1. Include Altruism, Wellness, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Tap into the emotional intelligence of your audience by bringing a more altruistic midset to your event. This is an important piece of everyday life for individuals so why not showcase at your event to inspire your attendees.
Some ways to do this:
Include zones where attendees can focus on wellness aspects like a yoga zone or massage chairs.
Schedule outdoor breaks that allow your attendees the opportunity to get outside, breathe fresh air, or take a brisk walk.
Be mindful of work-life balance and incorporate concepts into your event.
2. Content is Key
With so much easy access to information 24-7, it’s vital that your event content is engaging in a way that isn’t just added white noise among the barrage of information.
“Keeping your audience engaged means more than simply entertaining them. To engage an audience isn’t just to hold their attention, but to hold their attention for a thoughtful purpose…stimulating the five senses can do wonders, as long as it serves to keep the audience focused on a thematic message,” reports Event Manager Blog.
3. Listen to Your Audience
How will you know that your content was engaging? Simply, by listening to your audience through their feedback. Post-event surveys allow you to evaluate the return on the experience (ROE) so that you can continue to improve your participants’ experiences at future events.
4. Add the Element of Surprise
By adding an element of surprise to your event, you keep your audience more engaged. This can also create a more memorable experience while adding to the WOW factor.
Some ways to do this:
Create an interactive mystery element, for example, escape rooms or a murder mystery dinner.
Provide unexpected gifting suite/baskets or even a handwritten note from team leaders.
Plan surprise entertainment or an outing around the host city.
5. Learn from Neuroscience
We can learn a lot about attendee behavior from emerging neuroscience data. What creates better social opportunities? How can we improve attendee knowledge retention? How can we boost engagement? These are all questions that neuroscience can provide clues for answering.
Plan breaks in your agenda, preferably every 20 minutes; it improves engagement, learning, and attendees’ overall wellbeing.
Build in time for your attendees to process the information being learned. This can be done through small groups, break-out sessions, or individual time spent writing down what they’ve learned.
The Miller Tanner difference is our people. That’s why we want to introduce you to our team of superstars that bring our corporate meetings and events to life for our clients. Today, we introduce you to Melanie Riddick, Director of Accounting Operations. With a knack for details and her sharp interpersonal skills, Melanie brings her extensive knowledge in data management and customer relations to the MTA team.
Meet Melanie Riddick, Director of Accounting Operations
Tell us about your current role with MTA. What are your primary responsibilities?
As Director of Accounting Operations, I manage the financial compliance of transparency reporting in adherence to state and federal legislation (Sunshine Act), global requirements (GDPR), and client contractual terms, conditions, and deadlines. This requires analyzing lots of data and details! Our team also conducts a rigorous quality control cross-check on completed transparency reports to ensure we provide our clients with accurate data. Additionally, I oversee our team members who audit and process payments for event attendee reimbursement requests. This also involves managing our internal guidelines and processes to ensure they remain up-to-date and efficient. Finally, my role supports the full finance team with project management and system/process improvements to better serve both internal and external stakeholders.
What did you do before joining MTA?
I spent the last 10 years before coming to MTA working in the Nashville nonprofit community. Most of those roles involved donor development, data management, fundraising, and planning special events. Prior to that, I worked for a small custom cabinetry business for several years handling purchasing and inventory, fulfilling customer orders, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and bank reconciliations.
What do you feel are the most fulfilling aspects of your job?
By nature, I am detail-oriented and relationship-driven, so I thrive in roles that combine managing data and serving others. This job does exactly that! I am motivated by providing our clients with a high level of excellence, and I enjoy spending the time needed to dig into the financial data and compile it into comprehensive and easy-to-understand deliverables. I also enjoy the opportunities I have to interact with our vendors and event attendees. Most of all, I end each day grateful to be a part of MTA. Our team is composed of so many knowledgeable, talented, and personable individuals who are truly a joy to work with together!
Left: Melanie ice-climbing in Iceland at MTA’s Workshop. Right: Melanie with the MTA Finance Team.
What do you do for fun?
