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 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. Hey, friends, and welcome to episode 26 of the events Insider PodCast. Now, as you know, I like to bring guests on this show so that you can learn from lots of different event experts because as much as I like to think I know a lot, there are so many other people who have different experience to me. And so I love hearing how they do things, what they've learned over the years, and I always pick up little nuggets that I can take and implement into the way that I do my events. And it's a real treat to have people be you know, so willing to share and today I'm joined by a fellow event business owner, Janette Beedell, who is the owner and director of targeted programme management, also known as TPM events. Now, Janette has over 25 years experience in event management, and their mission at TPM events is to create memorable and impactful events that leave a lasting impression. And I think the way that she speaks about her clients and how much she loves curating events for them is just so beautiful. We talk about how to get started when you get a new event brief, how to manage a team and lots of different stakeholders, how to navigate challenges when you're on site, executing your event, and what's going to be really important for events in 2024. So let's get into it. Well, Janette, welcome to the events Insider PodCast.
Janette Beedell 1:55
Thanks for having me. JD.
Jodie McLean 1:56
So for anyone that doesn't know you, can you share a little about your career journey in events and what you currently do now? career
Janette Beedell 2:04
journey, okay, career journey has probably been a 30 year, leading to where I am now, certainly didn't start out with events and was probably not a job. I fully invested myself in till my late 20s. Before that, I was very much a corporate AAA and got exposure, I guess, to events. So we always looked after BDM conferences, we always looked after participation in exhibitions and that sort of thing. And the more and more were asked, the more and more specific roles that I held at some Australia's major corporates became, this is 70% of your job. Yep. So why don't you become the marketing and events person so so that's where it started from 17 years ago, when I fell pregnant, full intentions to come back into it. The association at that time that I was working for, had some structural changes. And the opportunity was to not go back. But during my mat leave had been asked to look after certain associate events that I you know, with people that I knew. And so that's where it started from, just started out as a sole trader, and that was 16 years ago and has now grown into a national PCO event management company. Yeah, awesome.
Jodie McLean 3:22
And what are the kinds of events that you do now? Now,
Janette Beedell 3:25
we primarily corporate and association based events, we have a number of industries that we look after, I guess TPM was born under the finance industry in it's starting out through because my background is the finance industry, and that's where I had worked for a number of years, and then led into I find with people that own the company and work in the company, it's all about relationships. So someone that you know, recommends you to somebody else and so our finance industry clients sort of grew and we've got the building industry and we've got tool based in Israel but hire and rental industry so there's there's now a mass product platform of different companies that we look after. And you know, conferences and exhibitions, gala dinners, product display lodgers road shows, you know, we often have friends reach out no, we do not do weddings, no, we do not do family parties. It's amazing through your local community, how many different places reach out to go to do a home showing no but I can recommend a caterer. I can recommend somebody that can help you. Sonos what we like to be classified as is strictly business events. So it is corporate Association Conference exhibition, event days roadshows anything structured around that Yeah, perfect. And as everybody would know, no conference is ever the same. So there's some cut and paste, but not too much. Yeah.
Jodie McLean 4:56
And I think even within that, you know, you've obviously got a Bit of a niche, but in that it's so wide and varied with what you would be doing day to day. But I think with events, you know, as varied as they are, there are still kind of elements that make an event successful. So I'd love to hear from you. What do you think are the key components to a successful event?
