Last week we joined a feisty and fun panel discussion hosted by Airmeet: ‘From content-first to connection-first events’. Christina Garnett of Hubspot, Liz Lathan of The Community Factor and Banu Kannu of Uncommon Conferences unpacked the 3 Cs surrounding business events – content, connection and community.
Here are a just a few highlights from the discussion – hit this link to watch the recording in full.
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Are events and community like PB&J? 🥪
BK: I don't think so. The community and their purpose is PB&J. Events are the slice of bread on top, and content the slice of bread on the bottom. To me that’s the perfect PB&J. Events are simply the place or platform where a community can shine a spotlight on what they’re trying to achieve or the challenge they’re trying to solve.
What’s all this about Return on Emotion? 💞
LL: You hear all the time about the importance of creating an emotional connection with event participants; but no one tells you what those emotions are or how to measure them, so our research study that we undertook in 2021 really dives into this topic – and the results show there are FIVE emotions you need to evoke at your event to drive connections and achieve business outcomes*:
· Hopeful
· Adventure
· Active
· Accepted
· Motivated
Which format is best for building or growing communities – online, offline or hybrid? 💻
CG: It depends! If all someone needs from their community is information or to have a question answered, virtual is just fine. But I can’t hug someone online. For me, getting together physically is about the connection-building.
LL: I’d disagree, because I’ve made some really powerful connections virtually over the past couple of years (like with Banu!) - we view screens as a portal not a boundary.
CG: Sure, but getting to be in the same room sets off my serotonin levels like Zoom can’t 😊
BK: We (and our clients) have had a really positive experience with virtual from a community-building perspective. Everyone used to be fine with seeing each other every 12-18 months, and letting all that time in between go to waste. Now we actively use virtual for plugging the gaps.
If you had to pick one metric to judge the success of an event what would it be? ✅
LL: Pipeline
BK: Solutions to a community’s challenge
CG: NPS
So… content or connection? 📚🔗
All: It depends on what you’re trying to achieve with your event and/or community. Sometimes connection IS the content!
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Shoutout to Mark Kilens of Airmeet for being a super host and the Airmeet team for flawless prep. Check out this link for all previous and upcoming Eventions episodes.
* Reach out for more information on how to implement and measure RoE at your next event
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