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Delegate Journey Mapping

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Delegates have varying experiences, how to journey map for the best results

It’s a common situation one delegate had an extremely valuable experience at an event, while another delegate felt the event did not deliver on its promise.

That’s because there are some variables that cannot be controlled, for example, perceptions. We all know that people see the world differently.  Delegates with the same background and profile have different perceptions of their event experience.  Delegate A expected the content to be more detailed while delegate B is pleased with the depth of content.  This situation could also have been impacted during the pre-event marketing phase and expectations set through messaging.

What can be done to limit poor delegate experiences ?

Conference and Incentive Travel provide some great tips to engage delegates at events.  It’s also important that the planning stage includes a methodology that plots out these tactics.  The tool we use helps influence perceptions and set realistic expectations it’s simply called delegate journey mapping. The benefits of mapping out every possible touch point a delegate, speaker, exhibitor and salesperson experiences certainly outweighs the time spent building it.

To save time for our clients we have a standard journey map that features the most common touch points.  We then layer this with specifics from our client’s brief. Our journey map is based on 100’s of events from small round tables to large conferences with exhibitor floors.

We find that journey mapping is most beneficial for organisations exhibiting at 3rd party events. It’s an excellent bridging tool between sales and marketing. It may seem obvious, but it simplifies communication between them.  A great example is the lead generation process. It’s a common practice that business cards are scanned as opposed to sitting in sales people’s pockets, but this practice is often overlooked.  A delegate journey map provides sales with an ideal journey the prospect should be experiencing on the stand and why.

Our delegate journey map also explores beyond the event itself.   It addresses the delegates recollection of the event when they return to their office and the effect it has beyond the day after that and beyond that again.

It may seem like an obvious method to have control over delegate experiences but often it’s a missing piece from the planning and execution phase.

Drop me a line if you would like to review our basic journey map, I would be happy to walk you through it. Email Stacey at stacey@bestcasescenario.com.au

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