Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Marrying the fiduciary and detail-planning to the relationship-building is not easy. But this element, the in-person relationship experience, makes the event a marketing tool unlike the coolest flash Web site or slickest direct mail campaign. It puts human interaction back in the driver’s seat of delivering the marketing message.
The question is: how can companies in today’s busy and shortened-attention-span environment use the event medium to effectively grow their business?
An often-overlooked component of a successful event is a debrief meeting after it’s finished. Such a meeting can provide measurable results of the past and insight on future strategy.
Dictonary.com defines the word ‘debrief’ as:. “to question formally and systematically in order to obtain useful intelligence or information.” This is a straightforward definition.
There are five basic components of a successful debrief meeting: facts; event summary; successful aspects; difficulties; other information. But as the organizer of an annual event that draws more than 1,000 local business people, I know you have to go beyond the basics.
Multiple points of view are essential for an accurate and comprehensive assessment after your event. We assemble many layers of employees and management for our debrief meetings, including C-level management and our outside public relations counsel. Because each person at the table has different roles and responsibilities, the overall goals for the event can be analyzed more thoroughly.
Looking at the factual successes and difficulties of an event are important, but the brainstorming that management can do around this information will drive the return on investment of future events. If you take away best practices from every event, you can skip reinventing it every time.
The planning for every event should include a list of goals that the company wants to meet. That way there’s a measuring stick to refer to during the event debrief. Oftentimes achieving a certain head count is not the only factor to consider when measuring the success of an event. What other goals do you want to achieve?
After looking at your goals, and then analyzing what actually happened at the event, the last component is to look ahead. With one extreme being a cancellation of the event, and the other being the creation of offshoot events, the big-picture success or failure of an event should chart a course for the future.
Decide upon a customized follow-up method (note, gift basket, coupon, etc.) to deliver to key sponsors and participants to ensure high customer satisfaction and crystal-clear communication. This solidifies the ongoing business relationship or begins a new relationship on a positive note.
Creating and hosting an event is not a tool that is right for every industry or every situation. But when the time is suitable, an event can grow rapidly, create buzz and build relationships.
Make sure your event hits your goals by including the strategic debrief meeting after it’s over.
