SUSTAINABILITY - OUR TOP 5 TIPS
1) Sustainability is about much more than just recycling.
It goes without saying recycling and careful waste management is vital to minimising our impact on the environment and improving our sustainable practises, but there are also many other ways to develop a sustainable workplace. Your staff are your most valuable asset so make sure you’re looking after them, develop great relationships with your suppliers, source great local products and engage with your local community . . . . just make sure you also take care of the simple stuff, and put your paper in the recycling bin too.
2) Sustainability should be a focus, not THE focus.
It is very rare that the content of your event will solely focus on environmental issues, so make sure the measures you’ve put in place don’t overshadow the reason your audience is there. They may be attending your event as film goers for a cinema screening, as delegates for a conference or an audience for a community festival, so may not be expecting or appreciate a lecture on sustainable practice. Instead, ensure sustainability is at the fore throughout the planning process and make sure it links seamlessly to the running of your event. Simple steps such as have recycling bins present at each site, using social media as a marketing tool, and promoting public transport options, can become a part of the visitor experience without taking it over.
3) Is your sustainability plan sustainable?
Ambition is fantastic, and is one of the key drives behind successful business, however it also pays to be realistic. Aiming to recycle 100% of your waste in the first year may be unlikely, so make sure you build steps into your sustainability planning. This gives your team key areas to work towards, and ensures you can build your sustainable practice over time. Remember, sustainability is an iterative process and it won’t be perfect from the start, so get to know what works for your company and build those steps in bit by bit.
4) Communicate with your audience
You have great public transport links to your venue, there are fantastic local producers at your festival, you can download the schedule before attending . . . these are all great initiatives, so make sure your audience are aware of them. As I mentioned before, avoid bombarding them with too much information about your sustainability policies, but make sure they’re aware of key opportunities. The Hay Festival is a great example of how to get it right, and I encourage you to check out their website – a fantastic model of how to make sustainability work on a large scale. http://www.hayfestival.com/greenprint/index.aspx?skinid=14
5) Get the whole team on board
Building your sustainable practice requires buy in from your whole team, so make sure everyone’s feedback is taken into consideration. The measures you put in place should enhance your employees workplace, and improve their productivity and effectiveness, and shouldn’t feel like a burden, or ‘another thing on the to do list’. Depending on the size of your company, it might not be practical to get everyone involved in the planning stage, but make sure you communicate changes well in advance, and make the process an open one – communication and opportunities to input into the process are vital for all team members and encourage people to take ownership for sustainability in their workplace.
EVEN DELIVERY - Top five tips
All the P's- ' If you fail to prepare you prepare to fail'.
5 top tips for event delivery:
Planning & Production -
Although this section is about delivery of events – without effective, organised and structured planning the delivery cannot be successful. A schedule of activity, a project plan and strong communication between the team will ensure successful delivery.
People –
The right people in the right place at the right time. This is anything from suppliers, performers, traders, public this is all achieved through communication and having key people that you can call on and trust to deliver. By building up a strong network of people that you know will deliver takes away stress from YOU the event manager. Initiative is invaluable - not taught but vital in event management.
Presence –
When working on an event remember it is not YOU who has to respond to every query it is YOU that has this knowledge - so it is vital to share the right level of information with the right people.
To achieve this on large scale events implement a system – In the name of the Olympics:
Gold – Decision makers / Event manager / Emergency Services
Silver – Team Leaders / event support staff
Bronze – Volunteers
Having a clear structure like this makes for effective communication and fast responses.
Promotion –
It is vital to take time in the planning stages to discuss promotion and create a schedule of activity. Without promotion know one knows about your event so don't let all that hard work go to waste – set aside budget and time to ensure effective promotion.
Programme -
The programme can make or break an event. Be mindful when organising events that you don't present competition for yourself by making people choose between two events that are scheduled for the same time. Variety and engagement – when programming always go back to your planning and the aims and objectives and check if it fits – Quality over Quantity.
DESIGNING EVENTS
1. Start with SMART aims & objectives
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound....if your aims & objectives for the event are all of these 5 things then you have a clear direction which you can communicate clearly to all of the team and which you can then evaluate against at the end of the project.
2. Be ambitious
Let your creativity pour out! Aim for the moon and you'll land amongst the stars! Start big thinking about what kind of content would achieve those SMART objectives and try to put the practicalities to one side whilst you map out all of your ideas. Even the smallest of ideas could be a great contribution to the event experience.
