“I need my people to think like business people and focus on the business of meetings, not the meetings business.” - Anonymous CEO Which is more important, understanding the events business or understanding the business of events? By that I mean, is it better to be an authority on how to plan and execute successful events or is it better to ... More....
Building core competencies
How We Define Business Success
Generally speaking, event professionals are efficiency experts. They focus on managing the many logistical details that go into planning and executing successful events. By contrast, business professionals are effectiveness experts. They focus on the “big picture” and managing or allocating resources in order to maximize the business impact of ... More....
How We Define Event Success: Part I – How it should be done
When it comes to determining success, business professionals start by determining their overarching goals and objectives, translate these into sensible metrics or KPIs, store them in a repository where they can be properly analyzed and interpreted, and then turn that data into meaningful insights and ultimately, a competitive advantage. So what ... More....
How We Define Event Success: Part II – How it’s actually done
In Part I of this post, we looked at how event success should be determined. Now let’s look at how we actually determine event success. Determining event goals and objectives If you asked most event professionals what the goals and objectives of their event are, they wouldn’t be able to provide a definitive answer. For the most part, they ... More....
What is a Business Strategist?
A business strategist is a person responsible for the formulation and implementation of a strategy - that set of guiding principles used for decision making. You may not know many business strategists but this is an actual job title with an actual job description. Business strategists help identify new opportunities for their organization and ... More....
The Business Case for an Event Strategist
The Event Strategist is a relatively new role. As such, not much is known about it. There’s no competency model that outlines the required knowledge, skills and abilities that determines job success. There’s no clearly defined job description. Yet, there’s little doubt that there’s a genuine need for such a role. The changing nature of ... More....
What is an Event Strategist? Part I: The Competency Model
An event strategist is someone who’s primary objective it to realize the full business potential of an event. As such, they focus more on event effectiveness than event efficiency. An event planner, by contrast, is someone who’s primary objective is to successfully execute an event plan. In that sense, the event planner is primarily ... More....
What is an Event Strategist? Part II: The Job Description
The job of Event Strategist is so new, there are too few job descriptions available which can be used as a template when hiring one. So how does one develop a job description for such a relatively new job that barely exists? Every job description, even if you’ve hired for the job before, begins with a job analysis. A job analysis is ... More....
What is a Trusted Advisor?
A trusted advisor is someone who has exceptional, targeted knowledge in a particular industry; one you can expect to provide unbiased advice. What differentiates a trusted advisor from other advisors or consultants is the higher value they place on maintaining and preserving the business relationship over the outcome of the current ... More....
Random thoughts, opinions, observations, comments, questions…
Events that simply meet the status quo are no longer sufficient. You have to exceed expectations in order to differentiate yourself from the crowd these days. Never be satisfied with the status quo. There’s always room for process improvements. How are you exceeding expectations? How are you identifying areas and opportunities for process ... More....
Content Strategy for Digital Events: Part I – Content is Still King
What’s more important: your digital content platform or your digital content? To no one’s surprise, there’s been a tremendous surge of interest in digital platforms as a complement to - or a replacement for - face-to-face events. However, in the desperate scramble to identify the right platform, the preeminence of content is all but lost. ... More....
Content Strategy for Digital Events: Part II – Before Your Event
In the inaugural post in this series, I made the case that while everyone is rushing to launch digital events during this indefinite in-person vacuum we’re experiencing, content, which everyone agrees is the most critical element of any event, digital or otherwise, is being ignored. I also included this warning… “If you choose to put your ... More....
Content Strategy for Digital Events: Part III – During Your Event
In Part II of this series on creating content for digital events, I outlined the tasks you should complete before your event. Now that you’ve followed a standardized process for analyzing, designing, and developing more compelling content, you’re ready to implement your program. However, your content challenge isn’t over. It simply shifts now ... More....
Content Strategy for Digital Events: Part IV – After Your Event
In Part III of this series on creating content for digital events, I identified a number of strategic and tactical suggestions for content delivery during your event. The key objective of the implementation phase is to maximize engagement, and more importantly, to increase knowledge retention and transfer of that knowledge back to the ... More....
