Connect on Interest Feature: Boost Engagement and Unlock New Connections
If you’re in the business of gathering people or you’re responsible for the growth and development of a community of individuals (be it at work or in life), we understand how challenging it can be to generate high participant engagement numbers.
Be it at a 3-day event or over a course of the year, it’s hard work to continuously generate content, activities, and resources that speak to the most urgent needs of your community. It’s even harder to get your attendees’ attention and get them to engage– with your brand and each other– when you’re competing with busy work schedules, personal responsibilities, and entertainment.
While surveys, interviews, and trend reports are essential means of developing a strong engagement strategy, it’s impossible to know what each individual in your event community wants to learn or talk about at a given moment
We know that event professionals would benefit from deeper and ongoing insights into the evolving needs of their people: What do they want to learn? What knowledge do they possess? What subjects spark a fire in them? Further, engagement would go up if the Braindate platform was set up in a way so that participants could easily connect with each other for private, topic-driven conversations, not only at the event, but on an ongoing basis.
That is why we’re excited to share our latest feature: connect on interest, a new solution that provides event professionals with even more data to keep the finger on the pulse of what matters most to their participants.
This latest feature will make the Braindate experience richer for participants, and as an extension, make it much easier for our clients to reach their engagement objectives.
How does it work?
With this feature, participants will unlock a new way to connect with each other for private, 1:1 conversations. It’s quick and easy but still grounded in the act of having an intentional conversation on a specific predetermined topic.
On logging onto the Braindate platform, participants will now be prompted to fill out the following new fields in their profile:
Once these fields are completed, participants will have access to this feature. The answers to these questions will be searchable as keywords on the platform. So, once a participant has filled out these fields, they’ll give other Braindate users the ability to book them for meetings based on their answers.
Redesigned profile cards to facilitate quick connections
We’ve redesigned our profile cards to give a quick overview of what a participant wants to talk about and is knowledgeable about. It has been designed to encourage attendees to book each other for meetings based on shared interests or challenges.
Our twist to the DM: we help you reach out in a way that increases the likelihood of connection
While many platforms offer the ability to connect on interests by recommending matches based on keywords (say, “marketing”), we recognize that just because two people are interested in a subject, it doesn’t mean that they’ll automatically know what to talk about.
For example, as an attendee, I might be recommended another attendee, let’s call him Paul, because we both added “marketing” as an interest. But that information is not enough for me to start an intentional conversation, as I have no idea if Paul is knowledgeable about the subject or is simply interested in it or if he even wants to talk about it.
Our feature was designed to prevent this exact scenario.
Instead of simply recommending participants to each other based on generic mutual interests, our platform gives vital information about what subject someone wants to learn about, is an expert in, and loves talking about. It then goes a step further and helps users in crafting a specific question or discussion prompt to include in their meeting invite.
See someone you’d like to connect with? No need to dig through your bookmarks for that one article you found on what message to include in your connection request – we got you.
This new feature ensures that participants make connections intentionally and that those connections actually result in memorable, sometimes even life-changing, conversations.
How will this feature improve your Braindate experience?
This feature will organically increase participant engagement and knowledge sharing on the platform. By adding interests to their profile, participants will make it easier for others to start conversations and book meetings with them based on their interests.
Benefits for event organizers and community managers:
A virtual goldmine of insights into your community. You’ll have nuanced and detailed information on what your people want to learn about, what they want to talk about, and what subjects they are knowledgeable in. You can use it to build programming that supports the evolving needs of your people.
Benefits for event participants:
Quick and low stakes way to find and connect with the right people and make more connections, but with intention.
Fun new profile fields so you can share with the world who you are and make it easier for others to reach out to you.
Platform support in identifying what to talk about, so you’re more likely to have relevant and inspiring conversations.
