When organizing an event, especially a scientific one, setting a theme can be pretty mind-boggling thing. The theme is often confused with a topic or an idea. The difference is that a theme is something that encompasses everything that is related to your event and topics or ideas would be decided on whether they fall into the theme umbrella. Setting a theme allows for your audience to have an idea about what your event is about and is essentially their first impression of it. Here are a couple of tips on how you can choose a theme for you event.
☑ #1 Choose Your Overall Message
The theme of your event should be able to convey the message that you’d like for your audience to receive. Decide on what exactly they will be able to take away from the series of talks or parts in your event. The key to developing a good theme is the main intent as well as the core messaging that you’d like your audience to be able to take home with them when they leave.
☑ #2 Determine if Your Theme is Relevant
Different target audiences may be susceptible to different types of themes. Be sure to do some research on the people that you will be reaching out to and make a list of their preferences. This will help you decide what kind of theme would be able to resonate and speak to them, which is the most effective way to convey your message to them. For example, business people would be more interested in themes like business development or marketing and such. Choosing a theme of say, fashion design may not be their cup of tea.
☑ #3 Check Out the Latest Trends
Look up the latest trends and innovations in your field and see if those can be made into a theme for your event. For example, the latest innovation in cancer research can make a good theme and you can always find topics and ideas that link back to this theme, even find suitable speakers fairly easily. Even new methodologies can be a good theme, it just depends on how it ties in with what you want to put forward to your audience.
☑ #4 Don’t Over-complicate
A theme should be simple and sweet. Complicated themes not only make it hard for your audience to grasp what it is that your event is about, but also complicates your planning and execution. A simple theme makes it much easier for you to plan topics and your event items later, based on your chosen theme. Besides that, having a clear and simple theme will help your audience understand the gist of your event better and you’ll be more likely to appeal to the most relevant audience for your event.
☑ #5 Consider Your Finances
Of course, you would like to go for the grandest theme that would be able to attract a larger audience to your event. But, at the same time, as an event manager and planner, you would most likely be tied down by a set budget. It is always good to take a look at how much you have your disposal and set the theme according to how much you are able to spend on your event. This would save you from a lot of planning and execution issues, later down the line.
Choosing a theme for your event may be hard, but these few steps would make it a whole lot easier for all you event planners out there, rather than cracking your head with nothing to start on.
The main thing is to make sure that your theme makes sense and is relevant to your audience. Aside from that, you should be able to put your theme into action, obviously within the financial limits of your event. The last thing you need during your event is to be in the middle of executing a magnificent theme, only to run out of cash midway. Have fun picking out a theme for you next event!
