Lessons from the Field: Become the Expert, not a Jack

This blog post continues a series of lessons from the field for a new event business. See: Lessons from the Field: Be Open for Business; Lessons from the Field: Focus on Great Strategy

Lesson 3: Become the Expert, not a Jack.
What’s the saying – “to thine own self be true!” This is inherent in the beginning of any business. Before you can provide great service and be open for business you must know yourself – who and what you want your company to be. I launched BeEvents in 2007 with a furious desire to constantly having ideas and fostering live conversations. What I love about the event business is that we create the platform on which a facilitated dialogue occurs. And it is the strategy and design of that platform which can guide the conversation and engage participants into interaction with one another. Despite and alongside the huge advances of technology, human beings are social creatures and that need for in-person interaction will never go away nor not be of value. Yet looking out on the landscape of the industry, I did not see many who were fostering a strategic conversation about the value of and design for events. And so I set out to do that – to focus on the strategic power of people to come together, be present and share an experience. In saying this out loud, I picked what I was passionate about and defined a brand for myself which I now have the pleasure of maintaining, refining and living up to. And I have also defined what my company is not.

This, to me is the definition of being an expert. Experts know what they have to offer and also who and what they are not. By contrast, Jack-of-all-trade types try to offer everything. To be all to their clients. Particularly in a tough economy when the budgets are slim and the margins slimmer, the desire to be a Jack gets stronger. But it is Jacks who do the biggest disservice to the industry as a whole. Because no one can ever be everything to a client, and deliver everything excellently. There is compromise in diversity. That is not to say that sometimes you have to do things outside your expertise or deliver services because the budget to bring in other experts is not there. But on the whole, focusing on being an Expert, defining your brand for what it is and what it is not, and sticking too that will reap rewards in the long run.

Lessons from the Field: Focus on Great Service

This blog post continues a series of lessons from the field for a new event business. See: Lessons from the Field: Be Open for Business

Lesson 2: Focus on Great Service.
Being in the event business means you are in the people business. Whether it is your employees, your clients, or their guests, it is always our job to be hospitable. While there are many definitions of great service, my mantra is that our business is not to only give clients what they ask for nor tell them what they need, but to be their guide to what they want. Yes, clients want and need to be listened too. Yes, often clients need to be told what they should do - we as event professionals are the experts after all. But beyond that, being the expert is not about spewing your vision or verbatim taking theirs, but instead being the guide who can facilitate what they say with what you know to eventually give them what they want, even if they cannot articulate that.

To do that ego cannot be a player in the game. There is no room in service providing for superiority, passivity, or the demeaning of anyone on the team or project. In ego’s place, find confidence in a sense of creative curiosity stemming from a constant willingness to think and an appetite to try. I firmly believe that the ROI of events is located in retention of the created experience by those who participate, and those memories are derived by implementing creativity and innovation. And the you can only be creative and innovate if you constantly foster a willingness to think and an appetite to try in the delivery of great service for your client.