Tag: Event Marketing

15 Best Practices to host a virtual event engaging and professional

Posted on by eventnook

Are you hosting a series of virtual events for your business, whether it’s for marketing or engaging with your communities? If you are looking for a better way to manage your online virtual events and achieve more engaging event experience, this article will be a great start!

We will be sharing the simple 15 tips (check-list) that we find it super useful for ourselves to run a virtual event like a PRO.

  1. Pre-Registration
  2. Share the video conference link with a Reminder Email
  3. Send Reminder Email — min. 2 times
  4. Virtual Background
  5. Dress up nicely
  6. Presentation Kit
  7. A Trial Run
  8. Starts at least 15 mins before the event
  9. Background Music for early birds — Spotify
  10. Having a host (if you can)
  11. Heads-up and Agenda
  12. Request audience to switch on Camera for more interactive
  13. Poll
  14. Consolidate Q&A
  15. Thank you email

1. Pre-Registration

Not every virtual event will need a registration if it’s a casual event with friends and families. However, if you would like to engage with your audience effectively till the event day, registration is a must. With having a pre-registration, you will benefit the following:

  1. You have contacts for communication and business metrics
  2. You know how many are interested in attending based on the RSVP list. Even though the virtual events may not have a big hassle with audience size, knowing the signup rate will help you many ways to gauge the interest and prepare for the event day accordingly.
  3. Know your audience — You can ask some questions in the form such as their job title, company, etc. so that the presenter knows the audience to prepare for effective presentation.
  4. In the virtual business events, the turn-out rate sometimes can below if you don’t send out the reminder email 1 hour before the event time since they don’t need to dedicate their time to make an effort to travel to a venue like going to a physical event. The people can overlook their calendars when they have a distraction from other Ops activities.
  5. You got contacts to send out your presentation slides after the event and post-event follow-up activities.

The next question is, how do I create a pre-registration process?

Here at EventNook, we are enablers for our business professionals and marketers with event technologies. While EventNook caters to the comprehensive registration solutions for conferences and the MICE industry, we recently launched a new product — UserRoll ( https://www.userroll.com) to enable the small regular series of online virtual events, webinars, courses, etc. from our business communities.

UserRoll makes your event registration hassle-free and rolls smoothly! It allows the event organizers to launch an event registration site in minutes. With UserRoll, you can create an engaging event site and automate your event registration process seamlessly and efficiently.

2. Share the video conference link in Reminder Email

Most people have trouble finding video conference details to join when they are about to join a Most people have trouble finding video conference details to join when they are about to enter a webinar. By communicating the necessary video conference details such as link, passcode, conference dial number, etc. in the reminder email will help to avoid any last-minute hiccup from the audience, and that will increase the turn-out rate.

3. Send Reminder Email (at least 2 times)

Example of a reminder email
Example of Event Reminder Email

As mentioned above, the reminder email will be handy to send out event details. Our recommendation is to send out reminder emails at least two times. The first reminder email should go out a day before the event day, and the second reminder email should go out an hour before the event time.

The first reminder email is to give the audience heads-up about the event coming tomorrow so they can make an effort to bookmark the schedule properly if they are keen to attend.

The second reminder email is to give the audience immediate attention that the event is starting soon and be ready!

If you are using our UserRoll platform, you can do it in a few clicks and find out more here.

Example of scheduling an email

If you are using our UserRoll platform, you can do it in a few clicks and find out more here.

4. Virtual Background

If you are doing a small virtual event and a bit more casual, so we don’t need to present it from a beautiful venue or office, yet you may want to make it look professional and pleasant experience.

beige wooden conference table
Presenting from a nice conference room background

To make our presentation have positive energy over a video conference, the background of the host, or presenter matters. And also, the audience will be people you don’t know, and they could be your potential customers. We don’t want to show our bedroom while we are presenting to invite undesirable negative experiences.

Some presenters also use a poster image of the webinar or a brand background that represent their service or product.

