Give Fall Event Planning the Grace of Time

Several years ago, I had a client who insisted we slap together a customer advisory board meeting in less than three weeks. I tried my best to push the timeline as it wasn’t tied to any major launch or campaign but she was insistent. So we did it, from site visit to hosting for 2 days — we pulled together a good event in less than three weeks.

“See,” she said at the end of the day, “I knew we didn’t need more time.”

There was both satisfaction and smugness in that sentence. And she was right, logistics can often be pulled together in a few weeks. But she was also wrong. Our timeline forced us to pay more for services and make decisions too quickly without enough corroborating data. It also meant that some of the most important client voices within reach weren’t able to attend due to scheduling conflicts.

In the end, we pulled off a good event. But it could have been better. It could have been great.

Embracing the Value of Time

Great events are not about the tactics. They’re about strategy and vision and integrating that vision into a company’s highest goals and priorities.

Summer months tend to be slower for events and then, starting in September, your workload and event calendar explode with opportunities, challenges and deadlines. And while you can spend a few weeks mired in booth panel designs, electrical and AV orders and similar tasks — there are so many things you can do in the slower summer months to ensure success.

Here are some of the ways you can get ahead of the fall event season to get beyond good events and create something great.

1. Look back | Look Forward
   Event plans usually have many components: booth messaging, staffing choices, product demos, call campaigns, onsite meetings, networking dinners, and speaking engagements. Reviewing what worked and what didn’t allows you to refine programs that got close to goals and replace the ones that didn’t serve you. Lead capture from events also needs some time to mature. Take a moment to define what success looks like and how to measure that against past event results. Find patterns of behavior in your target markets that allow you to adjust the conversations at events.
2. Review Sales Goals and Messaging
   Have your sales targets changed? Are you sure that your session content, collateral, taglines and pitches touch on your prospect pain points? Now is the time to align your messaging and branding with your target clientele’s needs and wants. And to make sure all your teams have the training to deliver that message.
   
   Using the summer months to review new sales targets also gives your team the chance to pivot to a new direction, new events and a deeper understanding of lead generation for the long term.
3. Gather Your Ecosystem of Evangelists
   Events have numerous opportunities to create traffic driving programs with partners and allies who are also exhibiting. Building programs that showcase the breadth and depth of your technology ecosystem bolsters your brand and drives awareness for your products.
   
   Recruiting your top customers to join you onstage for presentations, prospect dinners and private meetings also strengthens your brand and gives your products and solutions a credibility that surpasses your closest competitors. Take the time to invite your top customer voices to share in the event experience and build a circle of peer voices for your prospects.
4. Use Early Bird Deadlines to Manage Costs
   Hotel reservations, airline tickets, and vendor services are usually best booked early. But using the summer months to review ALL your events and their needs helps you stretch your budget for buying branded giveaways in bulk and designing online and onsite campaigns that drive demos and launching private meeting programs with prospects.

Above all, using the summer months to regroup and reevaluate gives you a chance to take advantage of all the networking opportunities an event offers and lends a richness to your presence that attendees and prospective clients will respond to, helping your brand and solutions stand out in a competitive market.