The greatest impact you will have on the overall ROI on your event starts with the individuals you have brought onto your team and their strengths, skills and dedication. Pause for a moment and think about the individuals, vendors and partners that you have surrounded yourself with. What do they bring to the team? Is your team missing a skillset? Are your vendors real partners in your success? Here are three practices that will help you surround yourself with the right people to create and ensure amazing experiences.
Know the strengths and weaknesses of everyone involved.
The more you know about everyone involved in your event, the better equipped you are to put the right people in place to balance your team, and balance is what we are looking for. If your team excels at planning and organizing, but struggles to come up with new ideas, add some creative types to the team. If your team is really creative, but puts off balancing budget and keeping records, add an individual who loves numbers, data and details. If your Excel spreadsheets are on a level of their own, but you stress over engagement, you need to look for the one that will bring balance to your team. A diverse team intentionally built for balance will always be more successful than a team that focuses on their strengths but ignores their weaknesses.
Seek out and hire experts.
True experts are those who have found the internal balance between their talents (skill and competency) with their passion (interest and enjoyment of the work). They are dynamic individuals who can be identified if they are in the right role. The enjoyment of their work can be externally seen by positive energy and focus. While their talents will be seen by the quality of the work they produce. When in the wrong role, their energy levels might be low, they might be frustrated, and their work might not be the best which can make them harder to identify. When hiring employees, use assessment tools to help identify the applicants core interests and strengths. When engaging with vendors and partners, interview the key individuals of the operational team assigned to your event as they will be an important part of its overall success.
Replace casual vendors with dedicated vendor partners.
Casual vendors are transactional. They are primarily focused on the success of their own business and are generally not engaged in your success. In short, you use vendors, and they use you. When we rise above the transactional and seek engagement, we discover vendors who are real partners that engage and support our efforts. A few words that describe a true partnership are transparency, trust, respect and communication. Partners are an extension of our teams who want to know what the budget is and provide as much value as possible within that budget. Real partners can be identified when real challenges arise. True partners provide ideas, recommendations and solutions that eliminate obstacles and bring the whole team closer to the common goal. Being engaged with partners provides a certainty of outcome and allows you to focus on other areas of your event because partners genuinely care about the success of the event and do all they can provide the best experience possible.
The ROI of your event is tied directly to the team you have put together. Their strengths, weaknesses, their skills and their desire to support your vision, your plan and your business. Set yourself up for success. Know your prospects. Build your team.
Your event is a reflection of your brand and company culture, so take this opportunity to design the best experience and leave a lasting impression. For questions or assistance with your next big event, feel free to reach out to our AVmedia family. AVmedia is known for its international production and creative services team, as well as its growing on-site audio visual and production services arm that is focused on changing the stigma around what people think about “in-house AV.”