No time, small budget, lacking the relevant skills in-house? An event agency is the answer!
When it comes to planning or organising events, many clients have limited resources to work with. Overstretched internal teams, budgets smaller than they might like, and not enough time to get everything done.
For some clients, the relevant expertise doesn’t even exist in-house. They may not have a dedicated events team, with events falling into sales or marketing’s remit, or there may not be anyone at all who is able to dedicate time to event planning.
Handing over your baby, either in full or in part, to an agency at such a globally sensitive time might seem scary. But there are many compelling reasons to get an agency involved and, more than ever before, they have become a beneficial extension for many organisations.
Here are a few of the essential roles that we can bring to your team.
EVENT CONSULTANCY
Even events that start out small can become big and complex projects. Solid and informed advice on suppliers, budgets, and best practices from the start, will set you up for success.
Agencies have refined this skill even further over the last 18 months, factoring in pivoting to online, improving health and safety measures, and additional contingency planning. An event consultant will integrate seamlessly into your existing team, whether that’s sales, marketing or events. They can advise these different parts of the business on how they can most effectively collaborate to make an event come together.
Agencies have also organised many events across different industries and audiences. We can bring numerous case studies on what worked, and what didn’t, to the planning process. This sort of insider information isn’t easily available to in-house teams who will usually only work on their own company’s projects.
This means you might want to bring in an event consultant to advise on all these different elements. Although an event consultant can be brought onboard at any stage, involving them from the earliest stages of planning, will yield the best results.
TECH AND PRODUCTION
With a shift to virtual and hybrid, and both these formats here to stay, agencies have stayed relevant during the pandemic by embracing a massive range of tech skills. Sorting out a dropped internet connection? Tick. Advice on which online platform is best for hosting your event? Tick. Briefing speakers for virtual sessions? Tick.
But that’s not all.
With the advent of streamed events, on-demand video and hybrid, production knowledge has become a must-have rather than a nice-to-have. Event planners will have developed a greater understanding of AV and tech requirements for both live and recorded content and can work closely with other suppliers to make sure cameras and mics are working properly, also advising on lighting and sets.
Using their skills, you can create on-demand content that can be accessed before, anytime during, and post-event, meaning you can generate excitement and give delegates options, most relevant to them.
Virtual has changed and improved the amount and quality of data that can now be gathered. Agencies can advise on which tools and mechanisms for data gathering are most suited to your audience and event setting. This data will be invaluable when it comes to deciding on future campaigns, products and, of course, events.
MARKETING
Communicating effectively with your audience and stakeholders in the digital space can also be outsourced to an agency. Taking our digital skills and combining them with our understanding of how to encourage registration and engagement, we can find your target audience, mastermind your comms strategy, and create content that interests them.
Identifying your target audience, whether that’s existing customers or a completely new segment of the market, can be challenging. Using tools such as empathy mapping and sifting through any data you’ve gathered previously, agencies can create targeted content for emails, social media and your website, to promote your event. An agency can also evaluate your current ticket buying and registration process and software, to maximise conversions.
CONTENT
Content creation and curation is yet another area we have upped our game in. In addition to persuasive copywriting skills, we understand the shifting wants of delegates.
Audiences increasingly expect interactive sessions, networking with a bit of a difference, and to be able to personalise their delegate journey. Running numerous event tracks, introducing gamification and sourcing experienced and charismatic speakers will keep attendees engaged and prolong the buzz around the event.
Most of all, you’ll want creative vision and in-depth knowledge to make your event special and memorable. This will add the ‘wow’ factor and bring something different and unique to each project, which is also tailored to both your brand and your delegates. This will be the difference between your event simply happening, and your event coming to life.
FINANCIAL ADVICE
Budgets can often be tight when it comes to holding events and procurement will want to see evidence that any money being allocated to them is used wisely.
Being able to negotiate with suppliers and understanding not only the best people, but the right people for the job, is essential for sticking within a budget. Leveraging strong existing relationships, trust built over time and in-depth knowledge of services and venues, agencies will be able to negotiate a better deal for their clients.
Contract negotiation is a big part of this. Negotiating watertight contracts, which take into account the new world we have found ourselves in, is essential. An event planner will understand any jargon and what extra clauses should be included to make sure your investment is protected.
TIME MANAGEMENT
You can’t put a price on the wellbeing of your staff. The pandemic has hit mental health and workloads hard, and organising an event can be stressful.
A vital factor when considering who to delegate the organisation of an event to, is who is best placed to deal with the ongoing and varied demands of getting everything just right.
A professional event planner will be focused solely on your event; taking care of logistics, sorting out any headaches that may come up, and creating tailor-made solutions to make sure that delegates have the best possible experience. Most planners thrive on deadlines!
And what about time management during the event itself? Audiences lose focus quicker if content is being delivered digitally, for example. Whether live or digital, agencies will be able to advise on the length of any speaker or break-out sessions and make sure everyone, and everything, is running on time.
Although it’s likely that you’ve run successful corporate events in partnership with agencies in the past, you may be questioning whether you can still afford to use their service.
Many planners, including those of us at Lemon Lane, used the pandemic to upskill, reskill and develop additional services to add even more value to our clients’ event processes. This makes us invaluable partners when it comes to generating new leads, turning prospects into customers, and fulfilling your event goals.
So, a better question might be, whether you can afford not to?