While there are many websites where you can find a proper image, we strongly recommend the following two sites.

  1. Unsplash — Free copy-right yet quality images https://unsplash.com
  2. Canva — To create a custom background or poster https://canva.com.

We have also written about an article on creative images resource — here.

5. Dress Up Nicely

It might not sound like a big deal to dress up since it’s a virtual event. However, for a business event, it’s always good to maintain a professional image like going to physical business events. It creates a great vibe of business energies from a presenter to the audience.

6. Presentation Kit

CrCreate a shared folder (presentation kit) to place all the presentation slides, documents, virtual background images, etc. that are necessary for the event team. So your team can just go to one single shared folder to easily access all the up to date documents during the event.

7. A Trial Run

Test, Test, Test!

two black headphones on brown wooden table

If you are not familiar with a video conference tool that you are using, it’s best to have a rehearsal session to test out the flow and get yourself and the presenter to get familiar with the buttons and menu of the tool.

  • Agenda ready
  • Know how to share the screen or slide
  • Test audio quality (microphone)

8. Start min. 15 mins before the event time

As an event host, start early to be in the video conference (Zoom or whatever tools you use) — at least 15 minutes before the event time not to end up with “Can you hear me?” technical hiccups when the audience comes. Be yourself ready with AV (audio/video), beautiful virtual background, and pleasant background music that are working together smoothly.

9. Background Music for Early Birds

The background music always creates a great mood and experience while the attendees who come early are waiting for the event to start. And if you are also having more than one session and need to give a 10 mins break-time, the background music can be run as well to keep the audience engaged. If you are using Zoom, there is an option to share the sound from the presenter device — [ How to turn on background music in Zoom — Article].

We use Spotify, and it can quickly provide you a playlist that suits, whether it’s a background piano music or energizing pop music!

woman laying on bed near gray radio

10. Having a host (if you can)

Having a warm welcoming host always provides a presenter ease and running event more Having a warm, welcoming host always provides presenter ease and running events more smoothly. Having a friendly host makes presenter ease and running events more smoothly. A presenter can focus on his presentation while a host can facilitate more interactive with sharing what’s coming next, managing the audience such as mute the voice, curating questions from the audience, etc.

11. Heads-up and Agenda

Before we straight away jump into the presentation, it’s always good to spend a minute to give the audience heads-up and share how we are going to run this session. For example, we can briefly mention the following

  1. A warm welcome and a quick introduction to ourselves and about the speaker for a nice gesture to start.
  2. Some housekeeping rule — Such as — to mute the voice of attendees, request to a turn-on video camera for a photo shooting
  3. The flow of the event (Agenda, How long it will take, etc.)
  4. Q&A session

12. Request For Camera On

Nothing is worse than talking to a black wall. Speakers and presenters need energy and simulation by interacting with the audience, even a facial expression. As a human, we must feel that the audience is following.

I attended a webinar, and the presenter was like reading a script, and no one from the audience didn’t switch on the Camera. It was a dull and sleepy session. After a while, I started browsing other websites and didn’t hear the presenter anymore, even though I was still in the webinar.

13. Poll

Quick polling in an online event is not essential, but it’s an excellent way to make the session more interactive, and it also brings back the sleepy audience into attention. You can quickly ask the audience with a quick poll on checking their opinions.

A platform like Zoom webinar offers a polling feature [Read more about Zoom Polling]

14. Q&A

Dedicate a Q&A session at the end of the event. In a virtual event, people prefer to send a Dedicate a Q&A session at the end of the event. In an online virtual event, people prefer to send a Q&A via chatbox. It’s much better to consolidate all those questions typed in the chat by a host or moderator before the Q&A starts and share them in a well-organized bullet point for the presenter to answer.

15. Thank you email

After all, it’s always a good practice to follow-up with the audience after the event. A Thank-you email is a great way to say Thank you for their time and send things such as presentation slides.

