Sarah Fejfar 0:00
But to have that special, little unexpected moment, during the day, when you're out and about, and it's hot and have the truck pull up and that fun, quirky music play is so special and it's memorable.
Sarah Fejfar 0:21
And I bring that up because surprise and delight moments when we build them into our events. It increases customer loyalty. And that leads to more purchases and larger purchases, and increased engagement with your brand. And all that happens because surprise and delight moments they tug at our emotional heartstrings. It's an unexpected reward. Our entrepreneurs like us daring bravely to build a stage, ditch the sweat pants, and step up to the mic.
Sarah Fejfar 1:03
How do we create our own transformative offense? So we can get our message out into the world in a bigger way. It's not only profitable, but it's actually something we can be proud of.
Sarah Fejfar 1:15
That's the question and the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central.
Sarah Fejfar 1:23
I just got home from about seven weeks on the road with my family. We've been taking these extended summer road trips every year since we moved to Portland. So this is our fourth. We love to take these trips because we visit family and our favorite places in Minnesota and Wisconsin where we used to live and vacation. So it's a good time. And we always try to make stops along the way to see some new places. And on our way home on this trip.
Sarah Fejfar 1:57
We stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies. Now if you haven't heard of this gym, it's in Colorado. About I don't know maybe a couple hours north of Denver. It's in Estes Park. It's 100 No 800. It's 800 acres, surrounded on three sides by the Rocky Mountain National Park. And it houses up to 5000 people a night during the peak summer season. Wow. Right? I mean, this place is spectacular. It's got crafts. For Kids and adults. It's got activities. I mean, we're talking kickball dining hall, elk grazing in the lawn, cabins and lodge rooms and oh my goodness, I was totally wild.
Sarah Fejfar 2:53
And it's about 10 minutes from maybe less from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. I mean, this place is a family vacation. Like, gym, for sure. But I digress. That is not what we're talking about today. Today we're talking about surprising and delighting event guests. And I bring up the YMCA of the Rockies because we were there for a few days. And every day, an ice cream truck would drive through the property. Net we're talking this place is huge. It's like in the middle of mountain mountains in the forest is super remote. And then you hear the sound of the ice cream truck like you know the classic song that plays you see it driving down the road and stops and hands out ice cream for free to people who are visiting and staying there.
Sarah Fejfar 4:01
Oh my goodness. The first time I kid Oh came back. I mean, over the top excited, doesn't begin to explain the reaction. And I thought to myself, Wow, what a beautiful surprise and delight moment in the brochure on the website. did say an ice cream truck is going to drive by and hand your kid free ice cream at some random moment during the day. No, it didn't. Totally unexpected. In fact, there's ice cream in the general store and in the dining hall after dinner.
Sarah Fejfar 4:43
But to have that special little unexpected moment during the day when you're out and about and it's hot and have the truck pull up and that fun The quirky music play is so special and it's memorable. And I bring that up because surprise and delight moments when we build them into our events, it increases customer loyalty. And that leads to more purchases and larger purchases, and increased engagement with your brand. And all that happens because surprise and delight moments, they tug at our emotional heartstrings. It's an unexpected reward. And I want to encourage you to include more of those moments into your next event.
Sarah Fejfar 5:50
And so I just gave you one idea, food, surprising guests with food or beverages that they were not expecting. I'm gonna give you four more ideas. And it's ideas I personally have used at events that I have produced. And they went over really well. So I'll share them with you here. So one of them was an incentive trip that I did. So in order to go on this trip, you had to win a contest, or achieve some sort of milestone. And so the event was at this stunning property, if you have not yet been to the forest seasons in Santa Barbara, California, like, run, do not walk. And they have this beach club that's adjacent to their property.
Sarah Fejfar 6:47
And we had a dinner there one night, I believe it was the welcome dinner. And so it was at the beginning of the trip. And of course, when you come to a welcome dinner, what are you expecting dinner, right and a bar. Yet? Well, in addition to a dinner and a bar and a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean, we had one other thing. So we had set up a little farmers market just like miniature of flowers. And we had some florists on hand, a cute little cart and basses water, and guests got to select flowers from you know what felt like a store and hand them over to the florist.
Sarah Fejfar 7:44
And the florist while they were at dinner, arranged those flowers for them into the vase of their choosing. And then those that arrangement was delivered to their room during dinner. And so then for the rest of their stay. They had these beautiful floral arrangements in their room of flowers that they had selected, they co created that experience. And oh my goodness, the smiles on people's faces, men and women alike. It warms my heart just thinking about it. It was such a fun way to kick off that event. And so it was kind of one part experience and one part gift.
Sarah Fejfar 8:31
And so I hope me sharing that idea with you gets your creative juices flowing, and will inspire something that you can do at your next event. Okay, so that's number two. Number three. So I'm not going to, I'm not gonna hide it. One of my favorite hotel chains is the JW Marriott brand. And one time we were at the JW, Marriott Hill Country in San Antonio, lovely place, phenomenal sports bar in the lobby if that's your thing.
