Category: Event Planning

From Dough to Decorations: How Event Planning Compares to the Art of Pizza Making

Posted on by Eventsforce

 

Making a pizza, organising an event.  Two totally different things, right?  And yet, both require careful planning, close attention to detail, and that all-important sprinkle of creativity.  That being said, these disparate endeavours share similarities that can be explored to understand the challenges of each respective process.  So, let’s take a closer look at the parallels between making a pizza and building an event — all the while highlighting the hard work that goes into the creation of two very different things.

Let’s start with the ingredients

Just as the starting point for great pizza is all in the dough, an event’s success relies upon certain basic elements — namely, a great venue, engaging content, headline speakers, and fabulous catering. When making a pizza, you carefully select and combine quality ingredients to create something tasty.  Likewise, organising an event requires identifying each component of the event and bringing it all together to create something truly special.

It’s all in the preparation

Once the ingredients are gathered, preparation is key. With pizza, it’s all about kneading the dough, spreading the sauce, and layering carefully selected toppings with love and care. Similarly, events need some TLC too; after all, meticulous planning, scheduling, and the coordination of various aspects like suppliers, logistics, and hotel accommodation are an integral part of any successful endeavour.

Get cooking

A great pizza should be baked to perfection.  But perfection, of course, is a highly subjective thing. The same can be said of a live event, which evolves even as it unfolds.  Just as a good pizzaiolo will adjust timing and temperature to get a perfect pizza, event planners need to use their experience and judgement to manage every aspect of a live event as it unfolds. This requires effective communication, adaptability, and quick decision-making to handle any unexpected challenges.

Make it look fabulous

From its enticing aroma to its vibrant colours, the perfect pizza indulges the senses.  Likewise, a striking venue and thoughtful details create an immersive atmosphere for your attendees.  It’s worth paying attention to aesthetics to create a visually appealing experience, a point that — much like a final drizzle of olive oil or a sprinkle of chilli flakes on a finished pizza — adds a layer of sensory enjoyment to any event.

Savour the satisfaction

Though two completely disparate things, the satisfaction that comes from creating a delicious pizza and organising a successful event is immeasurable. Whether you share a slice of your pizza with friends or eat it alone with relish, there is a true sense of fulfilment in enjoying your special creation.  Likewise, there’s nothing like being on-hand to witness your delegates enjoying themselves or the delight that comes from receiving their positive feedback, all the while knowing you’ve helped to create a memorable experience. So — whether it’s a perfect pizza or a flawless event — the pride and satisfaction of the final result is well-worth the effort.

 

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

The “Other” New Normal: How Planners Have Adapted to Remote Working

Posted on by Eventsforce

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has indelibly changed the ways in which we live and work.  For those in the events sector, the advent and continued popularity of hybrid and remote is undeniably one of the era’s lasting legacies, one which has left a profound mark on the wider industry.  Yet deeper still runs the impact of another new normal: remote working.  As the results of our white paper have revealed, this practice is now firmly entrenched within the sector’s wider working culture.  But for planners — who rely on close interactions and connections to create successful events — the rise of remote working has not come without its challenges. It’s time to explore how this new normal has changed not only how planners undertake their work, but how they have adapted so swiftly and successfully to such radical change.

The Before and The After

Prior to 2020, face-to-face personal communication — between planners and colleagues and planners and their audiences — was unquestionably the norm.  Today, our vantage point at the very top of the post-pandemic era makes it easier to stop and look back at both the advantages and disadvantages of what once was.  To be certain, planners thrived on the spontaneous sparks of interaction and inspiration that truly only come when working side-by-side with colleagues in a face-to-face environment.  From a logistical perspective, on-site working offered a forum for direct and instantaneous collaboration and the facility to swiftly clarify questions, problems, and concerns as planners moved forward through the planning process of an event with their colleagues.  Hand in hand with on-site working, of course, came emotional intelligence, something that coloured the working day with shades and tones of emotion and created a rapport of shared interpersonal experiences between colleagues.

