Jodie McLean 0:04
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 the light 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.
Jodie McLean 0:39
Well, hello, and happy new year we are back it is January 2024, at the time of recording, and it is definitely the season for planning out the year and seeing what events we have on the horizon, I find people are either starting to plan events for the next six to 12 months. Or they're frantically pulling together events that are happening in the next one to two months, because in December, they decided that was a January problem to deal with. Now, if you are new to this podcast, hello, welcome back. If you've listened to this podcast for a while now, you'll know that one of the things I'm most passionate about is getting superduper clear on why you are holding an event events need to have a really clear objective not only so that we can measure the success of it and go okay was that a success? Was it worth the investment of time, money energy, but also so that we who are planning the event, have a clear direction of what the event should look like and what should be involved because we know ultimately what we need to achieve from holding the event. Now, events often get a bad rap for being such a big investment. And I find managers and CEOs and business owners often quite fearful of taking the plunge to hold events because they are such a big investment. There's no getting around that, you know, not just in money, but in hours of planning that someone has to do. And that often takes away from other business activity. So I totally get it. But I think this bad rap comes from experiencing events that maybe haven't been successful in terms of providing an ROI. So a return on investment for the company. Now ROI. You know, it can be hard to quantify and track with events, especially if it's not an easy dollar figure that was the objective. But there are ways to measure the success of your event against its objectives. And I'm going to run through some event objectives before we dive into what events you should be holding in 2024 that are going to achieve these objectives for the company.
Jodie McLean 2:37
So like I said, event objectives could be financial. So you know, actually making money making a profit from hosting an event and selling tickets or getting sponsorship. But I find for most business events put on by like a single company, this is not a common objective that they have, you know, they typically make money from the day to day business. And they're using events for a different purpose. So I find the two most common objectives for business events are either marketing and sales. So hosting an event to build brand awareness to educate and sell to prospective clients get media exposure, so using the event to get attention or make your business more personal. And the second is client or staff engagement, so using events to build stronger relationships with clients, or to build culture and community and loyalty amongst the team. Now, I don't know any company that doesn't want more of those things, more marketing or sales, client loyalty and staff engagement. So how can we help achieve those? And what kind of events should every company be running in 2024.
Jodie McLean 3:41
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Jodie McLean 4:01
So I've been planning business events for over a decade. And unlike some other industries, I find business events are less influenced by trends. You know, every industry brings out their Oh trends for the year. And sure there are advancements in technology. And we find better ways to do things. And of course, events styling and things like that has trends. But in terms of types of events, particularly in business events, the trends change less frequently, and things like conferences will always have a place. But there are three types of events that whilst they're not new, I'm continuing to see more of them. And I'm also seeing the power they have to help companies achieve their objectives. And I'm seeing a lot of companies moving more towards holding events to achieve their objectives, which is why I think there are three events that every company should be running this year.
Jodie McLean 4:54
The first is educational events for prospective clients. And I say educational events because it could be anything from an online masterclass an in person Lunch and Learn or like a full day conference, that being able to attract prospective clients or customers through the lens of an educational event is a great way to get in front of your audience, show your expertise, build relationships, and then be able to sell to them. You know, if the company doesn't really run any external events, and all the marketing is done through traditional channels and digital marketing, then this can be a great way to dip your toe into hosting events, because you can start small, see what works, and then just build from there. And if no one else in your industry is running educational events, then it can be a great way to position your company as a leader. Now, if you're like me, it really doesn't make sense for us to put on an educational event like I don't really know what we would talk about. Remember that it doesn't have to be your company providing the education, you could simply host the event, and bring in speakers that your clients or customers would want to hear from. But by you being the company that provided a great experience for people, it really is going to give you brownie points with your audience. Now, if you've been tasked with planning an event like this, or you pitch this idea and it gets approved, here are a few things that I think are super important. Firstly, the venue, right, it needs to be easy to find in a convenient location, and suitable to lots of presenting so not too noisy and good, AV. And remember that these are prospective clients. So we want to make a good impression. So if you're serving food, then the service and the food needs to be good. Secondly, and really importantly, is the actual education, right? It's what people are coming for. And it's the key reason that someone will decide whether to register or not. So the topic of the speakers needs to be attractive and interesting to your target audience. And lastly, you'll also need to make sure it's as smooth and easy as possible to attend. So clear communication about the event, a simple registration form or RSVP method, and then reminders with important information before the event date.
