--- title: "Daily Buzz: Give Your Meeting a Sensory Audit" id: "46969" type: "post" slug: "daily-buzz-give-your-meeting-a-sensory-audit" published_at: "2019-06-12T20:51:51+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-17T01:29:01+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2019/06/12/daily-buzz-give-your-meeting-a-sensory-audit/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2019/06/12/daily-buzz-give-your-meeting-a-sensory-audit.md" excerpt: "To truly gauge the attendee experience, you need to walk around in their shoes. Also: how to tell your nonprofit’s story." taxonomy_category: - "Meetings / Events" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "attendee experience" - "event planning" - "Meetings" - "multisensory" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Director" - "Manager" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Daily Buzz: Give Your Meeting a Sensory Audit Experiential meetings are all about the senses. So, to understand and improve the attendee experience, planners should engage in a “sensory exposure audit,” [says Kare Anderson on MeetingsNet (opens in a new tab)](https://www.meetingsnet.com/event-design-ideas/more-memorable-meetings-walk-your-attendees-shoes) . “Just as political campaigns have ‘advance agents’ who walk through every step of an event to consider all that might go right or wrong, you can mentally visualize each ‘vignette’ attendees could encounter,” she writes. There are two ways to do this. First, you can put yourself in attendees’ shoes and walk around the venue yourself. “Consider the colors and patterns in sleeping, eating, meeting, and gathering spaces, so that your theme colors and images can be compatible and even complementary,” Anderson says. “Ask the staff about comforting and conflicting background sounds from piped-in music, other meetings, mechanical operations, catering procedures, or elements beyond the facility.” Another way is to storyboard your conference. “Write out the meeting ‘story’ as a series of moments, or exposures: pre-meeting, meeting, and post-meeting,” she says. “For each exposure, write a brief description noting if each encounter is positive, negative, or neutral.” In either strategy, you’ll have firsthand insight into what attendees are experiencing—and if some element doesn’t go according to plan, the ability to foresee an issue and change it. ### What’s Your Story? **Getting the word out about your association** isn’t about the tools you use to deliver that message—it’s about the story you tell. [In an interview at The 20/20 Forum (opens in a new tab)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o693RTcOpfs) , a nonprofit thought leadership event copresented by Microsoft, nonprofit social media expert Julia Campbell explained that storytelling begins with understanding the goals behind the content, starting with whom it’s directed to. “Who are you telling the story to? Is it a donor, prospect, journalist, blogger?” she says. Then, you have to tailor your story for your endgame. “A story for fundraising has to really make me feel something … If it’s just a story that’s happy-go-lucky, then it might be better for marketing,” she says. “How are you going to grab attention in a way that someone is not only going to hear you but listen to what you have to say?” ### Other Links of Note **Launching a social media strategy** from scratch? *Nonprofit Marketing Guide* has [an idea of what that might look like (opens in a new tab)](https://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2019/06/11/if-i-were-launching-a-social-media-strategy-from-scratch/) . **Remote workers need more** than videoconferencing support; they need better [access and onboarding to your organization’s fundamental tools (opens in a new tab)](https://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/how-to-improve-support-for-remote-workers/) , says *CMSWire*. **Apple and Microsoft** [collaborated on an iCloud app for Windows 10 (opens in a new tab)](https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/12/18662500/apple-icloud-windows-app-microsoft-store) that will save Windows users disk space, from *The Verge*. (designer491/iStock/Getty Images Plus) [Jeff Hsin](https://associationsnow.com/author/jeff-hsin/) [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/jeff-hsin/) Tags: [#attendee experience](https://associationsnow.com/tag/attendee-experience/) [#event planning](https://associationsnow.com/tag/event-planning/) [#Meetings](https://associationsnow.com/tag/meetings/) [#multisensory](https://associationsnow.com/tag/multisensory/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Contract: Building Stronger Destination PartnershipsSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-contract-building-stronger-destination-partnerships/) - [VideoMelvin Tennant, CAE, President & CEO of Meet Minneapolis, Welcomes You to Great Ideas 2026September 2, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/02/melvin-tennant-cae-president-ceo-of-meet-minneapolis-welcomes-you-to-great-ideas-2026/) - [VideoASAE TV Daily Recap: Final Day at the 2026 ASAE Annual Meeting & ExpositionAugust 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/08/24/asae-tv-daily-recap-final-day-at-the-2026-asae-annual-meeting-exposition/) - [VideoTerin Bates, MBA, CAE, CX-PRO, Shares Her Experience at the 2026 ASAE Annual Meeting & ExpositionAugust 18, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/08/18/terin-bates-mba-cae-cx-pro-shares-her-experience-at-the-2026-asae-annual-meeting-exposition/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2019%2F06%2F12%2Fdaily-buzz-give-your-meeting-a-sensory-audit%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !