The 4 Questions That Solve 90% Of Live Event Problems
So you’re putting on a live event, and you’re not sure where to start.
Maybe you’ve seen other companies put on successful live events, and want to get in on the engagement.
Maybe you’ve been tasked with creating a live event as part of a campaign.
However you got here, in a few weeks or months, you’re going to have a bunch of people in a room, and you’re going to do something with them.
Most people in this position start by creating the content — what’s going to be happening in the room. That makes sense if you’re a comedian, or you’ve written a play. But you’re putting on a live event as a company, and there’s a better way.
If this event is your idea, answering these 4 questions will give you the structure for pain-free planning and marketing.
If this event was tasked to you, sitting down with whoever did the tasking and getting them to answer these 4 questions will ensure you’re seen as the hero who pulled of a successful event.
The Questions
- What is the goal of the event? Articulate as specifically as possible: what does the outcome of a successful event look like? Audience engagement, content generation for digital, subscription sales? You can’t pull off a successful event if everyone involved has different ideas of why you’re spending time, energy and money putting on an event. And don’t let yourself get away with “community building” — it’s a lovely concept that everybody likes to tout, but it’s vague as hell. Dig in and be more specific!
- What measurements would you need to determine success? What are the specific metrics you’re looking for? A 10% hike in sales? 70% of the attendees return for the next event? What would be the best way to measure these metrics? A post-event survey, a report on click rates on your website, a before-and-after on social engagement?
- Who is your target audience? Is it customers who already buy your product? Is it visitors to your brick and mortar? Is it potential customers or visitors who haven’t yet committed to you? Is it a competitor’s customers? Be as specific as possible — trying to target everyone is the same as targeting no one.
- What question or topic is this audience really curious about? What do they post about, what do they read about, what other companies or institutions do they engage with? What problems do they have?
What if I can’t answer these questions?
You may find that there is some work you need to do before you can answer these questions — Thats fantastic! It means you’ve identified a problem with your event before putting massive amounts of time, energy and money into it!
People who are putting on an event for the first time often focus on their company’s problems and their company’s goals, and not on the audience’s experience. An audience doesn’t care about the company’s goals, they care about attending an event that’s going to bring value to them somehow. After you determine what your company’s goals are, you have to shift your attention to your audience. Really think through what the target audience wants, how they want it, and what problems they have that you can solve. You have to be obsessed with your audience.
Don’t know what their problems are? Ask them! Walk among them, observe them, approach them (politely and with their consent). Engage in real conversations with real people about their experiences, problems and interests. Generally, people enjoy when others take a genuine interest in them, and care about their experience. Don’t be a creep, and be honest about why you’re asking. Don’t rely too much on surveys — if you’re putting together a live event, you should get your data live and in person.
In a perfect world, we’d be able to identify all the answers to these questions before moving ahead with planning our event. But we live in an imperfect world, so the reality is that you may need to barrel ahead with an event without all these questions answered. That’s ok — use that first event as an opportunity to get the answers to some of these questions! Your next event will be even better with the information you gather at the first one. Just prepare yourself and your team for the fact that without answers to these questions, you might be spending a lot of time, energy and money on an event that won’t quite work.
This is a lot of work. Is it worth it?
A successful event is a game changer — it creates a personal bond with your audience that they will remember far longer than an interaction as a customer or online. Create an experience for your audience with care, and your audience will respond with trust, enthusiasm, and loyalty!
