On 22 February, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, Cvent Europe’s Senior Marketing Manager Felicia Asiedu will host an Event Love Stories webinar, playing Cupid between live event professionals and their day-to-day planning, management and execution roles.
During the past two years, it’s perhaps understandable that the love affair may have cooled, as organisers have had to adapt to more digitised formats, attendances may have fallen, budgets cut, planning teams shrunk and lead-times shortened.
Planners have now found themselves in a new phase of their relationship with ‘live’ as they’re asked to consider how much of it should be conducted online and what changes are needed to evolve the in-person spectacle for an accelerating hybrid world.
With change however, comes new opportunities for creativity and collaboration. The event planner's evolved role brings with it the chance to partner with more innovative suppliers, experiment with exciting technologies and re-evaluate your total events programme, so that those aspects that weren’t working can be cut and a clearer picture for a more harmonious future can be formed.
It’s time to get back to loving what you do by putting in place processes for long-term success and by reminding ourselves of the passion points that make ‘event planning’ the best job in the world.
In advance of Cvent’s Event Love Stories webinar therefore, here’s six reminders from an audience member’s perspective, of how the events you manage make us feel.
1) You Create Uniquely Personal Memories
The beauty of live events is that they’re always a unique experience.
Concerts strengthen the bond between artist and fan with ‘I was there’ moments and recollections that last a lifetime. Experiential activity forges brand loyalty and advocacy through word-of-mouth shared memories, while internal business events bolster team morale, inspire performance and drive collective togetherness.
2) You Elevate Our Mood
Swapping the at-home or in-office environment for a live event setting is an instantaneous mood enhancer.
Music, conversation, great food and on-stage stimulation all reduce stress, release endorphins and provide a break from the monotony of the day-to-day workplace routine.
3) You Plan For Serendipity
Planning for serendipity sounds like an oxymoron but by creating engaging spaces for your audience to network, present, participate or dance, you open the environment to the unexpected.
For us, the attendee, it means meeting the person who buys our product or gives us work. It means discovering new opportunities for self-improvement or enhanced business performance, plus it means a unique, personalised experience that may change our lives for the better.
4) You Open Us Up To New Experiences & Knowledge
Whether it’s trying a new product, experiencing something in Virtual Reality for the first time, hearing a different perspective or being wowed by a keynote, being present at an exhibition, conference or event opens our minds to new experiences, designed by you to inspire, educate, motivate and benefit us in more ways than we know.
5) You Make Us Feel Proud
This year, major sporting occasions such as the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and celebratory events such as those being held for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee will instil patriotism and pride in British achievements.
Events bring the country and communities together and produce feelings of unity as we collectively will England (or whichever nation you support) to lift the World Cup in Qatar or TeamGB to bring home the Gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
6) You Literally Change The World
It’s no exaggeration. From climate action and the launch of products that have completely altered the way we live our lives, to charity fundraising, political and societal movements, plus communicating the findings of scientific or medical research, the one thing a vast majority of historic and momentous occasions all have in common is that they take place against the backdrop of a conference or event.
As planners, you quite literally set the stage for progress and evolution to play out.
For each of these six ways you make us feel, we love you #eventprofs
To register for Event Love Stories: Things we all Love about Events, taking place online at 4pm on 22 February, register here.
