| Interviewer: What are the key elements of running a | | | | Quite often people will fill in the 'happy sheet' - we've |
| successful event? | | | | all had happy sheets that end in an event, and |
| DL: It's all about planning - working out: | | | | generally people tick the happy boxes so they can |
| - What are people going to do when they come to | | | | get away as quickly as possible, but we find that if |
| the event? | | | | you follow up an event a week later or six months |
| - What are they going to get out of the event? | | | | later, you get a far better view of what's actually |
| - What type of people do you want to come to that | | | | happened. That therefore means that you can target |
| event in the first place? | | | | further events to that same customer or similar |
| - Who are you going to invite? | | | | customers in a way that's appropriate for them and |
| - Are people just going to book online? | | | | gives them value. Delegates will come back if they |
| - Are they going to book via the telephone? | | | | get value; if they don't get value they won't come |
| - How are they going to communicate? | | | | back. It's all about integrating all those processes |
| - How will you make sure that you get the right | | | | together, of which the event and delegate |
| people in place? | | | | management system is a crucial part of, but it's not |
| So it is all about planning; planning is crucial. | | | | the only part. |
| It's also about looking at how are you going to follow | | | | Interviewer: What sort of things do you need to |
| those customer up later on - how are you going to | | | | consider when you're choosing the right kind of |
| follow up the non-attendees etc. So having a clear, | | | | system? |
| concise plan about the pre-event, running the event | | | | DL: The most important thing to do it to not look at |
| and post event follow up is all part of running a | | | | the system at all. It's to look at your business |
| successful event | | | | process. It's to look at who does what and when in |
| Interviewer: What are the benefits of implementing | | | | terms of the customer engagement. Look at what |
| an integrated solution for both the event and also | | | | you do at the moment. Look at the plethora of |
| the delegate management? | | | | spreadsheets you inevitably have, the bits of paper |
| DL: It's about putting the customer in control of | | | | that fly around - where do they go? What does the |
| what's going on but at the same time controlling | | | | customer get when he books onto an event, how |
| what they do. Putting an online system is all well and | | | | does he find your event in the first place? Does he |
| good, but it has got to interface with back office | | | | ring you up, go onto your website or send you an |
| systems. The whole customer experience is the | | | | email? How does it work at the moment and how |
| complete package. It is about people being able to | | | | would you like it to work? What needs to interface |
| book online or being able to book over the | | | | into other parts of the business? An event manager |
| telephone, it's having their details recorded so you | | | | will interface into many parts of the business and will |
| can follow them up - so you can find out what their | | | | have many hats on. They'll be a sales person to get |
| dietary requirements are closer to the event. It's | | | | people to the event, they'll be a sales person after |
| about making sure people attend, if they don't | | | | the event to sell them on the benefits and to get |
| attend it's about finding out why they didn't attend. | | | | them to register for the next event, they'll be a |
| It's about finding out what they thought about the | | | | marketing manager, they'll be an IT manager in terms |
| event on the day, and perhaps finding out about | | | | of getting the systems in place; there's a wide |
| what they thought of the impact of that event in six | | | | plethora of things they do, so look at what you do |
| months time. | | | | at the moment, look at the ideal model. |