Do Not Skip Dessert: Kirsner's 12 Rules for Successful Events

I'm not an event planner, but I've spoken at, moderated at, or helped assemble the agendas for 300+ conferences and events over the years.

Here are 12 things that even really experienced event planners sometimes overlook. I think these are "immutable truths" of in-person gatherings. Ignore them at your own peril...

1. Give people name tags. Even if you’re using the stick-on “Hello My Name Is” variety, name tags are essential for any gathering that involves people not in your immediate family. (Yes, I have been to 100+ person events where for some reason they have not used name tags.)

2. Coffee is not just for mornings. People appreciate having access to coffee and tea in the afternoons.

3. Don't be reluctant to bribe people to create a participatory vibe. Small prizes like a hat or bag or commuter mug are great for rewarding the person who asks the first question, proposes the first topic for a lunch table discussion or “birds of a feather” session, or to use as part of a drawing for one lucky person who fills out your feedback form at the end of the conference.

4. Don’t hide your panelists behind big tables, or your speakers behind podiums. It’s boring and stiff.  

5. Serve dessert after lunch. Or serve it during an afternoon break. Even if it’s just milk and cookies. (Serve up some fruit for people who like that sort of thing.) People like dessert. It makes them feel taken care of.

6. The divas don’t show up. In my experience, the speakers who have the most demands and questions; require the most pre-event conversations; get you intimately involved in their travel arrangements; and have the longest email threads with the most assistants cc’ed are the ones who are most likely to cancel at the last minute.

7. I have a “one strike rule” on speakers who cancel. One time, I gave a speaker who bailed a second chance — someone who’d been a regular moderator at the event told me she would ensure he'd show up — and he bailed a second time. That reinforced to me that people who don’t feel it’s important to honor their commitments don’t suddenly change their stripes. I’m hard and fast on this now. I don’t care what the reason for the cancellation is.

8. Everyone hates it when your event runs late. The speakers and moderators hate it. The attendees hate it. The food service staff and the venue hate it.  Be clear with moderators and keynote speakers that you need to end on time. Build in more time than you think you need for breaks (ideally a half hour) and lunch so you can get back on schedule if you are running a bit late. (Also - not starting the program early in the morning can give you a leg up. A longer breakfast and a 9:30 or 10 AM program start time gives your team a chance to get things organized, get everyone checked in, and helps attendees deal with morning traffic.) There’s nothing worse than a 5 PM cocktail hour that starts at 6:15 because your team couldn’t run the event on time.

9. Dark rooms make people want to go to sleep. Try to dim only the part of the room you need to dim when someone’s showing slides of videos. Try to bring in extra lighting if for some reason your stage is in part of the room that’s not well-lit. (Strangely, a lot of expensive hotels have ballrooms with lighting geared more to glamorous wedding receptions rather than daytime conferences.)

10. If people are standing up, say at a cocktail party, do not subject them to more than 10 minutes of speeches, thank you’s, sponsor messages, etc. (If you need to talk at people for longer than 10 minutes, let them sit down.)

11. I think people’s perception of how good an event is correlates to how much they got to meet other people, feel part of a community, and ask questions — not how many great speakers you line up for them to listen to passively. So let people talk to each other. Give it a bit of structure, rather than just “networking breaks.” There are a lot of ways to do this, but one easy way is to give people five minutes at the start of the day to introduce themselves to a neighbor they don’t know, find out where they work, where they live, and why they’re at the event. Or to ask people to spend five minutes talking with a neighbor at the end of the day, and reflect on one big idea they’re going to take away from the event — or come up with an idea for the next gathering that they’ll share with you. Letting people suggest table discussion topics for breakfast or lunch gives them a way to participate in the agenda — rather than listening quietly while a keynoter yammers on. Respect the fact that your audience showed up to be there in person and participate!

12. People will come up to you with all kinds of ideas and last-minute requests during the event. Some you may find it easy to say “yes” to. But it’s OK to say no, or “I’d love to think about that for our next event.”

What else would you add to this list? I’d love to see one or two of your immutable truths.