“When going through hell, keep going” – a piece of advice from Winston Churchill that resonates with anyone involved in event planning at the moment. After what we thought was a one-off year of uncertainty in 2020, we are still having to deal with restrictions and lockdowns 18 months after the pandemic began.
So while many may be tempted to think “What’s the point?”, if you still believe in the power of events to achieve communication and business objectives here are four reasons we are using to motivate us to keep planning.
- This too will pass. At some point we’ll get through this, to believe otherwise is I think unhelpful and short sighted. Change is constant and eventually we’ll move on from COVID dominating our lives and in its replacement will remain a host of other challenges and desires that will need to be addressed- potentially via people gathering together at events. So when this does happen, those that have plans in place and are ready to act will have a definite advantage over their competition.
- By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. When conditions do open up again there is likely to be a limited supply of resources to actually run events. Since March 2020 the event industry continues to be stripped of not just assets ( think venues, equipment hire companies, caterers etc) but also talent as people leave the industry to find work elsewhere. So when the conditions do shift to allow a return to regular in-person event’s there is likely to be more demand than available supply for good event support. As such for those that wait for conditions to return to ideal before making their event plans, there is a good chance that event expertise will be tough to find.
- No room at the inn. Speaking of limited resources, this issue is likely to be exacerbated by the fact that there will also be a pent up demand competing for these limited resources. We saw it at the end of 2020 and early 2021 and there is no reason not to think it will happen again. There is a backlog of postponed events ready to go, and we hear all the time from businesses, organisations, associations and government departments that are desperate to gather together again with their people in person. If you delay planning, then you may find your preferred dates are already taken by a competitor, or there isn’t any venue availability.
- Can your business afford to put up the ‘gone fishing’ sign? Finally I’d suggest the best reason for planning ahead ( be it for future events or simply for your business) is to consider the alternatives. Fishing? Gardening? Retirement perhaps? All valid options but only by choice because if you’re not planning for something then you’re planning for nothing and you may as well go fishing. When COVID shut us down in March 2020, after feeling sorry for ourselves for a short period, our MD then focused our attention on planning for the future. As a result we’ve continued to grow, and learn and we’re still here because we had something to work towards rather than just waiting for circumstances to change.
As Seth Godin wrote in one of his recent blog posts (which I recommend if you don’t get them) “ Often the only difference between a speed bump and an obstacle is our decision about which one it is”. We get that it can be disheartening to be planning events at the moment, but we encourage you to look up, plan ahead and keep going.
If you’d like to chat with us about your plans, you can arrange a free 30 minute consultation with one of our digital event strategists. We can discuss your event challenges and how you might incorporate a digital event strategy into your overall event plan.