Janette Beedell 5:16
Yeah, absolutely. It's been a long time learning. But the number one step is listening and understanding the client. They may not know the event, but they know what they want out of it. Or they have a vision in their mind about what they've seen, or they went to something else. And we want this, we want it adapted for ourselves. So it's, it's bringing that vision to play. But then coming back and doing all the logistical steps with them that they hadn't thought of, that they don't know, that goes into an event. So it's really the event brief. And then filling in all of those missing steps that the client or the event person from the client hasn't thought of. And for us, that is our starting point. So for example, and only last week, we've received a brief, you know, for some awards, dinners to do, no content was there, we don't know anything about the timing the run sheet, what the marketing person wants very different to what the CEO wants, one wants a buffet when one sit down to go and get and as anyone would know, to go out and get all these venue quotes, a buffet is very different to a two or three course alternate serve sit down very different costings, very different room setups, completely different floor plans needed. So to understand all of that, before we even internally process, what we need is is our starting point, we then as a team, myself, and the other event managers sit down and go, we develop the brief together. And that brief needs to ensure that it encompasses all of the scopes of what that event is going to entail. But right down to the point where we've actually created, anyone would know you get to a venue with a brief, and you'll get five different types of proposals back different from every single venue. So we've actually created our own template that yes, give us your proposal. But we want you to fill this out with your costings. And that way for our client, we can do apples V apples, against all of the venues that we've gone to, rather than having to come back and go back, go back and forth with the venue to determine what are the costs that you didn't tell me that I asked for my proposal, so that my client can understand your costs against the other four that we're throwing through. So that's probably our primary start. And that's our biggest importance is just to fully understanding from them, and listening to them, what their requirements are, and you're not going to get details. What's the vision? How do they want, they want the delegate to walk in and see us something. And that's all that they're concentrating on. Great. Now, let's build everything else behind it. So that's where we
Jodie McLean 7:54
start. Yeah, awesome. I think you've just described everyone's exact scenario, because I think so many times we do get a kind of half assed brief in terms of, they might know one or two things, but then it's really our job to take that and curate the event. So I'm curious to know from you, how much of that you take on versus how much you ask the client to sort of give you answers, like, are you really directing to say someone's liaising with, you know, internal stakeholders? For example, would you recommend that they say, Okay, I think we should do this? Or is it about saying, you know, okay, you need to come back to me with these three answers. Now,
Janette Beedell 8:31
we rarely tell a client to go away and come back to us with information we are more about, look, that's okay, we know you don't, we know you haven't got a thought about it, or a concept of what you're looking for. Let us come up with some suggestions. And we'll go from there, we find that you're more inclined to get responses from your clients, if you provide information directly to them. Same as if you're writing someone's EDM on their behalf or a conference promotion, it's much easier to give them an EDM written that they automatically change versus having them start something from scratch. Even when I was in eighth, writing something for manager, he's much more inclined to just go through and make some edits, versus create something from scratch. So now we will always provide the tools or the images or the concepts that we think they need for anything that was missing in the brief to allow them to go, hadn't thought about that one, let's take that and develop that more or great out of those three, those two aren't what we want. Let's play with that one a bit more, and now come up with some different concepts about what we want to do. So we find we get more of the detail in the answers out of them by us providing suggestions and ideas.
Jodie McLean 9:41
Yeah, great tips there. And once you get stuck into I guess the planning of the event, how were you managing that from a project management perspective? I guess, do you have certain tools or processes or software's that you use in order to make sure that you're staying on track?
Janette Beedell 9:58
Absolutely. Well, We are technical geeks are our software, we love things that help us do our job. But we don't like one product that does everything. Because it's very much a out of the box delivery. And you are restricted by, you know, take any one of the major registration platforms at the moment, they then have apps that come off it, they have web displays that come off it, but you're boxed in with what they achieve. So we are very much at TPM users off, right, let's build our website separate to our reg EO, we still feed all the information through, but they're standalone pieces of software to enable us to use the best of that software, you know, apps, we go to specific app build companies, which provide very price conducive products for us. And then from there, we're able to deliver a platform of deliverables and answers and interconnecting pieces of software with our clients, a lot of the software that we use, we invite our client to come in and work with us. For example, TPM events, we live in Smartsheet, we find the templates in Smartsheet, the ability to create things and do things in Smartsheet, doesn't tick every box, but it takes the majority of our boxes. So we do our run sheets in there, our call sheets, our speaker management, our exhibition management, does event budgets, everything we do, we can do in there. And then gives us the flexibility of sharing the software with clients or suppliers or the AV team to visible or comment only or full edit access. So we can limit who does what, but give everybody a clear visual over what we're doing and not do 43 sets of the programme or the run sheet in Excel like that.
