Attendee engagement doesn’t just happen. It has to be designed into the experience of a conference, event and convention from Day One. Like a great painting, an exceptional experience needs a canvas. So let’s take an old tool and reinvent it. You can create memorable event experiences with cheap t-shirts.

Note To People Who Skim

If all t-shirts mean to you are quick and dirty ways to attempt to attract traffic for your tradeshow booth or workshop – thank you for reading. Please come back next week. If you want to create engagement and long-term involvement with the people you depend on for success – please read on.

The Most Loved Thing in the Closet

Our old friend the t-shirt was 100 years old in 2013. In 1913, the U.S. Navy started issuing them as underwear. Being Americans, we did the exact opposite … put them right out in the open and started wearing them everywhere.

I bet if you take a quick inventory, you’ll discover that you have at least four t-shirts you wear all the time. I have about 10. What’s odd is why.

I’ve had most of mine for at least five years. BTW, that seems to be the average. Every one is branded with a logo from Gap, Old Navy or several rock bands I no longer listen to. (I used to wear a couple from Calvin Klein and Abercrombie & Fitch, but I can’t pass the physical anymore.) My t-shirts are like a time capsule: Most are relics from concerts, vacations and corporate events. I even have one I don’t remember getting – I just woke up in it in San Diego!

Iconic t-shirts make people feel like “insiders” thanks to the design,

the message they send and the attitude.

A Branded Experience

If you think about it, I’ve paid all of these companies my good money for the privilege of advertising their brands. Why?

Well, I’m just one of the tribe. I may label it fashion or an expression of my individuality, but it’s actually engagement. Wearing branded apparel makes me feel unique – even while I’m a willing member of the group of people who wear the same shirt.

My Hard Rock Café shirt from London says I’m a road-wise, rock enthusiast and I know where to go.

My Gap shirt says I’m part of the athletic/casual scene with an active, young lifestyle.

And my Calvin Klein shirt says I’m a buff, affluent dude with no body hair who hangs around with women draped on me in a chic, black and white world.

What This Means to You

The need to belong, to be accepted and a part of something are hard-wired into our personalities. It’s a basic instinct to want to be part of a community. That’s the subconscious reason we buy and wear t-shirts. It’s one of the most strategic and effective forms of marketing. And that’s the power you can harness by using a simple shirt as a foundation for engagement in your brand or event community. People don’t do business with a logo or a company – they do business with YOU. That was a key point in my article – Delivering The Great Experience – Make Them Eager For More! Your tribe and community of based on people.

Here’s how to create memorable event experiences with t-shirts.

Welcome to the Community

Before you start designing and ordering shirts, you need to define your community or tribe.

•  What is the purpose? What do you want people to feel when they wear the shirt long after your event? Remember, this is a relationship between people with shared interests and not a marketing gimmick.

•  Who do you want to join? Yeah, “everybody” is a great answer, but be a bit more specific. Let’s say you have an employee team that has to work together all the time. That’s a tribe. You have a group who will be staffing your booth at a trade show. That’s a tribe. You have customers or users who need to feel appreciated, valued and “on the inside.” That’s a tribe. Each one needs something to define the group and help the members to feel they belong.

•  What should the shirt communicate? Just slapping your logo on it won’t work. The goal is to make the shirt communicate the wearer’s interests, attitudes and the things they have in common.

The big idea is that wearing your shirt has to stand for something. It has to make a statement, express an attitude and say as much about the person wearing it as it does about your organization.

Designing Your Shirt

I’m not going to give you design rules and specifications. You can get those from any professional designer.  What you do need are the design guidelines that will get you the results you want.

1. Design the Shirt for the Audience

Where will they wear it?

How will they wear it?

What idea will grab them so strongly that they will want to wear it and never throw it away?

2. Think Color

The image, words or logo are just part of the shirt. The thing that makes an impression first is the color. I hate to break your heart, but it’s actually more important than the graphics. What colors are best for the target audience?

3. Go for Emotion and Attitude

Go for some emotion, personality and attitude. People love to make a statement and communicate how they feel. Within hours of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 the first “Boston Strong” charity t-shirts hit the streets. They weren’t elaborate, but they eloquently expressed the emotion of the moment and the resolve of the citizens.

4. Have Choices

Why did Procter & Gamble launch lime and chocolate mint Crest toothpaste, when it already comes in many other types? Because people love a choice. So do more than one shirt design, have several statements and offer different colors. Make each person an “individual conformist.” The goal is for your special group to feel proud and “in” wearing your shirt – and not toss them in the next yard sale.

Quick Tips for T-Shirt Success

Here’s a quick list of other things to think about.

Hire a good designer. Your logo might be fantastic on letterhead and on your website, but not on a t-shirt. Develop a design that’s t-shirt specific.

Buy decent shirts. I know I said “cheap” in the title, but it’s better to buy fewer, higher-quality shirts than more sleazy ones. Remember the average life expectancy is five years.

Buy a realistic quantity. It’s better to run out because people want your shirts, than to go home with boxes of shirts no one wants. This gives you the perfect opportunity to gather names and contact information. Then you can send them the shirt and follow up.

Go for Wearability. Price doesn’t mean a thing if the shirt is uncomfortable. Please check the sizes and avoid “Unisex.” Unisex is just a man’s shirt with a different label, and they’re hell. If you can, get samples and show them to your company’s major “influencers” to get their input. They will quickly tell you what’s wearable.

The Big Test of Any Design

Before you approve or order anything ask yourself this question:

“Would I wear this?”

Make It a Symbol of Belonging

You can increase and prolong the experience of your next event if you invest the time and money to define and reward a key group with something personal. Instead of focusing on the statement the shirt makes about the company or your product, make it say something about the person wearing it.

T-shirts can be a powerful part of the experience you create for important people. Just focus on your purpose, give people a choice, make them cool and get them everywhere. Make people ask where they got them. The goal isn’t giving out shirts, collecting leads or making your team stand out.

The goal is giving people something to belong to. It’s a community of people who all have something in common – You!

Let’s spend 15 minutes talking about your next project or challenge. It’s a free consultation so we can get to know each other. Just click on CONTACT US or send an email to andy@ideagroupatlanta.com and get in touch.

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