Your event or conference audience really hates your agenda. Here are five surefire rules that will make people love your events … and make you a hero.

Cruel & Inhuman Punishment

If you’re an event planner, corporate event planner or conference planner I bet your event agenda hasn’t changed in years – a long-drawn-out day that starts at 8:00am and ends after 10:00pm. This agenda should be outlawed by the Geneva Convention.

Any person who is forced to sit through nine hours of a conference, meeting or workshop should be declared legally dead and their estate probated.

So if you want your attendees and audiences to love your events and not dread them … fix the agenda.

The Audience Hates Your Event Agenda

If we’re honest we’ll admit that most event agendas are designed more for the convenience of the presenters, organizers or producers than for the audience. No ROI or cost savings comes from making the experience so boring and uncomfortable that it prevents you from getting the results you need.

Every year I work with corporations, associations and executives to make their events more relevant, authentic and deliver results. This includes reinventing their agendas. We start by thinking like the audience and viewing everything from their perspective. It’s all about the experience. I use what I call my Five Surefire Rules.

Five Surefire Rules To Fix It

1. Short is good. Long is bad. Focus on the least amount of information the individual or audience needs to know to do what you want them to do. Not one word more.

2. Don’t tell them things they already know. Tell them specific things they want and need to know, why it’s valuable to them, what to do next, and make it relevant.

3. Give your audience reasons to care. If they don’t care, the content doesn’t matter.

4. Remember the event or conference is about and for the people in the audience. Communicate on their terms, using their vocabulary and context.

5. Make the content come alive. Visualize. Dramatize. Tell stories. Make it emotional. Give people things to do that are engaging and involving!

Make The Agenda For The Audience

If you’re a corporate event planner the first thing you have to accept is – You can’t fix your agenda until you accept that it’s broken. I give you a solid working plan in the article, How To Design The Next Great Event – Take Baby Steps. The key thing is to forget the past and change it. As I said in the article, more business has been lost and more events allowed to become mired in mediocrity because of the concept, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” What that really means is, “We are either afraid or too lazy to change.”

Being a corporate event planner is complicated enough. We can fix your agenda together. The process we use to rethink an agenda is simple, creative and liberating. We explore new ways to make sure that employees, customers and members get the specific content and experiences they need … to do what you want them to do. And make it enjoyable and productive.

Heads Up Corporate Event Planner

It’s the kiss of death to go too long in a meeting. No matter how riveting you think it is, people always hit a wall. Get out before that happens.

Let’s Talk

So, how can you reinvent your agenda? Let’s talk. I’d like to work with you to make your next event or conference more successful.

Let’s spend 15 minutes talking about your next project or challenge. Just click on CONTACT US or send an email to andy@ideagroupatlanta.com and get in touch.

POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE

New, Bold, Creative Ideas – Walk On The Wild Side!