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Hey, I'm Jodie Event Manager, business owner, educator and podcast host. I'm an introverted homebody want to be wine master. And I truly believe in the power of events to inspire delight and ignite human potential. Every week, I take you backstage into the wonderful world of business events, and give you the insider scoop on how to take your events to the next level. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and listen. Let's get into it. Welcome to episode seven of the events Insider PodCast. Today is a solo episode. So we've had some amazing guest experts lately. And if you haven't listened to them, make sure you go back and listen to my interviews with Maggie Benjamin, all about sourcing speakers for your events. And then we have Libby re all about event AV and technology and last week's episode with Chad Davis all about event, entertainment and guest engagement. There is so much gold in those episodes on the different areas of business events. But today I'm coming to you solo, I have just gotten back from Bali, where I was running a conference, I'm going to say conference slash retreat, it was a bit of a mix, really not your typical conference. But there was still differently conference vibes. And it wasn't just a retreat. So that was for 150 people or business owners from Australia who travelled to Bali. And so today I want to share my learnings from planning and executing that event. But also more broadly how I go about planning a destination event. So I speak to a lot of you who plan, you know, dinner events in other cities or team retreats in destinations or, you know, National Sales roadshows or incentive trips for your sales teams. There's so many different types of events that might be held in another city or even country than the one you're in. And that brings with it I guess, a whole new set of challenges. So I'm going to split this episode into two parts today. So the first half, I'm going to recap the Bali event that I just ran. And I'll go through sort of what worked well, and what I would do differently next time. And then in the second part, I'm going to take you through how I go about planning a destination event. And some of the things that I've learned along the way over the years. So even if you're like God, I don't run big international events, I just do a few small ones, there's still going to be a lot that you can learn from this episode and translate that to the type of events that you run. Just jumping into let you know that this episode of the events insider podcast is brought to you by events Academy, where we equip admin professionals to master event planning in just six weeks. Our next programme opens in June. So if that is something you want to get in on hit pause, click the link in the show notes and jump on our waitlist so we can let you know more info and how to sign up. Once you've done that, click play. And let's get back to the episode. So it was really interesting planning an event in Bali. So I've run a couple of events overseas now, but never in Bali. And before actually doing a familiarisation trip last year, I've never actually been to Bali. So I was really starting from scratch. Now obviously, I know how to plan an event. And I've planned destination events before. But the destination for this event was completely new to me. So I think that's lesson one in that if you need to plan an event in a location that you're not familiar with, don't stress like it is possible and you don't need to be an expert or have been there before to be able to plan and execute a successful event. So I started working with this client on this event about 12 months ago, and it was always barley from the beginning that was their decision. And to be honest, I'm kind of glad because not knowing barley, it's probably not a location that I would have pitched. But sometimes I think we're forced outside our comfort zone and it worked out really well. And now I honestly can't imagine that event being in any other location like it was perfect. So I think that's lesson number two is you know, if your boss or someone comes to you with an idea that you're not super comfortable or familiar with, take the opportunity to learn like there's safety in our comfort zone, but there's magic just outside it. If you have the opportunity to plan an event that you've never done before or in a location that you don't know, like take the opportunity and go all in. In terms of what works well for this event. I have to say I found it equally awesome and terrifying. Planning a huge like four day event almost entirely on WhatsApp. It's their main form of communication. I think that's pretty common across most of Asia. So they prefer it to email. And it honestly made the planning a lot quicker and easier because I had everything easily at my fingertips. And you know, the record of communication and just their response time from suppliers was so much faster than on email. And you could just quickly ask questions back and forth. It did worry me a little bit, I have to be honest, but I had to trust that who I was talking to was legit and the right person, but it all honestly worked out. And then when I was there, I had their contacts easily accessible, like on the go. Honestly, I really want to implement the use of WhatsApp for business more in Australia, because it was game changing. So that's kind of the number one thing that I think worked really well. And something that I would love to implement more in the way that I plan events here in Australia. I think the other thing that worked really well was sourcing everything locally. So the conference bags, the merch, even all of the styling, and signage was all locally supplied. The only thing that I took over with me was the lanyards. And that was just purely because, you know, I wanted to have them all down and put together before I got there, because I potentially wouldn't have had time to put them all together over them. I have definitely been caught out before, you know, having to pay for extra luggage to take all this stuff to events, particularly when travelling interstate. And so I'm consciously trying to do that less and less, I was really happy to have all of that locally and