Having a hard time hearing yourself think? You’re not alone. Distractions like social media and cell phones are pulling us in a million different directions, not to mention the growing challenges of over-filled schedules at events.
Maintaining audience engagement through all the distractions is a concern for many event planners who need to incorporate an education track within their conferences or conventions. They often tell us stories of how past events battled sound bleedover from neighboring presentations, making it difficult for attendees to hear, let alone stay focused. And it’s distracting for the presenters, too.
Being distracted seems inevitable in today’s society, and those distractions can be magnified in a group setting during an event, tradeshow or conference. Event planners are increasingly leveraging silent conferences to help keep audiences interested and engaged.
What are silent conferences, and how do they enhance audience engagement?
RELATED: How CVENT Connect Leverages Silent Theatres & Audio Headsets
What Is a Silent Conference?
Like a regular conference, silent conferences are typically held in a large venue or meeting space. With a silent conference — sometimes called a silent session — attendees wear headsets to listen to the presentation of their choice even though multiple presentations are occurring simultaneously in the same room. This setup enhances engagement and space utilization by allowing focused listening experiences in large venues while reducing sound interference.
Silent conferences are unique, high-impact events that showcase your curated content. It can be set up as multiple stations around a room or theater-style with a stage and podium. The format is flexible and able to handle multiple speaker formats, from a single speaker to an expert panel to multi-media presentations and more. Seating can be flexible and scalable, too, depending on your event vision. We’ve seen setups from 30 to more than 1,000 guests per theater. Some people compare silent conferences to a silent disco where everyone can listen to the music of their choice, only this time it’s the speaker of their choice.
You may think such scenarios add to the distractions at an event. On the contrary, each audience member wears an audio headset that allows them to listen to their preferred speaker without sound bleed from neighboring presentations or expo hall buzz. It also prevents sound bleed into the expo hall where exhibitors are conducting conversations in their booths.
Silent Conference Examples
Typically, silent conference presentations last anywhere from 10–45 minutes as part of a pre-planned rotating format in a single meeting space with multiple presentation stages. Or, they can be strategically placed in the midst of your tradeshow floor or expo hall with an agenda for your guests to choose from. Some companies have an event app where guests reserve their spots for longer presentations.
Here is one example of how a company launched a new product line and trained its entire national sales team using the silent conference technique:
The company set up multiple stations throughout a large event venue, each displaying new products. A single presenter at each booth wore a microphone headset and shared important features and talking points. Each person in the group wore a headset receiver set to a specific channel that allowed them to hear the presenter clearly without sound bleedover from the neighboring station, even though it was only a few feet away. When the presentation was done, the group rotated to the next product booth and simply changed channels to hear the next speaker.
How Silent Conferences Increase Engagement
The simple act of equipping each attendee with a headset and receiver is an incredibly powerful way to keep them engaged and invested in the message being shared. These types of events are carefully curated and produced so that each presentation delivers maximum impact. Here’s how:
Reduce External Noises
Even if someone forgets to silence their cell phone or has a nagging cough, silent conference participants are generally oblivious to the distractions. Their attention is focused on the speaker and the message being heard directly through their headphones. Surrounding noises are diminished, including neighboring presentations.
Reduce Verbal Exchanges
The natural inclination to lean over and talk to a neighboring participant is minimized when both are wearing headphones. An uninterrupted listening environment helps each audience member focus and concentrate on the message being shared, whether at a conference, training session or corporate sales meeting. Even if others do talk, people will be hard-pressed to hear them.
Maximize Time, Minimize Distractions
Silent conferences help eliminate distractions by allowing audience members to “go” to the next presentation without ever leaving the room. They also allow event organizers to run multiple presentations at one time. A pre-planned rotating format means you could deliver six different 10-minute presentations in a single hour to your entire sales team, all in the same room. Longer sessions can be built into a half-, full- or multi-day event agenda where guests choose which session will be most helpful.
Encourage Multilingual Participants
Some audio headsets allow for simultaneous language interpretation so international guests can hear sessions in their own language while sitting alongside other participants. How does it work? A language interpreter can listen to the presenter on one channel and interpret it into their headset on another channel. International guests simply tune into the proper channel to hear their preferred language, practically in real time. This is an ideal alternative to having a presenter repeatedly stop while their message is interpreted for a guest.
RELATED: The Importance of Language Interpretation Headsets
Create Interactive Experiences
Many presenters invite guests to ask follow-up questions after their talks. Unfortunately, most audience members (and the presenter) struggle to hear the questions being shouted from across the room or the back of the group. If you choose a two-way audio system for your silent conference, the A/V team can activate the two-way function at just the right time, allowing audience members to ask questions with the touch of a button on their lanyard.
RELATED: Discover More Benefits of Silent Sessions
Explore Silent Conference Headset Options
Removing distractions and equipping people with the tools they need to stay focused are critical to maintaining the attention of attendees. Implecho offers multiple wireless headset options to enable silent conference capabilities and has the expertise to walk you through how to use them.
Contact our helpful team today to request more information and a demo kit to see how it works for you. Also, download our Event Planning Guide below containing many more ideas and considerations to make your next event or meeting an even greater success.
