Table Assignments - Goodbye Generic Networking at Conferences … Hello Genuine Connections
Event planners are missing a huge opportunity for success if they’re ignoring strategic seating. Successful events aren’t just planned, they’re actually designed. And seating is one of the areas where we can take from good to great.
It’s Not Who You Know…It’s Where You Sit
When it comes to large-scale corporate events or conferences, your attendees’ seats really do matter. Where you seat your attendees can actually make or break the success of your event and determine whether or not someone leaves you a glowing 9 or 10 rating on their feedback card, or a melancholy 4 or 5.
Why? Because relationships matter.
Strategic seating is the secret sauce to a successful event. It’s about creating an environment where meaningful connections can flourish.
Less Cliquey, More Connections
So, how do you avoid your conference turning into the high school cafeteria and instead more closely resemble a buzzing think tank? It’s in the art of subtly organizing your attendees in a strategic way that appears accidental or organic…but absolutely isn’t.
Let’s break down the why first, and then we’ll get to the how.
The Right Seat at the Right Table
In our research, we found that nearly 85% of people surveyed say they leave conferences with new friends. Networking is crucial, and proper arrangements facilitate that. Dynamic seating at your next event encourages:
- Maximized Engagement — breaking out of that familiar clique encourages participation from attendees and gets the room moving and engaged.
- Strategic Networking — your attendees are making the right connections, and they’re branching out from chatting with familiar faces and instead mingling with new professional contacts relevant to their goals.
- Knowledge Sharing — seats assigned based on industry, or cross-pollinating expertise, fosters collective thinking that makes events more valuable for attendees.
Curated Affinity Conversations
Now, let’s get into the how of it all.
Large scale events can truly be the epicenter of big thinking and innovation. It's so important for us as event planners to create an environment where peers and colleagues can share experiences and challenges. Incredible solutions can come from these types of engagements.
Leverage the influence in your large-scale event by:
- Researching your attendees ahead of time — if possible, familiarize yourself with your attendees’ registration information, visit their LinkedIn profiles and learn more about their affiliations, interests and current projects. We’ve assigned seating for more than 150 attendees before, strategically positioning folks based on interests, careers and even specific personality traits! Hard work? Oh yeah. Worth it? Definitely.
- Identifying the anchors — aim to have one industry leader per table to help facilitate or guide conversation in a fluid way. And remember, there’s no shame in communicating this with them ahead of time!
- Mixing experience levels — strategically stack your table with people at all stages of their careers to vary the level of insight into the conversations. Pro tips … assign your VIP tables first. Who do you want sitting with your CEO, President or CCO? Who should sit with the Head of Sales or your CMO? What relationships need to be made or furthered? And remember, knowing who shouldn’t sit together is just as important as knowing who should sit together.
- Providing conversation starters — employ “table topics” and conversation prompt cards or identify problems for each table to mull over to spark appropriate discussions.
- Rotating seating — over the course of the conference, change up the seating arrangement to facilitate new connections and new ways of discussing certain topics.
- Allowing for choice — in some settings, labeling tables by topic and discussion leader can ensure folks are sitting in place that will hold conversations relevant to their interests. Be sure to have a mix of personality types at each table. The right combination of extroverts and introverts keeps the conversations both flowing and comfortable.
Imagine walking into a room filled with industry leaders, innovators and influencers. The buzz of conversation is electric, and connections are being made that could change the future of your business. This isn’t just any event—it’s a strategically designed networking powerhouse.
Let’s Get Practical
From the existential to the practical — often you can achieve all of the above with a few simple tweaks.
- Tables should be big, but not too big. We think 6-8 people is the perfect number to host meaningful conversations where everyone involved can contribute.
- Round tables provide the most inclusion. No one is relegated to the dreadful corner seat at the end!
- The sound level of the event’s background music should be kept in mind. Attendees should be able to comfortably converse with one another.
- Engaging props or activities on the tables can prompt conversation and give the more socially anxious among us something to fiddle with. Think fidget toys, small whiteboards and markers, building toys or event bingo cards.
Gone are the days of generic networking. Facilitating thoughtful relationships at your next large-scale event starts now.
Don’t leave your event’s success to chance. Start planning your seating arrangements strategically today and you'll see (and hear) what a difference it makes with your attendees' experience.