Having one event company manage your entire portfolio of events produces more powerful and integrated event experiences, says MD of International Productions, Adryan Daynes.
Working with long-term clients is an event manager’s dream come true because having visibility across a multi-year calendar of events provides insights not available when planning a single event.
The challenge however, is to continually deliver engaging and effective events that provide business results and expose delegates to the latest creative thinking from around the globe, time and time again.
Today, when every event dollar must correlate to a business objective, delivering holistic and consistent event experiences across a multi-year event calendar is the optimum way to achieve maximum impact, key message cut through and deliver cost efficiencies.
Here are my top tips to delivering a powerful holistic calendar of events:
Consistency is key, to a degree
Events are an interactive touchpoint for your brand, whether it is a member, employee or customer event, working with one event team promises a consistent brand experience each time.
Cornerstone events, such as annual or biennial conferences, provide benchmark expectations for attendees; guests leave feeling motivated and connected with the core messages and each other. The challenge is to capture this energy and deliver a consistent experience across each event to build an event brand “suite” and reputation, which provides value to the attendees and strong return on investment for the company.
While the cornerstone event may be bigger and better, companies should be aware of the expectation set and ensure smaller events continue to pack a punch. The standard of the overall look, feel and atmosphere created needs to be replicated in the supporting events.
Having foresight for ROI
Building a close relationship with your event management team and providing visibility across all events happening over a two to five year period allows your event managers to align the event objectives with the short, medium and long-term business goals. Goal alignment will increase the effectiveness of events to deliver a more tangible return on investment for your client.
Not every company has the resources to deliver company-wide conferences annually; work with your event management team to build a long-term event strategy to establish an effective calendar of events across a multi-year period. With foresight across the business objectives and key messages of future conferences, smaller events across the calendar can be utilised to gradually reposition messaging to build a consistent overall brand experience.
Look at your overall calendar of events and how each event interconnects to deliver a holistic brand and organisation experience.
Feeling Fresh
When delivering multiple events over many years, it is imperative that the events evolve and remain fresh to impress your delegates.
Keeping ahead of the evolution of technology can at times be challenging, however, the trick is to remain abreast of new event technologies as they are introduced. Having a trusted relationship with your event managers opens doors to push boundaries and test new initiatives.
While consistency is key, knowing the right elements to mix up the event delivery guarantees an engaging experience that continues to motivate your delegates.