Event professionals are experts in the stresses of event planning - from dealing with last-minute changes and late-night demands, to the added stress of facility and vendor snafus.
A recent Skift Meetings article, "Stress at an All-Time High in Events," sheds light on the increasing workload faced by event professionals, with a staggering 61% reporting the shouldering of additional responsibilities within their roles.
At TWST Events, we understand how difficult this can be and we are constantly mindful of trying to ease these types of burdens on event planners.
Why the Surge in Stress?
Several factors contribute to the current spike in stress levels among event professionals. In particular, the complex nature of events, with numerous technologies and moving parts, can feel overwhelming.
Expectations from management are on the rise as well, making it even harder and stressful for event planners to keep up. Team size has not risen to meet these extra demands - often leaving resources stretched thin.
Our Suggestions: Streamline Processes for Success
At TWST Events, we know that the key to managing this type of stress is to streamline processes, so that you, as an event professional, can focus on what truly matters for the success of an event. To help, here are 3 steps to think about:
1. Fewer Vendors Means Fewer Problems
To alleviate the burden on event professionals, we recommend evaluating how many platforms you are using for your event, and consolidating. By consolidating vendors, you can minimize the complexity of coordination and communication, streamlining the logistical process. This allows you to concentrate on essential tasks.
As exhibitors ourselves at events - we have experienced situations where registration, 1x1 meetings, badging, and lead tracking and mobile app were on 5 separate platforms. This is insane. Stressful to coordinate, confusing for attendees (more questions and complaints to deal with), and a total waste of your time and resources.
TWST Events is dedicated to allowing you to deal with one event producer - who can handle all your issues, and a broad platform that serves all your functional needs.
2. Focus on Key Elements
It always helps to be able to mindfully focus on the really important things - and allow secondary issues to take a back seat. We know there are two key factors.
Immediate factors that will keep your Attendee and Senior Management calm.
- Lines at the badge desk
- Well-functioning AV with a team you trust
- Some kind of visual wow-factor when attendees arrive
Business factors that will keep your Exhibitors and Stakeholders happy
- Attendee tracking (in-person or virtually) that will provide real data for your management, speakers and exhibitors
- A moderated one-on-one meeting program that is by far the most important source of value to speakers and exhibitors
- Including a virtual element to extend reach and maximize your audience to raise the significance level for your even
These elements help you maximize the value of your event by expanding your reach, facilitating meaningful connections, and showing that your attendees appreciated the various programs you offered.
3. Extra Help with Event Services
Consider getting temporary help with some of those key factors we talked about above so your team doesn’t have to do everything.
Your 1-on-1 Meeting Program can be entirely managed- saving you time and providing better service to your attendees. The onsite badge desk can be entirely supervised by a small team focussed on the task of keeping lines short. All aspects of attendee tracking - from RFID to lead-tracking apps for exhibitors - can be staffed by temporary help dedicated to the task.
These are projects that our Event Services team at TWST Events love to help with. From meticulous planning and execution to post-event analysis, our team is dedicated to giving you the “extra hands'' you need to make ends meet.
Stress is not good. It doesn’t make for a better event, and it does lead to a longer career. But you have ways of dealing with it - and hopefully this article suggests a couple of ways forward. Get in touch with us here at TWST Events . if you want to chat about any of these.
