Events are largely successful because of deeply connected partnerships based on aligned values and shared respect. It is our business philosophy that a small group of A plus, senior level event professionals is a stronger contingent than a large agency of varied skill levels. This is the lens through which we search for our hand-picked partners and teammates, and why we celebrate them so openly.
To provide insights into how and why this matters, here is our event partnerships playbook: the approach we take with our event partners to provide ROI and enormous value to our clients.
Bring partners to the table immediately
Provide an in depth briefing to your partners and producers including sentiments of the client brand, not just event planning logistics. We treat our partners like an algorithm: the more information we provide them, the more customized and well-suited our results will be.
Remove the ego
We know that we aren’t the only one’s providing effective event strategies to our clients, and a huge part of acknowledging and celebrating that is to operate from our conscious minds, not our egos. We play to our partners’ strengths and celebrate their contributions openly with clients, allowing the praise to be given where it’s due. This enables deep rooted buy-in from our partners, resulting in a deeply committed army of brand gladiators for our clients.
Divide and conquer
We say “aces in their places” for a reason. Staying closely tied to our partners throughout the strategy and creative phases of the event, we use sharable and collaborative documents with our partners, enabling each team member to bring their strengths to the depths of the project.
Treat partners like family
This one ties back to our company value of empathy. Everything from event budgeting – to be fiscally conservative for our clients AND to win for our event partners – to healthy onsite food and beverage for partners, we love to ensure our teams feel appreciated and valued. This leads to high impact value for our clients, generating huge ROI.
Share the wins.
When we earn a new client or a project closes after show day, we share the glory with our event partners. Not just within our collective with the obligatory thank you emails, but publicly, on social media and in front of our clients, too. Our clients always know the team who contributed to the overall success in the event, celebrating our event partners as much as ourselves.
Whether you’re new to the live events industry, looking to gain insight into creating powerful partnerships, or you’re an in-house manager looking to team up with an event planning team that goes deeper than surface collaborations, this playbook is for you.
Lisa Marks is owner of Brand Alive Inc, a Western Canadian corporate event strategy and management company that aims to build culture in everything they do. brandalive.ca and @brandaliveinc
