What makes your event memorable? Is it the location or the speakers?

What makes your event memorable? Is it the location or the speakers?

What makes your event productive? Is it the content or how on target the speakers experience relates to your audience?

What makes your event successful? Is it the number of attendees or the whether they talk about the event for months afterwards?

If you could go back to the previous events you’ve produced, what would you have done different? What were you able to learn that will make your next event more successful?

When you learn fro your challenges, you’ll rarely face the same challenge a second time. You can use those challenges to your advantage and inspire a greater event in the future. I typically tell my clients “Your biggest challenge is often your biggest gift!”

Have you ever considered what it would take to have your attendees tell you what a great job you have done? There is a small difference between producing an adequate event and an outstanding event.

Have you ever asked your attendees to make suggestions as to what they might like different at the next event? They will inspire you to generate more than you thought you were capable.

I attended an event recently and not one segment started on time. Almost everyone was frustrated by the event planner’s lack of organization. Even though the information presented was an amazing tribute to the event, the general perception of the event being disorganized and it distracted from the quality of the presenters.

A speaker will make or break any event.

A speaker will make or break any event. Choosing a speaker has mystified event planners since Socrates times. What resources do you use to select speakers? Do you interview speakers and talk with other event planners to see what success they have enjoyed and which speakers failed short of their expectation? How do you go about finding the new and upcoming speakers?

There are more speakers to choose from in today’s market, more topics to ponder and more possibilities than ever before. It was simpler when Zig Ziglar was the formidable choice for a motivational speaker. Yet the speakers that are providing the most value for events are the ones who are creative and innovative, not the tried and stale presentations that were delivered over and over again over the past 20 years. The day of the canned speech should be over and done, if not so already.

Finding a speaker who will impact your audience long term is just as, if not more important. Having a memorable event is what will keep your audience returning year after year.

Some event planners rely on speaking bureaus, but the challenge in doing so is the bureau will pitch the speakers who command the highest fees since their income is based on those fees. National Speaker’s Association has a directory of speakers which are rarely tapped into and offers an unlimited number of talented resources.

Content that relates to your audience is what relevant speakers are providing. Finding unique speakers is the real challenge.