Backwards but Brilliant

As Certified Meeting Professionals (CMPs) we do this all the time. It’s so ingrained in how we operate, it’s not even something we do consciously. We plan events backwards. For 20 years, I have successfully planned events. Ok, not every event went off without a hitch, but most people would never know that. I’ve got event planning checklists. I’ve created timelines, identified milestones, and set up countless team meetings. I’ve helped keep scores of teams of people moving in the same direction to accomplish the same goal: the event. But someone asked me lately how I’d start planning a new event from scratch.

Let me tell you, there’s nothing new under the sun for me these days, so I wouldn’t exactly be starting “from scratch.” There are documents in my arsenal that I can adapt to fit just about any event coming my way. If you were asked to plan an event that you’d never done before, I hope you’d reach out to your network of event planner-friends before you reinvented the wheel. However, if I were to have to start over, in the words of Joanne Dennison, CMP, I’d “start with the end in mind.”

Event planning is 95% planning backwards. You need to know what outcome you want before you can begin building everything else. Think about it. Timelines can’t be created until you know the end date. Once you know that, you can calculate backwards to schedule milestones, while taking into consideration time for design, review, printing, shipping, holidays, and vacations. There will need to be time for phone calls, creating, thinking, dreaming; then recruiting, purchasing, packing, and unpacking. To create a schedule, you have to understand the important things that must happen and by when so they’re completed by the time needed and it all comes together for the event date.

Not only logistically for task management do we plan backwards, but creatively as well. The team needs to determine what they want the event to look and feel like, what they want the attendee to walk away with, and the goals and objectives for the event before the rest of the planning can take place. Once that’s finalized, speakers can be engaged to deliver the right messages, locations and venues can be selected to meet event needs, and things like the agenda, event theme, time of year, and F&B menus can be determined.

After thinking big-picture, the end drives the nitty-gritty means as well. Details like song selection, stage design, and technology needs for general sessions can be hammered out. Room setups, numbers and types of hotels, transportation, and decor can all be planned. Even timing of the site visit, event planning meeting schedule, and opening of ticket sales are planned in reverse. Knowing your target allows the team to predict the right dates to be on-site to review the venue for any cosmetic changes or construction, plan meeting dates for the foreseeable future, and calculate an escalating ticket pricing schedule.

Honestly, as event planners, depending on the types of event we plan, we’re living years into the future, sourcing venues, and preparing for events we have coming up. We’re living in reverse, learning from events we have executed to make future ones even better. And, we still have lives with spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, friends, jobs, hobbies, and other things that require us to live in the present. It’s amazing we know what day it is at any point in time at all!

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A Walkable City

I was recently at an event for event planners and suppliers. I have attended this event before. It has some great education and I can earn continuing education units (CEUs) towards both my CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) and my CFMP (Certified Faith-Based Meeting Professional) renewals. I get to reconnect with those I have come to know pretty well, and meet new people who may eventually become long-term friends. There’s also an exhibit hall with booths from several major cities, hotel brands, event suppliers, convention centers, CVBs (Convention & Visitor’s Bureau), DMCs (Destination Management Company, and much, much more.

As I was sitting next to a convention center representative from a very midwestern town, we got to talking about her sales pitch. I’m from Illinois, so a convention center in Indiana is probably not going to be of interest to any of my clients, but one never knows who will call next, so I never say never to a conversation. We bonded over our shared midwestern-ness and how silly people in the host city sounded as they whined about the dusting of snow they received, which happened to be the only snow they’ve seen in the last 15 years. I often forget that the southern states are not equipped to handle snow like we are. But I digress.

My new friend was telling me about how walkable her city was. Let this be a public service announcement to all service providers who are selling their city as walkable as a reason I should bring my group to your location. It sounds ridiculous when you tell me your city is walkable. Every city is walkable. It just depends on who’s doing the walking, how capable someone is of walking, and where they are walking to. Everyone’s level of adventure and their definition of safety is different. I mean, as we rode the bus to our opening reception, there was a random guy walking along the side of the highway. Technically, he proved this was a “walkable” area too although probably not as safe as others.