Jodie McLean 11:53
So true. And I think you know, you're exactly the same as me in that no one software does all things the way that you want it to. And so it is about finding that balance in that mix that works well for the kinds of events that you do run. Absolutely. I
Janette Beedell 12:06
mean, if anyone's doing a programme, and they want to be able to link that programme into a website or give that link to us on social media or something, another piece of software that we use from a store all of the industry, we use joy, and that is our programme display. And when a simple code into a website, I can make a change and to save two seconds later that change is then visible on the website. So that's a really good one, which straightaway, there is no need for 43 versions of Excel, you know, I had a beautiful client for over 10 years, and we would get to 21 different versions of the programme. And that was always my big thing was somewhere there has to be. And luckily, this became available during COVID, there has to be this programme, which allows us to build a programme, have it live, allow people to come in and comment and allows us to manage the event. And it's seen, it's since been developed that you can do budgets and speaker management and all sorts of things from it. We use it primarily what it's for, but there's so many different programmes which are leaders in what they do. And we ought to use that toolbox of software to bring in and then deliver for some of our major clients, you know, and depending on the brand of the client or who they are, their expectation is, is that you're going to use the most adaptable software and the most recognised software, with full security for management for support to be able to deliver our event. And so that has been a lot of years of using and deciding No. And then coming over here and what works within the team. Everybody has different personalities in the team, some people, leaders in it, some people do us or the followers other people work on this side of it, what software can we use, where we can all integrate our bits of information, so that we have a single resource that we can go in and pull from when we need to? You
Jodie McLean 14:00
mentioned your team. So you've got a whole team. And then you've obviously got all your clients and within that they've got their whole teams. So I'm interested to know how you manage the Juggle of all the different people and also all the different projects that I assume you have going on at once.
Janette Beedell 14:16
Committees? Where would we be without committees, we gotta love them. We live in committees, we structured weekly or fortnightly meetings with every single client that we have. And that is a base structure. And as soon as that meeting is finished, we generate a web of action items out of that. So it's always covered. And it's always updated. If the entire team is not part which is rare with the entire team is not part of a meeting that will be shared with the team because not all those actions are going to be mine. They're going to be you know right down to our graphic designer. Everybody has a role to do and that is shared with them so they can see what they need to do and we name people and then we our internal processes where we list all that their jobs, they were all asked to individually update that as well. So that's our tracking system. In liaising with clients for what we need to do with their meetings. I don't know how the world used to operate without emails, because we live on email. And anybody who says an event can't be created by email has never done an event because I think events these days are only done by email, you know, we dedicate 45 minutes to an hour as needed every fortnight with every client, going through it, or whoever is the lead runs that whoever's next with a vested interest in developing either the exhibition or speaker management, they're also involved. And that ongoing relationship and update is what we continue to use as our device into executing their event. But it also comes down to we've got some clients where we have our major committee meetings, but we have breakaways, so we have programmes specific, a major exhibition that we do is we just have a marketing meeting out of it, and the marketing meetings, or the branding, and the signage, and the setup, and visually what it's going to look like, we just separate to everything else. So there's multiple levels in every client. And we set up meetings and continue discussions specific to the different areas. And then internally for us, different people manage those different areas, our internal meetings, we have a mandatory weekly meeting, where we cover off every client who's doing what, and we and we do it openly as a meeting so that everybody has a chance to this is where our great now I know that you're doing that I know, my next lead is here. So that's really important for us internally as well, particularly if someone's on the road, you know, we've got someone based in Queensland. So it really brings us back together as a team, I was chatting
Jodie McLean 16:47
to someone the other day, and we were saying that EAS make the best event managers because they just get stuff done. And they're really good at processes. And I feel like that's with you. Do you think that your background as an EA really set you up for this?
Janette Beedell 16:59
Absolutely. And being an EA taught you how to get the job done without asking anybody else? So you ever want something done? You ask an EA or a busy man? Absolutely. got it nailed.
Jodie McLean 17:10
So good. I'm curious to know what your favourite type of events are to execute submissions.
