by Siva R | Jun 27, 2016 | Blog, event management
Events take a huge toll on our resources, society and the environment. They can construe consequential waste, shackle our daily resources like water or energy, or even spark chaos among local communities. Wastage of renewable resources or non-renewable resources is not acceptable by any society or government. An event may consume some resources such as water, electricity, and paper, etc., in bulk. During the initial stages of building an event, if one takes into consideration the various environmental, social and economic factors that play a crucial role in creating a sustainable event, then the event can be categorized as a green event. Sustainable event management entails social and environmental responsibilities during the process of event planning. The different ways to conduct a sustainable event is,
1. Go paperless
Since many events are transforming their multifold processes into online platforms, a significant mitigation in the level of paper usage is observed. Now, most of the event processes such as registration, marketing posters, etc., have shifted to mobile applications making it readily available and highly environment-friendly. This also helps in managing the event budget.
2. Deliver zero-waste
The aim of any sustainable event is to generate zero waste. Event planning usually includes the process of estimating an approximate amount of resources that may be required to conduct an event. Event planners often surmise a quantity that is more than the estimate, so as to account for situations of emergency. A smart planner should be able to conclude the required resources accurately and also have a backup plan for an emergency that provides additional resources in correct amounts.
3. Say no to plastic
Plastic materials are death-causing agents for living organisms in water. Disposal of plastic material usually ends up being ignited, however burning of plastic emanates several undesired and toxic chemicals/ pollutants into the atmosphere making it strenuous for the survival of several living beings including humans.
4. Protect the environment
Felling trees and running chainsaws on natural bodies is a highly unacceptable practice. Nature cannot be compensated in the attempt to create space for your event, like obstructing water bodies, chopping down trees, etc. A sustainable event aims at creating a safe ambiance for attendees without altering the natural phenomena.
5. Pollution-control check for vehicles- Transportation
Harmful effluents from vehicles are of utmost danger to the globe. There are multiple Emission Testing Centers or Pollution-Control boards through which the vehicles that have been incorporated for transportation facilities to serve the attendees from around the city can be scrutinized and certified as environment-friendly. An annual check on the vehicles can strengthen a sustainable event planning process. Tie up with car sharing services. Such innovative ideas can help both the organizers and participants.
6. Follow the 5S or 3R’s
5S is a methodology that describes how to organize a workspace for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order. Derived from the Japanese words,
- Seiri – Sort
- Seiton – Set in order
- Seiso – Shine
- Seiketsu – Standardize
- Shitsuke – Sustain
The 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) help to cut down on the amount of waste thrown away. They conserve natural resources, landfill space, and energy. The best way to manage waste is not to produce it. Stressing on the necessity to reduce the amount of waste created, the 3R’s also motivates reusability of products and resources either through or bereft of the process of recycling.
7. Sufficient amount of recycling bins
When your attendees turn around 360°, they must be able to find at least one trash can to dispose of their waste. The dearth of recycling bins should not be a factor that persuades attendees to litter your event venue.
8. Keep count of the waste produced
A statistical analysis of the amount of waste generated per event acts as a feedback form from attendees to understand the areas of improvement. Understanding the reasons for the wastage also helps reduce the quantity of waste generated at upcoming events.
An ISO 20121 certification offers guidance and best practice to help manage events and control its social, economic and environmental impact. The standard has been developed with input from various stakeholders, including representatives from the event industry, to make it practical and useful. It addresses all stages of an events’ supply chain and includes monitoring and measuring guidelines.
by Siva R | Apr 27, 2016 | Blog, event management
Event planning for corporate clients is always considered as huge business. Starting with the budget, planning, resourcing everything involved with corporate be large. When you decide to work for corporate clients, you might find it difficult to manage your business. The main focus of your business should be aligning your business objectives with that of your event objectives. By sustaining your relationship with corporate clients you can add credibility to your business. Here are some key points which you have to consider while working with corporate clients to grab a future opportunity.
