7 tips for the fresh event entrepreneur

Fresh starts can be fun, but challenging. Somehow, as we get older, we tend to lose some of the power that always kept us exploring as children. But changes may occur in life and passions must be followed. And if you find yourself in front of a fresh new start as an event planner here are some tips we gathered from our #eventprofs friends.

lady in front of a laptop

Love what you do

I know that this sounds ideal (maybe almost utopic) but this should be a universal rule. In life, you should always take the path that makes you happy because, as you will discover, the path itself is more important than the destination. This rule is even more important for event planners: your job is to create meaningful events that bring joy and is hard to do this if you hate your job. There will be many weekends away from your loved ones and many long days (and short nights). It will be almost impossible to succeed in this field if you don’t really love what you do.

Market research is important

Enthusiasm is essential, but it’s not enough. If you want to make it (in the long term) you should always be informed; like my grandpa used to say…you shouldn’t be the smartest person in the room, but the most informed one. This piece of advice seems to suit the event management scene, one where a misplanned action can have extreme effects on fresh professionals. Research to see when is the best time to schedule your event (maybe there already are some famed events in the period you first selected, so you should reschedule it) or maybe there is a lot of interest for a subject but no conferences in your city on that subject; keep your eyes (and mind) open and you will see both the opportunities and the threats that can affect your business.

Don’t stay behind

In the event management scene, the attendee’s experience is the only thing that really counts. If you don’t create blissful moments your event management business won’t last. See what guests tend to appreciate, but also what ruins their mood. Innovate. One thing that we all hate, and I’m sure that you will agree with me, is queueing; so use a cashless payment system. Use NFC for interactive screens and access credentials. Utilize a user-friendly event registration software. We all like tech innovations: involve your sponsors and use AR for brand activations.

Cash flow counts (a lot!)

Money: a delicate yet crucial subject. I wrote a while ago an article about how a smart access management tool can help you with your cash flow. Besides using a tool that doesn’t block your cash until after the event it’s also incredibly important to save money for “darker days”; or unexpected opportunities.

Promote your business

I think that we all have heard that “if you are good enough clients will come”. But let’s face it, bills come much faster. And although marketing is not your first priority it shouldn’t be ignored as it can make or break your business. The good news is that you don’t need to invest o fortune in your marketing strategy. We’ve written about Twitter, Long Tail Keywords, Snapchat vs Instagram, Email marketing. Read our articles and learn how to promote your business with a decent investment.

Take baby steps

Most of us want to grow our businesses into giants that will change the world, but unnatural growth can sabotage us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t aim for more, but you must be honest with yourself. If you just planned you first one day conference, coordinating a small crew, maybe a 5-day music festival is a little big for your next assignment. Take it step by step and one day you will be able to organize any kind of event.

Learn from others

There are experienced event planners out there eager to teach you the “do’s and don’ts”. And although it’s hard to learn from anything else but your own mistakes, it’s always good to have someone you can ask what to do when things get rough. Having a mentor is a great way to start a business because you can add some experience right from the start.

Use your curiosity and try to learn from the best, see what they are doing. Go to their events, feel what every attendee feels, and use that information to create unforgettable experiences at your own events.

It’s not easy to be an event professional, that’s obvious. Planning and setting up an event will force you to challenge tasks that seem almost Sisyphean. But the end result is so uplifting, full of emotion, and will make you realize that bringing joy into people’s lives in priceless.

August 11, 2017 Business events, Event management, Event professionals 1 comment

How to make better use of your 24 hours – Time management for event professionals

Let’s face it…there are times when we all feel like our days are much shorter than everyone else’s. 24hours? You feel like they’re gone like the wind. Of course, everyone has this feeling every once in a while; but #eventprofs are likely to find themselves more often in this situation. And although there are times when 24 hours in a day are simply not enough, other times is just a problem of time management…or like a friend of mine likes to say…of life management.

four clocks showing time in London, New York, Tokyo and Moscow

Here are some time management principles that can help you:

Plan ahead

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days,”  said Zig Ziglar. Or, in other words, if you don’t know what you want to do how will you know when you’ve finished? This is why it is vital to set goals. Try to break big tasks into smaller action steps and take them one at a time. Use a to-do list to keep track of what you need to do on a daily basis, it’s one of the most efficient ways to keep you focused on what needs to be done. You can also use a Not-to-do list to remind you which are the tasks that will just keep you busy, without helping you reach your goals. If you have multiple events per month, use an event registration software to keep event-related information in one place. 

