7 Event Ideas You Can Steal From Swoogo’s Annual User Conference

Planning an event for event professionals is basically the Super Bowl of conference planning.

When your attendees have seen (and planned) every ballroom configuration, sampled every catering menu, and sat through enough generic welcome receptions to last a lifetime, you can't just phone it in. These folks notice when you skip the details. They appreciate when you knock them out of the park. 

Standard event management best practices aren’t enough; you need to go above and beyond. 

This past November, we brought together over 200 Swoogo customers in New Orleans for Unconventional (IRL), our annual user conference. We had three days of product deep dives, customer connections, and experiences designed around one core principle: unreasonable hospitality.

We sat down with Alexa Obermeyer and Jihan Donawa from our events team to break down the activations, ideas, and all of the little details that made Uncon memorable. And the best part is that you can steal them for your own events. 

Want the full conversation? Watch the on-demand webinar here.

And here’s the best part: most of these ideas aren't wildly expensive or complicated. They're thoughtful takes on the stuff you're already doing anyway.

What's Unconventional (IRL)?

Unconventional (IRL) is Swoogo's annual customer conference, built for event pros who know what “great” looks like. We hosted our third-annual Uncon in November 2025, taking over Mardi Gras World in New Orleans. Over 200 attendees joined us, including a mix of event marketers, operations managers, and field marketing leaders to share ideas, swap stories (the good and the ugly), and get inspired to build what’s next. 

Swoogo customers are event professionals themselves, and we planned every detail with them in mind. The bar is high, the audience is critical, and honestly? That's exactly how we like it. The Super Bowl of events. Challenge accepted. 

We designed Uncon 2025 around three pillars: 

1. The people
2. The platform
3. The possibilities 

How are we hospitable to our customers so they, in turn, can be hospitable to their customers?

"If we don't have the budget for something cool, then we're gonna make something cool out of what we can," Jihan explained.

That mindset—making something special with what you have—informed every decision we made.

Ideas you can steal from our annual user conference

Now, let’s get to the good stuff. Here are seven unique ideas you can steal for your own conference. (You’re welcome. 😘) 

1. Unconventional transportation

Our host hotel was a short drive from the venue. We could've booked standard shuttle vans and called it a day. Instead, we hired hop-on, hop-off double-decker buses—the big red tourist buses you see in major cities.

People were already pumped before they even walked into registration. They were snapping photos, chatting with each other, and feeling like they were part of something special.

So, get creative. Is there local transportation you can use? What about pedicaps or themed vehicles? Turn that logistical necessity into an experience.

2. Making the first impression count with high-energy registration

Most on-site registration and check-in areas are boring.

Long tables. Stacks of lanyards. Maybe some vibey background music if you're lucky. 

That’s a quick way to let the wind out of your attendees’ sails. 

We combined our registration with a reception. We call it a "regception." That meant a live second line band (a New Orleans brass band tradition), beignets, local coffee, and good vibes from the moment people walked in.

"We didn’t coin the phrase ‘regception’, but we like to combine our on-site registration with a reception," Jihan explained. "Giving them surprise-and-delight moments from the very beginning sets the tone."

Registration is a required and logistical part of the experience, but that doesn’t mean it has to feel like pulling teeth. It’s a great opportunity for activation, and it should be treated as a chance to say “this event has officially kicked off.” 

3. The small details with a big impact: personalized touches for attendees

The devil is in the details. Find ways to add personalized touches to really wow attendees, creating the event magic of your dreams.

Personalized swag station

Instead of ordering a bunch of swag that may be thrown away or donated, we invited attendees to bring their own items—bags, hats, bandanas, jackets—and personalize them on-site. We call it “swag on the spot.” 

"I was nervous about this, I'll be honest," Alexa admitted. "I was like, please, people—bring your items because this is going to be so cool if you actually do."

We worked with Dress New Orleans (she travels, so definitely look her up), and she went above and beyond. 

One memorable moment came from an attendee who asked to have all eight of her grandchildren’s names embroidered on a bag. Between sessions and downtime, our team made it happen. It was a small gesture, but the kind that turned a typical swag offering into a long-lasting memory. 

The best part: this was all swag that actually meant something to each attendee. It’s not a hoodie with a giant brand that they’ll never wear. It's a customized, highly personalized piece.

Collector pins

We also wanted to recognize customer loyalty in a tangible way.

"We count the number of years that each customer has been with Swoogo. Not their company, but them as an individual. They get a collector pin," Jihan explained. “It's a small thing that recognizes them as individuals, not just accounts."

Personalized name cards (but make it *elevated*)

Assigned seating gets a bad rap, especially with those boring place cards. Instead, we created custom keychains engraved with each person's name, designed to look like New Orleans street signs.

