Insight
The chief event officer’ s playbook
CMW OFFERS AN EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW OF SASHA FRIEZE’ S UPCOMING NEW BOOK ON HOW TO TRANSFORM EVENTS
S asha Frieze was one of
the keynote highlights of International Confex earlier this year in London where she presented a session packed with eventprofs and inspiration and ideas for creating transformational events.
Focusing on the strategic value of events to an organisation, she explained how chief event officers can elevate the events conversation around the boardroom table.
Some of the ideas of that Confex presentation are included in a book, The Chief Event Officer’ s Playbook, to be published in November. In it, Frieze shares a number of frameworks and models to help event professionals create events that achieve organisational strategic goals.
The playbook has at its core The Event Transformation Blueprint, a ten-step four question framework to guide event professionals in creating powerful events. The book centres on three guiding principles. First, it’ s time to focus on the strategic value of events to your organisation. Second, step into the chief event officer mindset to command influence and credibility in the boardroom. And third, the key to all of this is to put the participant at the heart of the event journey.
The first question the book asks is‘ Why are you creating this event?’ Events, Frieze notes, not only transform individuals, taking them on the journey to connection, seeking to obtain knowledge, or from non-members to members. Within an organisation, transformation can mean growing the membership and moving from siloed
Sasha Frieze, FCIM FRSA An award- winning event strategist. Sasha has 30 + years in the events industry, producing over 1,000 corporate, association, conference, trade show and mediaowned events. She is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Marketing and The Royal Society of Arts, a non-exec director of the British Society for Haematology and a visiting lecturer in event management at The University of Westminster.
thinking to releasing the power of convening and raising a louder voice for the sector. Transformation also can be sectoral, raising issues that lead to regulatory change; and showcasing research that can lead to anything from the creation of start-ups to the achievement of your‘ big purpose’.
“ Integral to big transformation is making the participant the hero of the event and creating participant journeys by using narrative models”
Participant journey Integral to that big transformation is making the participant the hero of the event and creating participant journeys by using narrative models. Frieze also recommends that event managers use these tools to establish their event’ s USP – unique selling proposition – asking yourself why does attending your event matter, what difference will it make?
Frieze’ s book offers dozens of case studies and interviews of successful communities strengthened by events. Early testimonials include“ It’ s a love letter to the profound human impact of masterfully crafted events.”
For more information, including on how to obtain a copy of The Chief Event Officer’ s Playbook – How to create transformational events by Sasha Frieze go to: https:// chiefeventofficer. co / n
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