Janette Beedell 17:16
Yeah, okay, why spend 12 months sitting down planning, and then you spend five days on your feet. So anytime I can be on an event and not stuck behind a computer. That's where I like to be. Having said that conferences these days are very adaptive to different things. We have one client who's part of their conference, they have an afternoon exhibition involved with cocktails and food and just you know, all different things. And so that's quite cool to you know, you spend a day of education and then a half day of this product display. But definitely, for me, as I've gotten older, and I was conferences for a long time, but for me, as I get older and go, I just need some variety. It's it's the big exhibitions that are like, you get any get dirty.
Jodie McLean 18:04
So good. Reflecting on all the events that you've I guess executed, has there been anything that's really stood out to you as like a key learning or really memorable thing that you always take with you to future events,
Janette Beedell 18:17
one thing I try to do in teaching somebody or working with the team is we will take on whatever is given to us, whatever task whatever problem is given to us, and walk away and go and deal with it badly. One of the feedback from one client we have was, I've just thrown you the biggest curveball, you've taken it on with a smile, walked away and gone and dealt with it came back with this is how we're going to resolve it. So it's never was during their face, you know, saying all the things we really want to say under our breath, it is not a problem, leave it with us, we'll work it out, we'll come back and give you a band, not even over explaining, just leave it with us, we'll come back to you shortly. And then we walk away. And we're gonna do and I think that's the biggest thing because you do see so many times the grumpy face of an event manager, the unwillingness to help from event manager, I'm on site, you are paying myself and my team to be here, whatever we need to do to get this job done. So a delegates sees the seamless event and they want to pay to come back next time to your event. That is our job. That is what we're here for. It's not just putting on the programme and the registration that the client needs. It's everything related to it. You know, a lady needs a change of stockings or someone got Nurofen so you know, the little kit goes with us wherever we go because oh my god, you saved me at the gala dinner, you had a safety pin to fix my dress. You know, it's all of those little things as well.
Jodie McLean 19:40
100% You are absolutely speaking my language. It's one of the things that I absolutely always tell people is that when you're there, you need to have the right face on because even if you feel like you're stressed and overwhelmed, we don't want our guests to feel like that. And so you need to make sure that you're dealing with that stuff away from the guests and then presenting this really seamless experience. I'd love that you've said that. Thinking about the future. Now I'm curious to know what you think 2024 holds for business events, there's been a lot of talk about it being a massive year for events. And you know, obviously, we're well and truly back. But I guess what do you think, you know, maybe trends or like, what are your clients asking for this year? Yeah, look,
Janette Beedell 20:18
yeah, a massive year for events, yes, you can see things coming back. I don't know that a lot of clients actually feel financially comfortable with the big events again, yet. We, you know, 2022 23 was executing everything that was held over from COVID, then a lot of international, which is where the accounting is done. Maybe the money wasn't put back into marking and events just yet everyone's testing the waters. So not massive in a in executing the, I think, coming out of COVID. We did 18 events in nine weeks. And they were conferences or full days, we're not talking about one hour here or a two hour there, which was just ridiculous. So we're not saying that again, thank goodness, because I don't think I want to live that period of my life again. But I think what we're seeing is, as more and more people are going back to the office, the keenness to attend face to face meetings, is there the promise of delegates and the comfortable position of delegates to actually attend events? You know, it's based on different genres for different products. But most of the industries that we work with do not have that work from home attendees. So therefore, our events highly attended in person events. So I think the concentration on how do we entice people there? Once they're there, what do you do on the floor? To keep them engaged? What do you do on the floor as you're they and this is something we do? Quite, we feel quite strongly about your TV event sees you walk into the door, what does the delegate see? How are they made to be feeling welcome? What are you doing to go, I walked in, I had no idea what I'm doing. I've got my programme, and I make my name badge. I know exactly where I'm going, someone's helped me download the app. I'm all sorted. I feel comfortable now. And now can go and make the most out of an event. I think for us, it is reteaching, the conference attendance skills, because people lost that people got to sit down and watch videos, they lost the ability for what do I need to do when I go on site? You know, like any EAS manager goes? Where am I going? What time am I attending? What's my registration, where we're teaching all of those skills? Again? You have you booked your