One of my social media guru friends, Brian Tomkins (@BrianTomkins on Twitter), invited me to attend the Make An Impact Live! in Chicago. This event focused on strategies for both personal, business, and health success. Thought it sounded interesting and signed up.
So I get my confirmation in my email as would be expected. But what I didn’t expect was to see this…
Also, due to respect for participants with allergies, we request that you not wear any fragrances such as perfume, cologne, or after-shave.
Wow, that’s a new one! But it makes a lot of sense if you think about it. While I love the smell of perfumes and such, I cannot wear the majority of them because they give me quite a sinus headache even though I don’t have allergies per se. Can’t imagine what a person who does have allergies experiences when having to be stuck in a conference room for several hours.
What other non-obvious things could be affecting your attendees’ experience… but that are not usually identified in surveys? What event tips could you use–such as the perfume advice in this confirmation email–to lessen the effects? Think about it and share with us in comments.
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Believe it or not I have actually had to contend with two exhibitors at an event bickering with each other over the smell of one’s perfume. I, along with security had to physically separate them after a verbal confrontation between the two was quickly escalating. One woman was wearing a very strong floral scented perfume; the other was claiming that she was becoming ill from the scent. Both claimed right to do as one chose…
What is an EventProf supposed to do?!?!
After diffusing the immediate situation, I sat with each individually and talked with them. I had to then very carefully explain to the perfumed woman about sensitivities and allergies, she felt incensed at first, but after talking for a bit did concede that some people may be physically sensitive to certain scents. I asked her to try and refrain from wearing the perfume for the remainder of the show, which she did oblige… grudgingly.
I have encountered this “challenge” a couple times both from attendees and exhibitors. Attendees it’s a little easier to diffuse as they can change their physical approximation to the scent. With exhibitors, I have found it takes a delicate voice, and some discussion to reach some level of understanding.
I have also seen this come up in various venues; the most challenging/difficult is when there is food involved, as scent can really throw off sense of taste. More and more, I have seen a polite request of not wearing scents being footnoted on many events and venues. This is still a very sensitive issue, as people take these issues to be very personal.
In my opinion, as more people are seemingly becoming susceptible to allergies of different kinds, hopefully the “bar of awareness” is slowly being raised and people take this less as a personal offense, and acknowledge that legitimately scent can indeed trigger very negative physical reactions in people medically.
It wasn’t long ago that people with food/nut allergies seemed to be far and few between. But with many types of allergies becoming more commonplace, now you are finding more and more venues, including major sporting facilities having “allergy-free zones”! Could this be the next wave sensitivity awareness??
Wow! That is some story, Todd. Should we call it “Perfume Wars?” These are usually emotionally charged situations, similar to those regarding smoking, noise, etc. When does one’s freedom infringe upon the well-being of another?
Interesting that you observe more and more venues restricting scents, particularly around food. I totally agree that we will see more and more restrictions of this sort going forward. The challenge now will be standardizing language to be included in event contracts.
Thank you so much for taking the time to thoughtfully comment on the subject! Keep us posted on what’s going on the Perfume War frontline!
Excellent question. One thing that could affect the attendee’s experience is the feel and layout of your trade show booth. If your booth is too “busy”, unorganized, and has too much going on in the graphics, it could add anxiety to their mood. However, if your graphics are simple (yet get the message across), your literature and giveaway items are organized and don’t look cluttered, and the booth has an open design that will allow them to browse it with ease, then the attendees will have a much calmer trade show experience.
Agreed! Chaotic, visually busy booths can have a dramatic effect on attendees. Yes, we want them to be excited by our booths, but not in an anxious way. Aside from the fact that you annoy attendees, you waste marketing dollars. Effective exhibit planning must be concerned about all the senses.
Thank you for touching upon another aspect of the attendee satisfaction equation!