ELI founder and CEO Howard Givner looks at the road ahead for virtual events, including business context, their design, strategy, and careers in events.
Here are some fact-driven insights that may help us manage expectations and find a way forward.
This article, and the ones that will follow, will provide insights on many inflection points likely to occur in 2021 and beyond.
What will on-site events look like when they do resume? What shifts do planners need to make in their strategies and plans? And how can we convince all involved it’s safe to participate?That’s a tall order to answer, which is why we sat down with Kevin White, head of the Boston-based, award-winning experiential event agency XPL.
Whether you and your team’s goals are to find new ways to pivot this year’s meetings and events to virtual approaches or start the wheels turning for pandemic meeting and event design, here’s why embracing professional education now has a significant pay-off.
To understand how to successfully and strategically plan a virtual non-profit fundraising event, we talked to Lindsay Landman, founder of Beyond the Benefit and a widely respected event designer who has helped non-profits in every sector raise millions of dollars to support their missions.
Here are several tech tools to help pivot your event and meeting planning in the COVID-19 era. (This list isn’t comprehensive—just a small sampling of all the available event management and planning technology!)
When this is finally over, we will all look back and say, in the immortal words of George W. Bush, “Well, that was some weird sh*t.” But what exactly does ‘finally over’ look like and when will we get there?
Clients are skittish about whether agencies are financially stable and operationally viable amidst layoffs and cancellations.
Business owners in the Situation Room report taking a number of measures to get and keep cash in house while revenues are greatly reduced or flat.
Business owners who have the “luxury” of keeping some employees find themselves having to choose which people to keep or let go. Speak with employees to determine what other skill sets they have with the hope the company can save some jobs.
Any time humans convene, there are risks. Labor strikes, political unrest, natural disasters, cyber attacks, and deadly viruses can threaten even the most well-planned events. The key to surviving the potential impact of these types of threats lies in having a framework for mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery in place.
The goal of an elevator pitch is to elicit a referral or opportunity in a short time. The more you can hone in on the most attention grabbing and memorable qualities of your business, the more likely you will generate leads and business prospects.
Attendee acquisition is becoming more complex. In addition to traditional marketing channels, there are several event-centric, non-traditional digital marketing and advertising platforms now available. Find out more about the options.
Getting media exposure for your budding event planning business is one way to grab the attention of would-be customers. But there is a right way and a wrong way to approach publications.
Deciding what to charge for your event planning services is one of the most important decisions you’ll have to make.
A personal brand allows you to influence how others—bosses, clients, coworkers—perceive you. There are many real-life instances in which having a strong personal brand is particularly valuable.
Think about financial statements as gauges on your car’s dashboard. The speedometer is like your Income Statement (also called a Profit & Loss Statement). The gas gauge is like your Balance Sheet.
It’s the event organizer’s job to bring people to the event, but it’s the exhibitor’s job to get the right people into the booth.
Accrual or cash accounting, both methods have to do with how and when you recognize revenue and expenses for your company. But there are pros and cons to each, and once you choose one method, it can get complicated to switch.
At some point in the near future, business leaders are going to be having conversations behind closed doors about who stays and who goes. Which category will you be in?
Many event business owners hand their financials over to their accountant or bookkeeper, but a strong understanding of how to protect your company’s financials is crucial for success and futureproofing your business.
Planners are so focused delivering ROI for their clients that they often forget to work on their own businesses – and of course, getting publicity isn’t always easy.
When talking about your rate with a client, how do you convey that even though you’re providing the same service as the planner down the road who is charging half as much, you’ll offer more value, less risk, and a better outcome?
There are definite differences between leading and managing a team. People are often asked to do both in the course of their jobs. What’s the difference?
Creating a passion-driven vision for your business is not only professionally satisfying, it’s a smart and strategic way to create a successful brand with loyal customers.
You’re working long days to make sure your events go off without a hitch, but are you making sure your innovative and creative events are getting the attention they deserve?
Pitch meetings present a unique opportunity to go beyond your proposal and create a face-to-face connection with your potential future clients. As a result, pulling off a successful pitch meeting is an essential part of closing a client and earning their business.
Few things get an event company owner more excited than a new Request For Proposal (other than perhaps winning said RFP). A fully fleshed out RFP means…
Understanding your business financials isn’t simply about keeping the books in order, it’s about really knowing where your business stands and how…
You can have visually stunning events, the most satisfied clients, and the most enthusiastic staff, but if your pricing isn’t accurately reflecting your value, you could be…
Do you get your entire team together in one place to brainstorm big ideas for your event or company? Howard Givner explores universally accepted rules of brainstorming that may have you checking your assumptions.
I’ve heard so many event business owners talk about how they can’t stand accounting or say that they “have an accountant for that”. If you’re one of those people, then this article is for you! It’s easy to pass off the elements of your business that you don’t understand (or don’t want to understand), but the challenge is, how do you know that it is being done correctly? The simple answer is, you don’t.
Are you prepared for a disruption in the events industry? David Adler & Kevin White recap the ILEA Live 2017 Opening Session.
How can you take your business to the next level? Define your brand and learn how passion, purpose, platform, & process can elevate your business.
When Marriott announced in November, 2015, that it was merging with Starwood to create the world’s largest hotel company, it met with mixed reaction from meeting planners. Some worried about diminished competition for their business, while others brushed it aside as having little impact on them.
In addition to their ranking they all three have another commonality: each has provided their employees training through Event Leadership Institute (ELI). Employees of all three of the event planning firms cited the tuition reimbursement and the focus on employee development as one of their favorite perks.
You’re a successful small business in the events industry looking to break through to the next level. Your work is good, your reputation solid, yet your growth still comes in the “two-steps-forward, one-and-a-half-steps-back” mode.
Nobody wants any advice on how to plan, design, execute and manage their events. That part they have down cold. It’s all the other stuff on the business side that proves challenging to them.
At some point in your tenure, if you run an event planning company or agency, you’ll aspire to land the really big project, the mega event, the million dollar event. OK, it doesn’t have to be a million dollars; it can be $100,000, $250,000, etc. The number is variable; the key element is…
A few people are going to steal your ideas.
Not a lot, and certainly not as many as people might think, but a few will. Yet whatever that number is, it pales in comparison to the number of people who will hire you, recommend you, and rave about you as a result of…
For all the event industry salespeople who have either heard the discussions about enhancing the attendee experience or are living on another planet, here’s a selling idea to truly enhance the attendee experience: don’t sell them. Ok, then what…
End of content
End of content
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.