How to Map the Attendee Journey for Corporate Events

What is Attendee Journey Mapping?

Attendee journey mapping is the process of identifying and planning the different stages and touchpoints an attendee experiences before, during and after an event. Rather than viewing aspects such as registration, communications, content, networking and follow-up as completely separate activities, journey mapping considers exactly how they connect to create one overall experience.

This approach helps organizers consider exactly what attendees need at each stage and what actions they are likely to take, along with where barriers or opportunities for greater engagement may exist. It can also help event teams make decisions around technology, content and communications based on the attendee experience rather than treating each element in isolation.

Start with Your Attendees and Event Objectives

Before mapping any individual touchpoints, make sure that you establish who the event is designed for and what you want attendees to gain from the experience. Different attendee groups may have different priorities and information needs along with different reasons for participating.

Always consider the objectives of the event alongside the needs of these audiences. This provides a solid foundation for deciding exactly what information attendees require and which experiences are most relevant to them.

Where an event serves multiple audience groups, segmentation can also help create more relevant pathways rather than expecting every attendee to follow exactly the same journey.

Map the Pre-Event Attendee Journey

The attendee journey often begins with the first invitation or interaction with the event. Registration should therefore be treated as part of the experience rather than just an administrative requirement.

Always consider how easily attendees can find the information that they will need and communicate any individual requirements. Registration data can also help organizers with understanding attendee preferences and begin creating a more relevant experience.

Pre-event communications should then be in place to guide attendees towards the event by providing all of the right information at the right time. Depending on the event, this could include agenda information, travel and accommodation details, joining instructions, accessibility information, opportunities to personalize schedules and introductions to networking or event technology.

Map the Attendee Experience During the Event

Once the event begins, journey mapping can help organizers with understanding exactly how attendees will move between different experiences and identify where additional guidance, choice or support may be required.

For in-person events, this could include arrival and check-in, navigating the venue, attending sessions, networking, accessing food and beverage and receiving on-site support. For virtual and hybrid events, the journey may involve accessing the platform and finding relevant content, along with moving between sessions and interacting with speakers or other attendees.

Rather than just looking to provide as much content as possible, look to consider exactly how different elements connect. Sessions, networking opportunities and supporting content should create logical pathways that help attendees get greater value from the overall event.

Continue the Journey After the Event

The attendee journey does not need to come to an end when the live event finishes. Post-event communications provide an opportunity to extend engagement and help attendees with accessing even more value from their participation.

Follow-ups could include on-demand content, session recordings, additional resources and answers to questions raised during the event, giving attendees additional opportunities to continue conversations with speakers and other attendees.

Feedback and attendee data can also help organizers with gaining a good understanding of which parts of the journey were the most effective. Combining quantitative information, such as registrations and session attendance, with qualitative feedback can provide a more complete picture of attendee behavior and help shape future events.

Attendee Journey Mapping in Practice: A Life Sciences Event

For a global Life Sciences client and its four-day virtual event, BCD M&E’sattendee management team put the attendee journey at the forefront of the planning process.

Starting with the journey helped the team shape the overall event structure, create greater consistency and streamline decision-making. Rather than beginning with individual pieces of content and attempting to connect them afterwards, the team considered how attendees would navigate the experience and how different content could support them throughout it.

Journey mapping also informed how the team captured and measured attendee engagement. Rather than having to completely rely on quantitative metrics, the team looked for qualitative insights that could provide a deeper understanding of the attendee experience.

Knowing that 220 people attended a session provides one measure of success, for example, but understanding the questions attendees asked speakers can reveal knowledge gaps and opportunities for further engagement. While maintaining data privacy, these insights helped the client understand how attendees were interacting with the event and identify opportunities to provide relevant content after it had finished.

The virtual event was designed as a connected digital destination combining live and on-demand content. Attendees were able to access educational resources at their own pace while being guided towards opportunities for live interaction with key opinion leaders and subject matter experts through more intimate virtual fireside chats.

Mapping these connections helped the team with creating different pathways through the event rather than expecting every single attendee to consume the exact same content in the same way. It also enabled conversations and engagement to continue outside the scheduled live sessions.

Use Attendee Insights to Improve Future Events

The approach also provided valuable insights into what resonated the most with attendees. Observational data showed that engagement was highest when speakers shared stories about their own experiences, while post-event survey data indicated that 90% of attendees would recommend the event to a colleague.

These insights gave the client useful information to inform future events, support marketing and sales alignment, along with improving how event success is measured. By mapping the attendee journey and then analyzing how people interacted with it, the team could identify not only what happened during the event, but which experiences created the greatest value for attendees.