Great conferences aren’t created overnight. Really successful events take a year or more to plan and decades to build their reputation.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t manageable steps you can take today to make your upcoming conference a remarkable experience.

Keep on reading to discover five simple ways to deliver an iconic conference experience today.

1. Put your conference-goers at the centre of everything

Attendees want to know they’re being heard and cared for. But with so much focus on budgets, ticket sales, and speaker fees, it can be easy to forget that attendees are real people.

But, thanks to innovative event technology, it doesn’t take much to give your attendees amazing service. Using an event registration platform that integrates with your CRM and marketing tools, for example, means you can refer to an attendee by name and organisation when communicating with them. And if they attended previous conferences, you can even welcome them back.

These little touches add up to make your attendee feel like the centre of your universe.

Related: The Benefits of RFID for Conferences and Business Events

2. Speak your attendees’ language in your marketing

Large conferences cater to people who attend for a variety of different reasons. A real estate conference, for example, might offer educational sessions to graduate surveyors that count towards their continuous professional development (CPD). Whereas more experienced Chartered Surveyors will be more inclined to register for more advanced sessions.

This complexity would make it difficult to deliver a cohesive experience if it weren’t for audience segmentation (based on shared traits, such as location) and targeted advertising.

By segmenting those looking specifically at CPD accredited sessions from the Chartered Surveyors, the real estate conference’s marketing team can enhance the experience for their attendee segments, beginning with targeted ads highlighting offers that appeal to their specific interests.

3. Help attendees connect with sponsors

Sponsors provide a necessary extra boost to your budget and event. But if conference-goers need to fill out paper forms or spreadsheets at a sponsor’s activation, they will probably think twice about engaging, regardless of how valuable the experience is to them.

RFID badges or bracelets remove that barrier by making it super easy for attendees to give their contact information with a simple swipe or tap. Attendees will enjoy the streamlined process and you will enjoy the rewards when sponsors see all the leads they generated.

Related: The 10 Best Ways to Win (and Retain) Event Sponsors

4. Harness the power of mobile event apps

You might have tried mobile event apps in the past with mixed success. But with features like push notifications, for example, you can help attendees get relevant updates and reminders that keep them engaged. And if people aren’t looking at the speaker during a presentation, consider asking them to weigh in on live polls or submit questions for the Q&A.

Event apps with networking and messaging capabilities help attendees become part of the larger community, while notifications and live polling help engage them online.

Related: 4 Mobile Event Apps To Enhance The Conference Experience

5. Ditch the fads.

A gift bag stuffed with useless items can negatively affect your conference brand. But if you make it part of your planning process, you’ll be able to come up with ideas that set your event apart and actually impress people, instead of weighing them down with extra stuff.

For example, if your attendees are interested in networking at the happy hour you planned, including conversation starters printed on reusable tumblers will add more to the experience than a simple logo.

What’s trending today is out of date tomorrow and if your branded goodies are an afterthought, there’s more at risk than a bin full of fidget spinners.

Related: 20 Creative Formats to Refresh Your Conference in 2018

Boldly go where no conference has gone before

Once you deliver an amazing experience, conference-goers will expect you to do it again. Unfortunately, repeating exactly what you did at your last conference will get old fast.

Learn how to create a sustainable differentiation strategy for your conference with The Executive’s Guide to Creating an Out of This World Conference.