If you are using the pre-registration system like UserRoll in place, that’s very easy. You can send it to all attendees with a few clicks.

Hope you find it useful. If you have any feedback with the article, please feel free to drop us hello@eventnook.com and we would love to hear your thoughts!

If you are keen to know more about EventNook services for your upcoming events, we will be glad to assist. Please drop us an email – hello@eventnook.com.

Design a Great Event Page with a Custom Header

Posted on by eventnook

For those of you who want personalization for your event page beyond what our website theme selection offers, our custom header feature can help you achieve just this!

With website theme selection, the details of your event title, date, and location will be shown below the banner image, whether or not your banner already contains that information. But what if you want to display a different text or set a different style of text for your caption below your image?
As you can see from the event page above, the custom header feature can help you avoid repeating the same information and allows you to freely utilize the space to briefly explain your event or add any other information you want your guests to notice! Or if you want to simply change the alignment or color of your text, you can utilize this feature too!

Custom Header Features

  1. Change text. 
  2. Personalize font style, font size, and color.
  3. Change alignment.
  4. Add a bullet list.
  5. Insert a link.

To learn about how to set a custom header, please visit our help page.

This feature is currently only available for those who have subscribed to the premium plan. To learn more about your plan features, feel free to drop us an email. For more information or questions regarding using this feature, please reach out to us! Our team will be happy to assist you.

About EventNook:

EventNook is an online event registration & ticketing platform where organizers can set up and customize their very own event page. Through it, organizers can collect attendees’ information and their payment using a real-time dashboard. Features such as Automated Email Confirmation and QR Code Check-In make the job of event organizers much easier and more efficient.

Contact us:
Email: hello@eventnook.com
Phone: +65 6681-6571
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eventnook
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventnook/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Eventnook/

Maximize Sales Through Ticket Tier Pricing (ex: Early Bird Rate)

Posted on by eventnook

Do you know that EventNook’s ticket tier pricing feature allows organizers to set multiple ticket types?  

Wouldn’t you want your guests to purchase their tickets early rather than last-minute? What better way to encourage guests to attend your event than by offering them a special discount for purchasing their tickets early?

Setting “ticket tier pricing” benefits you as an organizer because it encourages potential attendees to immediately act and purchase tickets upon knowing about the event. This reduces the risk that they will forget about the event when they decide to purchase tickets at a later date.

Utilize this feature now to maximize your event management process and encourage more sales!

To learn how to set ticket tier pricing, visit our help page.

If you need any further assistance or clarification on using this feature, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Contact us:
Email: hello@eventnook.com
Phone: +65 6681-6571
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eventnook
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventnook/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Eventnook/

10 exciting trends in the events industry for 2016

Posted on by eventnook

From event technologies and marketing concepts to new ways of thinking about events, 2016 is all about empowering event planners to understand their attendees and to create not just events but experiences.

1. Integrating big data

More than just data analytics, event planners will be demanding more- the ability get actionable insights and recommendations from the data. They will also be applying it to more aspects of the event planning process, from marketing and engagement to feedback and impact.

2. Customised and personalised events

Driven by the growth in big data and analytics, event planners who can exploit the data will be able to offer customised and personalised event experiences to each and every one of their attendee.

3. Internet of Things (IOT)

The IOT is poised to make venues and events smarter as it allows interaction between material things and the virtual world. iBeacons for instance will allow event planners to track movement within a venue.

This allows event planners to push out information and notifications in the most relevant way and at the most convenient time.

An event attendee receiving a notification on his smartphone when he arrives at the event PC: 9to5mac.com

 

In other words, event planners will become omnipresent.

4. Entrepreneurship and DIY event planning 

Look out for the DIY event planner, the chefs who organise huge cook-outs, the business owners who organise their own conferences and hackathons and the teachers who organise free lessons for students.

