The Secret Formula to an Event Production Strategy

A successful event production strategy requires a clear purpose and goal, a vision of the desired outcome, creativity, organisation and leadership, technical precision and audience engagement.

By following our secret formula to delivering a successful event production your event can run smoothly, look great, engage with your audience and leave a lasting impression. Let’s take a look!

The Purpose or Goal

The purpose or goal of a typical corporate event is to influence. While the purpose of private event is usually to celebrate or provide an enjoyable experience. Once you have decided on the purpose of your event, you can decide the kind of event you want to plan.

You may have several goals for your event, and nine times out of ten there will be a crossover, but having that clarity early on to share with your wider event team is very important. Here are a few examples of the typical event goals: 

Education

Events can be used to educate an audience to expand their knowledge of a subject, product, service, brand, industry, innovation, environmental or political matters. Educational events come in all kinds of genres, such as conferences, workshops, exhibitions, immersive events, pop-up events, or guerrilla events 

Introduce

You can use your event to introduce a brand, service, research, innovation, people or products for the first time. These are typically launch events used as part of a PR campaign and you can use a variety of event genres to increase the exposure and attendance.

Promote

Promoting something that already exists or sharing news, such as an innovative update, can be achieved through creative event production. For promotional purposes, your event will need a hook, something that draws your audience in and encourages them attend.

Generate Leads and Sales

Similar to the above, events can be used to generate leads and sales. It could be a pop up event that provides an experience, or a stand at an organised exhibitions. There are plenty of ways event production can be used as part of a sales and marketing strategy.

Fundraising

There are a multitude of creative ways you can run a fundraising event. First you need to consider how much you want to raise and the resources you have to do so for your available budget.

Celebrate Greatness 

Event production is a great way to celebrate achievements within a specialism, sector, industry, or charity. Award ceremonies, parties, PR events and conferences provide a great platform for all kinds of celebratory events.

Build a Community or Strengthen Relationships

Events can help to broaden your network to build a community of likeminded people or to strengthen existing relationships. From networking, to Q&A sessions, meet and greets and exhibits, the popularity of events where people meet people are on the rise.

The Vision of your Event Production Str

One of the most important steps to achieving great event production is to have a clear vision of what your event will look like, feel, perform and how it will engage with your audience. First you need to understand the genre of your event. 

Examples of Event Genres

• Corporate events – workshop, conferences, seminars and team building events.
• PR events – promotional events, stunts, parades, launches.
• Trade Shows and exhibitions – usually held as part of a larger event or as a pop-up exhibit within a venue, or public building.
• Guerilla events – highly creative events with a low budget to get people talking.
• Galas and award ceremonies – a celebration or networking opportunity.
• Cultural and religious events – celebrations, ceremonies, festivals and parades.
• Experiential events – promotional pop-up events, product sampling and interactive brand activities to immerse the audience in the benefits of a product.
• Virtual and hybrid events – involves filming and streaming the event to an online audience.
• Community events – annual occasions, markets, fairs, carnivals and more.
• Catwalk shows – held within a venue to showcase next season’s trends.
• Sports and esports (gaming) – tournaments, competitions, races and marathons.
• Political event – rallies, debates and public meetings.
• Charity and fundraising events – festivals, stunts, parties, sports, and galas.

Event Styling 

To understand how you want your event to look, it’s important to do some research and create a mood board. Look at similar events for inspiration and explore how you can take yours to the next level. It might be that you introduce an interactive system, use lighting design to uplift the space, or provide a better delivery in terms of the keynote speakers and smooth technical production.

Budget 

Understanding what is possible for your budget will help you to create a clear vision for your event production. Speak to your technical team and other suppliers to create a priority list and they can offer advice on the styling.

Creativity 

Be creative with your event production strategy to set it apart from the rest. It’s easier to be creative with certain event genres than others, but there’s nothing to stop you from stepping back from the organisation for a moment to consider what you could do differently?

For example, would your corporate event benefit from more or different keynote speakers, breakout areas or creative lighting? How about an experiential event that tells the audience a story through the senses. Or could your community event engage teens with esports? 

The only limit to you creativity is your imagination, so do some research and get those cogs moving!

Organisation & Leadership

It goes without saying that the key ingredient to delivering successful event production strategy, is precise organisation and great leadership. Here are our top tips for planning and leading an event through to fruition.

Delegate

A successful event planner knows they can’t do it all, so they will delegate elements of the event to the head of department and meet frequently to discuss the progress.  For instance, they will hand their specification for power, lighting, rigging, staging, set design, and video to the technical head, while the food will be delegated to the catering head or the venue’s head of events.

