Global Conference Network
March 2019
15
Creating a must-attend
association event
The Global Conference Network outlines the basics
all association event managers need to know
he Association Summit – part
of EVENTS EVENTS –
held on 29 January 2019 was
a valuable opportunity for
association event managers to network with
their peers, discover new ideas and share
experience.
The over-arching theme of the event
was creating must-attend association
events and the speaker and panellists
included a great cross-section of association
event professionals from bodies such as
Association for Project Safety; National
Housing Federation; The Association of
Corporate Treasurers; Association for
Project Management and the Market
Research Society among others.
One of the many well received
presentations was delivered by Riad
Mannan, event portfolio development
manager at the Institution of Engineering
and Technology. The IET is a past winner
of event categories in both the Association
Excellence Awards and the Awards Awards.
Given how crowded the marketplace
is (1.3m business events ran in 2018,
according to UKCAMS) Mannan touched
on themes familiar to many association
event managers – how can you compete
with commercial counterparts and how to
do more with less.
Differentiation is obviously key and
going back to basics to question why your
audience need your events is essential. As
well as being brave enough to ruthlessly
interrogate your events portfolio’s content
/ format / delivery and ensure it is meeting
your customer’s requirements – rather than
simply conforming to what you feel your
organisation can deliver.
In answer to doing more with the less the
IET undertook an exercise that culminated
in the deployment of what they termed the
clear strategy – a five-step process outlined
as:
• Collaborate – internal & external
stakeholders
• Listen – understand and act on your
audience’s feedback
• Evolve – continual cycle of analysis &
modification
• Action – implement outcomes whilst
keeping a focus on profitability
• Review – set smart KPIs for every event;
measure audience engagement & inform
ongoing strategy
Underpinning the processes above, the
following themes are essential to retain as
integral part of your planning:
• Stakeholder engagement
• Financial sustainability
• Continuous learning
• Brand awareness
• Technology enabled
• Optimised resources
• Motivated events team
Everything revolves around the
customer, your event attendees must be
placed central to everything and revisited
as often as possible to inform your
approach.
This may mean taking some
uncomfortable decisions, contracting to
expand perhaps, but as Mannan said, it
is necessary sometimes to “take one step
back, breathe and then take two steps
forward”.