Jodie McLean 7:08
Okay, the second type of event that I think companies should consider running this year is industry events. Now what I mean by industry events is events that are for companies and employees within your industry. But by you hosting the event, it positions your company as an industry leader, which is ultimately going to help with your brand positioning and attracting staff and industry media exposure and a lot of other good stuff like that. So I'll give you some examples of industry events that you could consider. So the first and what I think is a good starting point is a networking night. So it can be fairly simple to plan. But it can be a great opportunity for people in your industry to discuss what's going on in the industry. And then by you hosting it, you're positioning yourself as a leader in your industry. The second is an expo or a trade fair. Now a lot of industries will already have one, you might be able to find a niche or like a subcategory that you could target. Now expos can be a lot of work to plan. But again, it's a great opportunity to position yourself as a leader and they can actually be quite profitable, if done well, if that's the path that your company wants to go down. And the third industry event which you could actually tie into either a networking event or an expo, and that's an awards night. Now, again, your industry may already have a large awards programme. But is there a different type or a niche that you could create an awards programme for? You know, I've even had clients create awards for their clients. So if you've got say 50 or 100 clients who are all like bookkeepers or salon owners, for example, you can create an awards programme and host an awards night for them. And again, this really positions your company as a leader in your industry.
Jodie McLean 8:55
Okay, now, if you're an employee, then you're going to love this last one. Because the third event I think all companies should be running this year is a team off site or retreat. They basically mean the same thing. A retreat is typically less content heavy and usually over multiple days. But an off site can also be multiple days and have fun activities as well. The main thing being that these are purely internal events for either the whole team or a specific department of your company, or maybe the leadership team. And it's to get out of the office or out of their homes and come together for at least one full day. Timber trades and offsites are great for at the beginning or the end of the year, whether we're talking calendar year or financial year, because it's a great opportunity to do some big picture thinking and strategic planning away from the distractions of the day to day, but they're also really great for building team culture and making people feel motivated by including them in the planning, but also rewarding them with fun experiences and thanking them for their hard work. Now if you're going to pitch that you'll come Money does a team off site or retreat, then there are a few things I would recommend. Firstly map out a top level agenda, where you've got, I'd say 50% of the time is planning or professional development, and 50% of the time being fun activities, which you can always pitch as team building activities, because people get around that. Now, I would also put together a draft budget. And the great thing about these events is they can be more low key and just kind of one day, or you could go all in and fly around to a nice destination. You know, I've done one day off sites for 10 people that was just an hour from the office in a nice property. And I've done full on for day retreats for 150 people overseas, and both still achieved what the company set out to achieve. So you've got a range to play with, depending on budget and expectations, and also the culture within the company you work for.
Jodie McLean 10:53
Now, if you are tasked with planning the company events this year or someone else on your team is then we are holding a one day event planning workshop for admin professionals in Sydney in February. And if you want to know more about it and get all the info and registrations open very soon, then go to the link in the show notes and put your name on the waitlist. And if you're not in Sydney or you're listening to this podcast at a later date, then still head to the link because there's going to be a box for you to let us know what city you're in. And then we can see if we can organise a workshop there. Plus, we'll be updating the page with future workshops as well. So check it out and see if there is one suitable for you. But that's it for today's episode. We'll be back again next week with another episode to help you plan events with confidence and creativity.
Jodie McLean 11:44
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
