6 Awesome Event Concepts That You Will Want to Duplicate

Nothing has driven the events industry in recent years more than delegates’ craving for memorable experiences. Business leaders and scholars have put a label on this social force – the Experience Economy – economy that is fuelled by demand for live experiences, not physical goods.

Eventbrite recently ran research that revealed 78% of millennials would rather spend money on live experiences than material things. And with millennials becoming the most populous part of society, and obviously of audiences too, this represents an optimistic outlook for event planners. But it’s not that easy. Audiences are getting more and more demanding.

For this reason, event planners are in constant search of new ideas that will awe clients and create powerful experiences for delegates.

With this in mind, I’ve scoured the internet to find the event concepts that have succeeded in orchestrating meaningful experiences. I’ll stop rambling here. You’ve come for inspiration, not theorizing. Enjoy.

1. Secrecy-Based Events

These events are based on two things; the secrecy of impenetrable societies that elicit curiosity, and the unique location where they take place. The location is kept top secret and often revealed only a couple of hours before the event kicks off, to heighten expectation.

The Lost Lectures

The Lost Lectures is the underground series that hosts enchanting talks in secret locations. The organizers re-imagine the lecture concept, pushing its boundaries by creating immersive worlds and unforgettable experiences with world-class speakers.

The Lost Lectures planners take attendees from ordinary corporate and academic environments and bring them into secret hideouts where an engaging program line and mind-altering experiences await them.

Cinema Royal

The Czech-based project, Cinema Royal, works with a similar concept. Film projections take place in locations that have often laid abandoned for years. The venue is designed to bring the film atmosphere to life. To enforce the experience, actors stage live acts that pull the attendees in and allow them to live the storyline.

Everything is kept top secret up to the very last moment. The attendees who have signed up receive only cues about the film and instructions for the dress code. The organizers gather attendees at a meeting point and then transport them to the actual event site.

2. Silent Conferences

I’m sure you have heard about silent discos by now – the parties at which participants equipped with wireless headphones dance silently to one of the playing DJs. Motivated by positive audience acceptance, conference organizers started incorporating wireless headphone technology at their conferences.

Sounds weird? Well maybe at first, but using headphones solves some of the most common problems including:

Lack of break-out rooms – wireless headphone systems enable a room full of delegates to break off into smaller groups, each hearing a different presentation, all in one room at the same time.

Lack of attention – in the noisy exhibition halls, you can broadcast your content straight to your attendees without getting your message lost.

3. Unconferences

Invented by the Silicon Valley techies as an alternative to conventional conferences, unconferences are participant-driven meetings that put the reins into the hands of participants.

• There is no agenda or program before the conference.

• The agenda is created by the participants at the outset of the meeting based on the event theme announced by the facilitator.

• Attendees write topics they’re interested in on boards, consolidate the topics, and then form discussion groups.

• Any participant who wants to start a discussion on a topic can claim a time and space.

• Unconferences are typically composed of open discussions rather than a single speaker giving a presentation

4.Light-Speed Presentations

• events involve a series of short five-minute stand-up talks, usually 8-15 sessions in total.

• It’s an opportunity to see “elevator pitches” by the creatives, students, researchers or start-ups who want to spread their new innovative ideas.

• The event concept is quite egalitarian and can be preceded by an open call for presentations.

• Audiences can get exposed to a large number of inspiring ideas in a very short time.

5. Project-Based Events

The tech scene doesn’t bring innovation only in its own field; project-orientated software engineers like to get things done, and they inject this mantra into their events too.

Startup Weekends

Startup Weekends are 54-hour long events where developers, designers, marketers and product managers come together to share ideas, form teams, build prototypes and ultimately launch startups.

During this weekend-long event, attendees have a chance to learn through the act of creation; they come up with a strategy, build a prototype and test it on the go.

Startup Weekends attract the local tech and entrepreneurial companies. By working in teams, attendees can start building strong relationships with potential co-workers or investors.

Hackathon/Thinkathon/Editathon

These coding, brainstorming, editing marathons bring together people from the same field or internal teams to work collaboratively on a specific project.

They last from one day to a whole week.

They have a tangible goal that they strive to achieve, such as to develop a usable software, brainstorm a list of innovative ideas, or edit a specific topic or type of content.

6. Knowledge Cafe

A Knowledge Café or World Café is a type of business meeting or organizational workshop that taps into the collective knowledge of participants and helps them share ideas and gain a deeper understanding of the subject and issues involved.

Knowledge Cafe usually kicks off with a facilitator spending 10-15 minutes outlining the subject or theme of the Café and then poses a single open-ended question.

The group then breaks up into small groups of about five each and discusses the questions for about 45 minutes. Then everyone comes back together for the final 45 minutes where each group shares its thoughts.

Optionally in the small group sessions, people change tables every 15 minutes to increase the number of people they get to interact with and thus gain knowledge of the differing perspectives of groups.