My Favorite Self-Care Initiatives

It’s an interesting time to be an event professional. It’s an interesting time to be a human. I have been compiling a list of some of my favorite self-care and wellness initiatives to have at events, but with a large portion of events going digital, I decided to adjust my list a bit.

Here are some of my favorite additions that can make an event more enjoyable, inclusive, and respectful to your attendees:

Invite live talent to your event

• In person: This may be a violinist, muralist, or dancer, and can have a calming effect on the audience, leading to increased focus and creativity.
• Digital: In between sessions, have artistic videos and music playing to allow your audience time to reset before the next session. Diversify your content by offering lightning talks that aren’t solely about your main conference theme. One of my favorites is a 10 minute lightning presentation on the Michael Jackson’s Thriller choreography — it may come in handy.

Respect work life balance

• In person: Even though we are trying to jam years of expertise and knowledge into a few hours or days, we all need to remember that inclusion comes in many forms. This may mean holding celebrations or networking sessions during business hours, offering complimentary childcare, and providing breaks throughout the schedule for rest and relaxation. Everyone’s working hours and personal responsibilities may vary, so remember that when creating the agenda.
• Digital: Ensure that the content can be viewed live and downloaded afterwards. This opens the audience to the entire globe and puts less pressure on your attendees when trying to select which sessions to attend. Hold a Q&A at different times throughout the day to accommodate time zones and schedule follow up events for those that downloaded the content later.

Fitness & healthy options

• In person: Addressing both the mind and body in a healthy way is crucial when promoting self-care and assuring your attendees to have stamina throughout the event. Ensuring all dietary preferences are accommodated, providing plenty of water and healthy snacks, offering scheduled yoga and running classes, and having quiet spaces available for people to step away are some examples in supporting a healthy conference lifestyle. My event team has recently become known for our therapy animal space as well because who doesn’t love time with a trained, furry therapist? Ideas like these make your event enjoyable and memorable for your attendees.
• Digital: Take your swag and food and beverage budget and give all of your attendees Uber Eats credits, 3 months of Headspace access to promote meditation and relaxation, and simply remind the audience to take a break to stretch and grab some water. I am a huge supporter of digital swag in any scenario because it is less expensive, environmentally friendly, and your guests will use it or re-gift it. You can’t re-gift a branded stress ball. Trust me, I’ve tried.

Inclusive identifiers

• In person: If you want a diverse audience to attend, then you need to celebrate the diverse audience in attendance. Offering social awareness buttons at your event can allow individuals to communicate their desired level of interaction with others. Additionally, providing pronoun stickers for name badges is a standard. These initiatives require a small amount of effort, but have a huge impact on each person feeling welcomed and appreciated. It also allows for an open dialogue about differences, which is typically the cause for misunderstandings.
• Digital: Encourage digital name badges and custom signatures. Provide time for introductions and networking where people can chat. You can also set up various channels for like-minded individuals to connect. Examples of channels may include parents or having them organized by native languages. Watercooler conversations are the perfect way to allow people to connect at a digital event and still have to opportunity to form long-term relationships with fellow community members.

All these efforts make events more welcoming to your audience which promotes increased creativity and focus. They are possible with various budget dollars as well. Whether you are having Celine Dion perform or having a yoga student fulfill their teaching hours by volunteering, both allow your attendees to relax and reflect on the information they have been absorbing all day.

This is a tough time for all of us and we need to stand together to show our support for one another. If you want more ideas like these, I have included some of my favorite things on Twitter (@jennymevents) that you can do at home if you are a digital event attendee, newly appointed remote worker, trying to entertain out-of-school kiddos, or just want to explore some new songs, shows, recipes, and apps.

See you all at the next event!