Those with two working feet can walk. People for centuries have walked all around the world. Some in places they probably shouldn’t have. Some we know they shouldn’t have. I’ve walked miles and miles in my half-century on this earth. So telling me that your city is walkable is like telling me that eventually the sun will shine, the grass will grow, or I’ll have to pay taxes. It’s in EVERY city’s marketing material. So much so that after we were poking fun at it, it was all I could hear at my future appointments, and it was hard to keep a straight face during conversations on the show floor.

Be creative. Tell me what is special about your city. I can find transportation anywhere these days using an app on my phone. I can have anything delivered to my hotel room at any time of the day or night. If nothing else, the “year that shall not be named” made us very lazy and things very convenient. Instead, draw me in by telling me about the number of concerts your local orchestra performs each year or the unique, historic buildings I can tour. Dazzle me with tales of the Guinness Book of World Records your city holds. Advise me when your peak seasons are and if hurricanes, tornados, or tsunamis are a thing where you live.

Most cities have restaurants “you’re not going to want to miss” but is there a truly spectacular one? Tell me about a Michelin star restaurant that recently opened; one where I need to make reservations months in advance in order to dine there. Did a president grow up here, live here, die here, or perhaps was assassinated here? These are the things that make a city memorable especially after talking with hundreds of sales representatives over the course of several days.

Other things that are more remarkable than being a “walkable” city are unique sights to see. Chicago has architecture tours by land or by boat, but did you know we also have an underground donut tour? Now THAT’S something that would stick with me long after our conversation. Who doesn’t love donuts? If I book my event in your city I will have to sell tickets. To make my ticket sales successful, the more I can show potential attendees that if they come they will have an experience like nowhere else, the better. To do so, I’m going to have to bring more adventure than just the fact that they can walk around your city.

What other clever marketing tactics have you encountered?
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Agendas with Impact

When hosting a large event in a city, do you serve the community while you’re there? I know there are zillions of details to review, rooms to set, and nametags to print, but as part of the event, do you offer your attendees the chance to participate in a service project? Depending on the goals and objectives of your event, this can be a great addition to your agenda. It could introduce attendees to sustainability practices, raise awareness of social justice issues, or meet real, tangible needs of the people in the city. I have attended events where a selection of projects were available to choose from as I registered. Especially in the faith-based and association markets, attendees love the opportunity to make a difference wherever possible.

It doesn’t have to be one more thing on your task list. Often, a CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) can connect you with local groups who can either provide the need, the supplies for the project, or both. Or, they can introduce you to churches or nonprofit organizations in their community who work with the city’s partners to help you find the right service projects for your attendee demographics. A city’s CVB is a huge resource for event planners for all kinds of support.

I have partnered with organizations who provide all of the supplies needed for projects like packing hygiene kits, shelf-stable meals, and rescue backpacks. As the event organizer, I was responsible for coordinating a space, tables as a workspace for the items to be stuffed, and enough people to accomplish a number of kits in a designated amount of time. Some organizations can actually either deliver or ship the items to be packed directly to the event venue, which is a huge time-saver and an incentive as the planner to select their service project. Attendees then pack away while others are restocking supplies on the tables, collecting trash, breaking down boxes, and coordinating delivery of the finished products to where they need to go.

For event planners who have attendees with mobility issues, there are service projects that are easily done sitting down. Some organizations need assistance sorting donations they’ve received like separating clothing into different sizes. This may sound insignificant, but to someone in crisis who needs the services of the organization with donated items, providing them with a shopping experience where they can look through racks of the appropriate-sized clothing without digging through piles of clothes to find an item that fits, offers them a more dignified experience and might remove any embarrassment they may feel.

