Hosting a Community Event? Here are Some Inspiring Ideas

The chimes of holidays and festivity are all around, and it is sufficient to say this time of the year is all about bringing communities together.  

People are in the spirit to give back to benefit the society they live in, and this is just the time to host a community event and start the new year on a positive note. 

Community events can be extremely valuable for community-building, boosting awareness of local issues, and offering community benefits. However, having an efficient strategy to host a community event is immutable. 

But before we get into the knits of strategies and ideas for hosting a community event in 2024, let us first get to the basics.

What Is A Community Event?

Community events are hosted in order to achieve a responsible goal. It can be classified as a ‘civic responsibility’ that usually involves volunteering for a cause like a road safety, planting more trees, a cleanliness drive, or simply a fun ice-breaking get-together to get to know your community well. 

There are so many positive benefits of hosting a community event, especially including the youth of today. Let us read more about it. 

The Impact Of Hosting Community Events

A well-hosted event can benefit any community immensely. Engagement, interaction, and authenticity are the foundation of every successful event. Be it a grand event or a low-key event, they are known to bring people together and have created a significant impact on businesses and communities. 

• They Are Purposeful

Hosting an event involves more than just a plan and a ground. Events actually create a big impact as they include people and goals. 

Statistically speaking, 80% of event marketers say that events have helped them create a more purposeful experience for visitors. And it’s true! 

Community events are usually hosted at local spots like parks, malls, or cafes. Hosting a community event can be highly beneficial for local businesses – these businesses can boost their sales and even become more popular spots around the neighborhood. 

• Increases The Area’s Popularity 

It is very easy for people to associate areas with something eventful and gatekeep it as a landmark. 

Hosting community events with a unique factor, like an engaging activity, a contest, or a musical performance by a local band, can give the event visibility.

News like these always make it to local newspapers and radio, and now with the ever-increasing popularity of social media, a community event for youth is a must n’t-miss for social media users, and a credible way to increase the popularity of the location.

And addition to that, a popular area is more likely to attract tourists & travelers and apparently make a more prominent spot for more events in the future. 

• Gives Back To The Community

Statistics show that 41.1% of people would only attend a physical event in person if it were local. With a number that high, it is fair to say that community events can be really effective and create a significant difference in society. 

Many organizations host community events for causes like animal welfare, fundraising, and mental health awareness campaigns. 

And it is true, community events might be small-sized events, but they bring change. They bring donations, inspire people to make charities, and make society better and liveable.

Hosting a community event can be laborious and confusing. Unlike big events, community events are budget constrained. They don’t have big sponsors or panelists to back their popularity. Therefore, it is essential to hosting community events smartly to achieve the best results without exhausting all the resources. 

1. An Open Mic Night

An open platform for the audience to express their thoughts is a winning strategy for hosting a successful event. 

Community events are small-knitted events. By hosting an open mic night, you can bring the audience together in a positive way and get them to engage with each other.

You can motivate the audience to talk about new ideas and get creative by hosting a stand-up comedy hour or a story-telling session. This engagement and activeness can impact your community event greatly.

Events are the perfect place to utilize user-generated content. There are so many moments in our day when we catch ourselves scrolling through a stranger’s social media profile just because it is so compelling to look at.

Similarly, displaying a social wall can be an outstanding idea for your community event. For example, a renowned church in Utah, Pleasant Grove Manila Creek Stake organized a trek and a related social media hashtag campaign #RememberTrek in order to reach more people both in-person and virtually.

They incorporated a social wall to curate the content from the hashtag and converted it into a captivating social wall that represented people’s experience of the trek. Read Complete Case Study Here.

Also, if you are hosting an event at a cafe or a mall, displaying social content through a social wall on any digital screen can be the perfect addition to your event. It will help you increase your event’s engagement exponentially and keep the event audience interested.

You can even generate more UGC and create an engaging moment by showcasing the generated content on the social media wall during the event. You can promote your community’s hashtag and urge members to use it more when they post on Facebook, Instagram or when they schedule tweets. You can also personalize the wall with engaging content, and even conduct contests.

3. Organize A Field Day 

You can plan a field day as a community event as, if hosted well, a field day can result in outstanding achievements. Outdoors can make people feel 3x more energetic and enthusiastic. And, especially if it comes with a cause. 

A field day can look like cycling, running, playing golf, or camping with a community. You can urge the attendees to participate in the activities, which is also a great way to collect UGC from the participants. 

4. Conduct Games & Contests 

What’s an event without some fun games and contests? Conducting such fun activities is a top-tier way to boost attendee engagement and create a mark. People love the spirit of competition and especially when there are prizes to take home. 

You can enhance your event’s mood by conducting activities and games that require team-building. This way, you can get the attendees to get involved, interact with each other, and make the event more engaging, which is really the whole point of hosting a community event. 

Must Read – How SouthStar Communities Built Social Trust

5. Host A Barbeque Night

What better way to host an event and bring people together than with the smell of barbeque sizzles? 

A cook-off is a great community event idea and also a great way to increase visitor attendance and engagement. It is rightly said – food binds people together, and by hosting a night of cooking, you can increase the event’s attendance.

You can get visitors to start conversations around the table and squeeze out some really valuable insights from the interaction.

6. Run A Marathon 

Marathons are supremely beneficial to promote a cause or to bring a community together. Moreover, marathons themselves advocate public health, so community event hosts can integrate their promotions and use marathon runners as their promoters. 

You can provide personalized t-shirts, banners, or flags to the runners and promote your cause in a humble manner. 

The difference between an event and an outstanding event lies in the minute details that we generally overlook. Even if you are not a professional event planner, with these factors in mind, you can execute an outstanding community event. 

1. Make It Accessible To Everyone 

An essential part of building a strong community is being open and accessible to everyone. A diverse community can be extremely beneficial and an excellent way to organize a community event. 

It is known that people attract people. Therefore, by making your event accessible to everyone, you can attract more visitors at your event and construct a strong community.

2. Host A Well-Managed Event 

Every type of event, be it a high profile with big budgets, or lowkey with limited resources, can only be successful with efficient management. Therefore, it is a must to be prepared for any kind of uncertainty during events.

Detailed planning and good event management can save you a lot of time and money, and help you host your event with smooth execution. 

Here are a few ways through which you can make your community event outstanding and well-managed:

• Plan well in advance. Book your venue on time to avoid any last-minute hassles.
• Send out detailed invitations. Design clear invitations and always highlight important details like the date, time & venue of the event. 
• Start early promotions. By starting your promotions early, you can get an idea of how many people are interested in your event, and you can plan your event arrangements accordingly.  

3. Share Information, Stay Transparent

No doubt, every event needs on-spot improvisations. No event can go 100% as planned. But there are many pointers that are worth sharing with your audiences well in advance. Such as the timings of the event, and other info like food or water availability.

By staying transparent, you can save yourself the hassle of facing any major issues during the event. 

4. Plan After Perks Of The Event

Planning the post-event arrangements is a great way to build a recall value for your community event and fashion lookbooks. Have you noticed how people like to post about their vacations and trips after they are over? They post photos and videos or post on social media in different ways. It’s a predictable response. 

Same way, many visitors like to talk about events after they end. You can plan some after perks of the event like distributing freebies. This way, you can make your attendees feel like a part of the community and seal the opportunity to create an after-buzz of the event. 

Final Words

People always like the idea of being a part of an event attached to a worthy cause, and community events are the perfect way to bring people together to create a difference. 

If not as participants, people like to stay involved with good causes, even if it is just as spectators. 

With 2024 starting soon, you have the opportunity to host an engaging community event yourself. So get started and curate your perfect event with these community event ideas.