Top tips for creating a successful event
- Two-way communication is fundamental for success of managing client expectations.
- Ask detailed questions to obtain the answers you need to fully understand the client’s needs, to manage client expectations more effectively.
- Focus on credibility, salesmanship, feedback do’s and don’ts and a project post-mortem.
- Think carefully about the purpose and objectives of a client/team meeting, as well as the venue and who should be there before calling and confirming it. Close meetings with a summary of decisions and clear follow-up actions.
- Be honest with yourself and with your client at all times; and maintain a constant focus on helping evolve your client expectations as the project involves.
- When planning an event remember that it’s almost impossible to design an agenda which will appeal to everyone but it’s important to have enough of a mix of activities which will engage the key attendee personas.
- Live events - the power of experiences - provide a safe place for people to work together. This can be helpful, so sometimes a little bit of risk can be a positive thing. An event provides a unique way of bringing people together to achieve a sharing of perspectives that perhaps doesn’t work with email or social media such as Twitter, for example.
- Use technology, mobile and digital media to enhance your client experiences, facilitate processes, add value, enable and collect customer feedback, increase audience engagement and extend the event experience.
- Use the right social media channel to listen to your customers for valuable feedback.
- Carefully consider who your audience is and what the objectives and expected outcomes of the event are – this will dictate your event planning.
- What does the audience want? Put yourself in the shoes and the minds of the customer, and ask, “We cannot imagine this event without…” What are the most important things for the delegate? Food and drink, goody bags, the technology available to them?
- Preparation and attention to detail is paramount: for example, making sure delegate numbers are correct.
- Find a way to add value to your customer’s experience after the event – to maintain loyalty and to reach new customers and audiences.
- Finally, you can say anything but you have to deliver, it matters what you do and that’s important for the business tourism industry.
- Relationships are key in the real world and although we can continue to use technology to enhance, enable and empower client interaction and create memorable experiences, human interaction remains fundamental.
Get an overview of the Business Tourism Scotland Conference 2013 at businesstourismscotland.co.uk