Focus on event objectives
Make it a routine to prepare a draft plan. Discuss with the client about their needs, get to know the main goal of the event. Try to stick to the goal throughout event planning. Ask questions which are very important part of planning, you will eventually end up in identifying the key essentials of the event. Collaborate with your client to know the past history of the event, and involve them in defining objectives.
Proper Execution of budget plan
Usually, the corporate clients will be ready to invest big money for events. But that should not be taken for granted. Plan to execute within the allocated budget, you can showcase your business potential to the client. Guess what? They may repeat the same event every year partnering with you.
Incorporate innovative ideas
The business opportunity is expanding in all dimensions. With new competitors emerging every day, it becomes difficult to run the business. Add innovation to the traditional events, the result may be rewarding. A knowledge cafe at a conference may be a simple idea you could suggest to a client, which will possibly increase the audience engagement. Customize your work for every client doing the similar kind of events.
Blend the technology to work for you
The technology is a trustworthy advancement which you can use to create an impact in the events. Periscope is the latest addition. For event professionals, Twitter is a great tool to grab the attention of industry leaders and potential clients. Promote yourself with the periscope app. You may use the following tips.
- Announce special deals and offers.
- Broadcast behind the scene in the making of an event.
- Organize a Q & A session with guests from industry.
Measure Success to rate yourself
At the close of any event, never forget to measure the success. Some methods to measure event success are:
- Post an event survey with like and unlike questions to the attendees.
- Incorporate event mobile apps to engage the guests of the event with real-time functionalities. Customizing it will measure your credibility.
- Measure revenue VS overhead cost.
Learn to overcome the shortfalls from every event.
Stay connected after the event
Establish a relationship with the key decision makers. Greet them on their special days. Wish them for making a profit, say a quarterly profit achievement. A small personal touch could make a difference and may bring a new business opportunity to you in the following years.
by Ashwin | Apr 7, 2016 | Blog, event management, Events, Marketing
With over a billion users YouTube covers almost one third of all the user’s of the Internet. Everyday people watch videos for more than hundred million hours on YouTube. Around 500 hours of new videos are uploaded to the website every minute. YouTube provides innumerable opportunities to propagate an event. Here are some valuable tips:
A Teaser Video for your Upcoming Event
Creating an expectation is a vital factor for successful event planning. A short and crisp video that is able to give easy insights to your event, quickly describing the agenda, speakers etc., would be the best way to catch the attention of prospective attendees. A nifty Teaser video will explain the event’s entire idea and theme in few minutes. A Teaser or trailer video usually lasts for 3 to 15 mins but may vary according to the requirements or number of points to be covered.
Quality Matters
The video with the maximum number of views and likes have the best production team. High quality camera, great sound effects etc, are some of the factors that play an important role in a successful YouTube campaign. These factors if ensured, would give a professional touch to your event.
Create a YouTube channel
One way through which you can create upload and keep compiling all your event related videos is to create a channel in the name of your event or your organization that would accrue all the videos of your past, current and future events. Now if an attendee watches one of your videos he’ll be tempted to watch all the videos of your event’s channel.
Feature your attendees
Get your attendees to talk about your event, share their experiences or feedbacks after the event in your YouTube video channel. If you have a large number of attendees, then a quick mash up of all their feedbacks with a good background music, some floating texts and subtitles (if needed) would give am amazing feel to the video. Now the attendees who got featured in your channel will also share the video, thereby spreading the scope for your event.
Speaker/ Celebrity appearance
You could ask your event keynote speaker or celebrity to send in a quick video recorder through their phone, add it to your event’s teaser or create a new video and let your video spread rapidly among their fans.
Ask for subscription
At the end of the video you can ask your viewers to subscribe to your channel so that they keep receiving all the video updates of your event in their timeline. Most videos these days ask explicitly for subscription, using phrases like ‘if you liked our video, please hit the subscribe button’. For an event planner this subscribe button is going to act as an attendee-builder and loyal viewers.
