Focus on the small details to turn any event into a remarkable experience

Pre-plan the experience to extract maximum value from it
The first step is to identify your attendees. Research every single attendee so that you know who they are and what they do. Then send out questionnaires in advance so that they can fill in what they hope to gain, who they want to meet, and the projects they’re working on. You can also let them know who else is attending the event. Create a seating arrangement based on who you think should meet. Alternatively, you can allow people to switch tables after every 15 minutes so that attendees can talk to as many people as possible.

Determine the type of experience you’re providing
It can be a fishing trip, a small dinner, a night of bingo, or a conference. The important thing is to ensure that there’s as little friction as possible and everything feels seamless. You can have staff members facilitate introductions among guests based on who should meet who. You can make it a requirement for attendees to refrain from asking each other about their job titles until the very end of the event. This alleviates insecurities about job positions and allows people to mingle freely.

Follow up with attendees after the experience
Send a thank-you note, gift, or email to attendees after the event. The email can have questions such as: Did you meet everyone you wanted to? If not, can we help you make the intro? Do you need any other information? What could we have done better? You can also send everyone a list of all the attendees so that they can keep track of each other.