June 2021 1

In the very first episode of Nudgestock 2021 Rory Sutherland makes one important remark: ‘The best ideas nowadays don’t emerge within disciplines – they emerge at the intersections between them’. 

I cannot agree more. Event Psychology that I focus on, suggests just that. It lies at the intersection between creating events for people and with people, and studying people’s behavior to provide them with best experience. When event planning and psychology meet, you’ll have the most innovative ideas for increasing attendee engagement, facilitating growth, and creating meaningful experiences.

In that first session Rory makes a great point discussing if everything is BS (behavioral science, and what did you think??). He says, no, one should not think BS is the only solution in every case. But –

“If you don’t use BS to expand the potential solution space to a problem, by adding a psychological dimension to the problem, in addition to other aspects or metrics you’re considering, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity”.

Rory Sutherland / Nudgestock 2021

In other words, the best solution should almost always involve psychology. This statement really resonates with me. What I argue in context of events is exactly that: Event Psychology is not a tool that magically solves all of your event planning problems. Yet, it is an effective tool that can simplify many aspects of the event planner’s job, and improve the quality of events without requiring a huge investment.

Rory provides one terrific example. The engineers have created solar panels, a major achievement and great solution, but the problem of getting people to adopt solar panels has not been solved (and cannot be solved without an understanding of how people make decisions). In the events language: you might have figured out the best safety measures for your in-person event. Or, you might have gone above and beyond with various activities to boost engagement at your virtual event. But have you thought about how you are going to make people follow your safety rules or use the features you intended for better engagement?

On to more Nudgestock takeaways specifically for eventprofs ⬇️