Generation Y

Folks, 2012, like the other 2,011 years that came before it, brings in a new year. New goals, new expectations, and most importantly new ideas. Thus, as we celebrate new beginnings, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Ryan, I am 30 years old and I represent the next big thing in the event business. And that statement is only one quarter ego.

What I mean is that I am among the first forming the line of a new generation checking themselves in at the registration desk of the meeting and event industry. Now what are you going to do with us?

We represent some 76 million worker bees — with a trillion dollars at our disposal — who are just beginning to make our impact felt in the workforce. Over the next 10 years, we’ll significantly change the way work is being done in the office — and by extension, the way meetings and events will need to be held. In the coming years, you will see us infiltrate meetings in growing numbers and, for the most part, we have no interest in sitting in ballrooms, classroom style, listening to your talking heads.

Gone are coming the days of the CEO’s “State of the State” while a passive audience watches. Even if that CEO presentation is done by holograph or takes place in Second Life. Because Gen Y is a group conditioned to participate! From birth we have been raised in a media-saturated environment, constantly bombarded and entertained while parents, teachers and coaches successively booked our calendars with teamwork, homework and activities both interactive and independent. Beyond the, we are the tech-literate generation; a population better conditioned to multitask than any other. The result: creatures adept at and working toward trying to build the best “life experience” for ourselves. The other result – we feel entitled to share our opinions, we want to sit at the board table with tell the CEO, we want constant feedback, we want to be on the ‘team’ and we want to do it however and whenever we want.

Why does any of this matter to meeting and event planners? It matters because Gen Y-ers will not feel bad about walking out of your next program if they do not feel personally engaged. The greatest coming struggle I think for planners will be around engagement. If planners do not create programs which engage and empower our generation, we will most likely walk away from the program because we will find it not worth our time. That may sound harsher than I intend, but we are a generation for whom work is not intended to be our life, just one part. And if that part is unenergizing, uneducational, or just plain boring, we will find something else that is.



What I am not advocating here is the pair of traps I feel planners sometimes step into when trying to address the issue of engaging this audience. I am not talking in this piece about meetings and events which will become downgraded to what I like to call edu-tainment First on edu-tainment – I believe there is an assumption that the MTV2 generation means they need to be entertained in order to educate them. But entertainment is not engagement. Do you need to gain our attention? Yes. But we really are smarter than we appear on television. Proper engagement means creating events to meet our generation where they are at as you plan programs for them. Work towards their strengths. Create opportunities for team work. Allow us to brainstorm and voice our thoughts with leaders who can implement those ideas. Create opportunities to learn based on visuals and hands on exploratory experiences. Create connection opportunities with the greater global society so that we may embrace a diversity of ideas and people.

Second, I am not advocating that technology is the solution to engaging this generation. While we were raised online, technology and its toys are not in themselves the solution to make us more engaged in meetings - though they may be tools. Often I feel planners consider jumping on the bandwagon of the next emerging technology and implementing its application into their meetings and events because it is cool, hip, interesting, or trendy rather than because it facilitates the function of the program. The assumption seems to be if we give a tech tech-savvy 20 something a PDA to play with, an RFID tag which geo-positions him and his friends at the event or hold the meeting in Second Life, somehow she will be engaged (maybe you mean entertained.) The danger I fret is that we loose the real jewel of our programs – the face to face interaction of people with one another. It is not that I am against technology – live texting, for example, is one of the most interesting installations in events I have seen lately. It is that never want to see a planner or a program stray away from its purpose or plan for the sake of a tech gadget. I personally gain far more from sitting in a boardroom with fellow creatives and a flip chart than I do out of the flashiest PowerPoint presentation.

So what is planner to do? In my opinion, the battle cry of Gen Y is “experience” and “opportunity.” While that first word is not new to our industry, least we not forget it when we think about the second. Meetings and events in my opinion are evolving creatures which in the coming years may push beyond the group experience of today into completely personalized opportunities. Future learning may take not one, but several forms. For the same material and meetings and events will need to serve a vast diversity of populations and desires not in one place but in many. A program on social responsibility may take the form of a group of creatives sitting in a boardroom in New York conceptualizing solutions, while tactile learners simultaneously visit a factory in China. Still, others may head online into a global classroom for a year long discussion on all facets of the topic, while their colleague in the cube next door plays a virtual video game with a built-in learning module. This is about delivering content in the format of choice for the attendee, not the attendee adapting to the delivery of the content.

