Conferences usually last for up to a week, and these leave guests a lot of free time after the daytime event hours. Indeed, they are able to relax and unwind after hours of learning and sharing ideas with each other, and they need this in order to prepare for the next day’s session. However, if you are currently planning to hold a conference, would it be better if you include an evening event for your guests as well?
Evening events at conferences are becoming popular lately, as they help boost the camaraderie between your attendees. But aside from this, here are more reasons to set up an evening gathering for conferences:
- You give more personality to your brand.
When people attend your conference, the first thing that comes to their minds is that you are holding the event to merely provide them with knowledge they can use once return to their respective lives. But seriously, your brand has more to offer, right?
In an evening event, you are able to introduce your brand in a more cordial perspective; this is the time when you can give more information about your brand and business that’s not related to the topics being discussed during the conference proper.
The brand recall also helps when you organize future conferences; since your guests already know how you present your name and business, they will be the ones to spread the word about your upcoming events to their respective networks as well.
- You are able to utilize your venue.
You practically reside at your chosen venue whenever you hold conferences. You are there every single day until the event comes to a close. This gives you the leverage to work on an extra deal with your venue on using their function rooms after hours, so as you can host an evening event.
There are event venues in Singapore that offer free or discounted use of their function rooms to clients hosting conferences. You may want to look at these options and see how you can use them for an evening gathering with your conference guests.
- You build real relationships with your guests.
When holding evening events, you give your attendees not just the time to get to know your brand better; you also provide them with the opportunity to learn more about their fellow attendees. Think of it as an acquaintance party. Technically your guests are strangers to each other, and through this event they get to mingle and make friends.
This also helps a lot boosting the success of your conference as a whole, as during the succeeding days your attendees become more at ease with each other, and the more comfortable they become in interacting with your other activities in the succeeding days.
When holding evening events, it is best that you coordinate with your chosen venue during the planning stage. While a lot of event venues in Singapore offer evening rentals, not all of them may allow you to hold the event in the same function room as the conference. This is because they have to clean up and prepare for the next day’s activities, and they need ample time to do these chores.
What you can do here is to coordinate with the venue as to which areas are available for the evening gathering, and what services would come with the package. If they can only provide the space, then you may have to hire a separate caterer to serve the food, as well as other facilities that are not covered by the package.
