What Should Influencers Actually Experience at Hands-On Events and Launch Events?
This article was automatically translated from the Japanese original. Read the original in Japanese
At hands-on events and launch events, rather than simply having influencers listen to a product explanation, providing an opportunity to actually use and touch the product makes it easier for specific episodes to find their way into posts. When an event consists of explanation alone, the resulting posts tend to simply repeat that explanation.
Why Explanation Alone Rarely Leads to Specific Posts
At an event where participants only hear about a product's features and specifications, the material they have to draw on for their posts is limited to "what they were told." As discussed in What Is a Hands-On Event, and How Does It Differ from a Launch Event?, a hands-on event differs from a launch event in that its value centers on participants actually experiencing something for themselves. Without that firsthand experience of touching and using the product, the whole rationale for choosing the hands-on event format is undermined.
What Kind of Experience Should Be Prepared
What organizers need to prepare is a concrete experience that participants can describe in their own words. This means designing moments that engage participants' senses and reactions—actually using the product, noticing the difference before and after use, interacting directly with staff members, and so on. The ideal experience varies depending on the type of product, but the common design principle is: don't let it end with just listening.
How Should Time for the Experience Be Secured
The quality of the experience depends heavily on how much time can be allotted to each participant. Inviting too many people cuts into each individual's experience time, and the event ends up being dominated by listening to explanations after all. As discussed in How Does Time Spent at an Event Affect the Persuasiveness of Posts?, the persuasiveness of posts depends on securing sufficient dwell time, so the number of invitees should be kept to a scale that allows ample time for the experience itself.
Scope of This Article
This article covers the design principles for the experience that should be prepared at hands-on events. It does not cover how to calculate the number of invitees or how to structure on-the-day event operations.
Closing Thoughts
Hands-on events and launch events should be designed as occasions for participants to experience something firsthand, not merely as occasions for them to listen to an explanation. We believe that preparing a firsthand experience participants can describe in their own words is the single best way to generate posts with specific, concrete content.