Inside a VIP Experience

Front-row seats. Backstage passes. VIP meet-and-greets. Today, association meetings can operate a lot like a stop on a pop star’s arena tour—filled with premium experiences that give attendees a feeling of white-glove treatment and provide the association with additional revenue. 

Interest in those experiences is particularly acute thanks to rising costs for nearly every element of an event. “Margins are getting tighter again because everything costs more,” says Rich Vallaster, CEM, QAS, AAiP, senior director of industry strategy at Momentive Software. “When I look at some of the VIP concepts and different tiered levels, I’m excited because it’s the same kind of creativity we see more with corporate and for-profit organizers and events. Everybody wants a customized experience.” 

One benefit of such premium experiences is that they can be delivered at relatively low cost. “I’ve seen things like being able to sit in the front of the room or being the first to enter a general session so you get to pick your seat,” says Beth Surmont, FASAE, CMP-Fellow, CAE, VP of event strategy and design at 360 Live Media. “Sometimes it involves a meet-and-greet with the speaker, or you maybe get your photo taken, or the speaker will do a special Q&A session.”