One of the strategies to success is to hold the event exactly at the same time as your competitors’ or other similar events are held. You can use this trick about the venue, as well.
A while ago, the largest auto show was about to start in Germany. We also intended to hold an event for automobile manufacturers. We decided to rent a place in the venue, but we couldn’t reach an agreement. By the way, we didn’t have enough autonomy there. Eventually, we rented a place in a hotel near the venue and held our event. This trick helped a lot with branding and absorbing the audience. The auto show’s visitors also visited our event.
Another strategy is to hold the event in a venue where a well-known company has held an event there before you because the place is familiar for the audience. You can hold your event at the same time and in the same place where your competitor has held an event, but it can happen only if the venue owner allows you to rent it. I went to Las Vegas to arrange a beauty and health fair there, and I intended to rent a venue in which the largest beauty fair in the world is held. Interestingly enough, I persuaded the owners to let me hold the fair in the same place and a different time. Certainly, the entire beauty and health market are familiar with that hotel and have had a positive experience there.
same time and in the same place where your competitor has held an event, but it can happen only if the venue owner allows you to rent it. I went to Las Vegas to arrange a beauty and health fair there, and I intended to rent a venue in which the largest beauty fair in the world is held. Interestingly enough, I persuaded the owners to let me hold the fair in the same place and a different time. Certainly, the entire beauty and health market are familiar with that hotel and have had a positive experience there.
The next method is to collaborate with other events. You can invite other event organizers to collaborate with you. For example, offer each other booths in each other’s events or share the data regarding your event’s sponsors. Suppose they weren’t willing to do so. In that case, each one of the organizers can at least introduce and promote the other party’s event to their own customers and attendees. This process even helps you to offer a joint discount plan together.
The next strategy is to establish relations with the industries pertinent to your event topic. Introduce your event to companies that work in the same industry. One of the important actions to take is for one of the members of your event team to go after companies working in the same industry and introduce him/ herself as the representative of the event organizer. This reminder helps a lot with branding.
A while ago, I attended an event along with a team of employees from the company. Each of us would go to the booths with our visiting cards and introduce the company. The audiences were under the impression that we had a huge company as it had so many employees, while we didn’t even have a 3*3 room! We gained recognition by establishing relations with these people. I was wearing a T-shirt with the name “Iran” on its back and front in an old Persian calligraphic style called Nastaliq. This T-shirt and the hat I was wearing were quite interesting and people were into them.
Apply the same method of introduction for organization, and define this task as a part of your employees’ job description. During these visits, give some gifts to the corresponding authorities so they will remember your brand. Some say these frequent visits may raise the suspension that you are inconsistent, but I disagree. When you have a plan and a roadmap, you shouldn’t think about what people assume about you.
When you launch an event, you first need to prove your identity to others; prove that you exist. When my first two books were published in Iran, several individuals cursed me in their critical reviews. However, all of those critics became my employees after a while because they had realized that they can’t ignore me. I was working and they were doing nothing. Therefore, they had to work with me. When I started the big Kids Festival in Canada, they couldn’t ignore me anymore.
My work policy is that I take the job to an irreversible point so they can’t ignore me. Launch the job, be persistent, and make an effort; it gets promoted on its own. If you have teamwork, you will definitely proceed with the job. Talk about your project wherever possible. Your talks in every gathering must be purposeful. Time passes by quickly and there is no opportunity for useless words. Therefore be clinical with everything you discuss with the people and target companies for your event.'
Another important strategy is to merge with other events. This method is common in the present world. There are two ways to do it: ¾ Either they both turn into one single event and create synergy. In this method, a combination of two names is selected for the event and some options, such as a joint discount plan, is offered. ¾ In the other method, two independent events are held in the same place and time. In this method, both events act independently. There is a large event called Cosmoprof in Las Vegas regarding cosmetic products and the whole thing seemed impossible to pull but they established a joint partnership and launched that huge event.