Focus on what adds value

If there’s not enough time for everything then you should focus on what adds value to your event. Implementing a cashless payment system is more important than negotiating an extra 1000$ from one of your sponsors (or it should be considering that Millennials value experiences more than anything else). If you don’t have the time for both you should do the task that has the greater long time impact on your business (implementing a cashless payment system will offer your attendees a better experience).

Prioritize your task list

Although it may seem so, not everything on your list is #1. Try to divide your tasks based on their importance and always start with the most important task. A good way for you to do this is by using Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important formula and to “tackle” tasks in that order.

You can’t control everything

Some things are simply out of your control. If there is an electrical problem 2 days prior the start of your event and you are not an electrician…call one. Or two. And let them do their job while you don’t keep your mind busy with this problem. There are experts trying to do their job, you must to yours. The same rule applies to any situation that is out of your area of expertise: don’t let it keep your mind busy. If you can’t fix it you shouldn’t waste your time on it. Concentrate on the things that you can control.

Group similar tasks

It’s easier to get things done if you group them. Need to place 20 phone calls to your suppliers? Book two hours on your agenda for it. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and start making those phone calls. Use the same rule if you have to respond to a large number of emails. Need to meet with your sponsors/partners/? Try to set more meetings in one day –  and use it just for this. We, as humans, are not especially good when it comes to multitasking, so grouping similar tasks will help you become more productive.

Don’t get distracted

Remember that night when you opened your laptop just to watch a short Youtube video and found yourself, 4 hours later, reading about Molecular evolution? Well, this tends to also happen when you open FB “just for a sec”, to check out who shared your hilarious status update. Just received an email? You don’t need to stop what you were doing to check your inbox, email is rarely used in life and death situations; it can wait.

Expect the unexpected

Although interruptions are not necessarily pleasant they tend to appear (almost on a daily basis). So, when you make your agenda for the next day, try to “block” some time just for the unexpected situations that may occur. Some things simply can’t wait. This way you will be able to finish both the list in your agenda and the new “problems” that may occur.

Avoid burnout

The longer you work without a break, the less productive you become. Small breaks will help you stay focused and relax; use the Pomodoro technique to see if it suits you. Fresh air and workouts (or walks) are particularly helpful if you try to avoid burnouts. Don’t neglect your health when you find yourself on a tight schedule, it may become a rather dangerous habit.

We all have 24 hours in a day (i think…) but what we can achieve in these hours depends on how carefully we use our time.

August 3, 2017 Event management, Event professionals, Events No comments yet

7 PR tips and tricks to increase event awareness

You have almost set up all the details for your event: location, schedule, guests and speakers. But for everything to go smooth, you still need a few tricks and PR awareness, so everyone will be happy and attendees will talk about the event for a long time after it ends. This also means you will be able to spread your message to your target audience and attract potential customers and get positive press and publicity.

1. Write a blog

If you have enough time before the event – at least 6 months – you can create a blog for your event. It seems a bit outdated but hey – you are reading this on a blog, right? Here you can write posts about the topic of the event, announce new speakers or conferences, some promotions for tickets, maybe even a contest for a full-access pass. The purpose is making your audience come back to your blog for relevant content, even if they cannot attend this edition of the event, and keep the attendees posted with the latest news in the market.

2. Use Social Media to the max

With over 1.6 billion users, Facebook is now the biggest global media outlet. You need an official page for the event on Facebook or other social media. Here you can share posts from your blog, but do not limit yourself to that, you do not want to be boring or redundant. You can even post a live video on Facebook – a quick interview with one of the guests/speakers of your event, some footage of the location, as it is being prepared for the event or some rehearsals, depending on your event.

3. Engage your audience with contests

Two or three months before the event, create fun contests on your blog or social media pages and let people win tickets to your event. It’s best to make an original contest, with a fun task. For example, if your event is a concert, those who want to win need to post a video of themselves singing a song of the main band in the schedule. Be creative.

4. Get journalists on board

To make sure you get positive and enough media coverage, you can invite key journalists or bloggers prior to the event, and offer them a preview of what’s going to happen. Furthermore, you can facilitate some interviews with guests/speakers for top newspapers or televisions in your city that should be broadcasted before the event, so that people could be still able to buy tickets.