Many I know think that as a generation we are entitled, and while there is always truth in every perception, I wish to caution that blanket assumption. It is not entirely ego that leads us to such a belief, but rather that we grew up learning in environments which worked to our strengths and where we constantly received positive feedback, giving us a very high perception of our own value and abilities. We really do have the idea that we know things, that we have the right to ask questions and to challenge, and that people should listen to our ideas. We are a generation adept at flexibility, tapped into creative thinking, able to navigate and process vast amounts of information while tapping into a larger diversity of resources and ideas quickly, all the while honestly believing we can make a difference.



That, in short is the greatest asset of Generation Y as I know it. We are a group of experience-driven individuals who see themselves as capable of changing the world. We believe in our potential with an optimism that really can cause change. Harnessing this talent is, I believe, the challenge before the meeting industry as our events morph to meet this new attendee profile. It will mean getting out of the comfortable ballroom and into engaging environments which foster innovation and conversation. It will demand that we intermix the generations and embrace diversity in everything from how work is done to where and how the meeting is held to help find solutions for the betterment of organizations and society alike.

And so, if I or any of my cohorts end up your next dinner meeting, just seat us next to the CEO. I am certain we will have a few ideas to share.

Photo References:
http://www.commentsyard.com/cy/01/6874/happy-new-year-graphics-09.jpg
http://blogging4jobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/geny.jpg
http://www.thesocialleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ego.jpg

On Collaboration

In honor of the focus on rethinking events, this post diverts a little from the specific focus on design to an emerging trend in how events are being designed: by collaborative teams of clients and vendors. Specifically for those clients looking to change up how they have always done things or in need of an infusion of creative thoughts, a collaborative team approach to the design of your event can bring fresh ideas and better results in the end.


The Collaborative Pitch
In the last year or so I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of conversations I have had with industry colleagues who have told me the same story: “We lost a pitch because the client wanted one thing we didn’t offer in house.” “Who won the pitch?” I’d ask. Without fail, the same response, “Another company who brought in a partner(s) to do that one other part.”

In our current economy and climate there is a palpable yearning for new ideas and big thinking for clients tired of holding back and wanting to do something. (That doesn’t mean they are spending more, just that they are ready for something else.) And at the same time there is a tremendous amount of great talent in small businesses or with very target business focuses in our industry. So the best thing a producer or designer can do on their next big pitch: harness that talent.


We have to stop the myth that one person or one company can successfully be all things to all of their clients. Maybe you can be all things for one of your clients, but you will never be all things to all of your clients. And the more you try to be all things, the more it seem you loose in the game because the margins are low or competition is stiff or because there will always be someone with another idea. Clients want to pay for value and clients will pay big if you can offer them a unique competitive advantage. But your unique advantage will always be specific, never general. So the opportunities in our industry are prime to partner and to collaborate to win that next piece of business.



How do you do that? By establishing relationships with the best talent you can at a variety of price points and personalities. Then when you are offered that next bid, create the right team to execute the best solution for the client and pitch that team, not just yourself. Let each expert shine in their capabilities and by default your chances for success will greatly increase.


The Collaborative Team
Do you remember that scene in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” from several years back when the PhD students are standing in a bar trying to compete for the attention of a beautiful woman who has just entered the bar with her friends. Then, being graduate mathematics students, they derive that if they stop competing for the one woman but each turns their attention to one of her friends, all win. That idea would go on to help the real life John Nash win a Nobel Prize in economics, but its core idea has something to say about creating events.



I have been involved in too many projects in which vendors compete to be the best client partner in order to be in control of biggest share of the client’s budget. Vendors want to be the one to own the biggest piece (or the whole pie) and disseminate the money as they see most fit. Or the more logistical application of the scenario is that most vendors do not know the other vendors involved in the project and so all show up on site with their own crews, their own lifts, their own production schedules and game plans and then conflict ensues when the décor company wants to attach a fabric swag over the productions companies speaker. Time is wasted and more importantly money is wasted.