"Instead of a regular-degular place card or a table tent, we personalize the name card," Jihan said. "Those are things that people use all the time, and we recognize them as individuals."

Plus, this was an opportunity to create a magical moment. Like Jihan, there are plenty of people growing up who could never find their name on keychains at the store, or find their name spelled correctly. This was a small, but powerful opportunity to change that. It also makes for a great souvenir. 

Welcome gifts with a local and personal touch

Stop treating welcome gifts like a branding opportunity. Make them useful, local, and if you can, personal. 

That's right—handwritten. Each account manager and CSM wrote a personal welcome note to their customers.

We also included what Jihan calls an "oh sh*t kit"—the travel essentials people always forget. Liquid IV, Tylenol, emergency hand sanitizer. "Things that people use on a regular basis."

4. Immerse the local culture into your event

Many people are traveling to your event, and that means there are incredible opportunities to create a unique experience every year based on where the event is hosted. Especially since plenty of attendees may not have a chance to actually see much of the city; they might just fly in for the event and leave as soon as it ends. 

We went all in on New Orleans. Live shucking oyster bars. Beignets at the reception. A reception at Mardi Gras World surrounded by actual Mardi Gras floats. And yes, live alligators.

"I don't know if you've been to an event where you can say, ‘Yeah, I was just at the party and held an alligator,’" Alexa laughed. "But it's so New Orleans, and we wanted to bring that to life."

We also brought New Orleans to attendees through food and beverage moments.

Don't just host your event in a city—celebrate it. Work with local vendors. Serve local food. Create moments that could only happen in that specific place. 

5. Create opportunities for local adventures

Everyone has good intentions about exploring the host city. But between sessions, networking, and exhaustion, it rarely happens. So we built exploration directly into the agenda.

"We took this format of what we do at our company offsites and brought it to Uncon. We wanted people to experience the city. We didn't want them to be stuck at the event all day."

We planned for day two to be shorter, with only a half-day of content. This freed up time for us to offer attendees their choice of local experiences: swamp tours, distillery tastings, French Quarter walking tours, or ghost tours.

"So, again, another moment of personalization. We wanted to give attendees the option to choose between a couple different tours," Alexa said. And attendees got to have memorable local experiences they couldn’t have anywhere else without having to stay an extra day or pay out of pocket. 

6. Give back in an interactive way

There’s a reality we need to face: Events can take resources from the communities they're hosted in. So, we wanted to give something back, but in a way that let attendees participate.

We partnered with three local nonprofits and created an interactive vending machine. Attendees put in quarters (provided by us), turned the dial, and got a capsule with a dollar amount inside. Then they chose which nonprofit to donate it to. We matched every donation.

"The emails that we received from the organization were so amazing," Alexa said. "They definitely warmed my heart and made all the work worth it, just knowing that you made someone's day in such a surprising way."

We also used lanyards from Colors for Good, a nonprofit that provides jobs to women in Mexico. 

Giving back doesn't have to be boring. Make it interactive and let your attendees be part of it.

7. Make space for the humans coming to your event

Not every moment of a conference needs to be go-go-go networking and content. Your attendees are still humans, which means they’ll have human moments. Here are a few ways we accounted for that. 

We started day one later

People still have jobs to do, even when they're at your conference. Give them space to handle it by delaying the start times. 

Workout class

And the best part? That workout class was led by our VP of People, Jennifer Pratt, with a live in-house DJ. For attendees who need to keep the blood pumping, this was a welcome class that stood out. 

Decompression zones 

We love a good Zen Zone, and everyone knows that overwhelming conferences mean they’re a necessity. That’s why we created The Recharge Lounge at Uncon.

"Not every single person is going to want to continue networking or have deep conversations or make new friends. Some people might just want a minute to decompress," Alexa explained.

There are plenty of ways to do this, but we created a postcard station where people could write notes home—thanking whoever was holding down the fort, or reaching out to a mentor. It had constant traffic.

Souvenir shop

Everyone rushes to buy souvenirs at the last minute. Why not take that stress off their plate? 

Make it your own

If you're taking anything away from this, it should be this: none of these ideas are wildly complicated or expensive. They're just different takes on things you're already doing. And boy, will they dazzle your attendees, allowing you to create a truly unconventional event. 

"We're just taking things that you typically see at an event and shifting it a little bit,” Alexa said. “Transportation—yep, that's always going to happen at your event, but could you do it in a cool way? You're going to have swag. Can you make it something different?"

Think about every step of the process, starting with registration to create more personalized events and all the way through the post-event follow-ups. There are ways to go above and beyond, and we know you’ll find them. 

Ready to see how Swoogo can help you create memorable events from registration to follow-ups (and everything in between)? Let's chat.