One great service project I have seen includes building and delivering beds for foster kids. This particular project requires a little more skill, but others without the dexterity to run a power tool can sort wood, clean up, and call the families to arrange delivery. These very simple wood-framed beds look similar to cots and can hold a regular-sized human. When delivering the beds, sheets, a blanket, and pillow generally accompany the gift. When a child from the foster system has their own bed for the first time, the joy in their eyes can take your breath away.

Other opportunities I’ve come across include planting trees or reforesting areas that have been damaged by fire, flood, or other natural disaster. Taking a group of attendees to a neighborhood to rake leaves and pick up sticks or trash as the seasons change can improve any community and be a blessing to the homeowners. I’ve also seen groups of attendees building bikes for kids in underprivileged areas and assembling wheelchairs for those who can’t afford one. Not only that, but I’ve seen groups of handymen (and women) head to some of those same homes to build wheelchair-accessible ramps so the homeowner can now enter and exit their home with ease.

Coordinating a service project can add value to your event, give back to the community your event is in, and allow the attendees to network with each other in a unique way. It could be an add-on activation before the event officially begins, something that happens during check-in, or even coincide with a lunch hour. You could even poll your attendees to see what types of projects they’d be interested in and ask for suggestions. Any time an attendee feels they get to be part of the planning process and provide their feedback when asked gives them some sense of ownership, gets their buy-in, and can be some of the best advertising for a new opportunity that’s coming that you could not have paid for.

Have you included a service project as part of your event agenda? What did you do?
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From Appetizers to Air Filtration

I was perusing a social media feed for event planners when I came across the most outlandish guest request I think I’ve seen to date. We never encounter these, right? A registered attendee emailed an event planner several days before the multi-day, 1000+ person event, and made an accommodation request. Absolutely! As planners and event hosts, we want to make any “reasonable accommodation” within our capabilities so every attendee can experience the event in the most enjoyable and comfortable manner.

At events past, I have ensured there was a ramp onto the stage for a speaker in a wheelchair. I have checked on the width of hallways and doorways, confirmed there were accessible hotel rooms, and arranged transportation for those who were differently-abled. I have also championed translation and transcription services of general and breakout sessions so guests who speak a language other than English could engage with the content, and those with hearing deficiencies could use the closed-captioning feature to participate. I have scheduled in-room refrigerators for medications, rented oscillating fans, humidifiers, and dehumidifiers; purchased dog bowls, distilled water, and extra signage, and selected meals for every type of dietary need known to man. Not to mention the year+ of ever-evolving social distancing and mask regulations which provided us an ever-moving target of accommodations to make.

However, this request, in my opinion, not only takes the cake, but is out of bounds. I suffer from airborne allergies. I can have an allergic reaction to something as mundane as someone’s body soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, or the pet dander on their clothing as they sit next to me in a session. It doesn’t even have to be the perfume they bathed in that morning. I am also so highly allergic to latex so much so that if there have been balloons in a ballroom within a few days before my event, I can’t even go into the space. I will literally break out in hives all over my body and my airway will close up. So I understand “reasonable” accommodation requests when made. I also understand my responsibility to bring my own pillows, move away from the heavily-perfumed lady, and stay out of rooms where latex balloons have been. I don’t expect the world to revolve around me.

This attendee apparently does. The request was for Hepa filters to be installed in the vents of every room she would be in during the event. A very broad request. Clearly I have some questions. Mind you this is a multi-day large event at a convention center. There’s no way to know which of the myriad of rooms of the venue this one lady will be in. Plus, she’s got to move between rooms; what will she do in the hallways, or the bathrooms for that matter? And how will she be traveling to the venue? I’m certain the airlines are not going to make special accommodations for her breathing needs, nor the airport she needs to get through on her way to and from the event, or the car or taxi she’ll be riding in to and from the hotel. And to top it all off, she didn’t request the installation of a Hepa filter in her hotel room. Not even a portable air filtration device to be placed there. Maybe she’s bringing her own.

