Staying on top of everything that changes in the events industry is a job in itself, never mind actually organising events. We operate in one of the most dynamic industries. The possibilities of event technology seem to change almost every day. How attendees learn, engage and network is being rewritten by every new piece of scientific research. Venues come on line almost by the hour. And new areas such as meeting design, seem to spring up from nowhere. So how can we cope?
Be an event creative
I had that multi-faceted scenario in mind when I put together four training courses, which Gallus Events are running across the UK this year. I thought with so many changes every year, how can I best support event organisers? The solution I’ve come up with is to look at ways to support event organisers be more “creative”
I believe that taking a creative approach to the many challenges we face will allow event organisers to be at our most adaptable. The idea that I want to frame in this article is: there really is no one way best way, to do most of the tasks that we now face.
Every conference should be designed and not produced. Every sponsor should tell you what they want, not tick the list that you have offered. Every exhibitor should be supported to engage and interact, not simply to stand and sell. And every speaker should be delivering the best possible session, with the event organisers full support.
We have to view our events as a “service” and not a “product”
To start to turn our events from a product to a service (where I think the most innovative events are heading) we have to look at everything we do in a different light. I think that is done best when we adopt a creative mindset. To start this new approach I think we have to look at all of our stakeholders as participants: seeing your speakers, attendees, guests, sponsors, exhibitors and even venues in this new role will dramatically alter the way we manage our events.
The old school “logistical / production” approach will struggle to cope with this new paradigm. The only way to cope is to get ahead of that change and to develop a create approach to the challenges we face. I find that most organisers have a latent creatively and I would love to see the industry support the exploration of that dormant skill. Creativity is the key.