With access to event planning tools and free event software, people are able to plan smaller-scale events on a more frequent basis. Professional event planners may see this as a threat to their business. However, you can exploit this growing segment by becoming an influencer yourself. Share your professional knowledge through content marketing with these people and win over their hearts and minds. When they decide to go big with their events, they might just turn to you.

PC: smeadvisor.com

 

5. Wearables 

As wearables become cheaper, event planners could start deploying them en masse at larger-scale events to provide a more customised, consistently engaging experience while at the same time be able to collect more insightful data to drive analytics as well as have the ability to monitor real-time feedback so that events can be modified and understood more accurately

PC: punchkick.com

 

6. Governments want a slice of MICE

Look out for the opportunities your government could provide you in the coming year as governments may provide free skills upgrade workshops, funding or access to government services.

In particular, there is a greater drive to boost the MICE industry in the southeast asian region with Singapore’s government publishing the MICE 2020 roadmap and the Thai government pledging greater support for the MICE industry in a bid to boost tourism as well.

7. Drive for regionalism in ASEAN

MICE industries in southeast asian countries are maximising the ASEAN image to draw in attendees. It would be great if the countries could work together to create a more seamless, transboundary experience, where event attendees could perhaps have a meeting in the Philippines, unwind in Thailand and attend a huge conference in Singapore

Events that manage to draw in crowds throughout ASEAN will boast a more diverse attendee profile and boost the voice of ASEAN at these events.

Read more about the MICE industry in ASEAN here: https://blog.eventnook.com/post/overview-of-the-asean-mice-industry-part-1/

8. Pop-ups

It’s not just about customising events for attendees, it is also making the event more flexible for the companies behind it so that they can benefit more from it. Pop-ups will make event venues more flexible for the needs of the event planner in the year 2016. Event planners may no longer be at the mercy of venue availability or the lack of an event space suitable for their demands!

Called Dome of Visions, this mobile greenhouse studio has recently popped up in Copenhagen. In addition to hosting artists, musicians, and other cultural events in Copenhagen and other cities, the dome will also provide a platform for serious discussion about the future of sustainable housing in a changing world. PC: inhabitat.com

 

9. Integrated technological solutions

No doubt, technologies such as event registration, online and on-site events payment, feedback gathering technologies and engagement technologies will be increasingly deployed by savvy event planners. However, there will be a greater need for these solutions to integrate into one seamless experience.

10. Experimental, experiential, customer-focused event marketing

Event marketing may see a renaissance because many event planners are beginning to see the additional value event marketing can bring to boost the net ROI of events.

PC: weareparable.com

Besides boosting attendance, event marketing can provide much-needed data about the attendee profile right before the event to maximise the relevance of event content and experience for the potential audience.

The fact that these campaigns cost little provide event planners with another platform to try out mini experiments to see if they work with the potential audience before the event. And many times, these unique and unpredictable ways of marketing can attract more buzz and win over the crowds!

 

EventNook offers integrated registration and ticketing solutions for both small and large events. Start 2016 right by upscaling your registration process! 

Event Management Software company, EventNook is an online event registration & ticketing platform where organisers can set up and customise their very own event page. Through it, organisers can collect attendees’ information and their payment using a real-time dashboard. Features such as Automated Email Confirmation and QR Code Check-In make the job of event organisers much easier and more efficient. Recently, EventNook launched an Event Venues Directory which provides information on more than 5,000 venues in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Hong Kong, making one of the best places on the web to look for venues in South East Asia.

Contact us:
Email: hello@eventnook.com
Phone: +65 6681-6571
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eventnook
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventnook/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Eventnook/

Unconventional hackathons for different event needs

Posted on by eventnook

Once the sole domain of tech companies and startups, the hackathon has invaded almost every industry. Event planners organise hackathons for different objectives, ranging from recruitment and networking to marketing and education.

The hackathon is an event, usually a competition, for techies that span 2 full days in which software developers, hardware developers, designers and project managers collaborate intensely to develop an innovative project. However, many companies are adapting this format and organising more unconventional hackathons for their own purposes.

