Conference energisers: what are they and why are they important?
A New Year, a fresh start – and for conference and event organisers – the start of a busy planning period for the year ahead. It’s all go, with dates to be confirmed, venues to be scoped out, sponsors to be secured, and speakers to be booked.
Populating a programme with engaging presenters is just part of the puzzle. Beyond planning the agenda, organisers must also turn their attention to how they’re going to keep delegates engaged and deliver a great experience from the opening keynote to the final thank yous.

What do we mean by engagement?
Psychologists Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (2001) refer to engagement as a psychological and emotional state: ‘a persistent, positive, affective-motional state of fulfilment’. This was built upon by Hallberg and Schaufeli in 2006, who defined it as ‘being charged with energy and fully dedicated to one’s work’.
This feeling or state of being can make all the difference in how you perceive an event or experience, and what you get out of it. If you’ve felt engaged and found a conference or company away day valuable, for example, you’ll likely come away feeling energised, with a head full of new ideas and knowledge that you can’t wait to apply when you get back to the office. In contrast, if you feel lethargic, as though getting through the day been a battle, or you’ve been unable to concentrate, the value will be minimal.
Not only is engagement crucial for attendees and businesses to gain value, knowledge and insight from the event, but for organisers, it boosts satisfaction among attendees, partners and speakers; enhances reputation; and increases return attendance.

Tackling waning concentration levels
Industry conferences or company off-sites can feel like long days to delegates, and with some spanning a few days or even a week, they can start to feel a bit monotonous. Without effective foresight and planning in place, even the best speaker or activity line-up in the world could fall a bit flat.
While waning attention spans are normal, they come at a cost. An investigation by the QEII Centre in London found that the UK economy is facing an annual cost of £19.9 billion due to distractions and other challenges associated with maintaining the attention and engagement of attendees across meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

However, organisers can help to overcome these challenges and boost the value attendees get from these events by introducing regular breaks and giving delegates a lift when they need it most. According to Conference Leeds, the top factors that encourage delegates to be active attendees are an engaging conference environment; entertainment; networking sessions; and socialising. In this way, conference energisers provide something a bit different and help to break up the sitting and listening aspect of the day.
Whether it’s a short burst of activity lasting around half an hour or a more in-depth team building exercise over a few hours, conference energisers help to liven up attendees after back-to-back presentations or blow off the cobwebs for the ‘graveyard slot’ after lunch. While they’re not always highly physical activities, simply encouraging delegates to get up and move around injects more energy into the room and stimulates blood flow and oxygen to the brain, improving focus and meaning delegates are more likely to engage and interact with the content.
What sort of conference energiser activities are there?
At Team Tactics, we offer a wide variety of conference energisers, from musical and creative activities to problem solving. Here’s a flavour of just some of our most popular energisers:
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- The Haka – In a fun and immersive workshop, attendees are taught the famous tribal dance by a genuine Maori and learn about the tradition and history behind it.
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- Drumming – A highly interactive workshop that provides an immediate, infectious energy lift. Using internationally recognised experts and a stunning range of professional instruments, this activity requires teams to work in unison to create a big impact.
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- Clean Water for All – A purpose-driven mission where attendees work together to build and donate life-saving water filters to supply clean drinking water for those in need.
Setting yourself up for success
Selecting the right conference energiser for your event and audience is half the battle. Consider:
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- Your objectives for the event – While for a conference your primary objective might be to getting delegates up and moving around to give them a boost for their upcoming sessions, for a business away day you might be primarily looking for a way to break the ice between colleagues of different departments or seniorities that don’t usually work together. Define your objectives and work backwards from there.
- Who are your audience? – Take into account their industry, typical profiles, seniorities and interests. While people in technical roles, such as engineers or those working in the back end of IT, might prefer a challenge to test their problem solving and logic, others might respond better to something creative or an opportunity to learn a new skill.
- Size of audience – Will you divide the room into groups or take part altogether?
- Time available – Are there any slots in your existing agenda? How long are you looking for the activity to last?
If you’ve chosen an activity that complements your audience and objectives, bringing attendees on board shouldn’t be a challenge. However, it’s important to put everyone at ease from the very beginning of the energiser to maximise outcome. Naturally, some attendees will feel more comfortable to dive into the activity than others, and the less willing should never been singled out or forced to engage. Yet, we often find that once the activity gets going, the more reluctant ones want to join in and often surprise themselves!

Getting started
Once the energy in the room has been lifted and concentration has been renewed, delegates are able to return to the say’s content refreshed and primed to learn, communicate and collaborate more. They’ll come away feel as though the event has been a worthwhile investment of their time and business’ funds, and more likely to want to take up the opportunity again in future – a win, win.
To learn more, or if you’d like some help picking the right conference energiser for your next event, simply get in touch.
Millie Masterson
Millie is Team Tactics’ Digital Marketing Manager. With a love for creative marketing, digging into data, and understanding audiences, her task is to make teams aware of Team Tactics' exceptional services and knowledge in team building, bespoke events, and corporate hospitality days.