You ever gone to an event and felt embarrassed for the MC, lights don’t work, mic cuts out, food isn’t ready, the room is boring, a speaker doesn’t show, the content is soooooo boring you want to stick pencils in your eyes. Your daydreaming turns into fantasy and you start making up scenarios in which you save the entire audience from this sinking ship of an event by crashing the stage and stirring up a storm with an amazing speech that ends with you being carried off to the bar on the shoulders of all the thanks full attendees….. OK that’s an extraverts daydream for the introverts it probably ends with sneaking out the fire exit and retreating to the comfort of your room where you order a diet coke and room service ahhh bliss 😉
But it never fails to amaze me how people or organizers get their audience so wrong. You can feel it in the room if people are not into what you’re selling. The fidgeting starts, the mock cell phone to the ear having to leave to take an oh so important emergency call… prob from their mum.
The organizer say “why did you come to this event if you don’t like the content?” and that’s the wrong question in my opinion. You put something out there that intrigued them. Yet when they got there you failed to deliver on that intrigue, so the real question is where did it go wrong. I would love to see that on the feedback sheets we all get given. Did the event live up to the hype? If not, why not?
Invariably you will always get the one or two that are using it as a day out of the office or and evening away from domestic bliss, and that’s ok but if your loosing more than that then you need to consider where the event started letting people down.
I never thought of myself as an event planner and in real life I’m not. But I do enjoy entertaining people so I always approach an event with the following hypothesis:
“Would this be an event I would want to go to” secondly “Would I recommend this event to a friend afterwards”
If you answer no to the first question – re think the event
If you answer no to the second – deep dive into why not
To save you from answering “no” here are my top 5 tips for avoiding the “no’s”
Treat it like a wedding: the things people remember about weddings are the food and the entertainment and the speeches– we have each of these things at an event!
Food – we all hate waiting in lines for food consider the layout, consider whether people are standing up to eat if so don’t have steak and mash on cardboard plates whilst standing! Have finger food! It might seem so simple but so little attention is paid to the food that the lunch hour /networking session is often just a moaning session which brings everyone down for the afternoon. Give variety; cater to a wide range of tastes if people say wow about your food they will tell others about it! Food does not have to be expensive just well thought out! Remember food is the fuel for the soul! As Tim Sackette @TimSackett about his food experience in Cayman, or see it on his twitter feed….
Speeches/entertainment – the father of the bride speech is always one of two things a rave review or totally rubbish very rarely are they “meh” so pick your speakers well. Don’t roll out the same old topics that people have heard before unless it’s revolutionary and funny. People came because they want to be entertained so if you have an uncharismatic speaker that doesn’t engage or at least make people laugh a few times forget it. Pick you speakers with the mantra would I listen to them, would I enjoy listening to them again… the second part is key!
Undersell over deliver – Again using the wedding analogy the weddings that your constantly told are going to be the wedding of the century are normally the biggest let down. Sometimes the best part of weddings is that little unplanned all night session that took pace the night before! If you’re able to wow people with the food and venue giving them more than they expected they are already buzzed. Throw in some amazing speeches and now you have yourself an event!
Don’t take it too seriously – The main thing is that events are normally taking place with a group that has an interest in that particular subject – have fun with that subject have fun with them its not a them and us thing. Make them feel a true part of the event.
And this is the 6th secret tip – be as original as you can but remember you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. There is always an expectation level, manage it, do your own thing and if it works – lather rinse repeat!
My upcoming events are #DisruptHRSMB and Cayman Islands HR Conference 2016
Both in May 2016 – watch this space for more info hopefully they will be events you want to attend and will recommend to others afterwards!
Life’s too short to go to dull events! 🙂
Anything Over Ice 