Event moments matter. Dive into this 5 minute read on how to create event moments.
What is an event moment?
Tesco’s ran a brilliant world cup campaign earlier this year it was: “make every match a moment” every match in the world cup (and let’s be honest there was a LOT of them!) What did I do that random Monday evening in July when there was NO FOOTBALL on the tv? For weeks we gloriously switched between Men’s football World Cup coverage and Wimbledon.
I cancelled Netflix.
We didn’t want fictional stories filling our minds, we wanted real.
Watching real people, real fans who LOVE their team. The way they SING their hearts out for their national anthem. The pride! The way the fans show up for their team, the iconic Dutch supporters jumping / dancing, The Scots filling Boston with Bagpipes and a march, and who can forget the Norwegian drum banging Viking row? Iconic.
Every football match is defined by 90 (or 100 or sometimes 120 minutes) of time together, with your friends, family and fellow football fans.
How did we capture those moments?
How do we capture event moments? What is an event moment?
How to create event moments
The best event moments aren’t manufactured. They’re made possible. Nobody told the Norwegian fans to form a Viking drum row. The Dutch weren’t handed a dance sheet. But somebody, somewhere, created the conditions for those moments to happen. Football fans are brilliant and creative for this - you see it the world over at matches. You are the event curator. You can make event moments possible.
That’s your job as an event creator. Here’s how.
1. Start with the feeling, not the format
Before you think about venues, logistics and catering, ask: How do I want people to feel when they leave?
Pride? Belonging? Joy? Surprise? The World Cup is built on a feeling of: we’re in this together. Everything else, the songs, the kits, the chants, serves that feeling. If you can write your feeling down in one sentence, you can benchmark all your decisions against it.
2. Give people something to do together
Moments rarely happen when people are passive. Fans don’t just watch the match; we sing, (swear!) clap, groan (often in unison!), jump and hug strangers.
Build in shared rituals, small moments where your whole event room does the same thing at the same time: a toast, a sing-along, a countdown, a group photo, a reveal. I experienced an event moment on the tube the other night on the way home from a gig. A new group of people got on the tube and there weren’t enough seats for them to sit together, a bit of shuffling by our small group and together with some sitting on laps and everyone had a seat. Hands were shaken, introductions made and conversations sprung up. We discovered it was Dominic’s birthday, (we were trying to work out if he shared it with Madonna, we decided not) we chatted about where they had been and where they were going next on their night out. I then interrupted a friend who was chatting to another person in their group and said – “it’s Dominic’s birthday” – my friend (the boldest of us) started the Happy Birthday song and the whole carriage joined in, people were filming on their phones. WHAT A MOMENT. The ritual doesn’t need to be big. It needs to be shared. The joy is in the shared experience.
3. Create a shared “before” and “after”
A match has a build-up (the walk to the pub, the nervous chants on the way, the pre-match pint, the kick-off nerves) and a wind-down (the post-match chat, the songs in the underpass, the replay of every poor decision by the ref). The 90 minutes sit in the middle of that arc.
Your event should have the same shape. Think about:
- Before: how will guests feel anticipation? How do you comms look? What have you included they can join in? Maybe a playlist or a countdown?
- During: where is your peak, the moment everyone will talk about?
- After: how do you keep the feeling alive? Maybe with a shared photo gallery, a thank-you note, and some email comms starting “remember when…”!
4. Design a peak moment, then protect it
Every unforgettable event has at least one clear high point. Decide what yours is, and then protect it from everything that might dilute it or ruin it, such as overlong speeches, tech glitches, or a room that’s half-empty or distracted.
Ask yourself: if my attendees only remember one thing, what should it be?
5. Make it sensory
Part of why the anthem moments hit so hard is the sound of thousands of voices in unison. Don’t underestimate your senses! Sound, light, scent, taste and touch. A signature drink, a particular song, a piece of merch they can hold and re-visit – these become the memory’s anchors.
6. Leave room for the unplanned
The most iconic fan moments in the World Cup were spontaneous. Build in space, in the schedule and in the atmosphere, for people to surprise you. Over-scripting kills the magic. Plan the stage, then let your guests perform on it.
7. Capture it
How do we capture event moments? Make it easy to share. On socials with a hashtag, a shared album open from before the start of the event. An event photographer roaming throughout or a short video recap.
A match is “just” 90 minutes. But it becomes a moment because of who’s there, what we feel, and what we do together. Your event is no different.
So the next time you’re planning an event, ask yourself: what’s the moment people will still be talking about long after the final whistle?
Need some help creating event moments? I’m here for it. Get in touch!
