As we all know, an event isn’t merely about day-of production. Instead, it’s a detailed process leading up, as well as the follow-up procedures after an event. Your diligence in preparation and follow-up is what allows your team to develop effective practices and continue to elevate your client experience.
Planning your meetings strategically allows streamlined collaboration and open communication, which are both factors that lead to a successful event. Here’s what you need to know.
Pre-Event Meetings
Not every event requires a meeting before the big day, especially if you’re gathering the right information in the first place. We ask our clients to confirm the venue address, timing, floorplans, an on-site contact, and whether there are any possible challenges we should be aware of for set up. Possible issues would include whether there are steps or an elevator, what the drop-off location is like, etc. Knowing these details in advance will help us to prepare for all types of situations, allowing set up to be smooth, accurate, and seamless without the need for a full team meeting.
With that said, you should always plan a meeting with your event team for events that are logistically challenging or unique. If it’s a harder setup, you’re trying something for the first time, or you haven’t been to the venue, a meeting helps to ensure everyone is knowledgeable of the details and ready to go.
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For these events, in particular, our team has a meeting that includes the sales team, drivers, dispatch members, and head of operations. At that time, we determine who will be on-site, how many managers we need, which driver to send, and other vital details. This is also an excellent time to review the timeline and floorplan to ensure everyone understands how the day will go.
Once we have a game plan, our sales team notifies the client to inform them of the details to ensure that we are all on the same page.
Post-Event evaluations
After an event, your assessment should be two-pronged: external and internal.
Externally, you want to know how your clients felt about the event and whether there was room for improvement. To do this, we send out a short survey after the event with a few questions about the service we provided. There is also space for them to include additional information. Client feedback is invaluable for understanding your strengths and weaknesses.
Of course, sometimes there are obstacles that the client isn’t fully aware of because the team handled it discreetly. This is where your internal evaluations come in. Set a meeting with the team to discuss client feedback, as well as their perspective of how everything went. This provides staff with an open space to communicate about challenges and learn better solutions, so they know how to handle it in the future.
Companies need to be on the same page through the entirety of the planning process, but post-event meetings are especially important for continued growth. Companies and their internal teams can learn a lot after an event about how to better handle challenges going forward. The opportunity to learn from each event is instrumental in building a business that lasts in an ever-changing industry.