For planners — as for professionals in almost every other sector and industry — the transition to remote working has been both a challenge and a revelation.  While that spontaneous spark of person-to-person collaboration and communication may have flickered with the initial introduction of remote working, the enthusiasm shown by planners for their industry has remained undiminished.  In these few years — in a move that attests to their professionalism and passion for their industry — planners have surmounted that initial shock of change to make a true success of a very real challenge.

Adapting to the New Normal

From today’s vantage point, this success looks effortless, but planners have deployed hard graft and incredible agility to meet in real-time the demands made by the sudden move to remote working.  What’s more, successful planners have implemented specific techniques to ensure that this broader shift in the working world has not impacted the quality of their events — even as they’ve had to grapple with fundamental changes within the sector.

First among these tactics is a fundamental awareness of both the benefits and the challenges brought about by this move to remote working. While it certainly offers flexibility and financial benefits for both employers and employees, remote working can be a direct challenge to the kind of spontaneous, collaborative environment in which so many planners thrive.  In fact, it’s fair to say that this is the primary threat posed by remote working to planning teams, but canny planners have sought to head it off by any means.  While it’s true that — at a very basic level — tools like Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, Asana, and Trello, etc., can be effective platforms for communication and project management, technology itself is not the deciding factor when it comes to successful event planning in a remote environment.

Techniques for Nurturing a Collaborative Culture in the World of Remote Work

That is to say, the most effective and efficient event planners of today have taken the time and effort to establish a culture and context around remote working, setting practical guidance and clear protocols to smooth and ease the flow of communication and collaboration between themselves and their teams.  For today’s remote planners, these simple practices often include clearly indicating their designated platform for communication and/or project management tasks (i.e., Google Workspace, Slack, etc.).  Good planners — especially those in management positions — are also clear about establishing protocols in terms of the expected frequency of virtual team meetings and 1-to-1 check-ins.

Over the last three years, many organisations have made a decisive operational shift to remote working.  Yet, savvy planners recognise the power that in-person collaboration still holds when it comes to sparking inspiration and rapport among their remote teams.  This is why planners still lean on face-to-face meet-ups as a trusted tool for enlivening their work with that all-important spark of spontaneity. They know that these in-person meetings have the potential to bring new perspectives and new knowledge and, from an emotional welfare standpoint, can brighten the day-to-day routine — and even cut the isolation — that sometimes comes along with remote working.  Most importantly, meeting face-to-face offers a forum for remote planners to share and address the tasks and problems that they may struggle to grapple with on their own — challenges that simply cannot be met virtually or individually.

It may now be the new normal, but for event planners — for whom the cut and thrust of close interpersonal communication will always be second nature — the shift to remote working has proven to be a true challenge.  And yet — as with any of the many other obstacles that have emerged over the last three years — this group of professionals has risen to the task to make a true success of this profound change.

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

ChatGPT: A Tool for Excitement and Engagement

Posted on by Eventsforce

 

A flash in the pan gimmick or the latest advancement in AI, ChatGPT is many things to many people.

For savvy event planners, ChatGPT can serve as a kind of tool to engage and excite while easing the loads of even the busiest professionals within the sector. In fact, we asked ChatGPT directly how it can be utilised by planners to do their jobs and here’s what it said:

Event planners can utilise ChatGPT in a variety of ways to improve their events and create a more engaging experience for attendees. Here are a few examples:

  • Chatbots: Event planners can create a chatbot using ChatGPT to provide attendees with a personalised experience. The chatbot can answer questions, provide event information, and offer recommendations based on attendees’ preferences.
  • Content creation: Event planners can use ChatGPT to create content for their events, such as social media posts, email marketing messages, and blog articles. ChatGPT can assist with generating creative and engaging content ideas that align with the event’s theme and goals.
  • Real-time assistance: During the event, event planners can use ChatGPT to provide real-time assistance to attendees. ChatGPT can help attendees find specific sessions, answer questions about the event schedule, and offer suggestions for nearby restaurants or attractions.
  • Virtual event engagement: For virtual events, event planners can use ChatGPT to enhance attendee engagement. ChatGPT can facilitate interactive Q&A sessions, provide personalised recommendations for sessions to attend, and offer virtual networking opportunities.

