E-book: The Bumpy Road to Event Management Success

What do events and hitting the road have in common? It would seem that these are two completely separate activities. However, if you think about it properly, the whole process of organizing an event is not much different from organizing a trip. How so? Find the answer in the brand new e-book “The Bumpy Road to Event Management Success”. 

Sometimes to understand complex processes we deal with, it’s good to make an analogy. Different perspective gives more insights, so why not compare event organizing with planning a trip? Sounds crazy? Not so much Let’s look at both processes and break them down into various stages.

How do you hit the road?

The impulse for any such action is a need. What pushes you to travel may be, for example, the desire to discover a new place, see something unusual, or get the feel of an exotic culture. This is your goal. Then, you check the basic conditions that allow you to choose the best way to travel. Knowing these conditions, you decide whether you want to drive alone or with someone else, to choose your own transport, public transport or maybe carpooling. Next, before hitting the road, you pack all the things you need for your journey: communication facilities, maps, food, drinks – and if it’s going to be a long journey, then also something that will help you overcome boredom. On the road, you keep track of the route – whether you are on time, whether the journey is safe, whether the automobile works flawlessly and so on. In the end, you thank your fellow passengers and head to the final point of the route, i.e. the place where you have something to do. Then, finally, you realize your plan until the goal is achieved.

It’s a rather simplified scheme, but this is more or less the case for most journeys. And what about events?

How do you organize your events?

It turns out that in case of events the scheme is surprisingly similar.

First of all, there must also be a goal at the beginning – an impulse that starts the process of organizing the event. This may include, for example, the need to reach targets, employer branding or increase brand recognition. The statement that may appear at the beginning of this bumpy road is, for example: “I need to provide more leads”. This is your goal. As in the case of a trip, you have to complete it at a certain time and in a certain form.

Then, you are similarly checking the basic conditions that allow you to choose the best way to use the event to achieve your goal: What budget do I have? Do I have the resources to organize the event on my own? How much time do I have to do all this? Knowing your goal and the possibilities you have, you can now decide what kind of marketing event activity best suits your needs. Will it be organizing your own event, sponsoring a selected one, participating as an exhibitor or as a participant?

Before the event, you prepare an action plan, as well as gathering and ordering all the things that will be needed during the event: communication facilities, hardware and software for data collection, maps, food, drinks, ‘entertainment’. You also organize partners, speakers and a reliable team.

During an event, you monitor its course on an ongoing basis – whether you are keeping up with the schedule, whether everything is going according to plan, whether catering is flawless and so on. Just like on a trip, you also communicate with people behind the scenes as well as with the participants. And of course, you perform actions that allow you to achieve your original goal, for example, generating a certain number of leads.

In the end, you thank the people who were with you at the event (in any role, at any stage) and summarize what happened. You use the resources gained during the event, analyze the data and assess whether and to what extent the goal has been achieved.

It’s surprising how much more crucial for event management success aspects we can spot when looking at the matter from a different perspective. This way, you get the chance to look at the challenges you’re facing in the new light and find better solutions. Want to learn more about this approach? Get your copy of “The Bumpy Road to Event Management Success”!