What is an Event Strategist? Part I: The Competency Model

The competancy 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 concerned with doing things right. The event strategist is primarily concerned with doing the right things.

Like other business strategists, event strategists rely on a variety of tools and techniques to assess, diagnose, and prescribe how limited organizational resources should be deployed to maximum effect.

Competencies

In addition to determining which tools and techniques make the most sense to use, given their understanding of the situation, an event strategist must master certain competencies or knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) in order to perform successfully.

The following recommended competencies for event strategists represent:

  • Extensions of core competencies identified in the Meeting and Business Event Competency Standards (MBECS), which traditional event planners must master in order to perform successfully.
  • Core competencies of business strategists who identify new opportunities for their organization and then develop the goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics (plans) required to achieve them.
  • New, emerging competencies that event strategists must master in order to realize the full business potential of events.

  • Analytics: Discovering, analyzing and interpreting meaningful patterns in data in order to make more informed business decisions.

Analytics is increasingly important for data rich but information poor events.

  • Change Management: Preparing, supporting, and enabling individuals, teams, and organizations in navigating change.

Change management is at the heart of transitioning from an efficient to a more effective event. Make no mistake, this is a significant change management initiative.

  • Critical Thinking: Synthesis and rational analysis of facts to form a judgment.

There are literally thousands of decisions involved in planning and executing successful events, making critical thinking all the more…critical. It contributes to more objective and informed decision making.

  • Community Building: Creating or enhancing relationships between individuals that share a common interest.

We believe this is the highest order purpose events serve, whether in-person or online.

  • Content Strategy: Planning, development, and management of content across all media.

Increasingly important in establishing relevance, meaning and value for event participants.

  • Creativity: Creating something new or valuable.

Key to generating new ideas, new ways of thinking and problem-solving around events.

  • Design Thinking: A human-centered, iterative process which seeks to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.

Minimizes the uncertainty and risks around event innovations or interventions.

  • Environmental Psychology: Relationship between man-made environments and human thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ultimately, behavior.

Key to influencing the participant experience, wellness.

  • Experience Design: Focusing on the participant’s level of engagement, especially the quality of – and satisfaction with – the engagement.

Key driver of participant value before, during, as well as after events, in-person or online.

  • Learning Strategy: Development of formal and informal programs designed to improve individual or organizations performance.

The most important reason why individuals attend events, according to decades of industry research.

  • Meeting Design: The purposeful shaping of both the form and the content of a meeting to deliver on crucial business objectives.

Key to simultaneously identifying cost savings and value added opportunities.

Note: This is not the same as the “Meeting or Event Design” competency as defined by the MBECS, which is more focused on aesthetics and operations and not business objectives or outcomes. 

  • Needs Analysis: Systematic process for determining and addressing needs or “gaps” between current conditions and desired conditions.

Needs represent key drivers for change. They help determine the best options or solutions to resolve issues or improve productivity or performance, for the participant or the event itself.

  • Problem-Solving: Process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues

Event professionals are certainly knowledgable but that alone isn’t enough. The ability or clearly define problems, generate and evaluate potential solutions, and implement the best solutions in an effective and timely manner is what’s necessary to succeed in today’s business environment.

These competencies are subject to change as our understanding of this new role and responsibility evolves.

And depending on the experience of the individual, an argument can be made for more advanced training in a number of the MBECS competencies like:

  • Communication
  • Financial Management
  • Marketing
  • Project Management
  • Risk Management
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Strategic Planning

Based on our extensive experience as business professionals working in the events industry, we believe these competencies will have a significant impact on the ability of event professionals to realize the full business impact of events.

As such, their value extends above and beyond the fundamental competencies for event planners found in the MBECS.

For the most part, these competencies are not an event professional’s areas of expertise so you will have to look to outside organizations or independent consultants to provide them. Eventually, as the value of these competencies becomes more evident, event professionals will develop them or be able to become certified in them, making them the new standard of performance.

Until then, we strongly urge you to do your best to prepare your organization and yourself for the coming paradigm shift – from more efficient to more effective events.

Summary: In order to shift from planning events to realizing their full business potential, event professionals are going to have to learn new knowledge, skills and abilities (competencies). The competencies above represent a starting point.