accommodation? Have you booked your flight? No. How do I get from the airport? Where am I going? And so it's it's communication. And we always do a big pre comms before any event, when you delegate, that's when it's coming right down to And okay, we don't always stick like don't forget your business cards, but it's down to the weather is going to be cool. Don't forget to bring a jumper or, you know, you're going out to play golf. Remember your shoes, remember your clubs. Yeah, which most men do. But it's it's all of those finer details. So it's really working with the delegate to make sure that, you know, for us what we see is happening. And I guess because we do more of the detail, we're saying quite strongly that we need to work with delegates to re educate them on how to get the most out of events. And then probably my next biggest thing is working with sponsors, or working with clients in creating sponsorship brochures, which is also what we do in what sponsors want out of event sponsors don't just want a booth in a static position. How do they get to engage with everybody that's attending, you need to teach them again, what they need to do to get the most out of being on site at an event as well. So we're seeing right, bringing the delegates and then bring in the exhibitors and the partners and the sponsors. And they're the two key areas that that we're working on with our particular clients in how to get the most out of their events for 2024. Yeah,
Jodie McLean 23:58
I love that. I love how you've talked about having to re educate people, because again, it really does come back to the guest experience as to whether the event is going to be a success or not. And so I think you're really drilling down into what are we doing before and during the event to make sure that that person has a really great experience is so crucial, it
Janette Beedell 24:18
will happen, LEDs will happen, new stage designs will happen. But it still comes down to the people and the individuals. Yeah. 100%.
Jodie McLean 24:27
If you could sum up all your years of experience, and I guess particularly with your background, so thinking about EAS and admin professionals that do plan events, what advice would you want to give to them?
Janette Beedell 24:37
Don't do it? No, I'm kidding. When they say that event managers are in the top five of the world's most stressful events. It is true. My dentist loves me. Okay, particularly during COVID You know, there was there was a lot of stress. There was a lot of you know everything going on. But the advice I could give is is a lot about doing events is not something that can be bought it is something that you already have it is it is a feeling. It is an ability, it is a passion. Anybody can organise a party? How do you create a client's memorable event that they not only want to run the event again and the people that attended turn up, but they want to book, you know, for us, we're a PCO, they want to book you, again, to run their event. So it is all about, if you're not enjoying it, you're not going to get a lot out of it. And you're not going to stay in that industry for a long time. They talk about millennials these days, would have maybe seven different careers in a lifetime. I have gone from EA to events. That's it. So it feels like it's been part of what I was doing all along. It's certainly not something that I will ever change in this lifetime. But I'm definitely coming back as a ginger cat in my next lifetime. So no, it's not the variety that gives me is awesome. And when I can interchange from a roadshow to a conference to an exhibition, that is great, because we are always managing multiple events at any one time. So variety is the spice of life. Absolutely. The stress I guess keeps you keeps you going. But you need the balance outside as well. So you know, the gym, the boxing, all of that is is an amazing support to what you're doing day to day. So you know, my advice to anybody thinking about coming in is you're not riding a party, you're not working nine to five, if you're a paid employee, you generally won't get paid over hours or weekends for being on site, you need to consider all of that. If events is your passion, then you will find out a way to make it work. Not always gonna have that balance and not always going to have the balance for your family and I think for my for my 16 year old I've been around for one a birthday on the date of his actual birthday. It is what it is and we pick up the next event and we move on and and that high that you get when you close down that event and the client has ticked their box and the delegate feedback is this was awesome delivered everything and are expected we are back next year the sponsor wants to rebook straightaway next year. You go, okay, the process worked. The plan worked, you know, we got this. So that's where that's where we take our our achievements from. Yeah,
Jodie McLean 27:30
100% I'm the same there's always a moment at events where you know, you standing up the back of the room kind of hidden. And you see everything just happening so great. You see that the delegates having an awesome time, the speaker's killing it and you're just like, yeah, nailed it. And that is what we live for.
Janette Beedell 27:46
Yep. anyone new to the industry black if you don't enjoy wearing black probably go find a different job.
Jodie McLean 27:52
So true. So true. Well, thank you so much for your time today and all of your wisdom. It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast. 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
