lasting memories,” Bogue continues. “This is difficult, because if you count the experiences and expectations one has, the result is 'autopilot.' Our brain always thinks, namely, 'what's next', so that what is prevailing (although, perhaps very interesting) largely eludes us. A good meeting designer therefore makes sure that, in the design, he or she regularly interrupts the ordinary.” This means that the conference delegates' time-lines may include several points about what someone expects and how to surpass those expectations. An important addition to this is 'empathy mapping.' What feelings and emotions does a participant go through and which ones would you want to generate. Thus, we want to be treated as individuals, but we are also searching for a common identity. Both of these play an important role in meetings. Bogue: “We people want to acquire, commit, create and defend. These are four handles for making and assessing the design for a meeting. Also, make sure that the emotions generated have intensity. This will not only create a richer experience, but it also ensures that the participants remember the message longer.”

One central theme

It is then important to mould this into a whole. We have to give the meeting an identity, if only to recruit participants, but also – in the further development – to be able to test if it fits into the whole. Our brain is constantly in search of the best value: how can I get as much return as possible for my money (and time). And our brain likes simplicity. Therefore, keep it simple, is Bogue's advice. Distil one central theme from the event. Watch out! The theme is, thus, the end result of the design process, not the beginning. As examples, Bogue cites director Francis Ford Coppola, who had one single theme for each of his movies that was the basis for the whole story, and Cirque du Soleil, that knows how to distil its performances into one theme, a fantasy word, that stimulates enthusiasts, again and again, to buy a ticket.

Peak end rule

Bogue's final advice is also about the closing. “We are, in our industry, very good at welcoming, but poor at saying goodbye,” he says. “The ‘peak end rule’ says that people remember the onto the whole event.” As an example, he talks about a study involving men who had been given a colonoscopy by two different doctors. With one doctor, there was a very painful examination of fifteen minutes and, with the other doctor, the same examination, but supplemented with of ten minutes less painful inspection. When the men were allowed to choose who was going to do the third examination on them, they overwhelmingly chose the second doctor. Maybe not the most pleasant example to close with, but one which certainly sticks.