They managed to stay on their feet using this method. Canada does not have much history and recognition in the world of event. You can’t compare the events in this country with the ones in Germany. In the past, six or seven types of building & construction trade shows were held in Canada in different pertinent topics. All of these fairs together launched a building & construction trade show, and now, they are as big as German fairs in terms of participants and visitors. Thousands of booths and tens of thousands of visitors attend this fair. The fact that so many specialized visitors attend the fair is an absolutely important matter. Because of the large building & construction trade show in Las Vegas, this fair should have been dissolved because the US is like Canada’s big brother, but merging these fairs made it possible for the event to be continued Try and have the utmost collaboration with your competitors. Suppose your event and your competitor’s event are not on the same date and there is no conflict of interests between you. In that case, you can consider a discount for companies that rent booths from both events.
A highly important matter in the event business is not to rely on certain financial sources. Try not to pick the same sponsors and exhibitors every time. Of course, keeping old customers is one of the principles in any business, but there are some risks involved. Suppose your source of income is a limited number of customers. In that case, many problems will be imposed on you in case any of these customers pulls out from the event. Therefore, try not to rely on just a certain group of people as your financial suppliers. Many events in the North America were closed down because they became dependent on a single sponsor. Let’s assume an event’s sponsor is a large, reputable and wealthy company. These companies may sponsor the event for the first two years and then withdraws on the third year. In this case, the event will be closed down. This problem happens when there is no replacement for the sponsor. Finding a new sponsor is quite difficult, unless you are so accredited that large companies are willing to work with you. In the event business, making an effort to absorb new customers is of great importance in addition to making an effort to keep the old customers
While planning and designing the event, think about operationalizing it to get a better apparent manifestation. The event’s appearance is of great importance, and witnessing a professional appearance is vital for the target market. Straighten out the event’s appearance even if you have to do it using cheap decorations. If your financial sponsors are decreased comparing to the last year and consequently, your revenue is declined, you shouldn’t reduce the expenses which are more apparent. While keeping the structures in place, you need to care about the appearances, too. To improve the event’s appearances, think and adopt smart methods. For example, you can give some cheap gifts to the exhibitors who are interesting in appearance. A while ago, I purchased 1000 Chinese wallets on sale and stored them. In one of the events, the sponsors who were supposed to supply our promotional gifts didn’t show up, and I distributed those wallets among everybody in the nick of time and it all came out with a pretty good feed Just like the case with any other business, the reputation of an event organizer depends on customer satisfaction. In the event’s marketing plan, plot the whole thing in a way that you can both achieve customer satisfaction and determine how this customer satisfaction can be displayed to others or, in other words, how you can show off about it. In the event business, keeping the customers satisfied is a quite difficult thing to do. You need to make your best effort to achieve customer satisfaction. Otherwise, you need to have enough documents to show that you have fulfilled your commitments.
Spend time on absorbing customers. It is essential to absorb customers and keep them because absorbing customers is quite difficult in this business. However, a satisfied customer remains as your customer and refers new ones.
As an event organizer, make your brand in your target market. Constantly introduce yourself to your potential customers using various methods. Intermittently, share your activities on social media. Notifying potential customers must be done through various channels as a long-term process.
At the beginning, don’t look for big projects. If you can’t run them, they may be your last job. Go through it step by step.
Proceed with the job as a team. You will be an unrivaled power with the support of teamwork. We manage our project so that they wouldn’t rely on one person, and there would be no problem if someone got off the train. Anyone who comes into the project benefits in proportion to the time one spends and the evaluation on the work one does. Therefore, no one is worried about losing one’s benefits. The problem with many people is that they lack the mentality for cooperation. We need to practice teamwork. I have repeated this sentence so many times that I prefer to be the owner of 1% of a 100-million-dollar company rather than being the owner of 100% of a 10-thousand-dollar company. Big projects move forward by teamwork. One idea can evolve more with consultation of several people.