But what if you take another approach and focus on the fact that a successfully designed and executed event is a win for you client and therefore for each of the vendors involved. As no one company can do it all, all of the time, for every client, multiple vendors will most likely always be involved. So why not build a collaborative team of vendors focused on collectively executing the best event for your client? A savvy producer or designer upon being awarded a piece of business should be able to determine the personality of their client and bring to the table the right collection of design, technical and event execution partners to meet that clients specific needs. I am making a call her for more boutique collaborative work to generate new and interesting solutions and ideas rather than general event houses who try to do everything themselves. While there is nothing wrong with one-stop event shops, I will say the most successful events I have been a part of are the ones in which the best players from a diverse range of industries or parts of the event industry come to the table to make a new thing happen.

The other component to a collaborative partnership of vendors that is crucial is for those vendors to widen their perspective beyond themselves. Too often onsite there is a mentality of “this is my job”, or a focus on only doing your piece without recognizing how their part of the event affects the other vendor partners involved. Instead installations would flow more effectively with a team approach in which all vendors understand the bigger picture and how their part relates to all of the other moving pieces. Then lines of communication can be opened. Then the decorators can help distribute the lighting equipment so they can set the dance floor or the technical team can maximize the value of the union labor call by incorporating the designers hang points into the rigging plot.



The Client’s Responsibility
Most of the issues that arise among vendors onsite at events happen because vendors are not permitted or empowered to communicate in advance of the event. Clients: introduce your vendor partners to each other and let them communicate! Doing so will only save you time, money, and aspirin onsite.

The collaborative team approach is a fun opportunity for the client to be more engaged in the process of putting together an event and the creative design elements. When you start with a collaborative team, there is more opportunity for dialogue and discussion and more chances for the client team to have input (and if your clients are like mine, I am seeing more of them wanting to be involved in the process and give a LOT of input!). However, the client must realize that a collaborative process can be a more messy process: more time is spent meeting and discussing and creating on the front end, time for idea generation and evolution is required as more players are involved, education of the goals and objectives of the event to a larger audience is required and potentially a larger audience needs the opportunity for buy in and feedback. The best thing a client can do in this situation is be a leader or empower your event designer or producer to be a leader on your behalf and manage that process, keep the team on track and the ideas driving forward to a successful event, one which will be better in the end than any one individual on the team could have created on their own.

Photo References:
http://www.thelifeworkstrategies.com/images/team.jpg
http://www.free-press-release.com/members/members_pic/200911/img/1259258333.jpg
http://androidguide.ru/img/19/194/A_Beautiful_Mind_John_Nash_Game_Theory_Scene.jpg

Not Your Standard Event Seating Set-up

We all know the standard seating set-ups:
General Session = Theater
Breakout = Theater or Classroom. Mix if you are a risk taker
Meals and Awards Program = Banquet Seating, nearly always in rounds of 10

That is it. Those are the choices, or better stated the way we do things and if you know these three and can use the equations to figure out required square footage for your guest count in each of these seating arrangements, you know all you need to know to seat your guests at your meetings or events.

Wrong.

There are other choices. And this month’s column wants to both explore them and finally give you all permission to try something else.

Sofas: They aren’t just for lounges anymore!
Anyone who has ever sat in a general session room in the middle of a long row of interlocked chairs knows how completely uncomfortable the seating is and uncomfortable seating makes for a disengaged or distracted participant. As our industry continues to migrate away from lecture based learning format towards the more effective, participatory, multi-directional conversational learning models, we have to adapt our designed environments to support this style of learning. And that means we need to adapt the way we seat people at meetings and events. Rows don’t encourage conversation of classroom tables create barriers to engagement with a speaker. So instead we should take note from the lounge trend in the special events industry, which took the lesson from interior designers working in living rooms: create conversational zones/areas.