Sarah Fejfar 9:14
So we were at that property. And again, on the first day of the event, we had all of our guests come into the ballroom. And then and they thought that's what their agenda said that they were going to be in that ballroom all day. And that's what they're used to. Because this was an event we did every year. Well, we did the opening bit. Not very long, actually. Probably under half hour, and then said oh wait, surprise. We're not going to stay here today. Yes, this hotel is fabulous. And yes, we're gonna be here all week. But
Sarah Fejfar 9:59
let's Let's stretch your legs. Let's let's get out of here. Let's get some fresh air and we had buses waiting to take all of our gas to a ranch that we had rented nearby that had a great big open air cover covered area with picnic tables. And we taught our content in that open air venues beautiful day, thank goodness. And then followed up the afternoon of content delivery with another surprise and said, Hey, ya know, we're done teaching and learning for the day. Let's go down that hill, do you see off in the distance that there's a rodeo ring?
Sarah Fejfar 10:50
Well, we have a private rodeo waiting for you at and so I got some entertainment while we did be entertainment and they enjoyed that and some beverages. We turned that covered area where they were getting their education in the afternoon into a dinner that came back up from the rodeo had dinner got back on the buses and headed home, it was so well received. And so what I would want you to take away from that is just surprising people with a venue change in the middle of the day, in the middle of your agenda, the beginning or at the end.
Sarah Fejfar 11:34
And gosh, I think they will love it. Just be mindful that when you give them the announcement, hey, we're leaving, that you've padded your agenda with time because you might have people go, Oh, wait, I had no, we're gonna be gone all afternoon, I have to go back to my room and grab some medication or I have to go grab a different jacket or I don't want to wear four inch heels out to a ranch, I want to switch into flats, there will be any number of things that come up. So just plan for that and your agenda when you're making those locations switches. But I'm telling you, it's so worth the logistics to make something magical happen like that. Okay, fourth idea for you Super Simple Gifts. So let's say you have a guest speaker. And they're coming in after lunch.
Sarah Fejfar 12:32
Well, during lunch, go put a copy, a signed copy perhaps of that guest speakers book on everybody's chair, they come back from lunch, they look at their spot, they see that they have a gift that instantly endears them more to you as the brand but also to the guest speaker and kind of perks up their ears a little bit more to be like, Gosh, I wonder what we're going to learn. It's fun. And then I can take it home with them. And remember, have a little memento of that time together. Fifth idea for you.
Sarah Fejfar 13:10
Let's say you're doing a virtual event. How can you surprise and delight in the middle of that experience? Well, one way that I have done that is to change locations. So you can have different sets set up in your studio. Yes, it costs more money. But it adds visual interest and excitement. I had one client in particular x extremely ambitious, change venues every day.
Sarah Fejfar 13:45
So the first day of the event was at one venue they completely changed the second day and the third day, I think it was we were at a baseball stadium one day and a not a not a theme park but like a, like a State Fair type venue another day, like completely different cities to it was pretty fun. The guests knew that we're going to change locations every day, but they did not know what it was going to look like.
Sarah Fejfar 14:22
So that's another way to drive engagement when you when they know, okay, we're going to change cities. And it's going to look different, and I want to tune in to find out what it's going to look like and sound like. So you can do that. Even in your own home by just setting up different cameras in a switcher is fine.
Sarah Fejfar 14:53
It's a shiny object that keeps people's attention because they don't know what's happening next and And it is, even though it's not a physical gift to them like a book like flowers like ice cream, it still feels like a surprise and delight moment because you took the time to change it up for them and gift them with a different visual experience.
Sarah Fejfar 15:23
So I hope all of those ideas are fun to hear. I hope it got your creative juices flowing. I hope it encourages you to include at least one surprise and delight moment into your next event. Ideally, more than one, I would love that. And it's been so fun to hang out with you today. Thank you for listening to the special greenroom central podcast episode all about surprising and delighting your event gas. If you love this episode, but don't want to want you to do is please take a screenshot on your phone and post it to Instagram and be sure to tag at Sarah Fejfar.
Sarah Fejfar 16:07
And let me know why you liked it and what you'd like to hear or who you'd like to hear from in the future. But I don't know what to create for you. Also, I know you may be thinking that surprising delighting your guests the solid goes gold advice for gaining repeat registrations for your next event. And you would be right. But if you would like a few more tips for filling your next event 107 To be exact that I want you to head over to filling events.com right now.
Sarah Fejfar 16:40
I want to help you quickly master event marketing and fill your events. Even if you've never done it before. I've scoured the online business world and found 107 of my favorite strategies working right now. To fill your next virtual or in person event, I want you to create the event promotion plan that you need from these easy to implement customizable strategies over filling events.
Sarah Fejfar 17:11
And in case you're curious, this podcast is built on Kajabi I love how easy it was to get set up but more so I'm thrilled that my entire business is one within one platform, from my emails to my pages, courses. And also my podcast it's all under one roof. If you love simplicity and scalability as much as I do, then go to greenroom. central.com To get a free 14 day trial from Kajabi.
Sarah Fejfar 17:38
I appreciate your commitment to leveling up and learning the mindset and strategy of live events. Keep going. Keep learning. If you want more, head over to greenroom central.com For show notes and all the links from today's episode.
