Creating an event can be easy. Creating an outstanding event is hard work. There’s no shortcut to the perfect event with so much detail to take into consideration. Taking measures for risk management is also something we need to ensure so that’s more items on our checklists. Fret not, however. If you want a guaranteed successful event, all you need is to ensure you do certain things – while avoiding others. Small events present their challenges but – the bigger the event, the bigger the risk. So where does one start?
Define the Why?
Ask yourself why? What do we mean by this? You must – as a first step know – really know what the outcome you’d like to achieve is. Have you fully understood why you are creating this event – why you want people to attend – why they should attend? Prior to anything else – write the reasons down and make it absolutely clear what the intended result or outcome is to you.
Strategise. Strategise. Strategise.
Your next step will be to strategise your ‘why’. Without a solid foundation or strategy you cannot have a basis on which to build from the ground up. We simply cannot stress this enough. A solid strategy will help you map out a step-by-step way of achieveing your desired outcome. The challenge here is to keep it short and concise – don’t overcomplicate it and keep it to one page max.
Identify partners and stakeholders
When planning an event, you will want it to be successful. Collaborating with relevant stakeholders will help you do this. You will, however need to ensure that they are on the same page as you – and if they aren’t yet – ensure they get on the same page. This might entail the setting up of an organising committee with suppliers, your clients as well as colleagues involved in the organisation. If all stakeholders are aware of the ultimate goal and steps required to get there, there will be little room for surprises. Awareness is key and if all know what to expect each step of the way, it’s a recipe for a harmonious follow-through of the plan. Don’t underestimate the power of sharing your strategy with others – it will save you so much stress if you follow this step.
How well do you know your audience?
Do you really understand who your audience is? When planning an event, it’s easy to find yourself making decisions based on what you would like to experience and not what your audience needs and wants. The perfect event is successful because the audience are able to define it as such. Make your decisions carefully and always base them around your audience. This might include what food to serve and the venue choice – up to the little details such as the colours to use for the decor.
Get to know your audience slowly – until you can safely say you can describe who they are. The more you can describe them, the more you will understand them – and the better you will be at creating the perfect event for them. The more you can describe them, the more you will understand them. Create an event that’s right for them.
Failing to prepare means preparing to fail
Flawless planning leads to flawless execution. Before going on site, think through every possibly-imaginable detail and you will be ready to face any obstacle that occurs. Some consider it painstaking – but we love this part of the process and we know that this is what delivers great results. And it really does become less of a burden – the more you practice this.
Begin somewhere
Creating an event or experience can be challenging and difficult – even exhausting at times. Taking care of yourself throughout the process is crucial. This entails getting enough sleep, staying hydrated and managing stress levels. Plan ahead and avoid leaving things to the last minute.
Understand that something unexpected will always happen
Nightmare? It depends how well you handle the unexpected – and how prepared you are. On the day of the event, you shouldn’t be worrying or handling the matters you should have planned for. Rather, on the day you should be putting out fires that will inevitably happen. A live event is unpredictable to a certain degree. It’s part of the fun and there’s a thrill in the unexpected.
Practice gratitude
It might be an obvious one – but don’t underestimate the power of relationships in the events industry. Saying ‘thank you’ to each of your stakeholders and every crew member involved assures everybody that their efforts are appreciated. Basic good manners go a long way. Stay positive, smile and thank everyone who contributed to a piece of the pie.
Survey and analyse
Post event, you will want to first breathe a sigh of relief. You will then probably start thinking about the next project. It is of utomost importance, however, that you take a moment to analyse the event in a post-mortem. How did you fair – how did the team work together – what could have been better? This step may be considered irrelevant post-event – but the learnings that may arise from this step may provide you with invaluable information you can use later. How close to your planned strategy was the end result? Measuring and tracking will help you up the level the next time round. After all, you want to keep improving, polishing and excelling.
Your measurement should also link back to your strategy. Did you meet your objectives? As part of your strategy, what did success look like? Did you hit those benchmarks? Measuring your level of success is the only way to ensure that next time, you’ll do an even better job.
Take note of key learnings and satisfaction levels
Take the information that you learnt from this experience and start to think about the next step in the journey. At this stage you should also able to monitor satisfaction. This is a tricky one to measure unlike other measurable variables. Service is intangible and harder to measure – but when clients and audiences are satisfied, that will lead to retention – and there is nothing more powerful than a retained and returning audience. If you manage to master these 10 steps, you are ready to begin. Taking this advice helps create succesful events. If all else fails, engage On Site Malta for a creative, flawless and most of all, highly-successful event.
On Site Malta is revered as the Large Events Specialist. As one of Malta’s largest leading destination management companies, we are dedicated to bringing client’s ideal events to life – be it an association meeting, annual congress, company event, thrilling incentive or exclusive programme – ranging from 7 to 7,000 persons. More than a DMC, we are team of dynamic and creative experts specialised in meetings/conferences, incentives and events – based onsite in Malta. When engaging On Site Malta you are not recruiting an event specialist – but a team of inventors, mentors, designers, creators, reality checkers and implementers.
