What Story is Your Event Telling?
Do you love a good story? Do you want your attendees leaving your event telling everyone how amazing it was? Weaving storytelling into your event helps make it more memorable. Thus associating your event and your organization with these memories.
Any site visit to New Orleans showcases the history of this city and this region. For an event several years ago, every hotel we visited, every restaurant we tried, every sales and service person from the New Orleans CVB, to one of their many great hotels or staff from Hosts Global DMC, had a story to share. Which they naturally did! So much so, that it quickly became apparent that we needed to work this deep connection with storytelling into the theme for that year’s conference.
This also happened to be around the time that marketing – whether events, products or services – was truly catching on that storytelling was key to brand marketing. More and more, educators were recognizing the value in utilizing storytelling in the classroom. It sparks student interest, makes material memorable and builds rapport between student and teacher. Storytelling is the oldest form of teaching and can bond communities. How perfect is that for any conference focused on education and building community?
As with any theme, we took it and ran with it! And we asked every sponsor to weave it into their presentations or the events they were hosting.
Evening events came alive!
- The National WWII Museum tells of the American experience in World War II from Victory Gardens to vehicles and you can revisit the stories of heroes they have in a digital archive.
- Throughout another night, the history of music in New Orleans incorporated the wide variety of music genres at different venues as well as the during transitions to each venue. Jazz, blues, Mardi Gras Indians, zydeco, gospel, a drum line and a Second Line.
- The final evening was all about bedtime stories. (I unofficially called it “Dr. Seuss on crack!”). Starting with greeters in pajamas to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz taking you on a yellow brick road up the stairs to Peter Pan’s Neverland. Dr. Seuss areas included enormous 10’ puffballs from Horton Hears a Who. One Fish – Two Fish – Red Fish – Blue Fish bar and margaritas (with gummy fish). Giant trampoline beds from The Cat in the Hat. A pillow fight fundraiser. The evening closed out with dancing in Alice in Wonderland with a Mad Hatter dj. (Bonus? Our onsite team were comfortable because we let everyone order the fuzzy animal slipper of their choice. Most comfortable evening footwear EVER!)
Educational content and networking areas wove storytelling throughout the conference.
- Campfires with attendees sharing challenges and brainstorming solutions
- Keynote speaker, Dear World’s Robert Fogarty, photographed attendees who wrote their stories on their hands, arms and face because sharing your story is important
- Ekaterina Walter speaking on the power of visual storytelling to market your brand
- The Moth teaching thirty lucky individuals the art of telling their own stories
- Utilizing graphic recorders to capture the content
- Dice with story prompts and storytelling thumbballs on foyer tables
- Conversation cards at each seat at lunch to prompt discussion topics
- Asking attendees to share their own Six Word Memoirs
- Happiness seeker. Proud mom. Superhero creator.
- Wait to pack till travel day.
- Living the journey. Grateful, happy, blessed.
- I don’t know what mine is!
Your event needs to be memorable…and according to McGregor and Holmes in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, thematic storytelling helps make information more memorable. Intentionally deliver stories throughout your event. You want your event to create memories. You want people to remember where they met that valuable new peer. Where they learned that awesome information. Where they ran across that new product. What stories are you telling with your events?
