Looking at The Role of Emotions in Event Design: Creating Emotional Connections. Whether an occasion is held in a formal or informal format, an event which does not evoke emotion is one that is guaranteed to be forgotten. Experiential events bond attendees to the company through use of the engagement with the attendees’ emotions.
The event needs to explore human emotion to create the appropriate experience. Research has revealed a guide known as the four key drives to accessing emotion. These four key drives are namely, acquiring, bonding, learning, and defending.
All four drives allow access to emotion. As an event planner or designer, you are essentially attempting to create an emotional experience of the event. The more that the drives are evident, the more distinctive memory of the event is created. This blog will only explore three of the four key drives. Follow along as we explore the acquiring, learning and bonding drives to creating an emotive experiential event design.
How to plan the event design which meets the emotional needs of its attendees.
Address the four key drives.
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Acquire
Attendees want to gain both material and abstract material from an event. Material matter could be things such as a key chain or a physical item that could benefit their work. Abstract material that most attendees aim to obtain is one inclined with power, influence, and status. This can be accessed through a conference with speaking slots or use of awards.
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Bond
An event is a space that allows for individuals to create meaningful relationships through professional interaction. These relationships are formed through engaging discussions regarding topics that attendees are often passionate about, and an experiential event creates grounds for these types of discussions to take place. The emotive experience here is then fuelled by an ignition of a shared passion among attendees. A popular event which usually creates a comfortable space for attendees to bond is a networking event.
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Learn
A major factor which plays a role as to why individuals attend events is to obtain knowledge. It is because of this that event planners dedicate majority of their planning stage to being intentional about the content that the respective event will be exploring. Learning allows attendees to explore uncharted areas of life, develop and/or practice new skills, and explore topics they’re curious about. Use this understanding of learning to curate an event which supports this key drive and keep your attendees engaged.
Memories are linked to emotion, and it is because of this that an unforgettable event design is one which evokes an emotion that one would like to experience again. The use the three key drives explored above allows access to emotion. Acquiring drives the attendees to emotions of pride and appreciation through use of acknowledgement/recognition and physical memorabilia. Bonding drives guests to create or expand a professional community based on a shared passion. Finally, Learning drives attendees to the emotion of curiosity through use of providing an opportunity for said attendees to acquire knowledge on topics they are interested in. Using these drives, one is able to lay a foundation on which you can build the events contents that will be explored.