Building a connection with your attendees is half the battle of any event. Top planners have many secret weapons to connect with attendees, including the ever-popular and effective “surprise and delight” moments to deliver personalized, branded gifts to guests. Not only does customized gifting elevate brand awareness, but it also enhances attendee engagement, ultimately making the overall experience more memorable.
So when is the right time to gift attendees to ensure the connections being built feel authentic? How can you use gifts to generate a great ROI on your event? Here, we’ll walk planners through gifting ideas for each step of an event:
Before the Event
By sending swag before an event, you’re able to extend the experience and your interactions with attendees—plus, it helps build buzz, which can lead to increased interest and registrations. Incorporating gift giveaways for event attendees or promoting these themed-gifting activations via social media will help your event gather momentum before it’s even begun!
Items like a duffel bag or Ray-Ban sunglasses are both perfect for traveling and make for great gifting choices prior to an event. In the same vein, a tech taco is a practical gift to help your attendees organize all those cords for charging devices, while a pocket journal is a nice keepsake as well as useful for the attendee who wants a portable way to take notes.
During the Event
Offering gifts the day of an event creates a physical activation that deepens the relationship between participants and the brand. How? One way is to cater to their anticipated needs. For example, attendees are bound to get thirsty, so the perfect gift fix would be a customized water bottle. After a long day of amazing sessions and speakers, a bit of relaxing is in order. You can give the gift of comfort with a neck wrap or scented candle. Another idea: A portable phone charger can help attendees manage low-battery issues throughout the day. No matter which route you take, it’s important to gift items that are not only useful but that will actually enhance attendees’ experience during the event as well.
After the Event
Planners can keep the conversation alive post-event with more swag. By reminding participants of the themes of the event through gifting, you’re encouraging them to remain engaged with the brand or network. Planners can even use it as an opportunity to increase user-generated content by encouraging post-event social media posts from attendees. How about sending socks, for example? Every time your attendees wear them, they’ll remember the experience they had at your event—and it’s likely they wind up on an Instagram Story or two. Or, Swag.com offers a mint grow kit or succulent to nurture, which can make for long-lasting reminders that double as home decor.
Bonus: Gifting for Virtual Events
Sending swag to guests attending an event virtually is also a popular way to make the experience more immersive for those sitting at home or in the office. For remote gifting, Swag.com can send gifts to locations around the world with its swag gifting platform. This allows Swag to help event planners reach their audience before and after events to ensure they are leaving a lasting impact on attendees.
The lesson here? Don’t underestimate the power of gifting—whether it’s friends, family or hundreds of attendees. Swag.com’s gifting platform allows organizers to send custom gifts in bulk, or to individual locations around the world, making it an event planner’s best friend when it comes to easy brand activations.
To learn more about our event gifting solutions or how the Swag.com team can help event pros crush their gifting projects, please fill out the form below and one of our expert swag representatives will be in touch shortly!