In summary, event planners can leverage ChatGPT in various ways to enhance their events, create a more engaging experience for attendees, and streamline their event planning processes.

Taking that second point as an example, we also asked the chatbot to clarify how it can assist planners with the creation of relevant content during the course of their event.  ChatGPT replied:

Event planners can use ChatGPT to create content for their events in various ways, including:

  • Brainstorming session: Event planners can use ChatGPT to conduct brainstorming sessions with their team. They can ask ChatGPT to generate ideas for themes, keynote speakers, activities, and entertainment.
  • Writing scripts: Event planners can use ChatGPT to write scripts for their event. They can provide ChatGPT with the basic details of the event and ask it to generate a script for the opening ceremony, keynote speeches, panel discussions, and other segments of the event.
  • Social media content: Event planners can use ChatGPT to create content for their social media platforms. They can ask ChatGPT to generate captions, hashtags, and posts that can be used to promote the event on social media.
  • Attendee engagement: Event planners can use ChatGPT to engage with attendees before, during, and after the event. They can set up a chatbot using ChatGPT that can answer attendees’ questions, provide event updates, and engage attendees in conversations.
  1. Presentation materials: Event planners can use ChatGPT to create presentation materials for the event. They can ask ChatGPT to generate slides, infographics, and charts that can be used to present data and information during the event.

In summary, event planners can use ChatGPT in multiple ways to create content for their event, from generating ideas and scripts to engaging attendees and creating presentation materials.

But as with any new technology, there are concerns over the limitations of and caveats to the information created by ChatGPT. For planners, it’s crucial to understand that the chatbot’s generated replies lack refinement and emotional intelligence, a point to account for when creating and editing content to engage a target audience.  After all, when it comes to fostering engagement at a personal level, nothing will ever come close to the power and subtlety of the human mind.  Unlimited by possibility and rich in emotional experience, it is the one machine that can create written content to capture and engage time and again.

But for event planners as a whole, ChatGPT represents a novel medium for content ideation, a chance to instantly and easily build upon a word or a thought in a bid to capture the attention of an audience at multiple points throughout the process of building and executing an event.  In the right hands and with the right knowledge, ChatGPT is the savvy planner’s tool for excitement and engagement.

 

Running live, virtual or hybrid events? Give your attendees an event experience they’ll remember with technology you can rely on. Learn how Eventsforce can make your next event fabulous and successful. Book your personalised demo now.

Pause, Shift, Change, Engage: Calling Time on Repeat Events

Posted on by Eventsforce

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This mantra holds true…except for those working in the events industry. Offering up the new and the fresh is an inherent part of a planner’s job and yet so many are still leaning heavily on serving up the same old experiences to their ever-changing audiences. After three years of disruption, it’s understandable why — when faced with the challenge of change — we’re all falling back into our former routines, but now is the right time for planners to stop, take stock, and finally break free from the old, stale habits that no longer serve them or their audiences.

Why Planners Are Still Falling for the Siren Call of the Familiar

Yet, there’s no denying it: routine — especially in these uncertain times — is comforting. The post-pandemic era is a space in flux; indeed, while live events are making their return felt, hybrid continues to demand its share of consideration from both planners and the audiences they serve. As a professional group, planners have had a very short period of adjustment to this new kind of normal, a place where change is the only constant. No blueprint or schematic exists to guide planners as to how they should interact with their audiences in this new sphere and so old, familiar habits act as a secure mental foothold for event professionals in a continuously changing sector.

It’s worth acknowledging that — due to the changes brought about by the pandemic — the roles once undertaken by planners themselves have in many cases been incorporated into a broader marketing function. This means that the professional knowledge accrued over the years by so many planners within the sector is lost and that — with resources at a premium — it’s now much easier to simply keep repeating those tried-and-tested routines. It’s also worth recognising that planners are notoriously stretched for time and so, from the perspective of efficiency, the repetition of past events is a perfectly understandable practise.

