I am sure you are aware of the very
powerful proverb stating: Whoever Saves a
Life Saves the World.
That is very close to the mission of the
Event Design Collective which is: Save
the World, one Event at a time.
It may sound a bit overambitious at first
but then a mission statement is supposed to be just that, stating the end goal,
the horizon, the holy grail of what you eventually want to achieve.
Although our industry is constantly
improving in the way we stage live communication and how we make sure messages
and emotions are part of a bigger picture to deliver desired behaviour change,
I feel that still too many of us have surrendered in their quest to constantly
improve events that eventually will save the world.
Not you? You are shaking you head? GOOD.
Yet the way we currently create events is
broken! (Julius Solaris)
I couldn't agree more. Why?
We don’t speak the same language when we
talk business. We need a visual language so that everybody is on the same page.
How many times have you received a request for proposal and didn’t really know
what the event owner (the organiser) wanted? And didn’t have a change to
clarify questions and yet had to deliver an offer within a few days or even
hours?
Exactly I hear you say, it is annoying, yet
it is common practice. Often the three main levels within an organisational
structure (direct > manage > coordinate) think they speak the same
language but they don’t.
On the strategic level the event owner
mostly has a vision of what he wants the event to be. He or she then hands it
over to the management level who usually break down the event into smaller
tasks with defined objectives. Then management hands it over to the coordinator
level for execution. Even though there are probably all kind of re-briefings,
what often happens is Babylonia. Example: The event owner of a medical
conference wants his participants to leave with the highest level of
information on a new drug. Management level translates that into
content-content-content, lot is at stake, so let’s give the participants all
information possible. That is then communicated to the coordinators ending in
what most of the medical congresses still look like today: Consecutive
university style lectures from opening to closing. Information overload. No
balanced learning, no designed experience journey.
But what can you do about that? Simple.
Ask Why?
Ask the event owner: Why are you having
this conference? Why should participants come to your conference? Why is the
content delivered in classroom style? Why did you not design your event? These
are burning, sometimes painful questions and good openers for a strategic
conversation.
As planners we are conditioned to ask
questions like what, where, when, how many and how much.
But the “Why?” may initiate the desired
change of behaviour of the event owner.
What else can you do to help change the
behaviour of the event owner?
Not so simple!
You need to first change your own mind-set:
No, you are not an event planner!
You are a change maker!
You only use the skills and knowledge of event
planning to change the behaviour of those you plan for. That is quite a radical
mind-shift a change in attitude, but it helps you to help the event owner to
achieve his goals.
Remember an event that does not change
behaviour remains entertainment, and we are not in the entertainment business!
So how can you actually design for change?
Again simple: Use an evidence based event
design approach.
Make sure you spend at least 1% of the time
of those people you what to come to your event with designing the event.
Firstly empathise with those you design the
event for.
In the example of the medical conference
that could be the participants, the sponsors, the event owner, the pharma
company, the speakers….
Ask yourself: What do these stakeholders
see, think & feel, hear say and do, what are their pains and gains before
and after the conference. There is a visual canvas for that, called the Empathy
Map, which will lead you through the process.
Once you have done that, you then know what
behaviour change each stakeholder needs to go through at your conference!
So how do you then design for that change? The
Event Canvas™ might be a good tool for that.
The Event Canvas™ is a visual chart. The 14
boxes describe an event’s promise and how the event will help stakeholders get
their jobs done, resolve pains and create gains within an established framework
of commitment and expected returns. Focus point is the desired change of mind
and behaviour and how the event will achieve that goal. The canvas also
outlines the costs and expected revenues in relation to the customer journey
and the instructional design of an event.
This process may seem rather theoretical to
you as it has nothing to do with planning your conference. True, yet it is
imperative to deliver measurable change and results. Because planning without
an event design is like flying an airplane blindfolded. It’s ok as long as the
autopilot is on…
Once you know all the desired changes and
you have defined the frame within which to design your conference you then
start prototyping different scenarios. Ask yourself: What experience triggers
what change of behaviour, what kind of learning (people, attitude, skills or
knowledge) is needed for that change?
You may use the Event Canvas™ Methodology or you may not, important is your future attitude towards events. Treat them as a business cases. Would you personally invest your money in the event you are currently planning? Our industry has the biggest potential to change the world, because we bring people together. Yet in order to maximise that potential, we need to design well and execute flawlessly. Because only good event design brings good business.