My husband, Adam, and I LOVE to travel, and we get restless if we don’t have a trip to look forward to on the calendar. We’ve visited Italy, England, Czech Republic, Iceland, Jamaica, Aruba, Mexico, Greece, and many states in the U.S. together. I’m also a fan of theme parks like Disney World and Universal Studios. We can’t travel all the time, so I love spending most of the time together as a family with our son, Connor. Sometimes that means a quiet night cooking dinner at home and watching a movie, and other times it means going out to a concert, sporting event or other fun activity. When I have time for just me, I love to run, hike, read fiction books, and go to brunch with friends.
What makes Miller Tanner Associates stand out as a meeting planning company?
What stands out is the ways we do what we do more efficiently and uniquely from our competitors. MTA is focused first and foremost on people – the clients we serve, the meeting attendees, and our fellow team members. Everyone at MTA is focused on listening to and meeting the needs of these groups of people. By combining this passion for people with the talents, skills, and resources available through the MTA team, we are able to provide our clients with a high level of excellent customer service and help them achieve their goals for each meeting.
One of the other things I value about MTA is our culture of generosity and hospitality and how it is reflected in the opportunities we have to give back to our communities. Employees are provided time to spend volunteering, and we participate in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities together at our annual workshop. We also assist our clients with implementing their own CSRs at their events to provide their meeting attendees with an opportunity to serve others.
Where do you live and what do you love most about your state/city?
While I love to travel and explore new places, I’m always happy to come home to Nashville, Tennessee! A lot of people have moved here over the last 10 years, and for good reason! We have several sports teams that are fun to see, and there is no shortage of terrific live music on any given day. Our restaurant scene has exploded, so I love checking out new spots and trying different kinds of food. I always tell visitors to spend time at the “honky-tonks” on Broadway to get a glimpse into the Nashville tourist scene. Even as natives, we enjoy it, and it’s family-friendly during the day! We also have a lot of great state parks and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee – I love spending time hiking and seeing so many unique landscapes within driving distance of home.
What’s one of your favorite destinations in the world and why?
Adam and I spent several days in Positano on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, and it is hands down one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. I loved being able to wander the quaint little streets and shops, hang out on the beach, and spend evenings having dinner overlooking the sea. The top priority on my travel bucket list is to plan a trip to travel throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Austria – I would love to explore the culture in those areas and know that the scenery will be absolutely stunning to see!
It’s February and love is in the air – even for events! Do you want to create an event experience that your attendees willlove? Give your face-to-face meetings and events more TLC with these 20 tips from Miller Tanner Associates. Click on each tip for more information.
Our client, a pharmaceutical company, needed to host a one-day, face-to-face advisory board meeting for 17 attendees in the region of Bogota, Columbia.
Leading up to the event, protests began to break out in the city, near where the meeting was to be held.
These types of event risk management challenges are not new to Miller Tanner Associates as we have planned many events in emerging markets and, at times, this has meant working in high-security risk areas where safety preparedness is paramount.
Solutions
Miller Tanner Associates has developed several intercountry partnerships allowing us to create a seamless risk management solution for monitoring and managing events where a security risk could arise.
As part of our solution for this specific meeting in Bogota, Columbia, Miller Tanner Associates took our usual proactive approach.
We worked diligently with Bogota local partners, who provided a travel brief which included an in-depth analysis of the areas in which our team and meeting attendees were to be located throughout the duration of the meeting. We also sourced hotels that were recommended, thoroughly vetted, and deemed safe properties for the attendees who would be traveling to the site.
Additionally, our partners in Bogota tracked any potential security risks and provided real-time updates in and around the areas that the meeting and activities were taking place. We knew the safest routes to and from all event activities at all times.
Miller Tanner Associates typically hires security staff to be on site unless our client already has hired as was the case in this situation.
To ensure the additional safety of our attendees upon arrival, we compiled a list of travel recommendations in both the confirmation email and welcome packet so that those traveling to the meeting site were fully prepared in advance of the event.
