If you looked back at the last year of events that you and your team planned and delivered, can you see where you made a difference?
If you are working on fundraising events, did you support causes you stand behind? Did you create events where shared value shone through and generated both funds and conversation around a passion for improvement for those you are helping? Did you leave with satisfaction and a sense of a job well done?
Seeking satisfaction
While this time of year tends to have us thinking more about giving, the job of fundraising is year-round. To maintain your focus and passion, perhaps most especially when dealing with well-meaning committee members, is a challenge that can push the most seasoned event professional to the edge. We need the satisfaction of seeing a group of participants embracing the cause and the event!
If you are planning conferences, do you create spaces to promote conversation and connection? As planners we are often not responsible for the program, but we can guide the design and flow. We know education is often the reason for attending, and a solid program is often the sell to attend (or the opportunity to respond to the latest challenges by allowing space for participant driven topics to be created). It is not so much what we learned in sessions but our experience outside the sessions that creates the interest to return.
Positive impact
Now with social media and virtual event inclusions, we have an even greater ability to create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) as we have our participants marketing for us during our event. This can no longer be ignored, and thoughtful integration of digital tools can radically shift up the positive impact inside and outside the walls of your meeting.
It is for many planners seeing the connections and the laughter and the intense conversations that let us know what we created is making a difference. It is hard what we do, and when we see people who chose our event from among the many that exist in every sector and geography, knowing we made a difference is what keeps us doing this again and again. Looking back, what was your highlight? Comment below and let us know!
