4 event management challenges were highlighted in a recent report.
The report, which was conducted by Stellar Speakers, found that Marcomms professionals with the task of event management faced 4 main issues when it came to running successful events.
Event Management Challenge #1
Finding speakers that fit into a 12-month strategy, so the event is not isolated and the activities make sense to everyone
The first issue here is that so many businesses fail to set annual goals or strategy, or fail to communicate them, or communicate them effectively. If you’ve ever worked for a business where January 1st rolls around and it’s just business as usual because there are no goals or strategy, you will know what we mean here.
It’s hard to run an event, with speakers who fit the 12-month strategy, if there is no strategy. For many businesses the place to start is by developing a strategy and communicating it.
For those businesses that have a 12-month strategy the key thing is to find a speaker, or speakers, who can support the business through throughout the year. These speakers then support the goal, and the event makes sense to everyone attending.
We work with event managers to decide if they need one speaker who can help them go deep, or a number of speakers who come at the strategy topic from a number of angles. We also explore if it best serves the organisation to have one event or several events throughout the course of the year.
Event Management Challenge #2
Getting ‘Buy-in’. Everyone is giving up time, so events have to be worthwhile
One of the challenges many event organisers have is ‘Developing buy-in’ for an event. This often happens when the events are seen as optional, and when employees are busy trying to meet deadlines.
The sad truth is, many of the events people choose not to attend are created for their benefit and designed to enhance their well-being and job satisfaction.
Getting buy-in requires effort. Some event managers try to short-cut this by booking a celebrity, but when this happens the event lacks depth because it’s then driven by the keynote topic the celebrity talks on, rather than being driven by the organisations agenda.
Our article Building Event Buzz shares ideas about how to get that all important buy-in.
Event Management Challenge #3
Finding big enough venues.
Company’s grow, but local hotels and other event spaces still only have the same capacity. What do you do?
Some organisations split their people down the middle and run their event over two days, with half attending day one and the other half day two. Other organisations move their events out of town.
But these days hybrid and virtual events give you other options and for a growing company they may even solve the problem of venue capacity.
A company we recently worked with ran an event with 500 people in the room, but rather than have their leaders travel, they enabled them to watch on livestream from wherever they were in the world.
This article gives you insights into the pros and cons of Live and digital events and discusses the future of digital and hybrid events
Event Management Challenge #4
Health concerns
Since Covid, the impact of health has stayed at the forefront of event managers minds.
With everything everyone has been through with the pandemic it’s understandable that those tasked with running events are mindful of the fact that while some people have missed the connection with others and want to be together in a room, others are more hesitant.
The wider consideration, beyond what anyone wants is always the impact getting together may have on health, and the spread of disease. It may be that this becomes less of an issue over time, but equally, people may have become more sensitive towards gatherings and the spread of disease and infections.
If you are looking for a speaker for your next event, we’d love to help.
We believe all keynote speakers should be Stellar Speakers – able to entertain, connect with an audience and make a positive impact. As a unique speaker agency representing change-making keynote speakers, we provide expertise to help you manage your budgetary expectations and provide realistic options. We provide a preferred partner’s service base, so that partner clients get everything they need, lowering your risk as a booker of speakers, so you can make your choice about your next speaker with confidence.
