By Sonya Callan
January is traditionally a quiet time for event planners to breathe and regroup after the madness and mayhem of the Christmas season. A time when corporate clients are working on strategies and collaborating for the year ahead and private clients are recovering financially from the expenditure of December. For the pro-active event planners among us this time is not seen as quiet, a time to sit back and relax but a time to take stock, plan for the year ahead and set some goals for their business for the year.
Here’s a couple of suggestions from the team at Planit to ensure you have a productive January.
“Learn continually, there’s always one more thing to learn” – Steve Jobs
Think you know the events industry? As with all other industries the events world is continuously changing. Technology is now playing a huge part in how events are planned and executed from online registration platforms to virtual webinars and conferences. Whilst you may have reacted well to all of the challenges placed on live events over the past two years and pivoted your business to online, do you feel really confident about the technology you are using? Here at Planit we think the world of online / hybrid events is here to stay so why not educate yourself on the technology around these events. Being able to offer your clients different options for their events can only improve your business. Discussing these new styles of events with the confidence that comes with knowledge will show your clients that you are willing to move into the new world.
Look backwards to go forwards
The past year may have been reactive most of the time due to the ever-changing restrictions, so now that you have some time to breathe why not make a list of what ended up working well and what didn’t. You may have had to change the way you run registrations or speaker scheduling and at first it seemed daunting but when the time came the events actually ran more efficiently. On the other hand you may also have highlighted some areas that were very time consuming such as manually checking covid certs. It is important to constantly review your events as a means of learning about your business and improving your client offering.
Time to invest
Following on from your review of the events world and then a closer look at your own business this might be time to invest in your business & team. Investment in new technology and online platforms could improve your efficiency in event planning and information gathering. Investment in new staff such as a digital media manager may help to increase awareness of your business through clever campaigns and strategies, allowing you to target a wider audience that you wouldn’t normally reach.
Time to change direction?
So, what happens if after all these reviews and examinations of your business you come to the conclusion that your business is not where you want it to be? Perhaps you want to dedicate your business solely to corporate conferences or commit yourself fully to the world of virtual events instead. There is no better time than January to think about change. You have looked back and taken stock on all the learnings and now is the time to stop and change the direction of your business if needed. Time to make the changes necessary, a time to hunker down and devise your plans for the year ahead, a time to plan a communications strategy to launch your transformed business to existing and new clients and a time to prepare yourself for the next stage in your event planning career.
Whilst January may be seen as dark and quiet for some, sometimes these are the best conditions to stop and plan. When you work closely with your clients you are one team and January is a great time to be positive and plan together. Event planners are never idle and using the steps above as a starting point you are well on your way to having a very productive 2022.