Imperfect Is…Ok?
Summary lead. || Photo Credit.
Pivot. Virtual. Digital. Hybrid. Unprecedented: the buzzwords of 2020.
If you’re like us, these terms are on the tip of your tongue this year. Our conversations revolve around the idea of “evolving the event experience”, challenging our norms and coming up with new plans that still hit the mark of creating a satisfying, successful and effective event experience no matter the format. The past year has seen us fully immersed in this world, absorbing as much knowledge and experience as we possibly can and quickly! We’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly while exploring arenas and platforms suitable for our clients and their brands.
But one thing has become abundantly clear - we are much wiser now to the fact that a “perfect” event, live or virtual, is an anomaly (or may not even truly exist). And here we all are now under a virtual magnifying lens that shows all of our imperfect parts and pieces! A conversation emerged within our team that felt worthy of sharing: how do we explain this to clients while reassuring them that “perfect” is as elusive as a unicorn?
Here’s what that looks like:
ASK QUESTIONS
To start off, the overarching recommendation from our team is to set and manage expectations early and clearly from the start. There are so many features out of our control when preparing for a digital experience and it is our jobs as experts and experienced professionals to be upfront and clear about what the planning experience and event will look like in some cases and MIGHT look like in others. This starts with us asking A LOT of questions. We must figure out what a client needs and what they know, first at a basic level.
What are their goals for the experience?
What does their internal event team look like?
What’s their expectation of budget compared to a live event?
Do they need a planning team, content creators or a consultant or some combination?
When clients come prepared to share this information (and more) it better helps the agency craft the best approach.
REALITY CHECK
After gathering this preliminary data, we start talking about preparation. Deadlines exist in every industry and every type of event. They have now jumped to the top of the priority list when setting the tone with clients as they are much more likely to be negotiable now because of how much has changed. We also are finding that we hear from clients interested in digital experiences MUCH closer to the event date than we would a live event. Contrast this with our history of most clients having previously worked with multi-year agreements spanning up to five (5) years ahead of time, while this year our longest turn around time was four (4) months! In that way, we’ve had to work backwards from the event date and quickly backtrack to when deadlines are. Heads up, they’re sooner than most expect in the virtual world, so our suggestion is not to wait too long before booking an agency.
CHOOSE WISELY
For most, working with technology is pretty intimidating. Humans are wired to like what we know (live events) and what we can control (hence, why 2020 was such a struggle). Choosing a platform for your event is a hefty project in itself, and each one comes with its pros and cons. Although these are adapting and improving daily, our job is to help our clients understand what their top virtual event priorities are and how each platform can bring those to life. We will always be honest about what we’ve seen work, and not work. VERY rarely have we seen a perfect, one-size-fits-all solution for the budget, client needs and customer satisfaction, so advocate patience when evaluating and selecting a platform.
ROLLING UP OUR SLEEVES TOGETHER
Another new concept for us (and you!) is pulling back the curtain or facade behind what event planners do. When we are selling concepts of virtual experiences to clients, we’ve been met with every type of reaction: excitement and sticker shock, questions and relief. Our job in these conversations is to give clients as much information as possible to let them know what our team will be handling on their behalf. This sometimes consists of a much larger event scope than we would have had in years past. Going virtual can include registration management, speaker recordings, video editing, virtual signage conceptualization, attendee experience management, content development, and so much more! Our clients want to engage in this new world, but need us by their side to figure out how. Said another way, we encourage our clients to be open to imagining, designing and executing together.
SCENARIO PLAN FOR EVERY SCENARIO
Our question used to be, “did the client see that?” Now the question is, “did the attendee see that?”
Onsite, we are there to make our client’s life as easy as possible. We fight fires on their behalf all day and attempt to fix issues before a client even knows about them. This has shifted in the virtual world. We must prepare our clients ahead of time for what the day-of experience will entail. Rehearsals are never perfect, event day will likely have a hiccup (that we are prepared for!), and technology can and will fail us (rest assured, we have back ups upon back ups). Our question used to be, “did the client see that?” Now the question is, “did the attendee see that?” Because the client absolutely will. This can cause fear and sometimes tension, but it’s necessary to bring our clients into the world of onsite execution, show them our original, back up and worst case scenario plans to ease their anxiety. This builds trust & open-ness between the planner and the client and leads to a better working environment.
NOTE: Never assume that technology will not glitch - in fact, it should be the opposite. Big technical issues should be planned for and back ups should be at the ready as soon as a problem arises. Guests should also be told ahead of time what the back up plan looks like. Give them confidence we’re prepared for their technical issues and are ready to help them have the best possible event experience, no matter what.
SPEAKER MANAGEMENT IN A NEW LIGHT
Beyond the client, we must also make sure our speakers and attendees are well taken care of. Let’s be honest, speaker management is tough. We’re working with people who have a lot of information to share and a busy schedule we must work with. For in-person events, this means preparing A/V for last minute slideshows and delayed flights. Virtually, the list of scenarios grows substantially. We have to prepare our speakers to be their own at-home AV tech, to be resilient enough in their stumbles to keep pushing forward, and to be ready for when technology fails them. We have found success in preparing lengthy but helpful speaker guides telling them what to expect and how to plan. We remind them that in person, slip ups or mispronunciations occur, and we can expect the same virtually. In actuality, those little human moments are relatable, charming and build closer connections between the speakers and the attendees, furthering their impact. We also cannot stress enough to rehearse. Going live should never be the speaker’s first time accessing the platform and giving their presentation.
Pro tip: record your rehearsals. If the live stream fails, you can quickly throw the recorded video up in its place.
The attendee experience is the bread & butter of our industry. At live events, we curate details to cover all access points of the attendee, even planning for their five (5) senses to be considered and catered to. But there is only so much we can do to control the environment of the attendee at a virtual event. We encourage our attendees to come prepared: find a quiet room, turn your notifications off, give your dog a new bone, etc. However, the competing distractions for the attendee are directly outside of the 9” x 13” screen they are tuning in from. We set this tone for clients and then show them all the ways we are combating that. We create short & exciting speakers sessions, give bathroom breaks, gamify the experience and acknowledge that the content may need to be accessed at a later date. We also challenge our vendors & event partners to consider the attendee. We are asking for these vendors to be innovative, creative, thoughtful and original. We are challenging them to serve our attendees in a way they have never done before. And although this is tricky, we have found more excitement and creativity in this challenge than ever before!
ROI ALWAYS MATTERS
Lastly, we want our clients to see their return on investment. Because let’s face it, these events are an investment in time, money and resources and our clients need to have data prepared for future events to be able to take place and for budgets to get approved. Last week we discussed what ROI we should be planning for, and how crucial that step is in the process.
We have embraced this year for all it’s ups and downs, and encourage our clients to do the same. We feel we’ve made the pivot, and are ready to teach and grow with our clients on what their events can be. Imperfect is our reality, but with proper planning, we can get pretty damn close.
Need some strategic insight for your next brand activation? We’d love to hear from you.