1) Non-competitive hackathons

Some hackathon organisers are removing the competitive element to create a more collaborative element while possibly saving money on prizes. It creates a more friendly environment for less experienced participants to join in and learn from more experienced ones. People are more willing to take the time to teach because they are not too preoccupied with winning. In addition, ideas are much more creative as there are tie-ups and cooperation between teams and this leads to more breakthroughs.

Techcrunch.com

However, the drawback is that people tend to work slower and are sometimes less motivated to push themselves to the ultimate limit. Yet, the presentations at the fintech hackathon Hack/Make the Bank 2015 organised at Level 39 still had high quality pitches.

2) Very short hackathons

For the event planners that cannot find a venue for a 2-day hackathon or lack the logistical resources to do so, a short hackathon could just do the trick.

PA Consulting, based in London recently organised a one-hour hackathon. It mainly focused on developing an idea and creating a quick prototype. It served as a great networking session for busy professionals and was awesome for employer branding as people could understand what the company did on a deeper level and forge stronger relationships by working together.

http://hackevents.co/hackathon/united-kingdom/london/714-the-one-hour-hackathon

nytimes.com

3) Non-technical hackathons

The most common non-technical hackathon are business hackathons that mainly focus on the ideation, business building processes and the pitch. Code-free hackathons like Protohack are great for generating less technical solutions, while not excluding them entirely. Prototypes however, tend to be less advanced as it’s difficult to build any actual programmes or products without coding experience.

Photo Credits: mashable.com

4) Virtual hackathons

Working over the Internet on sharing platforms can also get the job done. The best thing about virtual hackathons is the ability to draw participants from all over the world. However, it is difficult to sustain successful teams as there is too little face-to-face contact and time zone issues.

 

What all the hackathons have in common is the culture of encouraging innovation, building and breaking things and teamwork. As long as these values are promulgated, the hackathon will be successful whatever form it takes,

 

Need help planning your next hackathon? Want to reach out to the startup community?

Whether it’s free or paid, EventNook can help you with online event registration, event ticketing and onsite event registration and check-in!

 for Free events!

Screen shot 2015-11-26 at AM 04.32.01

Plan events the youths really want

Posted on by eventnook

If you are an older event planner, you might think the young people of today, the millennials, teenagers, youths, whatever you like to call them, are an alien species. They talk, behave, dress and interact in entirely different ways. It is easy to fall into the ‘uncool’ camp with this opinionated bunch.

Photo Credit: unyouth.org.au

But you don’t have to fret. While you may not understand the way younger event attendees truly think, you can keep to the following do’s and don’ts when engaging younger crowds at your events, to avoid major embarrassment, be it youth camps, youth conventions, music events, church camps or sports events

1. Know your social media

Social media lingo and the invisible rules of the digital space are just some things you have to quickly pick up to communicate effectively with youths today.

This includes the use of hashtags and social linguistics targeted specifically at younger event attendees so that you can effectively reach out to them. For this, it may be wise to consult an actual youth when managing your social media accounts.

Photo Credits: http://www.cnbc.com

Social media provides a platform for people to advertise what they like in a much more natural way, and the youths are making full use of that, sharing what they think and how they feel to everyone in their networks. When leveraged properly, younger event attendees can be a powerful marketing force. They can send your hashtag straight to what’s trending, and might even cause your posts to go viral. They are the gateways to the entire Internet community.

2. Don’t dumb down

Noone likes being spoken down to, and young people are no exception. In fact, you will be surprised at the level of maturity and the amount of experiences young people have today. Make sure to pitch the event at the right level to your target audience by learning about what they know and understand already.

More importantly, make sure your young audience is being heard. Place them first when designing marketing strategies. Make them central to the event.

3. Glide don’t grind (a.k.a. don’t seem like you’re trying too hard)

Event planners must plan events like swans on a lake, paddling furiously beneath the waters to move ahead, but looking calm and classy above water.