Sofa seating, particularly armless sofa seating offers not only a more comfortable place to sit down, but naturally encourages conversation. We all know that people do not (really) talk across the span of a 72” table, but if you think about the last time you went to a café or a restaurant, you can converse across a 36” table. And if you simply arc the row of theater seats to create semi circle rows of between seven and ten, you create a natural conversation zone for when the presenter throws out a question to the audience. The intention in incorporating these other choices is vary up the possibilities and recognize that different individuals learn and engage differently. And if we don’t support those various needs in the design of our space, we are missing out on setting them up for success in capturing their attention or participation.



Rake it Backwards
Have you ever wondered why it is called “upstage” or “downstage”? Well, a long time ago, the floor of an auditorium used to be flat and the stage was raked, meaning it was lower in the front of the stage than it was at the back to help the audience be able to see the actors on stage. Thus when you moved upstage, you were literally walking up hill towards the back of the stage. Then it flipped and stages became flat while the floor of the auditorium was raked to set each row of chairs progressively higher than the row in front.

Well this raking concept is applicable in order to make multiple seating options function in a breakout of general session room. The height of each seating option should progressively get taller as you move away from the stage. Thus start in the front row with low, backless seating choices: benches, ottomans, etc. The next subset would include soft seating with backs: sofas and lounge chairs. The third furniture grouping could include theater seating or small groupings of chairs with small end tables utilizing chairs which encourage better posture - meaning the have straight backs which prevent you from lounging. Next comes cocktail tables, half rounds or rounds with standard seating, but inclusive of “workspace”. Behind these come taller tables: highboys or higher tables with stool seating. The back rows should allow for standing room, incorporating highboys as workspace or a place to keep your stuff.



Every event doesn’t not need or require every level of seating listed, of course. If workspace is necessary, you might start with low tables in the front and offer higher tables in the back/standing room options. But as more and more people go mobile, there will be less and less requirements for actual tables – because my iPad works in my lap just as well as it works on a table. Other creative or strategic events may desire to totally break the mold and use not only sofas, but exercise balls, bean bags or even standing treadmill workstations! The point is a room that offers individual attendees the opportunity to gravitate to the type of seating situation that is most productive or comfortable for their learning and functional needs while obeying the time honored need for clean sightlines to the stage or the presenter/presentation.

The Challenges
Even though this column has hopefully excited some reader to give new seating options a try, a couple notes of caution. Mixing up the seating is great, but know upfront that it takes up more space. Traditional seating options (classroom, banquet, theater) are known quantities with specific formulas and particularly in the case of theater seating, is an effectively ways to seat a lot of people in a given space. Mixing up the seating options takes more space. You can’t just have a sofa, you probably want a coffee or side table too. The rows have to be bigger and more spread out. Mixing up the sizes of tables also will require more space and vary the size or shapes of your rows.

That said, it is increasingly important to have a resource that can render space drawings with your unique floor plan of varied seating. While most venues have calculated the standard seating set-ups, unfortunately, too often venues do not have accurate, detailed drawings of their meeting spaces readily available so measurements are key. Work with the venue closely to make sure they understand you are trying something out of the box. Correctly labeling various types of tables or chairs will greatly ease confusion when the venue attempts to set-up the room. And as always ensure that your floor plan is run by the fire marshal to make sure that in the new or random arrangement, there is enough space for safe evacuation should that be necessary.

Finally, know your audience before you make the switch. If your breakout is continuing education for lawyers or doctors, you will probably have to be stuck with executive chairs set classroom and even in the most creative of situations, you can’t through out all of the traditional seating options. Human beings are creatures of expectation: they have been to a meeting before and they believe they have a script in their heads for what a meeting room looks like. So they can be knocked completely uncomfortable from the start if they walk into a space that only offers sofas where they have come to expect chairs. And that uncomfortablness can shut them down entirely as participants or learners in a space. So start out with a couple sofas in the front or a couple high-boys in the back because it is better to innovate with small changes over time than radical complete switches all at once.

Callout
Want to learn more about the importance of seating in your event space? Check out the book “Seating Matters” by Paul Radde. Thank you to @ASegar for the lead on this great resource for event planners.




