The event atmosphere.
Part 3: Other senses

Last time we talked about vision and hearing and their role in event planning. This time I would like to talk a bit about other senses: tactile sensations, odours and smells, and taste.

Visual and tactile sensations perform an interesting role in creating a special atmosphere at an event. On one side, researchers suggest that the touch does not have a solid link with human emotions as the vision and hearing. But on another side, it has tremendous meaning for environmental awareness.

I suggest we talk a little bit about the use of various textures at your event. The term "texture" is unbreakably connected to the materials, of which different things are made.

Undoubtedly, each person has own associations originated through touching materials. However, there are certain common tendencies. For example, the linen is associated with naturality, closeness to nature and ethnic motifs; the silk—with the aristocracy; and knitten things—with warmth and cosiness.

Odours and scents are strongly connected with human emotions. In 2009, the Oxford journal "Chemical Senses" published a detailed study. Scientists have thoroughly analysed how various odours affect the human state. The conclusions were astonishing! It turned out that odours are able to change the physical state of a human (the pulse and the blood pressure) and influence on mind and behaviour. Besides, odours cause the strongest emotional flashbacks. Studies conducted at Rockefeller University have shown that humans remember 1% of tactile, 2% of audio, 5% of visual, 15% of taste and 35% of odorous sensations. Another group of scientists has proven that odours impact on our mood and our psychological state as well as on how we receive other people. If a person smells fine to us, then the first impression of them is going to be pleasant. The entire institutions exist that focus on studying odours.

Since odours bear such strong emotional feedback, it is greatly important to use them rightly to create a certain atmosphere at an event. The approach here is two-fold. Firstly, a professional organiser takes into account ambient odours at the venue. Wouldn't you agree that obnoxious odours ruin the impression of the entire happening!? And secondly, one can tune the event guests to a required wave using suitable odours, for example, aromatic oils.

And in conclusion, I shall give a little life-hack. If we are about to take off for your holidays, emotions of which you would like to save in your memory forever, go buy a unique eau de toilette. You are going to use it only during your holiday trip. After a while, the odour of that eau de toilette is going to remind you of the places you have been to and the emotions you have experienced during your holidays. Checked and approved!

Let us talk a bit about the taste of your event. Here, we have two pretty interesting questions: can food make your guests happier and how to create an ideal menu?

Imagine a random guest. They joined an unfamiliar company, they don't feel comfortable, and the stress slowly approaches. The body begins to actively generate the hormone cortisol, which awakens a strong feeling of hunger. Let us help the guest to relax and recover. You can do it fairly simply! Just put the bowls full of candies or biscuits at accessible places. When carbohydrates give a splash of energy, the level of stress is going to lower, and thus, your guest will become happier. The task of the event organiser is to think through the strategic locations for yummies to make the guests find them easily.

The topic on the menu is much more complex and requires a unique approach. One needs to take into account the format of the event, its duration, the amount of entertainment. Besides, the menu can be composed in different styles or in accordance with the traditions of different counties and regions. Rightly selected meals should correspond to the idea and the concept of the celebration. And most importantly! All food must be delicious.

It is very important for me that every element of the event is perfect, and all the factors piece together. I believe, that unforgettable atmosphere can be created in every event. The trick is in thoroughly planned details.

Our emotions are created by senses, by everything that we see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. I embrace you to think of all the details carefully and exploit human senses to create unforgettable experience for you and your guests.

You can read about the event atmosphere and vision in my blog post here. The second part about the sound at your event is here.