How to Build Impactful Events Without Losing Your Sanity

Ever found yourself scrambling to pull together an event at the last minute?

Recently, we had the opportunity to work with a large software company for one of their major events. As the event deadline approached, it became apparent that none of the presentation materials from the leadership team were ready. The marketing team, already overwhelmed with their own tasks, was struggling to dedicate the resources to the task.

We scrambled to get the right information from the leadership team and worked closely with their most trusted advisors. There were many late nights. We traveled to work with them on-site, doing speaker coaching, working with the team to design key visual elements, and were able to put something together we felt was truly great.

Imagine this: $100,000 in equipment, a day of work to connect it all together, 1,200 miles of driving across the country… and the CEO isn’t quite aligned on what they want to say. That’s the crux of the issue – C-suite team members have countless priorities and tasks on their plate, from looking at budget numbers to implementing new HR policies. Amidst all this, they’re expected to deliver an impactful, visionary presentation at the latest event. Meanwhile, the creative and marketing teams are swamped with their own deadlines, like launching a new product by Q2. So who can the leadership turn to for crafting their critical messaging?

Why Are Events Important?

Think of events as modern-day equivalents of generals rallying their troops for battle. Let’s consider a company’s sales kickoff event. The sales team, like troops, needs to be fully informed and motivated to sell the company’s products.

The leadership team comes together to put on an event where they explain the new product, visualize it in ways that are easy to understand, and align the sales team with their vision. As leaders, we should aim to rally the troops so that they feel completely aligned with the mission, how that mission aligns with the actual technology, celebrate the sales team’s success, set future goals, and provide them with a vision for how to sell and communicate the service’s value.

This is a lot to get exactly right because the CEO, who is at the bleeding edge of the company’s change, growth, and development, can’t always communicate their vision in a way that is easily understood by a large organization or crowd. And the stakes are high – without a sales team that’s aligned behind the mission, the ability to meet new sales goals is at risk. Sales teams need to feel that leadership cares about them and their efforts. They need to be motivated and armed with solid selling points, metrics for success, and powerful customer success stories. Most of all, they need to deeply understand what they are selling and why it matters.

That’s why it’s crucial to get these events right and not rush them at the last minute. Your sales team needs to be moving in lockstep with you, relentlessly selling the vision you’ve laid out. Achieving that takes more than just a logical plan – it requires building trust, understanding how your team thinks, and crafting the message in a way that will truly resonate and inspire them.

Our Role

If you have an upcoming event, make sure you have a dedicated internal team – a council of trusted people who can communicate ideas to designers, producers, and storytellers. This way, you can confidently speak to your company’s mission without going through channels of miscommunication, frustration, editing, and back-and-forth while juggling busy schedules.

When we come in, we listen to the leadership team, translate their vision into a story with visuals, and create a killer event that directly ties to the success of the organization as a whole. Having a team like ours that understands your mission and can be trusted to make these events go well, whether they’re sales kickoffs or something else, can cut down on your workload and stress as these events approach.

If you’re struggling with putting your event together, unsure of what to say or how to visualize it, and worried that your marketing team might not be able to handle it on top of their existing responsibilities, consider reaching out to a company like ours. People are more eager than ever to attend events post-COVID, and it’s your opportunity to give them something to talk about well past lunch break.