How to make sure your next event is a start to change the world?

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.