Today’s young people have seen some really crazy things through their smartphones. Therefore, extravagant displays and outrageous acts at events may not impress them. In fact, it may make your young attendees think that you are trying too hard.

This is tough advice to follow because you are going to have to try harder to not look like you are trying too hard. But that’s what millennials like to do, torture the older generations.

4. Harness traditional media

Word of mouth, official news publications, magazines, radios and TVs are still being perused by millennials. The youths still value hearing about an event from their friends and seeing posters about it on their school campus. Live roadshows and pre-events are also great ways to reach out to young people, who despite living part of their lives online, still value the power of meeting people face-to-face.

5. Optimise for every device

Smartphones, tablets and computers. Yes, your event should be present on all three and optimised. More people are buying tickets on their mobiles and tablets and a poorly optimised user interface can cause ticket buyers to give up before paying.

Image result for eventnook ipad

6. Don’t be boring

Everyone likes to have fun. But young people need to have fun. It is your duty as event planner to understand what your target audience’s definition of fun is.

Make sure not to take the event too seriously. Inject some personality. Young people are much less tolerant to boredom, so change it up, avoid long lectures with limited physical movement or audience participation and encourage as much interaction as possible.

7. Connect and engage

If you fail to put out a message that resonates with your younger audience, your event will be forgotten by next week, buried beneath all the other events your young attendee went to.

Young event attendees tend to go to events either for fun, for learning, to compete or by force. Not many appreciate the opportunity to network and may not see the point of a live event if they are not connecting with it.

One way to remain relevant is to continuously engage the young people. Let them drive the event marketing. Youths love to be part of something. They love to do exercise their influence so let them be heard. Naturally, this projects a much more youth-centric image of your event and you get to ensure your marketing strategy is on the right track!

 

Need help with event registration for your next event? Looking to plan events for young people?

Whether it’s free or paid, EventNook can help you with online event registration, event ticketing and onsite event registration and check-in!

 for Free events!

Screen shot 2015-11-06 at PM 08.20.19

How companies like Uber are driving growth using events

Posted on by eventnook

With Uber recently announcing the release of UberEVENTS, we take a closer look at how businesses, large and small, are using events to power their growth.

Airbnb

Airbnb is making full use of the power of intimate live events by organising and helping their users organise meetups and gatherings for Airbnb users. Past events include “A toast to London”, “Colombo Get-Together @ Lemon Bar” and “DC Host Appreciation Social @ Hoban’s!“. Airbnb knows how to leverage the power of events to strengthen their community of users, which helps build brand loyalty and increase customer retention.

Airbnb Meetups Page
Airbnb Meetups Page

Most businesses don’t have the luxury of Airbnb’s size and growth to afford planning this many events for their users. However, what we can learn from Airbnb is to let our networks and users do the work for us. Tap more extensively into your network of users and encourage them to plan events through one or two passionate community managers that you hire.

Uber

Recently launched in late September 2015, UberEvents is a service that allows organizers to buy and secure car passes ahead of the occasion to send to guests, clients or whoever needs one to get to the location via email.

This is great for exposing Uber’s services to the event-goers who use their service when they attend a particular event.

Photo Credits: engadget.com

 

Ramada Singapore At Zhongshan Park

Local businesses in Singapore are also exploiting the power of events to market themselves. Ramada Singapore at Zhongshan Park, a hotel in Singapore, is currently organising the Ah Hood Burger Challenge on 28 Nov 2015, a burger eating contest to promote their Ah Hood burger stall.

 

Upcoming Event on 28 Nov 2015
Upcoming Event on 28 Nov 2015

By giving away Flavours At Zhongshan Park vouchers as the prize, they also promote the other restaurants in their hotel.

The event is a great way to get people to know about them as well as to bring them back with the prizes given away at the event! By planning a competition, they can also leverage on the networks of the participants who will bring their family and friends down for support. And how do they do that? By offering a package for families and friends to enjoy the food without stuffing their stomachs till they explode.

