Event production common mistakes to avoid in 2020.
As important as what you should do, it’s what you should not. Event production common mistakes can ruin weeks or even months of impeccable planning. That’s because corporate events, regardless of the size, consume a lot of work and bring huge responsibility over every single aspect of the occasion.
We recently revealed what’s the trends expecting Event Planners next year, as well as the recommended actions to keep relevant in the market. If you still didn’t download your free copy, go ahead and do it now: Corporate Event Trends 2020.
And in this post, you’ll learn how to face risk properly, assimilate what not to do and massively reduce the chances of compromising big occasions. So here we go, listing nine event production common mistakes and how to tackle them efficiently.
1. Not measuring results
To know if you reached good results, you first need to know what’s the result what wanna reach. Are you 100% sure you know how to measure event success and ways to ensure it? Event planning should have well-established goals, like what are the actions and contents that are gonna engage attendees after the live experience. Thus, creating KPIs both for your integrated marketing objectives, as well as specific event related ones, is essential. For example, define how many leads you wanna generate, how many sales the event is supposed to accelerate and how many potential partners you want to start a relationship with.
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2. Making an event without planning a next step for those who attend to it
Forgetting about the next steps after the event or offering shallow content without any customization can ruin everything that has been built. Authority and relationships are goals to be reached in the medium to long term. So, if the planning and execution of the event was successful, it is very likely that the quality of potential customers generated is high and needs to be nurtured. For that, apply a well defined Content Marketing strategy with: email marketing flows, videos about the event and upcoming occasions, rich content (ebooks, reports, research, whitepapers, etc), case studies and, if possible, material from what’s been covered during the event, like presentations and lessons.
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3. Relying in the venue Wifi
Many venues offer a Wi-Fi connection for events, but you better keep it as a Plan B. Usually, it’s not strong enough to meet the needs of hundreds or thousands of attendees connected at the same time. Will Curran, from Endless Events, told us on a recent talk: “Event organizers know they need it, but it’s still common to find professionals that have no idea how it works”. For a fast enough Wifi connection that attend to expectations, hire specialized vendors to make sure your attendees will have the experience they’re supposed to have.
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4. Not paying enough attention to accreditation
How funny is it to wait in long queues? Not at all. Streamline registration + accreditation processes are the operational backbone of a corporate event. So, if you’re still facing problems on the workflow, here’s a 5 minute reading that might me of good use: Everything you need to handle a successful registration in 2020.
Sell online and bring enough check-in kiosks. Checkin-in to your event is already part of the attendee’s experience and, before experiencing the extraordinary, they don’t want to get stuck with mandatory steps. Open doors way before the event takes place. Prepare a dedicated, agile process to that, and you’ll shine from the first interaction of your attendees and the event.
5. Imagining that people are just gonna talk to each other spontaneously
Participants involvement in experiences is not only important – without the attendee, the experience just doesn’t exist. For that, utilize an event app to encourage discussions and networking. Still, you can take the first step and ask a question or propose a gamified challenge. Show your participants they can meet interesting people on 1:1 meetings, according to their interests. In summary: your participant already wants to speak up, but they might need that slight push tok do it.
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6. Not choosing the right tech for the right tasks
Keeping up to date with all the new MarTech released everyday can be tough. On the other hand, it’s impossible to learn how to deal with all new available resources without trying them. So, if you, as a PCO, choose the right tools, this situation can be easily overcome.
Adhering to the main tools MICE industry is using transforms learning new things in a real pleasure. Especially now, when we start to see how mobile devices are becoming THE touchpoint that can provide a 360-degree views of your attendees. Therefore, it’s essential to monitor their journey, map out their needs and remove obstacles along their buying journey. For that, an all in one event management tools is essential for this age of consumer centric experiences. InEvent, for example, can centralize all of the processes of your event marketing. A thorough vision of every participant, throughout your event portfolio, can help you engage them and clearly see the results with automated reports.
7. Neglecting a crisis management plan
46% of Planners don’t have a Crisis Management Plan. Building a reputation is hard work and time consuming, but destroying it can last as long as a few seconds. On top of that, crisis management has an additional touch of difficulty, because it involves reacting to hypotheses. So, how to predict everything that can go wrong?
In case you’re interested about learning in depth about the subject, it’s worth reading or guide How to build up your crisis management plan. Crises will eventually show up and, if well handled, they can be converted on huge opportunities. So do your career a favor and be prepared.
8. Choosing an inappropriate venue or date
MICE Industry generates more US$ 1 trillion per year. In summary: there are hundreds of thousands of people travelling ONLY to attend events. You know them: their profile, their interests and demographics?
When choosing a place that comfortably holds all people, has easy access, is safe, has parking, among other points, it’s imperative to know Who are MICE travelers and what they’re looking for.
Regarding the date, avoid competing events in periods or commemorative holidays. Don’t make people choose between two occasions that they’d go to if they had available time.
9. Hiring only amateur, unprepared staff
Attracting quality candidates is the biggest issue faced by creative agencies, as stated per industry research. Firstly, it’s not easy to compete with giant corporations with a way bigger budget and structured HR sectors. So, the key factor here is: people management and management are pretty much the same concept map. In other words, improvising hiring tasks as if those were simple step could cost you time and money.
As well, keep an eye on your retention. Many entrepreneurs think turnover is a taboo, but it’s often needed at some level. It’s a key performance indicator like any other. The average for creative and advertising agencies, according to ANA, is 30%. Anything above that will damage your capacity to disseminate a culture that fits your mission and vision.
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