Finally, it’s to say that, in some cases, planners themselves have not acknowledged that the needs and wants of their once well-understood audiences have also changed during the last three years. With the predominance of remote working, planners now find themselves having to compete for attention against the domestic and family lives of their would-be audiences. For some, this sudden change of tack is daunting and so — whether it’s returning again and again to existing event formats or previously used venues and suppliers — it’s understandable why some can’t seem to shake the siren call of the safe and familiar, even if that means serving up the same as last year and risking disengagement from their audiences.

Break Old Habits, Reap the Rewards: The Benefits of Stepping Away from Tired Event Experiences

Stepping away from the known can be a decision fraught with trepidation, anxiety, and even fear, but the benefits of doing so are very much worth the effort. Think: even by making just a slight change to a tried-and-tested routine, a planner not only keeps their event relevant to their target delegates, but also potentially taps into a brand new audience. The first step, of course, is to take the time to understand who your target audience is, what their needs are, and what you — as a planning professional — can offer to get them out of the house and participating in your event. This is precisely why the easy rehashing of tired, old experiences is simply no longer effective or impactful as an event strategy.

From a practical level, your data should be your starting point for a fresh beginning. Whether it’s gleaned via apps, your event management software, a list of past event attendees, etc., any information you have will help you to assess who your audience is, what they want, and how you can best engage with them. During the process, you may even find that you need to create different personas, ones that better jive with the current needs and wants of your audience. Once you’ve thoroughly mined and analysed your data, you can then set to work on overhauling your event strategy, doing so with the total and complete confidence that you know your audience and exactly what they want. It’s worth saying, however, that a new event doesn’t always necessarily have to mean starting entirely from scratch. For example, your basic initial planning documents may still serve you well if you find that making slight adjustments to your event offering is the most efficient and effective way to offer up something completely fresh, new, and engaging.

It’s undeniable: the siren call of a repeat event offers security to many planners looking for stability in an ever-shifting time and space. But it’s a false comfort, for with that supposed sense of safety comes the very real danger of disengagement. Now is the time to look beyond the fear of the unfamiliar and embrace change for all the opportunities it has the potential to bring.

 

 

When you’re ready to grab a slice of the action, simply get in touch to discuss your requirements, as well as your favourite pizza.

Future Trends in Hybrid

Posted on by Eventsforce

 

The staying power of hybrid is undeniable. While the events industry is now seeing a welcome resurgence of live, in-person gatherings, it’s clear that hybrid — thanks to its inherent agility as an event format — has become a trusted tool of planners in a relatively short space of time. That same agility means that hybrid is actively being shaped to yield to the on-going needs — and even to the future demands —  of industry professionals and the audiences they serve. The future of hybrid is already in the making and it’s time to explore the broad trends and themes that will continue to shape this format as we move forward.

Micro-events and Data:

When it comes to future developments in hybrid, the most obvious is its continued popularity within the wider event sector, a trend that shows no sign of slowing. And yet, there are some tangible observations to be made in how planners are actively adapting hybrid to meet their current needs while also incorporating it into their onward plans. First among these is the trending popularity of micro-events and specifically, how planners are actively utilising hybrid as a tool to create these smaller gatherings. In 2023 — with the budgets of so many frozen and costs rising across the board — the use of hybrid technology to create these bespoke events is an upward trend, a way for planners to fine-tune their reach to create the kinds of intimate experiences that their audiences really want.

Creating an appealing event is one thing, but gauging the outcome of that event is quite something else. For planners, only hard data offers clear, concise, and tangible insight into audience engagement and, therefore, into the overall success of their event. From the initial registration period to details collected during the course of or even after a gathering, hybrid events — where information flows in via emails, social posts, landing pages, apps, etc. — are a data goldmine for event planners. With its various digital moving parts, hybrid offers a way for planners to not only simply collect static information, but also to track and analyse metrics in order to build and refine their future events for their future audience.