Pigeon Singapore

Pigeon Singapore, producer of Mother and Baby Care Products, hosts the SG Mass Latch On in conjunction with World Breastfeeding Week annually. The event sees mothers of all walks of life come together to latch on their babies at the same time.

Planning social gatherings and meetups for mothers creates a positive branding effect for Pigeon amongst their main target group. They are seen as the champion of women and mothers in Singapore. By organising it in conjunction with a worldwide event, they can also leverage online opportunities for marketing. They are also able to use the event giveaways to promote their breastfeeding products.

 

Oktoberfest (Augustiner, Hacker Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner, Spaten)

Oktoberfest, the most famous beer festival and travelling funfair which happens in Munich from late September to October every year is an extravagant display of the biggest beer brands in Munich. It draws millions of people from all around the world for weeks of beers, Bavarian culture and carnival rides. Imagine the market reach for the beer brands involved!

One thing we can learn from these brands is the power of collaboration. The event is so successful because it brings together the best of Munich’s breweries. They draw on each other’s brand power to create a bigger entity that they cannot create alone.

Visitors wearing traditional Bavarian clothes raise their beers in a festival tent at the start of the Oktoberfest beer festival at the Theresienwiese in Munich, southern Germany. This year's edition of the world's biggest beer festival Oktoberfest will run until October 7, 2012. AFP PHOTO / CHRISTOF STACHE (Photo credit should read CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/GettyImages)
Photo Credit: losangeles.cbslocal.com

These beer brands have created a legacy brand on the back of a highly successful event. Both the beer brands and the event Oktoberfest have now become synonymous with Bavarian culture.

 

Events are a powerful tool in every business’ arsenal. Use them in a way that builds a community for your business and you will witness increasing brand evangelism, recurrent purchases and higher brand awareness.

How can you leverage events for your business? Stay tuned for the next part of this article to find out more!

 

Want to start accelerating your business’ growth through events?

Whether it’s free or paid, EventNook can help you with online event registration, event ticketing and onsite event registration and check-in!

 for Free events!

Screen shot 2015-09-29 at AM 10.06.57

What your Myers-Brigg personality type says about you as an event organiser: Part 2

Posted on by eventnook

The MBTI framework is a great tool to better understand our natural inclinations as an event organiser. Rather than defining certain traits for a successful event planner which is really limiting, why not understand how each and every one of us can contribute what we do best naturally. It is not about finding out whether our personality is suitable for event planning. Rather, it is about understanding how we work best.

INFJ- The Advocate

Quiet and mystical, yet very inspiring and tireless idealists.

Photo Credits: shoppingdamour.com
Photo Credits: shoppingdamour.com

Strengths

INFJ event planners are great team players, often very democratic in their approach. They will make everyone they work with feel important, from venue owners to transport people as well as their subordinates, defusing tensions whenever they arise, and making the working environment open and egalitarian. Their ability to create such a favourable workplace will greatly improve communication within the team as people are encouraged to voice out concerns honestly, allowing the event organiser to obtain accurate on-the-ground information.

Weaknesses

INFJ event planners are more concerned with finding meaning and fulfillment in their work. Many events can help them fulfill this need, in particular charitable events, community events and the likes. However, INFJ event planners need to understand that the job contains significant mundanity (like most office jobs) and they still need to give their all and prove themselves worthy of bigger things. In addition, their strength of seeking to understand all sides to the story can be counterproductive in urgent, unexpected situations that often crop up in event planning. INFJs need to learn to be assertive and take charge of the decision making process rather than listen to what everyone has to say.

 

INFP- The Mediator

Poetic, kind and altruistic people, always eager to help a good cause.

Photo Credits: Institute of Event Management
Photo Credits: Institute of Event Management

Strengths

INFP event planners are able to make any mundane event meaningful and inspirational. Their ability to see the best in everything means they are able to approach any event with fresh insight as well as spot opportunities from miles away. They are great marketers, abled in manipulating words to create messages that resonate and communicate with people on deeper levels. They will market the hell out of any event, squeezing every bit of it to create a meaningful narrative that people can relate to. In particular, they are able to persuade from an emotional and philosophical standpoint best.

