Using the 5 Senses to Bring Your Event to Life: Touch

Over the last few weeks we've provided tips on how to utilize the senses of sight, sound, taste, and smell to create a well-rounded event. The final aspect you need to take into consideration to provide a total experience for guests is the sense of touch.

Touch elements can be brought into your event in two ways: 

1. The physical sense of touch 
2. The feelings that you create in your guests.

The first interaction your guests have with your event is touching the invitation (or clicking their mouse if you provide online registration through a site like ezEvent!). Spend time carefully planning the invitations to make sure they're the best possible introduction to your event! 

As guests enter your event space they'll feel the temperature of the room. If it's too hot or too cold, they'll engage in your sense of sound because you're definitely going to hear about it! When guests take their seat they'll feel the chairs and linens, the china and the glassware they handle, the food and beverages that are served, as well as any intriguing decor within reach. These many things could feel wet or dry, clean or dirty, comfortable or uncomfortable, hot or cold. When putting together your event, carefully plan for these things to ensure the feelings will be pleasant.

In terms of the second dimension of touch, guests are going to have feelings created in anticipation of, during, and after your event. It begins when they get your invitation and decide whether or not they feel like attending. When they arrive, they'll decide whether or not they feel welcome at your event. Early on they should feel the energy and excitement of the room. If you've chosen the right music, they should feel like dancing.

What you should hope for at the end of the evening is that guests will feel like it's too soon to go home. Will guests reach out to touch and shake your hand or pull you in for a big hug to show their appreciation for the invite? Will you have touched their hearts? Will they have touched yours? If yes, then you've probably given them a total experience and you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Using the 5 Senses to Bring Your Event to Life: Taste and Smell

Over the last two weeks we've given you tips on how to effectively incorporate sight and sound elements into your event. This week, we're giving you ideas on how to appeal to your guests' senses of taste and smell so you can continue to improve your events!

Taste and smell may be separate senses, but they work together very closely. Think of the last time you smelled something that was just really gross. I bet you didn't think to yourself, "I should go eat that." On the other hand, try to remember the last time you picked up the scent of cookies baking in the kitchen or a steak on the grill. Did it make your mouth water? It probably did! If something smells good it activates your taste buds. Keep this in mind when planning events, as food and beverages are an important element in creating a total experience. Any food you serve should smell and taste great!

A great way to add in a pleasant scent to your event is flowers. People expect flowers to smell good, and you know guests will inevitably sniff them to take in the aroma. Flowers please our sense of sight, but it's our sense of smell that they really take hold of. Just be sure you don't overdo it! Having too many flowers or heavily scented flowers can be overpowering and after a while unappealing. You also don't want them to compete with the smell of the food. Your nose will get confused and then nothing will smell good. Work on keeping all of the scents in the room balanced, or keep them in separate sections of your event space.

Planning for unpleasant scents is also important, as one bad odor could ruin the mood of the event. Picture an outdoor event where the smells from a local cow farm drift over. It may sound silly, but sniff out the event site when you first check it out. Even indoor events can have bad smells. Always be sure someone will be changing the garbage cans frequently and that the bathrooms always smell fresh. Planning ahead can prevent a foul situation!

We've now covered four out of the five senses, so your event should be looking pretty good at this point. Next week we'll show you how adding in elements of touch will round out your event!

Using the 5 Senses to Bring Your Event to Life: Sound

Last week we offered tips on how an event organizer should appeal to guests' sense of sight to ensure that guests have a total experience at your event. While having a visually stunning event is great, you also need to take into consideration sound elements!

• What guests hear as they enter: As you walk into an event, the change in sound from the outdoors to the event space can be dramatic. If you walk in and you hear silence, you may think that no one has arrived yet or that the party is dull. The chatter and laughter of guests indicates that people are interacting and having a good time. Special effect sounds that match up with the event theme can add a playfulness to the event. Spend time planning out the sounds guests will hear at your event and use them to get guests excited!

• Music: Music has a way of luring people in. When used properly, it can set the tone for the event and put your guests in the appropriate mood. All of your music selections should be event appropriate. If you're having a formal gala, it's probably not the right time to play the Chicken Dance. The timing of when music is played is another thing to consider. If you're having a big speech, you want to make sure the music is playing very quietly or not at all so that it doesn't distract guests.

• Audio systems: One of the worst things that can happen at an event is making a speech or announcement that the back half of the room isn't able to hear. Plan out your audio system so that sound will be properly projected in every area where guests will be. Test everything ahead of time to make sure it's working the way it should and sound levels are at an appropriate level. Don't forget to turn the microphones on before your event begins!

• Competing sounds: Even if you've meticulously planned out the sound for your event space, you may not have considered the sounds coming from surrounding areas that may take the attention away from your event. Noises coming from other rooms, such as utensils banging around in a kitchen or cars noises from a nearby road, can ruin the atmosphere you're trying to create for your event. When selecting a venue, always keep this in mind to ensure that you are in control of these competing sounds and that guests are kept far enough away so that it doesn't detract from your event.

With all of these tips, your event should now look and sound perfect! Next week we'll explore the sense of taste.