Inspiring events: marketing’s killer app
By Craig on Dec 10, 2009 in Communication tactics, Employee communication, Marketing, Public relations, Strategic communication | View Comments
This is a guest post by Toni Brasch (below right)* – an experienced event management professional – of cicreate.
Having worked in the events industry for over 15 years, I have continually witnessed deep levels of engagement by audiences in events that companies run. I see this form of communication being a vital part of marketing, public relations, employee engagement and reward & recognition communication strategies.
When a major corporation was forced to cancel its internal reward and recognition event earlier this year due to bad press (they asked that in the middle of the GFC, how could such money be “wasted”), nothing was mentioned by the press about:
a) the importance of recognising and rewarding employees, highlighting outstanding efforts and hence increasing morale, motivation and productivity
b) the amount of money this pumps back into the events industry, helping small businesses to survive.
Employee engagement
With a captive audience, live events can communicate effectively, appealing on an emotional level like no other means. Most effective is integrating a pre and post-communication campaign into the event.
Pre-communication can be used to excite, update and educate. Post communication is used to reinforce the key messages and as a reminder of the impact at the event, whether it be through graphic (photos and video) or written means.
A live event is like going to the theatre – except we only get one chance to get it right – there’s no time for an ‘off’ night.
Communicating messages
There are various ways to communicate a message in events. A person who has an experience to share, who can take a company’s key messages or theme and integrate these into their own experience is, in fact, storytelling. Not in a fictional sense, but instead is bringing to life their experience and using an analogy to make the communication more tangible.
For example, keynote speakers, such as Glenn and Heather Singleman –the extraordinary couple who use their base jumping and climbing experiences to address such topics as fear, risk, challenge, planning and preparation – integrate video, graphics and verbal communication to make an impact like few can on their audience.
The audience, almost unknowingly, is processing the key messages by allowing the visual comparisons to do the work for them – next time they are faced with any of their own challenges they can remember the tools that these people use and apply them to their own situation.
Being in a live environment where there are people to share and discuss, have questions answered in open forums and workshops to consolidate ideas, allows for immediate feedback and the ability to put into place action plans for ‘real life’, back-at-the-office work.
Team building
Team building is another effective way of communicating messages and improving on weak areas within a business. How many employees only know the people within a five metre radius of their work area? How many times do they go into the shared kitchen and find themselves making coffee with a ‘colleague’ they know nothing about?
The days of the social club are ever-decreasing, with family commitments and personal priorities minimising the interest. Therefore, it has become more reliant on the employer to create the feeling of ‘teaming’.
The ‘90s were full of climbing ropes, balancing on tight ropes, untangling people from others and trivia games. The new century brought with it Cooking Schools, Treasure Hunts, Murder Mysteries and technologically driven Mountain Climbs. These experiential team building programs can now play an important part in building an internal event strategy, ensuring the person in the kitchen next time has a new connection with his/her colleague and encouraging them to engage in conversation – business or personal.
So back to the ‘waste of money’! If a company stops communicating in a live environment, stops rewarding and recognising employees in front of their peers, relying on emails and newsletters to distribute key messages, then how do we inspire, excite and motivate our people – the key component of any business?
What is your experience of events that have been run to engage and motivate employees? How did they impact on your relationship with the organisation and/or your commitment to your work? What about your colleagues? How did they react? Did you undertake any formal market research to calibrate the impact of the event(s)? What place do events have in employee and external public relations and marketing strategies?
[*After beginning her working life in the theatre as an actor and stage manager, Toni completed a Diploma in Theatre at Sydney’s renowned Ensemble Theatre. Discovering that there was a need to put food on her plate, she swapped acting for a diverse career in hospitality, including management of restaurants in London and Sydney as well as marketing and function co-ordination.
Discovering her passion for event production and learning everything she could by working within the industry for six years, Toni established Toni Brasch Event Management (TBEM) in 1998, leading a team of dedicated and creative people to produce successful events for an array of corporate clients in finance, telecoms, FMCG and travel. TBEM was acquired in 2007 by cievents, the event’s division of Flight Centre Limited, where she continues her role as an Executive Producer in their production division – cicreate. Toni can be contacted at toni.brasch@cicreate1.com]