really consciously made sure that I was doing that. And it just made my life so much easier. And honestly, it made the event a bit more meaningful as well. Now, obviously, there was a lot that worked well. And those are just two things. You know, I think the speakers were great, the venues I chose were great, I have to say the entertainment in particular was excellent. But in terms of I guess one more thing that I think worked really well that I think you guys could translate to your event was the balance of information versus surprise factor. And it is a real balance, because we need to give our attendees lots of information. So they're prepared, so that we manage their expectations, you know, particularly for this one, with them travelling internationally, like making sure they have everything that they need. But we also want to make sure we have well moments. And I think they really come from keeping things a surprise. We know we consciously kept most of the last night's event, a surprise, so that we you know, ended with a bang, and quite literally ended with a bang, we had fireworks. But I think you know, picking a few key things that you can surprise and delight your guests with that then make your event more memorable and impactful. So yes, it was a great success. But I always talk about learning and growing from our events so that we can continue to get better. So now I'm going to touch on a couple of things that I think didn't work so well or that I would do differently next time. The first is always make sure you have the direct contact details for the supplier on the ground. So we had booked transport through an agent because buses aren't common in Bali. And the drivers don't really speak English. And so I'd been referred to an Australian operator who was operating over there. And they had outsourced to kind of a middleman bus company. But I had had that middle man's contact details. But on the day, he wasn't contactable when we were waiting for the buses. And so it caused a delay because I couldn't reach the actual drivers. So I had the agents details. And I had the middleman details but it didn't have the drivers details. And it was a silly mistake. But a great reminder to make sure that I've always got the direct contact for the people doing the actual work on the ground, even if they don't speak English. If you've booked something through an agent or a middleman, making sure that you're getting the contact of the person who's bumping in or delivering the item or you know, the talent on the day, just in case you need it. I know sometimes in Australia agents are a bit funny about this, because, you know, having the contacts is the way that they make their money and they don't want to just give out that information. But I do think it's important to push back and this for me was a great reminder again of how important it is. I know people always say you know, I'll be contactable like I'm the point of contact. But you know, in this instance, the man was had every intention of being contactable, but his battery on his phone went flat and he wasn't contactable and so I wasn't able to get a hold of the drivers until he was able to fix his phone. So you know, it wasn't the end of the world but it did cause a delay and the guests were waiting around and it's just not a great situation to be in. So a really great reminder to always have the direct contact of the person who's actually going to be doing the work on the ground. So the second thing was, I think, being more firm, about getting speakers presentations in advance. So it's something I always request, but I always know it's not gonna happen. So they'll always be one or two who turn up five minutes before they go on stage and just hand you a USB or laptop. And I always say in advance that I need it in advance, but it just never happens. And I was reminded, once again, why it's not a good idea to wait and just get it on the day for this event. Look, it was definitely a more casual vibe, and not, you know, a fully polished production, you know, we were holding speaking sessions at beach clubs and things like that. So definitely had a relaxed vibe. But getting a PowerPoint presentation five minutes before, when you then don't have the right fonts or the video isn't embedded properly is never a good situation to be in. I had a speaker turn up expecting Wi Fi and audio videos when I'd clearly said that it wasn't going to be provided and that they needed to let me know in advance if they needed it. Now, thankfully, I knew that something like that might happen. And I had accounted for it anyway. But definitely next time, the learning for me would be more firm about receiving presentations in advance and following up and chasing and making sure that I do get them in advance so that I don't have to rush and get it all sorted in a few minutes on the day when sometimes there's other things that I need to deal with. So I think those were the kind of two key learnings for me, obviously, there's a lot of other little things that were specific to this event. But I think they're the two that I would share with you that are translatable to events that you guys would run as well. Okay, so that's my recap of the international conference that I just written, I hope those lessons were helpful for you. And now I want to go through how I actually go about planning a destination event, and more specifically, the things that are different versus when you're planning an event in your home city. So firstly, we'll touch on choosing your destination, obviously, for the event I just ran, it was chosen for me. But if you do need to choose a destination for your event, then there are a few things you need to consider. The first is the size of your event. So obviously, if it's going to be a really large event, not picking a small destination, where they don't have the facilities to accommodate your event. So the size of your event, the next thing is where your guests want to go. So if it is some kind of incentive trip, or you need to get buy in from guests, then thinking about who they are and where they would want to go. And what would be desirable to them needs to come into consideration. The next is, is it easy to get to for all your travellers. So this is not