At Modern Learners, we believe the purpose of events is to grow, change, and learn! In order to design an effective learning event, we start by asking our clients a lot of event design questions. We want you to be successful. We know events facilitate connections. Connections provide opportunities to learn more. Learning more together builds community. Building community leads to a stronger, more sustainable impact.
And we know having an impact is your goal.
Our list of event design questions is not all-inclusive. Thinking about these questions early on will make the designing and planning much more enjoyable. Also, the answers to these questions drive the team’s task lists.
Event Design questions: this is just a start
- What is the organization’s goal in providing this learning experience?
- Who is the intended audience?
- Who do you intend to serve through the event?
- Who is not invited? Why?
- What are the predictable goals attendees will have in coming to the experience?
- Are they wanting to learn a new skill?
- Do they intend to meet new people doing similar work?
- Are they coming because it is required?
- How will you source the content for the event?
- What are the goals of the people delivering or facilitating content?
- Are the content providers entertainers and/or teachers?
- Are the content providers selling something or meeting a deliverable?
- Are they sharing their passion and experience to help others do the same?
- Do they intend to persuade people into thinking or doing something specific?
- Is the event a revenue generator?
- Is the event a team-building event?
- Does it meet a deliverable for a major project or initiative?
- Does this event serve to retain existing members or clients in a product or service or recruit new people?
- What will the attendees be encouraged to do after the event?
- Will there be a need for a new or existing product or service to be developed?
- Will people register but not show up?
- What comes after people register before the event starts?
- Will you provide a recording of the live experience?
- Can we communicate this content through email? Or maybe a recorded video? Is it necessary to bring people together at a specific time and specific place?
- Will there be a time for attendees to connect?
- Do attendees have agency over their experience?
- Will the event be online, hybrid, or in-person?
- When will the event take place?
- Did you check for overlap with religious holidays?
- How many people do you anticipate in attendance?
- Do online attendees choose when their video and audio is shared? What is the expectation?
- Do you have adequate video and audio equipment?
- Do you have staging?
- Do you have a production crew?
- Do you have an emcee? A DJ?
- If hybrid, how will you help the people at home feel included? Do you have enough staffing for two hosts?
- How will the experiences for online attendees and at-home attendees be alike and how will they be different?
- What accessibility features may your attendees need?
- Will the audiences connect?
- Do you have that feedback survey ready to go?
- Does the survey state your goals and explicitly ask if those goals were met?
- Do you give attendees an opportunity to tell you if they met their personal goals?
- To what extent will the questions you ask have an impact on future events or offerings?
- Will you make an offer for the attendees to take the next step in their learning?
- Do you have that offer ready to go?
- Do you have a debrief with the team set up?
- What data will you examine and what are the sources of that data?
- Do you need to follow up with speakers, session presenters, vendors?
- What feedback will you seek from speakers, session presenters, vendors?
- What data will you share with speakers, session presenters, vendors?
- Do you have a plan for processing event media?
- Where will you store it?
- Who has access to it and for how long do they have access?
- Will this event or a similar version be repeated? Why or why not? And When?
- What technology will you leverage for registration?
- What technology will you leverage for the online or hybrid pieces of the event?
- What technology will you leverage for the stage production?
- What technology will you leverage for engagement?
- How will you market the event or opportunity?
- Will you have sponsors or vendors?
- What is the value you will provide to sponsors and vendors?
- What sustainability elements can you explore and implement?
- What is your budget?
- Will you utilize volunteers for important roles during the event?
- How will you train or onboard the volunteers?
- Who will help you with all this work?
Need some help with designing your event? No worries! You can start by reading our post on designing learning experiences. Also, Modern Learners is a certified partner with Hopin, so we can help with the design and the tech!
Our team would love to help you! Contact us today!