Let your Video go Viral
One thing that every YouTube channel holder or event organizer dreams, is to see their video go viral. The word ‘viral’ in terms of a YouTube video means, the process wherein a video spreads to almost everywhere around the world or country without much marketing-efforts from the uploading person. This happens when your video has some content that every person is able to relate to. Surprising results can be seen, and miracles will happen when you don’t expect. That best describes the potential of YouTube.
This free video sharing platform provides a large gamut of opportunities for an organizer. A good, professional, germane video about your event has all the chances to reach a wide audience in just hours or minutes or seconds.
by Ashwin | Mar 1, 2016 | Blog, Events, News
What is Murphy’s Law?
Murphy’s law is an adage or epigram that states:
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
Formulated by Edward J Murphy, a Major in the US Air Force in the 1940s, specializing in development engineering. Since much of his work included testing experimental designs, he frequently faced things that did not exactly go according to plan.
What is Stapp’s Law?
Stapp’s Law states that:
The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle.Stapp’s Law was coined by Colonel John Paul Stapp, an American career U.S. Air Force officer.
What are these laws in practical life scenario?
When standing in a queue in a large store with multiple checkouts, expect the other queue lines to move faster. If you move to a shorter line, as many times as you like, always expect the current line that you are present in to become the slowest.
When someone asks you to find a word in a particular page and you couldn’t find it, then expect that the person who asked you to do this task will come and point out the word right in front of you making you feel like a foolish person.
So all thoseevents that you may not expect but you feel like ‘Yes I knew this would happen’ after it has actually happened and makes you feel like a stupid, doltish, oafish person, creating a clown-like image of yourself is definitely a culmination of these laws
How are these laws relevant to Event Management?
Event manager are pertinent part of leadership and organizing skills. An event may be as huge as a $1000 a plate fundraiser or as tiny as a neighborhood cleanup council meeting. Disregarding the size, it is important that the event goes on smoothly.
Fundamentally there are two probable scenarios: all is well or something is wrong. The chance that these two events will happen is equally likely. So even if you plan really well for your event take many precautions there is always a possibility of aberrations from the plan, to occur. All you need to do is avoid Murphy’s law.
According to the Stapp’s Law no one in the world is perfect. This paucity of adeptness construes every human to commit some delinquencies, sometimes felonies with regard to the organizing and conducting an event. Thus the goal to be reached seems impossible.
Why do events face failure?
The root cause of most of the failures is intervention of Murphy’s Law. Either some miscommunication between team members or other key players happen or they are not informed of any backup plans. Predominantly, Reality and Expectation are disparate. Whatever happens during an event may not be the way you pictured it. All these are a resultant of poor planning. Murphy’s Law also dictates that, if a mistake is as plain as the nose on your face, everyone can see it but you and that would be the most embarrassing situation that you would have to face bereft of the cognizance of an issue.
How to avoid Stapp’s Murhpy’s Law?
It is human tendency to make mistakes. Well if you had read the title right above and still didn’t realize the spelling mistake in Murphy’s Law, then yes you are a victim of Murphy’s Law. To avoid these natural-mistake-oriented laws during the process of event planning one must have a solid plan with necessary contingencies for each step, assuming that each step that you plan will or must go wrong. So as soon as you start a step towards a plan, create a real-time or hypothetical situation where it will go wrong, prepare a contingency for each step. Other ways of correction would be:
- Trying to be detailed in your approach, do not miss out on minute issues or probable problems that you think a plan would create.
- Following a specific timeline makes your whole plan more systematic and secure from misdemeanors.
- Get prior ratification of your plan from all the members of your team (if you have a good number of members)
- Your plan requires a foolproof evaluation by yourself and your team members.
- Make sure you inculcate the concept of deadlines and assign responsibilities to people in charge of your event other than you.
There are many other laws like Nichols’ Fourth Law that states: “Avoid any action with an unacceptable outcome“. Ultimately these laws intend to act as salvage for the problems that your event is going to beard. So now that you as an Event Organizer or Manager or Planner know the theory of Murphy’s Law and Stapp’s Law you are bound to commit lesser number of mistakes than before.