always important, you know, sometimes more remote locations can be more exciting. But the main thing to think about here is if you've got a back to back programme, and people need to fly in fly out, then it needs to be somewhere where they're able to do that. Whereas if it's kind of a multi day event, and they could spend a day travelling, then you might be able to pick a more remote destination. But that's something to consider is the ease of getting there and where your guests are coming from as to what destination you choose. So once you've landed on your destination, and you're starting to get into the planning, and you're like, where do I start, the first thing I would do is reach out to the destination bureau or the tourism bureau in that location. So they're going to be able to connect you with a lot of the local venues and suppliers in that region. And just provide you with some information about the area and where you should start. The other thing you can do is also reach out to your network for recommendations, even if you don't have you know, people but reach out to you know, suppliers and you know agents in that destination who might be able to help you or you can pick their brains. For the recent event in Bali. I connected with an Australian Expat who runs business over there. And I basically paid to pick her brain for a couple of hours on all things venues and suppliers. She runs events over there. And so that was super helpful. Whilst she's not you know, the tourism bureau, you know, she's on the ground planning events over there. And so that was really helpful. So definitely reach out to people in that destination who might be able to help you even if you don't engage their services, but just people that can provide recommendations and connect you with other suppliers and venues. Now, if it's a big or important or big budget event, then I always do a famil trip or familiarisation trip. So that's where you go to the destination and you suss it out yourself. So you get a feel for it. You meet with suppliers you meet with venues. If it's not, you know that big it's a small you know, VIP dinner for your top client, and it's you know, you're not gonna go and fly to the destination beforehand, because it's just a small event and you don't have the budget. When it comes to picking your venue, you know, don't be afraid to ask them to do a virtual tour for you, you know, jump on FaceTime, and they can take you around the venue, make sure that you're getting copies of the floorplans, make sure that you're getting a lot of photos, if you're just looking at a venue's website and looking at two photos, you know, that may not be an accurate indication of what the venue looks like. And obviously, you can't just go and pop in and see it. But the next best thing you can do is a virtual tour, or FaceTime, or zoom, and get them to show you what the venue actually looks like today.
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So a couple of other planning tips once you've got your venue. A couple of other things that I just keep in mind when it does come to destination events is I always allow extra budget because you're going to need to outsource everything. So often, when we have an event that's in our home city, there's
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a lot of things that we just kind of do ourselves, because we can because it's easy because we're used to it. But when you've got an event in another destination, and especially if you're not going to be there on the ground to run it, then you need to allow extra budget, outsource everything. Because all those little things that you normally just do, you may not be able to do so always allow extra budget when you're doing a destination event. And the other thing I'd say is keep it local. Like I said before, I always try to source everything locally, because that's going to keep your costs down. So even if you are going to be there and execute the event on the ground. Always try and keep it local so that you're not having to bring everything with you or pay huge shipping costs. Try and keep it local and it always enhances the event anyway.
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So that's the planning and a couple of tips with planning there. When it comes to executing your destination event. Look, I always recommend being there on the ground, if you can be if it's going to be a smaller event. And it's not something that you would fly in for then making sure you're giving a thorough brief to appoint person who will be there. So going through every single thing in detail and making sure they are fully across the event. Because they are going to be the point person if anything goes wrong and to make sure that everything goes to plan. So if you can be there, be there. Otherwise, make sure that you are picking someone who is your point person and giving them the download of all of the details. If you are going to be there then my other tip is to make sure that you get there early. So if it's somewhere that you're flying to, at least the day prior because planes are a nightmare these days and things always go wrong. So I always plan to get in at least the day before. If it's somewhere that you're driving, then just allowing extra hours so that if you hit traffic or break down things like that, that you're getting in early. So that was an overview of how I go about planning a destination event. I trust that was helpful for you. I know there was a lot in this episode. So if you do need to go back and re Listen, please do. Next week we have another amazing guest expert on the podcast which I'm very excited to bring to you. And just a reminder, if you are interested in our six week programme to mastering event planning, then enter the show notes and jump on the waitlist so that we can send you more information and let you know when doors open in a few weeks. But for now, I will leave it there. Thank you for listening and tuning in and I will see you next week.
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Thanks for listening to this episode of the events Insider PodCast. If you loved it, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, share with your friends and I'll chat to you next week. Bye
