Kimberly Rohachuk - President, Eventsage
Strength in sales and business growth lie with your greatest ambassadors – your employees. The importance of delivering a successful incentive program, team-building event or sales meeting that drives employee engagement and subsequently workplace performance cannot be overstated. Electronic and remote interaction with employees is widespread, and while communication via webinars and conference calls can be effective for many purposes, in-person events offer the unique ability to directly engage employees in a memorable way, encouraging collaboration and driving business results.
For a more effective employee event, it’s imperative to consider moving your team off-site to a fresh environment. The right setting generates pre-event excitement, which increases commitment to the experience and provides an opportunity for your team to be more creative, but, more importantly, it removes distractions, resulting in a more authentic collaboration.
Ensure your employees get plenty of face time by providing multiple opportunities for interaction with each other and with leadership. People want to be heard and feel validated, but this is also about gathering valuable insight into issues that are creating roadblocks to employee success. Make the experience highly interactive with brainstorming sessions, open forums and roundtables.
When planning an event it’s easy to get mired in logistics and lose focus on driving business results. Increasing collaboration, boosting productivity and providing an opportunity for learning and education are the things that truly affect business growth. Well-executed employee events generate the sparks of company loyalty, engagement, commitment and performance.
Alvaro Prol - Principal, Blueprint
Events can leverage your brand, build your profile, attract a larger fan base and create a memorable experience that your community won’t soon forget. However, there are a lot of factors that go into planning a successful event that also work to drive your business forward in an effective way.
Make it relevant. Know your audience and consider whether your event is something people will want to attend. Also, get creative and experiment with incorporating new ideas or aspects in your event that haven’t already been done.
Work with the right partners. Seek out vendors, lifestyle brands, promoters, media and more that support your concept and help get the word out to the right people.
Price affordably. From the tickets to the drinks and food, the more inclusive you are, the more ability you have to make a widespread and lasting impact.
Make it memorable. Whether it’s the event invitation, the first impression it gives, the talent or the staff, or all of the above, ask yourself: “Is this something people will recount to their friends?” Great experiences are invaluable for driving brand connections and loyalty.
Make it scalable. If your event is a success and is able to be inexpensively repeated on a regular basis, you’re carving out the ability to capture a greater market every time you host.
Promote, promote, promote. Wherever and whenever you can, tastefully publicize your event. Determine as many potential avenues as you can and ensure you’ve incorporated promotion strategies into your planning well in advance.
Most importantly, never stop working towards your goal, never cut corners and never leave anything out. Every detail contributes to the entire experience and resulting success, so give it your all.
Tahira Endean - Events manager, QuickMobile
The fundamental question a business must ask in investing in an event is whether it meets specific and measurable business objectives. Events are by nature complex and require resources, including time, money and human energy, so it’s important to set measurable key performance objectives, ensure the audience fits the purpose and create an event that will appeal directly to them and provide a context that supports your objectives.
The power of face-to-face events is real. We crave emotional connections with the places we work, the brands we support and the companies we do business with. Whether it is an internal employee event to motivate and enhance teamwork or a larger-scaled, public business-to-consumer event, the purpose is to positively connect with existing and potential customers with a well-planned and well-executed event.
There are many event professionals out there who have the experience to manage event logistics. However, event professionals who understand how to ask the right questions to assess the true “why” of the event are priceless. While many understand logistics, an ideal partner is one who understands that increased sales are a result of a well-thought-out event strategy, and that business growth is not an objective, but a product of thoughtful planning.
Lastly, great logistics must be combined with creative event design, including the choice in venue, overall environment, brand atmosphere and flow. Appropriate entertainment, memorable moments and smart use of technology are all key aspects of your event. Today more than ever, there is nothing more powerful than a well-executed event to connect with members of your brand community and turn them into priceless advocates.
