We believe the global event industry is going to bounce back big-time in 2021. While we are home bound with time to read, learn and be inspired we thought we'd share a few random tips we've seen make a positive impact in creating better events, during our 20 years working in the corporate event industry.
Here are our top tips in no special order:
Ensure your suppliers all have a copy of your Event Run-Sheet
Make sure you have listed out all of the key things happening on the event and send it out to all your suppliers who will be there. In particular your event photographers, and videographer crews. We as event photographers and content producers often have to chase this critical document down from organisers and it really helps us deliver a better service if we know what you have planned on the night, what time and where it's happening. Being prepared, ready in position can mean you end up with a fabulous "hero-shot" of the event!
Feed your crew!
On your event, there will be many suppliers. Some have good management who make sure their staff are fed and have water. Others sadly won't. If the event company managing the project can provide water and simple meals to the entire crew, or take the time to contact supplier management and ensure it's a condition of the deal that all crew on the project are well looked after; Then everything tends to run a bit smoother.
You will see faster setups, more attentive and energetic crews and better live event experiences for the audience. We see the event companies that plan more carefully for crew sustenance, nailing better events than those that don't. Remember ensuring there is food & water onsite will reduce the crews wandering off for extended periods on the search for a meal affecting and delaying tight schedules. Don't forget some event crew are not always able to easily walk off to grab some food!
Schedule breaks for everyone
While an event is underway, sometimes with 20 hour long days it's very important that all crew are provided breaks. These are carefully scheduled and well planned to minimise impact on rehearsals and ultimately the live event itself.
An event crew and supplier network that is provided a satisfactory number of breaks within the event schedule will deliver a better result. We've seen huge events come unstuck because the night before the event, the key event crew were pressured to work for 18 hours straight, before catching 2 hours sleep and trying to deliver a seamless live show the next day.
Scheduled crew breaks, that are clearly communicated with the end clients and actively managed are a key to a smoother, friendlier, slicker event experience for you and your delegates. In short a well rested team, will deliver the dream.
Supply a Shot-list for the event photographer / video team
This just means some kind of brief. While the event run-sheet will help fill in the blanks, providing the event photographer and videographer teams with detailed info on what to focus on shooting, will ensure the final images and video will look much better. Think - what is the end objective for the use of the images or video? What do you want viewers to feel when they see the content? Share the answers to these questions with the photo & video team.
Send the shot-list at least 3 days before the event. Photographers and Videographers are creative souls - So give them time to ingest the brief, the shot-list and ask questions. Creative people need time to digest and imagine a vision of what they want to create, thus time to plan how to shoot it. Then plan to bring the right equipment for the task. Secondly to really get the most out of your event spend, planning some time to show the photo & video team around the event setup and talk through a brief will give you a far better result after the event is finished. Remember after the event is over the event photos and video are going to serve as a powerful tool to promote your services and win more work.
Plan to make a Behind-The-Scenes video besides the usual "highlight video"
When the video crew is onsite recording the event, they can just as easily record some footage and interviews with the event team working behind the scenes.
Planning to create a Behind-The-Scenes (BTS) video, is a great way to showcase the incredible work that goes on in the background. A BTS video can often end up more entertaining than the standard Event Highlight Video. We've seen end clients really happy with a BTS video for their own business promotion. This format of storytelling opens up more options for to feature some of the challenges you overcame and help you win more work in the future. A BTS video is also a great way to showcase your company culture and attract fabulous new team members.
Organise a group photo with a Drone
Everyone loves a drone. The CEO probably has one and they're great to capture a team photo or video "wave" with your delegate group. When a group Photo & Video moment is planned and scheduled into the event, it's a great time for the leaders to say some special words or thank their staff for the hard work putting on the event.
Corporate Social Responsibility CSR programs as part of the event experience
Beyond getting together to hear about leadership strategy, how sales are going, hear from customers, hand out awards or to outright celebrate; Business Meetings & Events are a chance for people to make a difference.
It's awesome to see the growing trend of integrating a CSR activity or initiative into events these days. What we mean by CSR initiatives, is as part of the conference program, organisers are forging partnerships with charities or community groups to allow the delegates to contribute in some way so that when they head home after the event they can be proud that they helped someone in some way.
Our tip on this subject is beyond planning a CSR element to your event, make sure to provide all delegates with some info on how they can actively self-promote their experience to their own social channels.
We see missed opportunities where delegates fail to share the great good, they were given the chance to do while attending the event.
Delegates are not provided with much info prior or during the experience or encouraged to share content of the activity abroad to their own social networks. Yes conferences are often confidential. But charity work doesn't need to be kept a secret.
We believe providing delegates with some clear info on what the initiative is, with info on what the partnership's Social media info is - such as Instagram handles, Facebook, Web pages etc will enable more delegates to better promote the charity they've just done a little something for.
This creates a larger impact, with positive ripples expanding beyond the event. Leveraging off the delegates own personal social network to amplify the CSR message. This then leads to the charity or organisation getting more exposure and the cycle of good can amplify further.
We see CSR initiatives undertaken on events of all sizes like it's a big secret. When more people hear about others doing good, it makes them want to do better for the world themselves.
Include a SELFIE SPOT with bright constant lighting
We live in an age where people love to take a million selfies.
With that in mind, we suggest you invest in a location at the event with some vibrant branding, a hashtag clearly visible and bright constant lighting.
That way, delegates can take loads of selfies and transmit them easily to promote the event (when that’s applicable). We also suggest avoiding having it right at the entrance to the event creating a bottleneck and perhaps have it near the bar area where people can use it on the way to/from getting a drink.
A cool Selfie Spot, with good lighting and perhaps a design feature that inspires delegates to use it will work wonders. You can collate the images via searching the hashtag post event and use them in your marketing.
Beware of bumps in the night
We have seen amazing locations and events affected by loud construction nearby or loud
ambient noise. Asia is always alive with the sounds of progress and expansion.
We've seen a heartfelt speech side swiped by a nearby jackhammer after hours and heard earth shattering pile-drivers hammer away through dinner service.
This noise also finds its way onto the video recorded at the event and can be tricky to remove in post production. So, we recommend discussing with all of your venues on a conference about construction, any other nearby events, concerts and things that might go bump in the night.
In summary, we hope these (somewhat diverse) tips might help you out there, in creating better events, once things gradually kick off again.
Please get in touch if you would like to talk about these tips or any other ideas you might have for your events, live or virtual online!
