At conferences, strategy offsites, or even internal summits, one goal stands out: How do we go beyond informing an audience—and actually involve them?
At ImageThink, we’ve helped hundreds of teams turn passive spectators into active contributors using one deceptively simple tool: the engagement board.
Rooted in our award-winning visual facilitation work, engagement boards are more than colorful installations. They’re strategic activators—designed to ignite interaction, spark storytelling, and build energy in the room, in real time.
What Is an Engagement Board?
An engagement board is a dynamic, visual tool that invites participation, reflection, and conversation during live events.
Whether it’s capturing what inspires a team or crowdsourcing breakthrough ideas from a conference audience, an engagement board turns observation into contribution—and data into dialogue.
We design these boards around powerful, open-ended prompts and capture participant responses live and visually, transforming input into illustrated expressions of collective voice.
It’s participation you can see—and remember.
Why Engagement Boards Work
The most successful events don’t just deliver content. They build connection.
Engagement boards work because they tap into a simple truth: People engage more deeply when they see their voices reflected in the experience.
At events with 100 or 10,000 attendees, these boards:
- Invite everyone to contribute—even the quiet thinkers
- Create shared ownership of the moment
- Reinforce your theme or message through live interaction
- Provide content that extends well beyond the event
- Drive traffic—on the show floor and on social
When used well, an engagement board becomes the heartbeat of the room.
Key Features of an Effective Engagement Board
From pharmaceutical trade shows to corporate retreats, our most impactful boards share five traits:
- A compelling prompt. Clear, open-ended, and theme-aligned.
- Visual clarity. A clean, magnetic design that draws people in.
- Easy entry points. No barriers to contribute—just show up and share.
- Real-time illustration. Contributions come to life as they happen.
- A lasting artifact. Boards that live on as art, alignment, or even social content.
If your goal is genuine audience engagement, don’t just post a question—create a space that honors the answer.
Types of Engagement Boards We Build
Our team customizes engagement boards based on audience size, event goals, and tone. Some of the most effective formats include:
Question Boards
Ask a guiding question that aligns with your event theme. Examples:
- “What are you in it for?”
- “What does innovation mean in your work?”
Growth + Vision Boards
Perfect for leadership offsites and team summits. Participants map personal or organizational growth goals visually.
Theme-Based Murals
Break a central message into multiple segments—like NAVIS’s “Connect, Empower, Grow”—and invite audience contributions to each.
Hybrid Boards
Combine physical illustrations with QR code submissions for virtual or remote teams.
Empathy Walls
Used especially in healthcare and DEI spaces, these prompt deeply personal stories and shared emotional experiences.
Journey Walls
Interactive timelines or roadmaps where people mark where they are in a change, transformation, or learning journey.
How We Activate Engagement at Events
We’ve created engagement boards at industry-leading events for brands like LinkedIn, NAVIS, and CurePSP. Here’s what we’ve learned works best:
- Start with intention. Every question should tie back to your brand, mission, or event theme.
- Plant the seed. Encourage early participation to build momentum.
- Use trained facilitators. Our visual strategists help people open up and feel heard.
- Document and share. The board becomes branded content and social proof.
Done right, your engagement board can extend the life and reach of your event by weeks—or even months.
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Engagement Board Case Study Highlights
✦ LinkedIn – “What Are You In It For?”
To support the launch of their “In It Together” campaign, LinkedIn placed ImageThink engagement boards across global offices. The prompt invited employees to reflect on their purpose—and connect with peers in deeply meaningful ways.
The murals now live as permanent installations, reinforcing culture and belonging.
✦ CurePSP – “Care and Hope”
At a virtual gathering for patients and caregivers, ImageThink created a live engagement board that captured moments of care and hope shared by attendees. It gave voice to deeply personal stories—and helped healthcare professionals understand their impact more fully.
✦ EWI – From Trade Show Booth to Award-Winning Activation
When EWI set out to showcase their thought leadership in manufacturing innovation, they partnered with ImageThink to design a booth experience that invited participation and sparked conversation.
Our team created a bold, interactive engagement board around the question:
“What does innovation mean to you?”
As attendees shared ideas and perspectives, our visual strategists illustrated them live—turning abstract themes into a vivid, collective story of innovation.
The response?
- Record-breaking booth traffic
- Tangible, shareable visual content
- And the Exhibitor Magazine Best Booth Award
Proof that when you combine intentional design with visual collaboration, engagement becomes unforgettable.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Even with the best intentions, we’ve seen some common pitfalls:
- Asking vague or generic questions
- Location matters- avoid dead spaces
- Treating the board as decoration, not activation
With strategic guidance and design, your board becomes a living, breathing part of your event.
The Future of Engagement Boards
As hybrid events become the norm and AI tools enter facilitation, we’re imagining new ways to activate audiences:
- AI-assisted synthesis of board themes post-event
- Augmented reality overlays for mobile exploration
- Touchscreen murals for remote and in-person collaboration
- Gamified participation for real-time feedback and interaction
Still, the heart of the experience won’t change: Helping people feel seen, heard, and part of something bigger.
Bringing Audiences to Life with Engagement Boards
When done well, engagement boards do more than activate audiences. They unite teams, surface insights, and spark stories that last well beyond the final session.
At ImageThink, we’ve seen what’s possible when you don’t just talk to your audience—but build something with them.
If you’re ready to energize your next event, we’d love to help.
