Now is the Time to Plan Your 2021 Events
February 4, 2021
Similar to your business and marketing plans, your engagement plan should be well-underway before the conclusion of 2020. How do you plan to successfully engage your employees, teams, vendors, customers and prospects? We realize this may not be something your company is thinking about right now, but it’s not too late! In addition to our $21,000 giveaway of event production services, we want to share with you why it is so important to plan NOW.
2021 events will look like no year before, but we believe they can, and will be better. In a world where we physically feel more distant, it has actually given us reason to be closer together. Even though we may not feel confident in what our engagement plans and events will look like in the new year, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan them.
At Show Ready we believe that the blended-hybrid event model is here to stay; and for good reason. This not-so-new event model allows you to engage audiences across the word in real time and at a far less cost than traditional in-person events. Don’t get us wrong, in time in-person events will be back stronger than ever. After all, there is nothing like the impact of meeting face-to-face, sharing stories and best practices over a drink, and getting to no one another. But with the blended-hybrid model, which combines in-person events with virtual technologies, you can engage broader audiences in real time, reduce costs, and leverage your event budget to create impactful marketing assets that can be easily integrated into your social marketing campaigns. Understanding how to use this model to successfully engage employees, customers, and prospects is critical to long term success.
Having a well thought out engagement strategy which leverages virtual and blended-hybrid event models is a must-have for business growth and development – whether you’re a startup, small company, or large corporation. But, they take more time to prepare, plan and execute. That’s where choosing an event production provider that is on the cutting edge of new event strategies is important. There is power to be had in a strong virtual kick-off event that can have a ripple-effect on the rest of your year. In addition to pre-event, mid-event, and post-event content, going virtual allows your connection to be safe, yet impactful.
In the case you’re able to host live, in-person events in addition to your virtual schedule, take advantage! For those of us who can and are comfortable gathering, it’ll be nice to take a break from our new-usual video calls. Keeping hybrid-blended events interesting, engaging and meaningful also allows us to design remarkable, creative, and memorable experiences. Per usual, you’ll want to set clear business objectives for any and all events, but shift just a little bit (or a lot). Using your overall business and growth strategy to energize your engagement plan and inform your event schedule will take a team of experienced and forward-thinking professionals to be considered a success. It may be time to re-evaluate your production values, event design, and style set up. These factors will reflect both online and in person
Your messaging will be more important than ever. Your reach will go further than ever before – are you ready? Follow these steps to make sure you are.
- Content is King. Now, not only are we creating live-event experiences, but we need to brainstorm virtual event experiences as well. How will you keep your audience engaged – will you partner with a food delivery service? Join forces with a corporate partner? Feature a celebrity guest? Offer a wellness or masterclass session? These are all viable options as well as smart choices.
- Choose the Right Event Platform. The Event Platform is the main hub where your virtual and live audiences come together. Having a platform that is intuitive, entertaining, and visually exciting can make or break your event. Thankfully, Show Ready is graced with top-notch technology that allows us to host our new events with virtual meeting rooms, powerful speaking platforms, live Q&A sessions, and virtual reality. We will rest assured and have peace of mind when we can safely and joyfully proceed within our new normal from the comfort of our own home, local coworking space, or socially distant office space.
- Focus on Quality, Not Quantity. Creating high-quality content has always been an important differentiator between successful and unsuccessful events and now is even more critical when blending both in-person and virtual audiences! Virtual content can, and should be, pre-recorded and used side-by-side with live, in-person content. Show Ready is here to do that for you! Creating these types of events proactively before and at the start of the pandemic, we’re ahead of the curve and prepared to offer many options for our clients.
- Get Creative. Looking outside of your usual circles for inspiration is highly encouraged, and we’ve led by example and implemented a few new features for events. This has taken us years before the pandemic to implement, but we want to share our knowledge and experience to lead you to success!
Live events are not much different, but now allowed to become more powerful. It all starts with planning and opportunity. We’re definitely excited to gather safely when the time comes, but until then we will create a safe, secure and ready-to-go show experience, NOW. In our valiant efforts to resume live events we all know and love, it’s only right to take advantage of what is available to us while supporting businesses that need us. Live, virtual, and hybrid-blended events aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, so contact us to get the ball rolling for 2021!
Show Ready Technologies
3175 Ridgeway Ct. | Walled Lake, MI 48390 | (888) 651-5411 | showreadytech.com