At every event, and for this event specifically, we implement a comprehensive Crisis Action Plan; our on-site staff is well prepared to oversee the well-being of all attendees in case of any emergency situations. Our team was ready to move into action if security measures were necessary during this event.
Results
The event had no security issues despite the nearby protests. Our client and attendees’ reviews were favorable as all felt there was never a cause for concern given Miller Tanner Associates’ thorough safety protocols.
Leave your event’s security in the hands of the event professionals who have a plan of action in place to ensure that all bases are covered. Contact the Miller Tanner Team to discuss your event’s security needs.
One of the most effective ways that we’ve found to assess and engage your audience is by using an Audience Response System (ARS) to enhance your meeting.
Have your corporate events become stale? Are you looking to add a unique touch to your company’s meeting? Do you wish you had better engagement from your team? With the help of expert planners to guide you, you can design an event that is more personalized, exciting, and engaging for your attendees.
If you are looking for a creative approach to onboarding new employees, optimize your onboarding with video and visual content as part of your training.
You want to ensure that your event is effective and successful, right? One proven way to measure this is by using post-event surveys. Post-event surveys allow you to evaluate the return on the experience (ROE) so that you can continue to improve your participants’ experiences at future events.
The team at Miller Tanner has compiled some best practices for boosting your survey response rate in addition to optimizing with key questions that will best measure your meeting’s effectiveness. That way you can stay ahead of the curve in providing an event that meets both your goals and your attendees’ expectations.
3 Tactics to Boost Survey Response Rate
Association Now recommends using these tactics as a guide to help boost your survey response rate:
First, explain the importance of survey feedback so that the participants know that their input is valued and crucial to future event planning.
Be concise and simple. Limit to a small number, yet essential, questions and use a yes/no or multiple-choice format.
Have one open-ended question which allows participants to give more personalized feedback.
3 Powerful Open-ended Post-Event Survey Questions
Start Us Magazine lists post-event survey questions that can determine your meeting’s effectiveness. These three questions can drive a lot of insightful feedback from your participants.
#1 What is your level
of satisfaction for this event?
Start with a big picture question to get a sense of whether your participants were satisfied with the event experience overall. Use open-ended questions or create a scale (example: 1-10).
#2 What elements did
you like the most/dislike the most?
This is a powerful open-ended question that can give you a lot of insight into what resonated best with your participants. The answers might surprise you so make sure to create a list of the feedback to be applied when planning your next meeting. This allows you to also address any negative feedback that you might receive for improvement on future events.
#3 What was the
highlight?
This question is not only helpful for post-event surveys but also for multi-day events. If you are conducting daily surveys, using ARS or other engagement tools, during your meeting, this question allows you to effectively gauge what participants enjoyed the most – possibly allowing you to add the activity to the next day’s agenda. For example, if the highlight for a majority of your attendees was a 30-minute break for networking, consider adjusting the agenda to accommodate your participants’ interests.
Get Specific
If you want to be more targeted with your survey questions, Get Feedback offers these following post-event survey questions as a way to dial into the details. You can add a few of the following specific questions to your survey to generate more detailed feedback:
Which event or speaker were you most pleased
with?
Did you have ample time to network?
What can we do to make next year’s
conference even better?
What kind of speakers would you like to see
next year?
Do you feel as though the conference had a
cohesive message?
Did you learn actionable information that
will help you in your work life?
What features should we add to the event?
Be Concise
And if you’d like to keep your questions more scale-based, Meetingsnet offers these six post-event questions that will reveal the effectiveness of your meetings using a question set called the Event Performance Indices or EPI.Based on Meetingsnet’s analysis, using the combined set of the following six post-event questions will best reflect the effectiveness of your meeting:
How satisfied are you with the meeting’s overall value in helping you improve your on-the-job effectiveness?
How satisfied are you that the meeting was well worth the investment?
How satisfied are you with the overall meeting experience?
How satisfied are you that the meeting was motivating to you personally?
How satisfied are you with the quality of the education sessions at the meeting?
How satisfied are you with the quality of the networking opportunities at the meeting?
Summary
We’ve highlighted a few different ways to approach your post-event survey.