When delegating, it’s important to maintain a record of tasks and assignments to ensure everyone in the team is hitting their deadline and has provided an update on their progress. There are some great tools to help with event planning admin, which we cover in our ‘Event Planner’s Guide to Event Suppliers’.

Event Plan

Creating a detailed plan as part of your event production strategy will ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to all aspects of your event production. A detailed event plan will include:

• Contact details for all key personnel.
• Duties and responsibilities of event team and suppliers.
• Deliverables, which is anything that needs to be provided for the event.
• Important dates for planning meetings, deliveries, rigging and derigging.
• Timings throughout the event to indicate what should happen and when.
• Kit and supplies lists to ensure nothing is left behind – even the biscuits!
• Logistics and transport of people and goods – how and when will they arrive/leave? 
• Delegate information, including numbers, nationalities, dietary requirements.
• Special requests for access, translations services, payments, and technical support.
• Accommodation and travel details for crew and delegates.
• Seating plan and seating arrangement (depending on the event).

Rehearsals, Walk Throughs and Snagging

When planning your event production strategy, it’s important to factor in time for rehearsals and walk throughs once the event is set up. This is your time to test the equipment, such as microphones, PowerPoint presentations, video links, lighting, and get a feel for the environment. By factoring this time, you can do a walkthrough with your suppliers and create a snagging list.

Event Production Strategy Risk Assessment

Be sure to add a risk assessment to your event production strategy. You’ll need to step outside of the planning bubble to identify and assess the potential hazards that you might incur. You will need to prioritise how likely they are to happen and how you can mitigate the hazards. 

Technical Precision 

The majority of events that require high-level planning will have a technical element. Whether that’s temporary power and lighting for vendors, or a full AV package, with set and stage. This is a crucial element to your event production strategy. If kit is missed, the technical production brief is not detailed enough, or a site visit hasn’t taken place, your event production can go very wrong, and it will cost more to mitigate last minute issues.

To guarantee technical precision for your event production, here are some must haves:

An Experienced Technical Manager & Crew are a Must! 

To ensure your event production goes without a glitch, you will need an experienced technical manager to specify your technical equipment, book crew, arrange logistics and oversee the installation and derig. A technical manager is your assurance that your technical production is in good hands, and if something does go wrong, you have their expertise onsite to find a solution. Experienced crew can also troubleshoot a problem before you even know it exists. 

Use Quality Kit 

Using quality kit that has been properly prepped and won’t let you down should be a top priority in your event production strategy. You can do your own research to decipher the quality of equipment by checking:

• The credentials of your technical supplier.
• Look at their client list, case studies and images of their past projects.
• Check their Google reviews or ask for client testimonials.
• Ask them questions about their operation and how they prep their kit. 

Audience Engagement 

Finally and most importantly, let’s explore how you can engage your audience. 

First you need to build a profile of your audience by asking:

• Where are they from?
• Why are they coming?
• How long will they stay for?
• What interests them?

Once you know who your audience is and how they tick, you can look at ways to provide a more engaging experience. Here are some ideas for your event planning strategy.

Mix Up the Content

If it’s a serious corporate or training event, why not try mixing in some entertainment, video content, gamification, Q&A sessions, or prizes to raise the energy levels among the audience at key points during the event.

Forge an Emotional Connection

Tap into the audience’s emotional side by:

• Asking them to follow a story or journey 
• Asking them to identify a time in their life when they needed a solution, a solution that they can have at your event. 
• Take polls on their thoughts and opinions.
• Provide inspirational and motivational content that they can take away and use at work in their everyday lives.
• Allow them to participate or make a profound change.

Theme Your Event

A great way to engage your audience is to introduce a theme. A theme could be presented in any of the following ways:

• Branding, décor and messaging
• An immersive experience
• Food and drink specialities 
• Entertainment, performances and music
• Culture and philosophy

Q&A Sessions 

Give your audience an opportunity to share their thoughts and insights, ask questions, meet high-profile figures and have conversation with those who have the power to inspire and motive.

Be Considerate

Being considerate to your audience’s needs can be all it takes to engage them in your event. Some examples include:

• Interpreters and translation headsets for those attending an international event.
• Choose a venue that is located near to their work, home or can be accessed easily by car or public transport.
• Make an allowance for complementary accommodation and travel.
• Use timings that work around their office hours or schedule.
• Implement quality signage and employ friendly staff. 
• Provide great food and beverages.
• Provide comfort seating and breakout spaces.
• Ensure there is suitable access for wheelchair users and provisions for people with a neurodiversity.

Your Event Production Strategy Wrapped Up

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog on The Secret Formula to an Event Production Strategy. We have lots more useful content and advice for event planners within our insight pages or scroll through the headline below.