Weaknesses

INFP event planners don’t respond favourably to criticisms and this can make being an event planner difficult. Event planners need to be in close proximity to a devil’s advocate to prevent oversight of details. They have to be extremely open to criticisms and be able to respond swiftly to them so that things don’t go wrong during the event. Sometimes, INFP event planners can plan out the whole event in their head and get swayed over by their own plans that when someone comes to burst their bubble, they deflate entirely. INFP event planners need to get used to criticisms and come to love them, if they want to make sure they plan events that will run smoothly and successfully.

INFP are big thinkers and they tend to gloss over details and practicalities to focus on the bigger picture of the event. Things like strategic marketing and how the event value-adds to event attendees will preoccupy their minds. Therefore, INFPs need to surround themselves with people who have an eye for detail to help them see their blind spots.

 

ENFJ- Protagonist

Charismatic and inspiring leaders, able to mesmerize their listeners.

Photo Credits: woman.thenest.com
Photo Credits: woman.thenest.com

Strengths

ENFJs are happiest in their job when they get to satisfy their event-goers with a good experience. This fundamental motivation makes ENFJs natural event planners. They are driven to know about the motivations and desires of other people, aka event-goers and will work to achieve them as much as possible. Their sociability and desire to improve the situation of others make them great at engaging clients planning events, or event-goers. ENFJs are also quick-learners and efficient multi-taskers, making them able to work on parallel events all at once. This is a valuable trait for event planners who often have to focus on multiple things going on at once, without losing the balance.

Weaknesses

ENFJs have a tendency to take on more than they can chew. As event planners, they may over promise clients because like their counterparts above, they may not be fully aware of the practicalities and limitations, while their drive to please will cause them to become a Yes Man. But most experienced ENFJs won’t fall into this trap. However, it may be difficult at first to understand how to work with limitations and turning those limitations to plusses, rather than making one’s own work tougher to do. Sometimes, it’s better to think of better alternatives than to try to fulfill all of what the clients set out to do.

 

ENFP- The Campaigner

Enthusiastic, creative and sociable free spirits, who can always find a reason to smile.

Photo Credits: Santa Barbara Wedding Standard
Photo Credits: Santa Barbara Wedding Standard

Strengths

ENFPs are extremely independent but love working with people at the same time. They are great listeners who are able to not only understand what their clients and event goers want, but are also able to synthesize different ideas from different people and connect the dots, forming an even bigger and better idea. Event planners of ENFP personality are creative but not in the nature like their counterparts who think of ideas in their head. Instead, ENFP listen to the various needs and wants of event-goers and bring them together into a holistic whole. While they love working with people, they do not depend on others to be efficient. They are able to think for themselves and in fact, relish the freedom from micro-management.

Weaknesses

ENFPs are also at the danger of over-listening. They may pick up signals that throw them off and make communication more convoluted than it was meant to be. This is dangerous for event planners who are highly exposed to a variety of people in their work, from within the office to the entire event industry including people doing venues, catering, performances, staging, audio, transportation, construction, marketing, etc. ENFPs are vulnerable to work stress originating from interactions at work. ENFP event planners who may have stepped on someone’s toe during an event will feel the effects long after the event. ENFPs need to learn how to desensitize themselves without losing their trademark of being great listeners.

 

Of course, event planners do not exclusively fit into neat categories. They can span different personality types. Furthermore, personalities do not demonstrate skills which are even more important for event planners. Personalities are great for telling us our natural inclinations and what we need to work on.

 

Stay tuned to Part 3 for more analysis for other personality types and read up on Part 1 (INTJ, INTP, ENTJ, ENTP) here!

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Credits to 16personalities.com for the general analysis of each personality type