3. Then consider the practicalities
Now start to shape your event by checking the feasibility of your event content – it may not be possible to get Elvis or Madonna but what would they bring to the party and how could you create that impact within your resources? Having created your initial design, how can you now deliver it on time and on budget? Then starts the project planning....
4. Walk through the event in your mind as a ticket purchaser.....
It can be really helpful to imagine the event in your mind's eye and walk through the experience from the very beginning, from buying a ticket, through to going home afterwards. Does it all add up? Are there any incongruities? What could you tweak or change to improve it?
5. Would you buy a ticket?
The big question. Would you? Whatever your response, think about what has made you feel that way and use that information to develop the event design again. Don't forget who you are creating this experience for – does it meet their needs and wants?
MARKETING
Understand your audience
Sounds obvious really – that's because it is. But there is more to understanding your audience than knowing the demographic. If you're a company selling a product or a service, and it's easy to get caught up in the details of what your offering. However your audience will be looking for a solution to a problem, so you need to ensure that's exactly how you focus your marketing. For example, someone looking to buy a spade is wanting to dig a hole, so rather than focussing on how shiny and high spec your spade is, you tell your potential customer why it's YOUR spade is the best for digging that hole. Focus your marketing on the customers desired end result.
Know your USP
Similar to understanding your audience is knowing what sets up apart from your competitors. What makes your product or service so unique that a consumer or client would go to you? Knowing what your USP is is critical when launching a marketing campaign – once you understand your USP you're marketing will become more tailored and subsequently, more effective. If you're USP is that your company has 50 years in the business, make it a pivotal point of any campaigns – utilise your companies strengths to get results.
Marketing isn't just for attracting new customers
When people think of marketing it's more than likely we go to bill boards, poster campaigns, brochures and adverts. All these are fantastic methods of marketing, but these are all primarily associated with attracting new business, so what about existing customers and clients? There is a wealth of marketing which should be considered for nurturing relationships with existing clients. E-Bulletins, Newsletters, Discounts and Promotions, networking evenings/events are all good ways to foster strong links through marketing.
Network
In the age of technology so many businesses will contact new business via email and send out blanket information to potential clients on what they do. This may potentially yield some good leads, but can also be impersonal. Also, how can you be sure that you are hitting that companies specific needs if your marketing is generic? And how can you even know they've read it?
Nothing can take the place of good old fashioned networking. If you get out there, take the time to speak to new businesses, meet them, speak to them directly, attend trade shows and exhibitions, once again you are able to tailor your offering to the client and hear and answer their queries directly.
Don't get carried away
Creating a flashy brochure or reworking your website might look fantastic, but ask yourself each time, why are you doing it, and what will it achieve? Each time you make a marketing decision evaluate how strategic a move it is. Make sure you measure everything for return on investment, before undertaking any decisive changes. If you evaluate your actions, both before and after and question your motivation, you won't get lost in making marketing changes just for the sake of it.
TOP TIPS – EVENT HEALTH & SAFETY
1. The Fun Police?
Try not to think of H&S as stopping people having a good time or getting on with their jobs, it's actually about thinking the event through and making sure that everyone has a good and safe time at your event. If you use Health & Safety as a means to check yourself and ensure that everything is covered, it will be a fantastic tool and will give you confidence in your planning and delivery.
2. Don't panic!
Be realistic about the risks. Yes, bad stuff can happen; events are inherently risky. However, we can usually mitigate the risk to make it a controlled situation which is manageable. When faced with a potential risk, look for the solution that is achievable and meets the needs of the majority and try to avoid leaping to melodramatic conclusions!
3. Apply common sense
It's a rare commodity but common sense is the basis for most Health & Safety requirements for events. If we step back from the detail of the event and look at the big picture, we can see that H&S is all about enabling everyone to enjoy themselves. So let's not make it a big deal, let's make it part of the whole event experience.
4. Get advice
If you are really flummoxed by an H&S issue or it's a potential show-stopper, then get help! Your local Council H&S or events departments can advise you, particularly if the event is in a public space but there are also H&S consultants out there who can be really useful. You can also call on other event managers to give their views on how you could resolve it. If it's related to emergency planning, then talk to your venue or to the Police so that you handle any issues in a way that is consistent with their existing plans for the site.
5. Communicate
If H&S is going to work then it has to be communicated to the whole team. Build it in to the event itself and the safety briefing is just part of talking about the event as a whole. Enable your team to do better by giving them the information they need to deal with issues as they arise and give them a clear definition of when to bring in help or ask for guidance. By getting the team on board and ensuring that they know about the event as a whole as well as the H&S aspects, they will be able to really contribute to the event experience and make it a success!
