How Design can create WOW effect for your events?

Special events exist through emotions and experiences for senses. The more you talk to emotions and five senses, the more the event is memorable and successful.

People participate to events because they expect to be transported out of their daily life and to live a unique moment, never mind it is a concert, a festival, a sport event or a corporate dinner.

Mostly, events are hosted in standards venues and places which cannot bring any emotion to the attendees unless they are transformed in an immersive decor designed to create an astonishing visual environment and make the magical happen. If so, first you make your event absolutely memorable; second, you open your audience minds to receive well your client message.

If most talk about decoration, Event Design is a more accurate way to name it. The Event Designer tend to bring the guests into the universe and get the sensations created by the theme and so to impress them by the WOW effect. Decorate a room or transform a location according a theme in a way to surround the audience and make people feeling as being somewhere else, is called Environment Design. This can be done in any indoor or outdoor locations as well.

The true talent of Event Designer is to create a memorable universes integrating the complexity of the logistic for catering, seating, staging, etc. He has to match with both the message, the corporate-client culture, the segment of attendees, the style of show and entertainment and the constraints of the site and the logistical as well.

It is amazing to see events without any decor or with the same styles already done thousand times and still reproduced again and again. Maybe it’s a matter of lack of ideas, low budgets or simply because of the fear to lose projects, a majority of event producers and Clients will keep their events with no style. Then, without style no added values to their events. This makes them being lost in the middle of thousands common and “déjà-vu” other ones. Better to throw your money by the windows!

For both sides of the event management and client as well, it is essential to understand that your strategic creativity will make the best Return On Investment (ROI). If you want to be remarkable, you have no choice than show what make your event so special. You can amazingly surprise your guests by a new approach. To do this, you have to work on a creative vision, to clearly understand the objectives, to carefully study other events concepts to decide how to mark your differences and above to understand deeply your audience target. Then, you can begin your creation process and step with some basic ideas to develop. For example:

• Install the stage in the center, in a corner or unusual location in the room will capture the audience attention;
• Create different areas as a lounge zone beside the dinner area and select carefully the furniture and decoration props in the style;
• Use lighting, sound, video technologies creatively and accurately to imagine stunning visual effects
• Play the “opposites” as a build real garden in a ballroom, use interior design decors for outdoor events or setup a country side concepts theme for a prestigious gala;
• Hold your event in a non-conventional location/venue as in a parking, heritage monument, construction site or old warehouse;
• Imagine themes which will immerse the public in special and exceptional environment
• Play with colors, sounds, food… work on emotions to create;
• Choose carefully your furniture, stylish, elegant, modern, classic, they have to support the theme
• Be creative but keep your eyes on the event objectives;

The successful design of an event decor requires talent and a lot of experience to be effective and magical. This make the specificity of experienced Event Designers. They know about the human psychology to understand publics and talk directly to emotions. Therefore, they work on the littlest things because they know that every little detail talk to our unconscious.

Event Design is now so essential than it has become a specialty in itself. From now on, the Event Designer is a key member of the production team working closely with the event manager; producer or client.