Photo References:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0962587222/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

Inspiration: Rediscovering the Art of Storytelling in Ads

With the exception of an annual tradition - the Brit Awards at the Walker Arts Center - I am not usually a fan of television commercials. Even multi-million dollar Superbowl ads don't inspire me anymore - it just strikes me that so few are targeted at curious, thoughtful adults. Which is why I am so pleasantly surprised and amused with the smart and savvy use of storytelling I have been seeing re-infused into television commercials recently. Maybe with the end of ad watching, agencies cleaned house a new talent rose to the top to create some really great, forward thinking commercials. The commercial recession is definitely (or hopefully) over.

Sprint: A National Social Media Experiment

Have you seen these ad? First thought: are they for real? Second thought: what a brilliant idea. For so long we have seen the turn to "Joe Public" for companies to profile real people in their commercials - usually staging their employees as helpful (ie: Lowes). But in this case, Sprint is seemingly taking customers, sharing their real emails and phone numbers and crowd-sourcing the public to congratulate them on their achievements or offer them help. The dubbed campaign is "Random Acts of Togetherness"

In the first commercial, we get the pleasure of calling, texting or emailing birthday wishes to Veatrice Hendersen turning 100.



UPDATE: Over 300,000 people wished Mrs. Hendersen Happy Birthday! See the Follow-Up Ad.

In the second commercial, a struggling soccer team, the South Windsor Thunder is looking for help for a winning season. There are also a wide variety of web-specific campaigns from silly - let cats take over the internet - to more traditional: a crowd-source to rename a local band, receiving 54,174 suggestions.

Rosetta Stone: More than words, indeed.

Come on...how many times have you walked by these kiosks at the mall and thought to yourself: Avoid! We have all seen the info-commercials for the yellow box promising to teach me how to talk, er, communicate in a wide range of languages. Which means I was struck by surprise to see this new ad which seems to be a 180 degree turn on the product! They stopped hawking a yellow box at me and started sharing with me the real power behind learning a new language: access to a community and a world much bigger than the one I know. Rather than hitting me up to buy a box, they started selling an idea, a way of being which in an instant shot my perception of this transactional product into a brand with values I might enjoy partaking in or fan-ing soon. Their new tag hits it on the head: "More than Words: Understanding"




Google Chrome: The Revelation of a Story, Shared for Good

Leave it to Google to break the mold and deliver a 90 second commercial that finally, actually says something. The last three times this commercial has come on, I have stopped what I am doing to watch. What is brilliant in this commercial is how they have positioned the "product" - Google Chrome - as the delivery vehicle for the telling of the story of what individuals and communities can do through the power of the web.

The premise of the ad is the evolution of the "It gets better" campaign founded by columnist Dan Savage and his partner in reaction to the rash of suicides of young gay people. The ad opens simply enough with the news stories setting up the premise, displayed through the ads product - Google Chrome - the web browser lens through which we watch all of the action of the commercial. Next, Dan and his partner are seen in their posted video on YouTube, sharing their emotional reaction to those news stories. As the ad continues you watch this natural campaign swell as a community contributes content through the web - the count of posted video messages from individuals and celebrities alike are profiled. The story grows, as a YouTube channel, then a blog and next a website populated with videos, resulting in messages of spread hope. Then it ends, simply enough with the message: "Dan Savage: Messenger." "the web is what you make of it."



I am sure this is the first in a series of commercials and I am very much looking forward to the next chapter(s).

UPDATE: I found the next Chapter. Daniel Lee is a dad capturing through the web his daughter growing up. This one tugs at the heart, but in such an authentic way. Which is why it works. It creates and emotional connection with the viewer, and places that positive affinity onto the brand in such a great way. Bravo Chrome. You nailed another one.




As a final sidebar: If you have yet to see Morgan Spurlock's newest film, Pom Wonderful Presents, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold - it is well worth the ticket. You will be equally amused and befuddled at the needs of marketers to promote their brands and our need to massively consume those brands. Check out the Trailer.

An Act of Logistics

As I hustle and bustle around London this week meeting several incredible vendors who have worked on Royal Weddings and Royal Affairs of the past (blog to follow), I am awestruck each time I take a moment on the streets of London to notice the logistical monstrosity that is the plan to pull off a Royal Wedding.