I’m creative enough and have been at this long enough to brainstorm a couple of options for her, but I can guarantee, she’d want none of that. She wants what she wants and that’s that. This planner is not going to be able to make accommodations that will make it safe enough for this lady to attend in her mind. Some options the planner can suggest is for her to purchase a personal air filtration device that she wears which will filter air in her personal space. That would take care of a lot of issues. The planner could put a stand-alone air purifier in her hotel room, but that’s not what she asked for. The planner could encourage this lady to stay in the same room for all of the breakout sessions throughout the event so an air purifier could be placed in the room where she’ll be, but surely the speaker or the subject matter wouldn’t interest her.

At a minimum, the planner can inform the lady of the purification methods the hotel and convention center already have in place, recommend she contact the airport and airline to inquire as to what their air purification methods are, and recommend she schedule a private car transport between the airport and the hotel, informing the company of her air purification needs, but those are out of the planner’s control. A refund of her ticket and a link to watch the replay videos at a discounted rate seem to be in everybody’s best interest.

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The Conversation Menu

I recently heard this term and absolutely loved it. Oftentimes, when groups of event attendees are sitting around a table, either waiting for a session to start, or the purpose of the session is networking with others, people have trouble getting the conversation going (especially the introverts). To help facilitate this, provide a conversation menu at each table or for each attendee.

Similar to an icebreaker, a conversation menu might have a list of questions attendees could ask of one another. Or, it might be a list of topics attendees would be familiar with that would spark someone to start up a conversation. They are usually divided into “courses” similar to a menu, such as starters, mains, and desserts. The different sections are designed to guide the conversation, taking the attendees from getting to know one another to much more personal or deeper conversations. The menu for each table could be different, or the same questions could be in a different order, so the entire room isn’t talking about the same thing at the same time. And if attendees are participating in a morning and afternoon session, if the menus are different, you can mix up the menus and redistribute them, ideally giving each table a new menu to use to restart with after lunch.

The concept of an icebreaker feels outdated. These have been the bane of the start of business meetings and teambuilding exercises for years. The thought of seeing a conversation menu at my seat or on the table feels fresh and fun. As a dinner menu, I get to select what I wish to talk about, versus an icebreaker where the facilitator hands me a topic and says, “go.” These days, attendees would rather participate in the experience than be talked at, and what better way to include them than to intentionally craft questions with your specific audience, and the journey you want them to have, in mind.

To add an extra layer of adventure to this process, I would have people stand, at least for a portion of this exercise. A friend of mine, also a CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) and CFMP (Certified Faith-Based Meeting Professional)*, has a fantastic saying he uses all the time when he gathers people together for an event, especially when it includes roundtables, networking, or other interactive components. He tells the attendees, “We practice the Law of Two Feet.” If you are in a conversation or at a roundtable discussion and it no longer interests you or you get your question answered, use your two feet! Walk on over to another group or table and join a new conversation. This sets up the “rules of engagement” to remove any stigma from a speaker or a table host feeling as if they’ve failed when someone walks away, and gives permission for someone to move about the room. If you have attendees stand while they discuss their menu item, they can easily incorporate the Law of Two Feet. The attendee is in control of their experience. Brilliant.

There is no prescription for creating a conversation menu. The initial conversation your team wants to have is about your goals and objectives for the event. I’d recommend spending some time analyzing who your attendees are, their pain points, the journey you want to take them on, and what you want them to walk away with. Personally, I’d create these cards to actually look like menus. Brand them to match your organization or your event. Have a host or emcee who can set up the activity, keep the energy going in the room, encourage people to use their two feet, and watch the crowd to move the event along as needed.

Next time you have a group of people gathered, surprise them with a conversation menu. If nothing else, they’ll at least be talking about that!

Have you used a conversation menu? How’d it go? Leave your comment here or
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*Shout out to Dean Jones, CMP, CFMP of RCMA (Religious Conference Management Association)