The Endless Flow of Tech into the Hybrid Experience

The very nature of the format itself means that technology is an inseparable part of planning, building, and successfully executing a hybrid event. As UK Tech News highlights, the future of hybrid is very closely intertwined with the onward development of technology. Whether planners are seeking out increasingly sophisticated means of facilitating virtual audience engagement, wanting to expedite event registration via the power of facial recognition, or harnessing powerful software to allow them to analyse data at a granular level, there’s no corner of a hybrid event that is not influenced by the advancement of technology. What’s more — among both planners and attendees of hybrid events — the obvious interest in and engagement with new technologies is ever-increasing. This constant demand feeds into the development of new technology and this, of course, flows into and informs the future of the hybrid event experience.

As an agile force in the events industry, the power of hybrid is indisputable. While the precise trends and themes that will shape the format are yet to be known, it’s clear that the future of hybrid is already unfolding.

 

 

Want to learn more about hybrid events?

Is hybrid really the future of the events industry? It seems so! An Eventsforce research study with 200+ event planners shows that the concept of hybrid can be daunting for many.  They can be perceived as complex and costly.  And even with the right budgets and resources to fund a hybrid event strategy, many organisers feel unsure on where to start.

Download our eBook,  put together to give organisers a good overview on hybrid events and how they can go about addressing some of their key concerns.

Personalised event registration: barriers, pitfalls, and solutions

Posted on by Eventsforce

 

When it comes to events, first impressions matter. As the kind of “opening act” to any occasion, registration sets the feel and tone for things to come. While personalisation is now inherent throughout many elements of any given event, it’s not necessarily always easy or straightforward to include an element of personalisation in your registration process. But be they delegates, potential delegates, exhibitors, or sponsors, everyone deserves the warm welcome that only personalisation can offer. And you, as a planner, certainly deserve to reap the benefits of a thoughtfully personalised registration process.

Barriers and Pitfalls of Personalised Registration

There is no getting around it: personalisation takes time and demands substantial effort from planners. This is especially true ahead of the event registration process, when planners need to ensure that they kick off their event by targeting the right audience with the right message. But before they can even begin to work on messaging, planners need to analyse the personal data they’ve gathered — whether this information has been collected via past events, emails, or surveys — in order to carefully and correctly segment their target audiences. With so much information to hand, it’s easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of segmentation and even — as Sitecore references — to in effect become paralysed by your data.

Likewise, with time and resources finite — and with so many other details to attend to in the run up to an event — it’s also understandable for a planner to perhaps not give personalised registration the attention it fully deserves. This is also a mistake; indeed, by neglecting to give considered thought to the element of personalisation at the point of registration, you’ve also missed an opportunity to more fully connect with your target audience.

The Simple Solution

A sense of perspective is a powerful tool when it comes to considering the importance of personalised registration. After all, registration is not the main event, but it is a key element of almost any and every event (and certainly, of those done well). To that end — and especially when it comes to considering both the personal data you’ve gathered and your target audience — it’s worth zooming out to identify broad demographic categories within the details you have to hand. Once you’ve done this, consider the elements of registration that will resonate the most with your audience. Isolate and identify the strategies that will have both the greatest positive impact in terms of successfully opening your event along with the ones that will help serve your overall goal of engaging with those you really want to target. And here, it’s important to implement strategies that not only serve your audience, but also to choose the ones that slot seamlessly into your existing time and resources.

A final key point on personalisation — and this concerns both the registration process as well as your event at-large — is that there is no single way to ‘do’ personalisation. Whether you opt for segmented and personalised invites and e-mails or distinct registration paths or have dug deep to welcome delegates to your event with their favourite coffee, only you truly know the registration techniques that will resonate best with your core audience. As an event planner, your time and resources are precious, but with careful consideration and perspective, you can efficiently create the kind of welcome that benefits both your attendees — and yourself — now and in the future.

 

 

Want to learn more about how to personalise your events?

Get answers to the fundamental questions, as well as insight on the current state of personalisation in the events industry from a recent research study with 150+ event planners with our eBook, ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to Personalisation’.

