The Art of Anticipation

John Green wrote in his successful novel, Paper Towns, "the pleasure isn't in doing the thing, the pleasure is in planning it." And in Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen similarly mused, "...that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself."

These sentiments ring true for most of us, particularly if you have a family and are in the habit of planning family vacations.  The "doing" certainly can be enjoyable, but the building anticipation is a huge part of the experience.  In the months and weeks leading up to whatever you've got planned, everyone is getting really psyched up.

Of course in the day of social media sharing,  trips also become fodder for social media posts during and after the holiday (today's version of the family vacation slide show).  Memory creation and sharing is a big part of the fun, too.

But today I want to focus on the art of anticipation.

In my new role at Sparks I think a lot about creating valued experiences for audiences of an event or some kind of live activation.  I want to make sure what we deliver with our clients is perceived as really worth the attendees time.  Sometimes I forget, though, that the perception of value isn't only delivered in the day or two of an event - but that the building of anticipation is as (and maybe even more) crucial.

How can event marketers leverage anticipation in the time leading up to the event? If you think in terms of story-telling, when a writer develops a story they are often building the anticipation of the reader with an expected pay-off at the end of the dramatic arc.

 Psychologist's offer a couple of tips that I think experiential marketers can leverage:

• Leave people hanging: tease content that will be featured at the event but don't give it all away
• Create tension: highlight a conflict or issue that will be addressed at the event

Every "One More Thing" moment

You can build anticipation by setting a precedent - an expectation that something big will happen based on past events. An example of this is the famous "One More Thing" announcements that Steve Jobs would end his keynote addresses with.  This kind of kitschy dramatic trick really worked the more times he did it, getting people excited before every major speech he'd give.


Event marketers should consider building anticipation through the before-during-after of an event.

• When the attendee registers - what message are you delivering to establish that they have just registered for something that will be high value (or super fun)?
• In the time leading up to the event - how can you tease what is going to happen at the event do keep their interest?
• At the event - creating moments of anticipation and satisfying conclusion as content is delivered
• Post-event - using what happened to continue the dialog, and looking forward to the next event

As I work with clients on their event programs I starting to take the art of anticipation more seriously.  For, as told by A.A. Milne in Winnie the Pooh, "Although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were."