Your event ends on Thursday. By Monday morning, it might as well never have happened.
Harsh? Perhaps. But according to customer experience expert Brittany Hodak, we’re facing a crisis in event engagement that goes far deeper than attendance numbers or day-of satisfaction surveys.
“The biggest threat that you have is something that may not be on your radar, and that’s apathy,” Hodak explains. “People say to me all the time, ‘we have an awareness problem.’ But once I dig in, it’s almost never an awareness problem. Plenty of people know, they just don’t care.”
Let me explain what Taylor Swift understands that most event organizers don’t.
The Anticipation Economy
When Taylor announces a tour, she doesn’t just drop dates and venues. She creates an experience before anyone sets foot in a stadium. Hodak, who worked with Taylor early in her career, shares a revealing story:
“The first time I met Taylor, she was sixteen or seventeen. She had just won her first ever award at the CMT Music Awards. She said something to me that made me think, ‘okay, this is not your average artist.’ She said, ‘I want to sell a million copies of this album, and I know in order to sell a million records, I have to make a million people care about me because they’re not going to care about my music until they care about me.'”
This insight isn’t just about music – it applies to every type of gathering, from corporate conferences to industry conventions.
The 48-Hour Rule
Here’s where it gets crucial. According to Hodak’s research and experience, the first 48 hours after an event are critical for maintaining engagement. If you don’t meaningfully re-engage attendees within this window, your chances of maintaining momentum drop dramatically.
“You have to earn attention,” Hodak emphasizes. “It cannot be coerced. It cannot be bought. It has to be earned. And in the world we live in today, you’re not just being compared to your direct competitors. You’re being compared to everyone.”
Creating Engagement That Lasts
One of the most common mistakes event organizers make is fighting against modern reality. As Hodak points out, “It’s so cringeworthy when people are like, ‘put your phones away.’ We are adults. You cannot tell us to put our phones away. If you are threatened by the fact that people have access to their electronics, that tells me that you haven’t done a good enough job making your content better than what they can get on their phone.”
Instead, she advocates for creating experiences so compelling that distraction becomes irrelevant: “You have to focus on creating an experience and designing moments that are so good, people don’t want to turn away. There’s nowhere else they’d rather be.”
The Super Fan Formula
What makes this approach so effective isn’t just about production value – it’s about understanding human psychology. “Super fans are created at the intersection of your story and every customer’s story,” Hodak explains. “If you can connect your story to your customer story in a way that makes them feel like they’re part of it, then everybody wins.”
The Bottom Line
Your event’s success isn’t just measured in attendance numbers or day-of satisfaction surveys. It’s measured in the lasting impact you create and the community you build. As Hodak powerfully states, “If you don’t know why your event is good enough to drown out all that exterior noise, it either means your event might not be cool enough or you haven’t done the work to figure out exactly who the right audience is.”
The clock is ticking. You have 48 hours. What’s your plan?
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[About the Author: Phil Mershon is the host of The Event Innovator Show, where he interviews leading experts about creating exceptional event experiences that drive lasting results.]
[Want to learn more about creating super fans at your events? Listen to the full episode of The Event Innovator Show featuring Brittany Hodak, where we dive deeper into these strategies and more.]
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