The bottom line: Every event needs a post-event survey in order to improve upon its success. Post-event surveys help you better understand the needs and wants of your audience, while also identifying how and where to focus your time and attention for future events. Your participants will value being heard, and likewise, you’ll gain insights for creating an experience that will leave them eager to attend your next event.
Our team can help design post-event surveys that measure your event’s effectiveness. Reach out to our associates to learn more.
In effort to help readers to summarize the information found within this post, we’ve recapitulated the article in question and answer form.
How Can I Get More Meeting Attendees to Respond to Survey Requests?
To begin, convey the significance of survey responses so that participants understand how important their contribution is to future event preparation. Second, keep it short and sweet. Use a yes/no or multiple-choice style answers and keep the number of questions to a minimum. Finally, have at least one open-ended question so that participants may provide more customized input.
What are Some Examples of Post-Event Survey Questions to Ask?
Begin by asking a broad question, such as “What is your level of satisfaction with this event?” to get a feel of whether your attendees were pleased with the entire event experience. “What aspects did you like/dislike the most?” is a strong open-ended question that may reveal a lot about what your participants appreciated (or didn’t appreciate) the most. “What was the highlight?” is an excellent open-ended question that works well for both post-event surveys and multi-day events.
What are Some Example Questions to Ask Post-Event to Get Specific Feedback?
Which event or speaker did you like the most? Did you have plenty of time to network with other attendees? What can we do to improve the conference next year? What kind of speakers or topics discussed would you want to see at the conference next year? Do you think the conference’s message was consistent?
What are Some Post-Event Questions to Ask to Discover the Effectiveness of a Conference?
What level of satisfaction do you have with the meeting’s overall value in terms of assisting you in improving your on-the-job effectiveness? How certain are you that the meeting was well worth your time and money? What level of satisfaction do you have with the entire meeting experience? How pleased are you that the meeting was personally motivating? How pleased are you with the quality of the meeting’s educational sessions?
Should I Conduct a Post-Event Survey After Every Major Convention?
In order to enhance the success of any event, it is necessary to conduct a post-event survey. Post-event surveys may help you better understand your audience’s requirements and desires, as well as where to concentrate your time and attention for future events. Your attendees will appreciate being heard, and you will get insights on how to create an experience that will entice them to attend your future event.
How We Provided Translation Options for a Virtual Event
Virtual events offer an affordable, efficient method for delivering key messaging. The goal of a virtual event is to spread a consistent message where a smaller budget and time constraints might apply. Miller Tanner Associates aims to simulate the key elements of a face-to-face meeting – interpretation being one of those essential elements. When a client wants to offer interpretation to a select group of attendees, it is our job to make sure that happens with ease.
THE CHALLENGE
Virtual platforms introduce a few challenges. Unfortunately, these platforms rarely have multiple audio channels that allow attendees to choose their preferred language translation. For this reason, advanced virtual event translation is important. Additionally, the slides shared with the audience and translation must match the timing of the presenter. The message and instruction to attendees need to be coordinated accurately with the presentation, polling questions, and any attendee interaction with the presenters via text.
THE SOLUTION
Miller Tanner Associates (MTA) has designed a creative solution that meets the translation needs of the attendees.
MTA uses a suite of virtual products that allows us to open multiple meeting platforms and isolate the features in each one.
Our solution offers local and toll-free numbers for countries around the world providing added convenience to attendees during a 4-hour session.
We provide thorough instructions on how to connect for interpretation prior to the meeting, and within housekeeping slides during the meeting.
We also provide presentations and recordings to our interpreters days prior to the meeting, allowing them the opportunity to study the content and presentations.
THE RESULTS
Our clients and their attendees are equally important to us and our primary objective is to provide ease during any eventface-to-face, virtual or hybrid events. Using ingenuity, we provided a simple, creative solution for our client which enabled the attendees to listen to a very difficult protocol in their native language while ensuring a better understanding of the study.
Contact our team of experienced event planners to learn more about translation solutions for your virtual events.
The Miller Tanner difference is our people. That’s why we want to introduce you to our team of superstars that brings our corporate meetings and events to life for our customers.
