BCD Meetings & Events’ new Design Trends & Innovation Report is a blueprint for intentional event design, covering topics ranging from bespoke meetings to audience segmentation to transformational experiences.
Following are three tenets of a topic in the report that everyone is talking about—transformational experiences:
Attendees seek self-actualization
In part due to unprecedented levels of disposable income in all age brackets, audiences are fulfilling their fundamental needs sooner than ever before in an average lifetime. As these basic and psychological needs are being met earlier and sooner, the desire to reach our fullest potential—self-actualization—increases. From this perspective, it’s the very motivational theory we credit to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Meetings are an opportunity
Members of all generations have the desire and capacity to grow as individuals. Meetings and events are uniquely positioned to fulfill those needs by providing opportunities for learning and discovery, changing perspectives, and building a strong sense of community. Value propositions are therefore found in transformational experiences. Build peak authentic experiences and incorporate content that resonates. Shift your resources to focus on feelings of euphoria, joy and wonder.
Move beyond gifts and entertainment
If your way of surprising and delighting attendees is often centered around goods or items, make them very meaningful. Or, rather than physical takeaways, consider creating a-ha moments that support the realization or fulfillment of one’s talents and potentialities. The goal should not be to entertain, but to make a lasting impression via moments of epiphany throughout the journey.