5. Goodie bags

People love receiving free stuff, so make sure you prepare a special gift for your attendees. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it has to be branded and thoughtful. You can offer anything from selfie sticks, headphones, stickers for the laptop, to discount vouchers for your next event, badges or plastic bracelets.

6. Free food or drinks

Maybe you won’t be able to offer a gourmet experience, but you can offer the illusion of it. Greet your attendees with a glass of champagne, prepare a simple candy bar for them or offer each one of them a bottle of water, if it’s a hot summer day. Kindness and taking care of your attendees goes a long way.

7. Partner with Charities

Donate some of your profit to a charity and everybody will win. People like helping other people and you probably do to, but in a simple way, without having to do too much. So if they find out that part of the money for the ticket will go to a charity, they will be more motivated to attend. 

When the event is over, get some rest and enjoy your success. But remember to share your results with your attendees, guests and everyone involved. You can make a graphic of the event – number of hours, number of people who attended, number of songs played, number of cakes eaten during the event or other funny figures. You can also make a video, presenting the whole event and giving some hints about the next one.

October 10, 2016 Event professionals, Events, fundraising events No comments yet

Which KPI should I track for Business Events?

Event organizing can get quite messy really fast if performance is not measured. However, it can get cluttered if too many KPIs are measured.

So which KPI’s should you be measuring?

If you are organizing business events, here’s a handful of KPIs that will help you down the road, with some thoughts on why they are important.

winner-kpi-business-events

Sales KPIs

If you are organizing free events you can skip this one but you can benefit from a free account on Oveit (great news, right?).

But if your budget includes ticket sales or corporate partnerships, sales are at the core of your event. They are both the fuel that keeps the events going and a meter on how well you are performing.

So here are some you should be keeping your eyes on:

Average profit margin: you probably organize more than one event. The average profit margin is the median margin across your events. You should be keeping track of this figure and measure the events you organize against the APM and the average profit margin against previous years indicators

Quote to close ratio: you have your ticket sales and then you have corporate sponsorship, partnerships, and things such as exhibitor fees. Most of the time quoted prices are modified upwards or downwards (usually through bundling or up-sales) and you should try to keep the ratio between quote to close larger under 100%. Sounds a bit counter-intuitive, right?

Well, let’s think about it. This ratio looks like this:

Quoted price / Close price 

If the close price is higher than the quoted price, it means the sales team is performing well as they have effectively increased the sale. This means if the initial quoted price was, for example, 1000$, and the final close price is 2000$, you get a ratio of 50%, thus implying you have doubled the performance for the sales team.

If on the other hand, the ratio is larger than 100% it means the deal decreased from quote to close.

So by keeping track of the median quote to close ratio, you can get an overview of how sales are performing.

Tracking KPIs against past performance and against industry standards:

One thing to keep in mind is that KPIs are unimportant on their own. The keywords in KPI are performance indicators. That implies relative importance of these values. This relative performance is measured against past performance and against industry standards.

Attendee and partner sentiment analysis

One very important aspect of managing a successful event management business is understanding and measuring the way your target customers react to the event.

In terms of business events, that usually means two types of customers:

  • partners (sponsors, advertisers, exhibitors)
  • general attendees (visitors interacting with the event and with partners)

To get a sense of how they feel about the event you should split the KPI measurement into three-time frames:

  • before the event
  • during the event
  • after the event

Each of these phases can have specific KPIs measured but the general concept of sentiment analysis should be viewed as a way to quantify how your (potential) customers feel about your brand. So it’s basically turning feeling into numbers. You can do that using:

  • social media tools that monitor and report user feedback regarding your event
  • customer feedback tools (forms, surveys, automated mailing lists)
  • direct interaction (focus groups, live interviews, discussion panels)
  • automated optical recognition technology (basically video systems that quantify how happy visitors are)

Loyalty and customer retention

Loyalty is a really important brand value and it should be noted that returning attendees are probably the best measurement of how successful your event is.

The KPI you should be focused on is Customer Retention Rate (be it Partners or General attendees). To do that you should be tracking the number of attendees that keep coming back and its yearly evolution. Ideally, you should strive to get most of last year’s customers returning and increasing this ratio year over year.

Most of these indicators are easy to extract from Oveit and we hope you will find these guidelines easy to use and helpful.

Is there any KPI you would like to add?

April 21, 2016 Business events, Event management, Event professionals, Events 1 comment