Event strategy — what does it mean and do we actually need it?

First of all, event strategy is not the event plan. It’s not the templates, the budget table, or the RSVP sheet in Excel, and it’s definitely not vendor booking. But if it’s not any of these things, then what on earth is it? And why does everyone keep talking about how important it is?

Well, event strategy is the set of guiding principles used for decision making. Simply put, it’s the answer to “why are we having this event to begin with, what do we need to do to achieve the goal, and how will we know the goal has been achieved?”

Lets start with the WHY (always a good starting point)

When Alice asks the Cheshire cat which way to go, the cat responds with a question of his own: “where do you want to get to?” When Alice answers that she does not know, the cat replies, “then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” This pretty much covers it. If you don’t know WHY you’re having the event, it doesn’t matter what your theme is, which activities you include, or even how much money you spend.

“Why” is your north star for the event. Is it designed to attract more clients? Are we trying to launch a new product and attract attention? Are we trying to boost employee engagement and encourage company loyalty? What are we trying to achieve?

For every decision you make, you always need to ask yourself which option is most likely to achieve the goal and “serve the why”. For instance: if your goal is to boost loyalty and employee engagement, then the question of whether the event should be in-person or online is immediately answered: of course an in-person event is most likely to serve the purpose. If your goal is to launch a product, then advertisement is clearly a good investment for your budget. You’ll find that most dilemmas are easily resolved just by asking yourself what will serve the purpose better.

How to achieve the goal

This is where you start putting together the building blocks that will enable you to achieve your goals. As you’ll see in the table below, the primary blocks are based on very simple questions: Who? What? When? Where? How Long?

Even though these are “basic” questions, they have been known to stop many planners in their tracks. If you discover that you don’t have a good, clear answer to any or all of these questions, then you need to stop and get your bearings before potentially going in the completely wrong direction. Once you can respond decisively, your answers will help to shape your exact needs. For example, knowing who the guests are will inform many of the decisions you make going forward — young marketing teams from inside the corporation will probably expect a different kind of event to your 40-year-old customers, and so on.

Note that all of these blocks are interrelated too. If your guests are international visitors rather than locals, that can profoundly affect the “what” (needs to motivate people to take substantial time and effort), as well as the “where” (unique location could be a major attraction; think about proximity to airports and train stations), and the “when” (is there a time most people will be available? remember to consider local holiday periods).

The final question or building block here is “Now What?” In other words, it’s crucial to remember that any event, no matter how big and impressive, is still only one part of an ongoing journey towards larger goals. So how will the event affect your relationships with guests moving forward? And what steps will you need to take immediately after the event to reinforce its impact?

How will you know you’ve made it?

It’s easy to talk about KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) but the main thing here is to set goals that you can actually measure — and then ensure that you collect the data that will enable you to measure them.

For example, the idea that “everyone had a great time!” is far too subjective and will immediately be undermined by a single complaint. Instead, ensure that you encourage feedback in an easy, accessible way — such as through Maryoku’s digital platform. This enables you to collect ratings and more detailed feedback. It is much more convincing to state “87% of guests rated the event positively” and even to report negatives like “5% of guests were disappointed in transport options” in a way that conveys you are on top of the issue.

Here, it is also important to bear in mind the “why?” of the event. Yes, people had a good time, but has employee engagement improved? Are customers motivated to purchase the new product? Make sure that you find clear ways to measure and assess event effectiveness in these terms too.

The opportunity

Despite it all, planners have traditionally not been involved in formulating event strategy. That’s traditionally been left to the business professionals — the effectiveness experts — if it’s been done at all. So now it is the greatest challenge facing planners, while at the same time being the greatest opportunity. If you want a seat at the table, begin by leading the conversation about event strategy.

Bottom line:

Strategies and the plans that support them are essential business building blocks. They are also essential event building blocks. This means that professional administrators who are executing event plans without the benefit of a coherent event strategy are not only missing out on the opportunity to do a good job, but also the chance to be taken seriously as a professional.