Annual meetings and conferences are full of educational and networking opportunities. But if your attendees walk away from your event without having much fun, they may not be inspired to come back.

Adding entertaining experiences encourages event loyalty, and it also helps to boost conference participation. The Event Manager Blog shares a bunch of ways you can amp up the fun factor at your next meeting.

“Allow your guests to unleash their creative side by having a station where they can make things,” says the post. “This allows them to take away a souvenir from the event and can also tie in with a theme.”

You can also try leaning on nostalgia by using retro video games. Set up a Super Mario Bros. game on a giant screen with oversized Nintendo controllers for a lighthearted, competitive element that can get people talking.

The blog post also recommends using green screens for amusing photos, fire artists, or masquerade parties to delight your guests.

Better Benefits

@Insperity, HR firm & Moery comm sponsor on 5 Steps to Building an Employee Benefits Program. #assnchat https://t.co/qPNM2MXSN0

— Big Red M (@bigredmco) November 3, 2017

We’re sure you want to give your deserving employees as many benefits as possible. Unfortunately, association budgets often don’t allow for a lot of lavish perks. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give valuable benefits to employees, as long as you’re strategic.

To start, establish goals for your benefit program. Is it to distinguish yourself in the labor market, or are you just trying to comply with state and federal laws? “When setting your budget, remember that you have to pay what you can afford to pay, which often means you won’t be competing head-to-head with bigger companies,” writes Dawn Motsiff in a recent post for the Insperity blog.

Other Links of Note

You may have the digital workspace basics down, but there are a lot of things you can do to take it to the next level. CMSWire shares several ways to create a more collaborative work environment.

Looking for more ways to develop teamwork? Fast Company shares leadership lessons from the world of improv.

You have all this data, but do you know what to do with it? The Higher Logic blog reveals a few tricks for leveraging data.

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