Event Planners: Captivate by Design (Part IV: The Climax)

Published September 18, 2013 | By ncmarsh

Event Planners: Captivate by Design

Part IV: The Climax

Nathan Coe Marsh

This is part four of a five part series that applies insight from the world of entertainment to the structure of effective, captivating events. Take a look at Part I before proceeding further.

Climax

For the showman, this is the phase where we do the thing we know they’ll be talking about weeks later; “I saw a guy who…” For the planner, the same is true. What is the signature experience or message of your meeting? Now that you’ve grabbed their attention and built rapport, it is time to bring the message home.

This is the spot for the stronger / most anticipated of your keynotes.

Why not make the strongest the very last? For performers, often that strongest piece will elicit stunned silence; they may sit back and process what they’ve just seen or pull their jaws off of the ground. And we want to end with something that focuses the energy how we want it to be focused, has them feeling great about the performer, and ready to jump up and cheer.

For the planner, the considerations are somewhat the same. You want attendees to have time to process the key message together; and you want the final memory of the conference to be one of connection and high energy. Which leads us to next week’s segment: Release and Re-connection.

The Best is Yet to come!