Part III – Touch

In my last post, I spoke about sight, sound, smell, taste, and its effect on an event. In this piece, I will follow it with touch, and explain how this sensory can also affect an event. Now let us look at touch.

Touch has two dimensions. There is the physical sense of touch and the feelings that you are able to create in your guests.

The first thing about your event that your guests will actually touch will be the invitations. You can spend a lot of thoughtful time making sure that the invitations are the best introduction possible to your upcoming event. When your guests arrive at your event, they will feel the temperature in the room. If not done right, they will engage the sense of sound, because you are going to hear it.

Your guests are going to feel the chairs they sit in, the linens, the china and the glassware they handle, the food and beverages that you plan to serve, as well as any intriguing décor with easy grasp. These many things are going to feel dry, feel wet, feel clean, feel dirty, feel uncomfortable, feel hot, feel cold, feel lukewarm, feel hard, feel soft, feel smooth or feel fresh.

They are going to touch and take home with them mementos of the evening. I hope that they will be the gifts you provided, not the linens, serving items and vases you rented and must return.

In regards to what I consider the second dimension of touch, your guests are going to have feelings created in anticipation of, during, and after your event. It begins when they receive your invitation and decide if they feel like attending. After they arrive, they will decide if they feel welcome at your event. Early on at your event, they should feel the fun, the energy, or the excitement in the room. Moreover, if you have chosen the right music, they should feel like dancing. Do you get the picture?

Ideally, at the end of the evening, your guests should feel like it is too soon to leave. Will your guests reach out to touch and shake your hand or give you big hug of thanks? Will they feel your warmth and appreciation? Will you feel theirs? Will you have touched their hearts? Will they have touched yours? If the answer is yes, then you probably gave them a total experience.

In my next blog, I will talk about examples of themes, but before I do so, I will talk about "Themes on a Budget," until then.

Happy Planning!