Sure there are the "wedding details" - Seating Charts, Royal Protocol, Timelines for departures and arrivals, event planning for private dinners, receptions, a ceremony, dinner and a party, dressing protocols for the Abbey and for the Palace, the flowers and the FOOD! - all of them being slowly leaked by Buckingham Palace. But then also there is the task of setting up a parade to the Church and back from the Palace along the streets of London for upwards of an expected 1 million visitors.

All along the route, miles and miles of road barricade is being distributed and set-up. London is a biking city, but the rent-a-bikes have been picked up from stations around town. Scaffold structures have been erected every 100 yards or so with camera crews masked behind plywood painted "stone" to blend in with buildings. All of the back streets are filled with placed boom lifts, from which I assume cameras will be lofted tomorrow.

Today, we were walking the streets and heard the public "sound check" as the speakers strategically positioned, and often hidden were playing ceremonial music. In Trafalgar Square, half of the square has massive truss structures and erected to support speakers and screens for viewing tomorrow. Behind them, MSNBC is broadcasting live from a 20x60m (it appears) tent in front of the National Garden. In about 15 minutes we are headed to the Fox Studios - one of a dozen shooting studios rented by US and foreign press, erected as huge green structures outside Buckingham Palace, green to blend in with the trees. Everyone is positioned and ready to capture the Pomp and the Circumstance of tomorrow; Everyone is set to catch every detail and break the news of each detail of this Royal Affair.

But to the folks who will never get the credit, the team buried somewhere inside the Royal Staff or the Government who is responsible for managing all of the logistics required to pull this feat off, I tip my cap. Because the chaos is lacking drama - I am amazed at how smooth the set-up is, from my vantage point as a person on the street. Having been a part of the Republican National Convention hosted in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2008 - I remember all of the security, the drama and the struggle of getting around. But none of the vendors we have met with have suggested this to be the case. I am sure their are challenges, but I am amazed at how easy it all feels and how close I as an everyday person can get. Changes, Road Closures, Tube issues and suggestions are all being clearly communicated. Nothing is stopping us from moving about the city in the midst of their set-up. While I am sure this is not the fist time the logistics team has planned or set-up this type of an event, they have perfected the art; it is certainly very well done. And I can't wait to see it come together tomorrow.

To Manage or To Create Expectation? That's my question...

This week I find myself fortunate enough to be located in London in the midst of action surrounding the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton. Whereas I thought the US press was obsessed, you can't turn the corner in London this week without seeing a new breaking piece of news or a new "promotional product," - as we would call them at a company meeting, though I doubt William or Kate are benefiting from the "branding"- promoting the big day!

With little doubt the expectations are high. And then today, BizBash magazine emailed me a quote from an NBC Executive that the Royal Wedding represents "[O]ur biggest international technical build-out ever." Everyone has hope; this will be bigger than the 1981 spectacle of Will's parents, Prince Charles and Diana. But then again, I am wondering if that will be true...

The world is different than 1981. The Royal Family and Britian are a different place. America is different and the media has radically changed! But what are our expectations? In the United States, though Twitter is ablaze with "who cares" and royal wedding media coverage burnout, the truth is that this is a spectacle we want to see and to be a part of. Royalty is not part of the American culture; and so we have to live vicariously through the English Monarchy... They are the fairytale fantasy... We want a big wedding to wow us. We don't need opulence, but some small part of our culture would love to bask in it. And as an events industry, I believe there is a hope that this event will drive both trends and spending in social events on "our side" of the pond.

And yet, as I am talking with individuals involved in Royal Weddings of the past, there is a side of this affair which I haven't heard yet. The Royal Couple is "holding back" this time around and many royal traditions of weddings past are being bucked not (or not only) because this is a modern couple, but because (get this) of the economy. The economy is still in the midst of a recession abroad and William and Kate are leery to "show-off" too much.

So what will that mean come Friday? There are definite positives to this attitude: Social Media access to this event for folks worldwide (though lets see the reaction); a donation of 500,000 quid to 26 local charities in place of gifts; and a commitment to sustainability as the flowers in Westminster Abby will be live, including trees, rather than all cut - so that they can be replanted post wedding. But there will be no traditional towering showcase cake. Maybe the dress will end up being elegant, but underwhelming. Will we still be blown away with the fantasy of a wedding attended by an estimated million people live on the streets of London? Or will it under-deliver in the name of the people?