Today, we introduce you to Carrie Hui, Global Experience Manager – Events. Carrie, fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin, is a highly-valued member of our Asia-Pacific team based in Hong Kong. She is always willing to take on new challenges to support the Global Experiences Team in delivering a successful outcome for our customers.
We’ve curated a mash-up of some of our best blogs with tips for creating successful meetings in the life sciences industry. Use these strategies from the Miller Tanner Team to improve and maximize your meeting’s capabilities.
Miller Tanner Associates (MTA) Chief Compliance Officer Mary Long shares the challenges and best practices for addressing compliance when planning investigator meetings (IM). Read more.
Find out how Miller Tanner Associates partnered with our client to develop solutions to improve the training process for a more successful clinical trial. Read more.
Training, continuity in training messages, and documentation of training are all critical components of a successful clinical study. Learn how to maximize your training strategy. Read more.
We survey every investigator meeting participant so that we can better meet your attendees’ expectations. Here are a few ways you can deliver an exceptional meeting to your medical professional attendees. Read more
The Miller Tanner difference is our people. That’s why we want to introduce you to our team of superstars that bring our corporate meetings and events to life for our clients. Today we introduce you to Senior Global Experience Manager Julie Hagan. With her extensive background in managing a variety of event types, along with her invaluable sense of humor, Julie makes event planning look like a walk in the park; however, behind the scenes, she is skillfully arranging each event’s staffing needs like a pro.
Meet Julie Hagan
Tell us about your current role with Miller Tanner Associates (MTA)? What are your primary responsibilities?
As a senior global experience manager, I work with an incredible team of global experience designers and specialists. One of my primary responsibilities is assigning our team members to our client meetings – both for face-to-face and virtual programs. Staffing is all about aligning our experienced planners with clients to create seamless experiences.
How long have you been with MTA? I have had the pleasure of working at MTA for the past 15 years.
What did you do before joining MTA?
The majority of work I did before joining MTA was in the non-profit sector. I had the opportunity to plan everything from incentive trips and advisory board meetings to international conventions and leadership trainings.
What’s the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is working alongside the amazing Miller Tanner Associates team members. We truly have the best humans on our team hands down.
What’s been your favorite event destination as an event planning professional?
Top favorites on my list for event destinations are Barcelona, Budapest, Berlin, Cape Town, Melbourne, and San Francisco!
Julie in Athens
What’s been your most memorable destination to date and why?
Athens, Greece was always on my bucket list and I’m so lucky that I was able to plan a meeting there. Being able to say I’ve touched the Parthenon is pretty cool. I never dreamed my job would create that opportunity, but it did!
Do you have a few great travel tips that you could share?
Dress comfortably, pack light and always carry an extra toothbrush.
What do you do for fun?
I love sports! I enjoy watching my Ole Miss Rebels, Tennessee Titans, and Nashville Predators. As of recent, I’ve even been seen clapping a time or two for my husband’s Georgia Bulldogs (shhh!).
What do you enjoy most about living in Tennessee?
I’m originally from a small town north of Nashville. I grew up in the same house where my great grandparents first lived. My parents still live in the same house and although the Barbie dolls and Def Leppard posters are gone, my room is always waiting for me when I go back.
I currently reside in Nashville and have to say, it is the best “small town, big city”. It’s known as Music City USA, Nashvegas, The Athens of the South, and Smashville – but I just call it HOME. I love it!
What’s your favorite aspect of MTA?
Our annual face-to-face MTA Workshop is my favorite. Once a year, our company has the chance to gather together to train, learn, and strengthen our professional skills. The outstanding spur-of-the-moment dance parties are pretty fun too. It has been awesome to watch our team grow year after year.
What makes Miller Tanner Associates stand out as a meeting planning company?
We are made up of a collective group of outstanding people that truly care about the experiences we create for our clients. At MTA there is always a time to foster learning, share a smile, and make an impact.
IT’S GOOD TO SHARE.
Our Latest Insights for life sciences meetings/events
Market challenges. Best practices. Tips & insights gathered over 27 years.
