Following on from our successful 2014 Leadership Convention, Cristy Butcher, Events Officer here at the Alliance, looks at the five key questions to answer before embarking on an events schedule.
However big or small your event is there are five important questions you need to be able to answer. The ‘5Ws’, Who, What, Where, When and Why, are an important tool which will allow you to take your ideas and make them into a feasible event.
They are also a great review tool which you can use consistently throughout the planning stages of the event to keep you on track and ensure your event is meeting its objectives.
Who?
There are many different people who will be involved in your event so you need to think about all of the stakeholders. The obvious answer to this question is who your target audience for the event are, this could be Chairs and CEOs of Governing Bodies or the Human Resources team in your organisation. Think about this carefully as you’ll need to be clear on this to market your event effectively.
Aside from who your event is targeted at, you also need to think about who will support your event, this might include the following stakeholders;
• Your internal colleagues
• Sponsors
• Audio/Visual company
• Any partners associated with the event
What?
This question involves thinking about what content your event will involve and thinking about your event as a product. What will attract delegates to your event over another? You might want to consider having smaller break-out sessions to keep the audience engaged, or perhaps hang your hat onto a marquee guest speaker. Either way, your content will be what your audience is there for, so you need to make it valuable for them.
Where?
Simply this question is thinking about where your event will take place. What location is best suited for the event. Also, does your venue choice meet the requirements for the event (e.g. you might need a room that can hold 20 delegates for a board meeting with an external lunch area). Cost may also be a factor which impacts where your event takes place.
When?
The date and time of the event can often be a crucial factor in attracting delegates. You need to think about any external factors related to your proposed dates/time, for example the summer holidays, when competing events are taking place or if delegates need travel time. What start/finish times would suit them? You should also consider your own timelines and whether the date you have selected gives enough time for the planning process to take place.
Why?
In my view this is the most important question – why are you running the event. Think about the purpose of the event, the answer to this could be very simple. If you are unclear on how to answer this question you should strongly consider the feasibility of your event and relook at all of the objectives to decide whether this is something you need to run.
It’s important to remember that when answering these questions they are applicable to any type of event, even a meeting with 5 people can use these questions as a structure to start the planning process and allow you to successfully run your events.
Click here to have a look at some of the content the speakers gave at our Leadership Convention this year.
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