The Business of Events

“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 be an authority on how to leverage events for your organization’s competitive advantage?

If you had to choose one or the other, how would you decide?

Your answer likely depends on where you sit.

If you’re an event professional, you probably believe it’s better to have a solid understanding of the events business. And you’d be perfectly justified in that answer. Someone has to be the authority on planning and executing successful events and this is what you’ve dedicated your professional life to.

But if you’re an event owner, the person who hires event professionals, and therefore, the person ultimately responsible for the overall business impact of that event, you probably believe it’s better to have a solid understanding of the business of events so you can leverage them for your organization’s competitive advantage.

Event owners come in all shapes and sizes. Most are managers in sales, marketing or other key functional areas. They utilize event professionals primarily to take care of all the event details while they focus on the “big picture”. In that sense, they’re more than managers of their respective functional area. They’re business professionals who are also responsible for the business impact of the events they own.

Efficiency vs. Effectiveness

The critical difference between an event professionals and a business professionals is that one focuses primarily on event efficiencies, while the other focuses primarily on event effectiveness. There are, of course, exceptions to this generalization but there’s actually very little overlap between the responsibilities of event professionals and those of business professionals.

Does this difference serve both parties or would it be better if these relatively independent goals (efficiency and effectiveness), and roles (event professional and business professional), were more closely integrated?

Historically, event professionals have focused primarily on managing event details or logistics; with being efficiency experts. But now more than ever, being an efficiency expert is no longer sufficient.

In today’s new normal, where event professionals are challenged to do more with less, being an efficiency expert – without also being an effectiveness expert – makes it nearly impossible to realize the overall business value or impact of your event.

Yes, and…

Getting back to our original dilemma, obviously, the events business and the business of events are both important. But event professionals spend a disproportionate amount of their time managing logistics. In order for event professionals to be more effective in delivering value to their key stakeholders – event owners – they’re going to have to think and act more like those business professionals.

We know what it takes to be a successful event professional. That knowledge, skills, and abilities (competencies) are spelled out in the Meeting and Business Event Competency Standards. And we know what it takes to be a successful business professional. Those competencies are as varied as business professionals themselves.

The question is, “What competencies do event professionals need to know in order to be better business professionals?”

Summary: Event professionals are efficiency experts. Business professionals (who “own” most events) are more focused on event effectiveness. Both are essential. It is in the best interests of event professionals to develop new competencies that will help them deliver more efficient and more effective events.