Creating Memorable Moments: Lessons from the Cityscapes Summit on Intentional Event Design
By Autumne Sneed-Lyons
This insight piece, written by a Coordinator at NGIN, is based on experience gathered while planning and hosting the Cityscapes Summit 2024.
Hosting an inaugural summit for 350+ professionals with a lean team and budget and only a few months of planning is no easy task. But thanks to the dynamic NGIN team, our event service partner, Firewood Events, our many collaborators, and the City of Durham, we reached our goal of bringing together economic and community development practitioners from all around the US for learning and celebration, and what some called “the best conference” they’ve ever been to.
This Spring, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NGIN hosted the inaugural Cityscapes Summit in Durham, NC. This event brought together community and economic leaders, across Small and Mid-sized cities in 40 states, for a two-day convening, focused on revitalizing their passions and providing relevant tools and resources to ignite inclusive economies. Here’s a few tips on how to use intentional event design make your event just as impactful.
Harness the power of atmosphere to leave a lasting impression.
An artist by trade, I prefer to start the process of event design with what I like to call the essence of feeling, or “vibe.” This guiding principle informs every aspect of my planning process. For the Cityscapes Summit, I wanted to create a vulnerable environment where people felt unafraid to be themselves, develop intimate connections and ask hard questions.
Imagine what you want your attendees to feel when they leave your event. Fired up? Well rested? Challenged? If you work to imbue this feeling into even the tiniest, seemingly insignificant moments with things like aromatherapy or music in between sessions – this is how you leave a lasting impression on guests. Also, don’t be afraid to get the larger program team’s advice on curating the atmosphere. Oftentimes, they are also members of your key demographic and the insight they provide can really help jumpstart your planning process.
Know your target audience like your best friend.
To host an intentional event, it is crucial to thoroughly understand your target audience. Ask yourself: What type of person are they? What motivates them to get out of bed in the morning? How do they learn? What do they like to eat? Get as specific and detailed as possible. Sometimes, this might require gathering a bit more info about them through interviews, focus groups or surveys. You want a clear profile of who will be in attendance so you can engineer the path that will help complete your event’s goal. Ensure that even the most marginalized members of your audience have not only been considered but accommodated. Fortunately, due to NGIN's ongoing work with Small and Midsized Cities, we had extensive insights into our attendees. Having intimate and personal knowledge of your audience is incredibly important. Does your audience skew older? Maybe a heavy tech-based check-in process will create more harm than good. Lots of vegetarians? Probably best to steer clear of the BBQ buffet.
“Ensure that even the most marginalized members of your audience have not only been considered but accommodated.”
We heard from our Community Navigator, Angel Iset-Dozier, that Durham had an active and creative small business economy. For Cityscapes Summit, we were able to host a Maker’s Market with 30+ vendors, organized by local resident, Ticca Harris, owner of The Raw Edition Candle Company, LLC. This was an opportunity for attendees, many of whom come from the small business community themselves, to immerse themselves in the creativity of Durham’s business owners, stimulate the local economy and take home a great souvenir.
Get Experimental!
Finally, do not be afraid to think outside the box. If you want to invoke an environment that leaves your attendees brains pliable and ready to absorb new info, you need to give them opportunities to engage in different ways. Present a variety of elements for attendees to interact with and you will have built multiple pathways for your event’s goals to be met. Explore different models of information dissemination, or ways to bring movement or creativity to the agenda.
“ Present a variety of elements for attendees to interact with and you will have built multiple pathways for your event’s goals to be met.”
For Cityscapes, we collaborated with local Durham partners to activate a “Wellness Corner” that provided attendees an opportunity to schedule time with a licensed mental health professional, Tiffany Baker-Chapman of Baker Therapy and Consulting Services, and included access to a sensory regulation experience called “The Grounding Station,” curated by Mariel Eaves of Beautiful Ideas Consulting, with different tools and games for regulation. As a creative element, we commissioned artist Claire Alexander to create custom regional based graphics, that attendees could use to make a one-of-a kind badge they could take home as a souvenir. These activities elevated the attendee experience and brought an element of uniqueness that attendees will never forget.
For maximum impact always remember...
There is so much more that can be said about how to make your inclusive event one that folks never stop talking about, but I will leave you with this: To build new models, you must first believe in them. Having the imagination to be creative, take risks and try again is the number one tool you need to curate an experience that touches the heart of your attendees.