If you want to ensure your ability to get in to see some drooled-over and much anticipated screenings of comic book heroes brought to life, you should probably get in line now for next year.

Wouldn’t you love to have that kind of interest in your conference? Managing large scale conventions is an undertaking. Here are a few tips you can learn from this extreme Geek event.

Getting Away from it All

Virtual reality has been toyed with for years but it reared its head, quite literally, at this year’s Fan Expo. Virtual and augmented reality aren’t just for early adopters anymore. They’ve now become mainstream interests and will continue to grow as several large gaming companies are bringing VR and AR to home systems in 2017. It might be time to start thinking about introducing more game aspects and augmented reality into your events.

Becoming Someone Else

Encouraging your attendees to be the person they want to be (whether that’s Batman or someone really interested in learning more about professional growth at your conference) is an appealing idea. Support what it is that each person wants to get out of your event and market it accordingly. Are people looking to get away or be part of something larger?

Interaction is the Goal

At the same time that virtual reality is hot, Fan Expo offered tons of hand-on exhibits and interactive opportunities that weren’t technology-based.

Delight with Giveaways

Events like Fan Expo are filled with giveaways but chances are the sponsors they secure have much larger budgets than most. But there were also plenty of giveaways tied into the attendees doing something for them.

Create the Hype

Some people will get to enjoy things that others don’t. This tactic (and necessity when you have a group this large) of giving exclusive opportunities generates a lot of talk, interest, content, and hype.

Plenty of Photo Opportunities

Photo sharing platforms are big and you can assume your attendees are using them. After all, everyone has a camera in their pocket. Great conference organizers, and savvy vendors, understand giving people fun backdrops, props, and other photo opportunities means people will share, share, share. Just don’t forget to encourage the use of a hashtag when they do.

Don’t Overschedule

A frequent problem with large scale events like this is that attendees must do more than just select the sessions they want to attend. They must plan strategically to see what sessions are in the rooms before their desired session, and often they must leave their current session early before the coveted one fills up. This disrupts the session before it and means they don’t get the full benefit since they’re thinking about the next one and when to leave in order to secure a spot.

Don’t feel the need to place sessions back to back throughout the entire event. Allow for lots of time in between sessions so people don’t feel rushed. If you know you’ll have a very popular session, consider broadcasting it somewhere outside of the room, a place you want people to congregate, like an exhibit hall. This assures that even those who don’t get into the room can enjoy it and you get traffic in a place of your designation.