How to use the subtle power of video to enhance your event marketing strategy

Posted on by Eventsforce

From pre-show advertising to post-show highlights and client testimonials, event industry professionals acknowledge the power and reach of video marketing. But there are times and tasks that call for a more delicate hand; when you want to go beyond the basics of video marketing for your event yet still fly well under the radar, here are three ideas on how to softly shift the perspective of your strategy for a more subtle — yet equally effective — impact.

Find and Embrace Emotion

Whether you actively acknowledge it or not, as a planner — and perhaps, by extension, a marketing professional — the events you organise are largely built upon your ability to effectively trigger human emotion to get the results you seek. Whether you’re aiming to drum up a sense of anticipation ahead of your event, offering up a heartfelt compliment to your speakers, or reminiscing over the event that was, the sensory power of video is unparalleled in conveying an emotion or vibe — be it excitement, nostalgia, or even a sense of FOMO.

As an event planner, it’s key to know both precisely the kind of feeling you want to tap into and how you can best create content to trigger the reaction you want. Regardless of the type, length, or purpose of your video, this is a medium that enables you to wield the emotional power of a script or story, a moving soundtrack, striking cinematography, and precise editing to influence your target audience. Don’t be afraid to lean into and embrace that emotion; it can be woven into your video content strategy to subtly yet powerfully influence the overall outcome of your event.

Get Personal Before and After

Virtual, hybrid, or in-person — no matter the format of your event, the customisable power of video makes it the perfect vehicle for personalisation. This means that different kinds of video content can be created with a view to fostering a deeper and more meaningful connection with your delegates, your speakers, or anyone connected to your event. It’s one thing to capture video during the course of your gathering, but as a planner, you can seize upon the element of personalisation inherent in the medium of video to create thoughtful content both before and after your event.

For example, rather than simply sending a nondescript email, consider creating a personalised video to invite your delegates to your event or — as in this example from Vidyard — flipping the concept around to use the power of video as an outreach tool to speak directly to individual delegates and bring about a feeling of excited anticipation ahead of your gathering. Post-event, you can likewise create personalised videos to offer up your thanks to your speakers and delegates for their time and attendance, perhaps even weaving footage captured during your gathering back into your video to subtly remind attendees just how good your event was. In addition to fostering a deeper emotional rapport with your audience, the judicious creation of video before and after an event can help to increase ROI and conversion rates and boost the efficiency of your sales cycle.

Mine Your B-Roll Footage for Video Gold

When it comes to making the most of your video footage, you may have had a set strategy in place and known in advance exactly who or what you wanted to film. But that doesn’t mean that any B-roll or alternative footage captured during the course of your event should be discarded; on the contrary, B-roll can offer up a veritable gold mine of content that can be used to continuously connect with your audience well into the future. Whether you want to create a post-event highlights video, send a heartfelt thank you, or even incorporate some footage of this year’s event into your personalised invites for next year, your B-roll footage can be cleverly re-purposed to suit your aims. Think: the use of B-roll means that you film just once, but have the opportunity to create multiple pieces of video content from just one single effort — a true return on ROI.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that this kind of alternative footage adds visual interest and an authentic feel to any video content you’ve created; in a sense, it offers up another avenue for building a rapport with your audience long after your event is over. Delve into your B-roll with an eye for any interesting moments and use them to your advantage. Humour is always a great tool for engagement and if, for example, you’ve been lucky enough to capture lots of funny moments during your event, you might even consider creating your very own blooper or outtake reel using your B-roll footage. But from a technical standpoint, it’s worth knowing that your B-roll can also be edited into your main footage in order to enhance or extend it, as needed.

For event planners, the sheer power and reach of video is undeniable. Yet when used as a tool for engagement, it can be subtly deployed for maximum impact before, during, and long after an event.

 

Want to learn more about Eventsforce? Whether hybrid, virtual or in-person, see how Eventsforce is exactly the right solution to help you meet all your event objectives. Book your demo now.