Well weddings are generally outside of my jurisdiction of work, this story raises an interesting question which is relevant for all events. What is our role as event professionals, as the event planners or the clients throwing events, in creating expectations for our guests/our audiences? What is our role in managing them? I am currently working on a project with a corporate client in just this situation. They threw an incredible, interactive, highly engaging brand launch in 2010. They have decided to do the event again, but not with the same budget. And the attendees are the same. How do you manage the established expectations from 2010 in 2011, or do we work to create a completely new project to create new expectations of the audience this time around?

For Events, which is it? Do we manage expectations? Or do we create them?

Stop Decorating, Start Designing.

Originally Published in Event Solutions Magazine in February 2011

Nine times out of ten, design articles and columns focus themselves on hot products, great ideas and the next best trend. Design writers want to share their latest event, a cool new product or the a crazy color combination. They obsess themselves with the things that we design with – linens and flowers and food and technology. That is to say most design articles focus themselves on the very practical, well received, easily digestible and highly desired content of decorations.

I think this is because decorations are tangible; therefore they are easy to understand. I can write a column all about what to do with ice (see last month) and you the reader will understand five interesting ways to use ice at their next event. But what does an ice sculpture - however cool - or, for that matter, a linen or a centerpiece idea have to do with design. Nothing. And everything.

The nothing part first. To Decorate. To Design. Both active verbs, but with different meanings and different outcomes. The term decorate is defined as the act of embellishing, of furnishing or adorning with something ornamental. When you decorate, you make something more attractive by adding ornament or color. By contrast the term design means thoughtful creation. Design implies a thoughtful intent to create something that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also functions. To decorate is to simply cover up for some purpose. To design is to reveal that purpose at its best and make it beautiful.

The designer knows why the design exists. The decorator doesn’t. Designing is making conscious decisions which are informed by your events purpose and which collaborate to communicate that purpose. Decorating also requires conscious decisions but void of intention, the décor exists often for its own sake because it is pleasing or beautiful. That is why a centerpiece, a buffet, or a linen on their own merit have nothing individually to do with the design of an event. They may be beautiful as individual elements or even in combination, but void of any correlation to the purpose of the event they are simply decoration.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with decoration. I know and respect greatly a lot of people who decorate very well. And many times, our clients are only looking to us to be decorators – to make their events pretty or colorful or beautiful. And as decorators, we do this and all is well.

I said at the beginning that a linen or a centerpiece may have everything to do with design. And they do, when they are a part of the conscious plan of event and are chosen not for their own sake, but to be active contributors to the experience being created. When these individual elements work to contribute to the telling of a story or communicate the values of a brand, then they have a role to play in the design of the event. Then they exceed their own merit and contribute aesthetically and purposefully to the project.

So in this new year, I would like to take a chance with this column to advocate for the designer. That individual who sees and is inspired, and truly creates – a risk taking behavior which means finding something new (at least to them) which meets their clients need and in the art of its making, the design acts to communicate a value, a purpose, or an idea. And to ask more clients to seek design for their events in 2011 – to create experiences rooted in purpose, with the intent to communicate a message.

The great thing about being a designer is that you are part of a process. It is collaborative, creative, and messy, but in its success, together with your client, you end up making something greater than the sum of its parts. And through that process, not only does the event meet its key objectives – and the audience shares an experience worth having – but you and your client learn because you tried and you become better at your job because you took part in a process that continues on the next event and the next one and the next.

What is Next in Special Events...

While I am spending this year absent in my published blog posts due to my position as the President of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of ISES, this post was too timely to hold until the end of my term.

For all of you event professionals who want to be on the pulse for what is coming...For the second year in a row, my good friend Lara McCulloch of Ready2Spark has brought together 9 innovative thinkers on the topic. We were proud to again be a part of this book sharing our thoughts on the future of Special Events and our need as an industry to focus in on giving a voice to our audiences.

Have a read of the e-book. It is worth your time.

View it through Slideshare
Download What’s Next in Events ebook