Events are carrying more weight than ever. Costs are up, travel is harder to justify, and audiences expect a higher return on their investment of time and money. Event professionals are feeling this pressure more and more. When the landscape gets this tough, the event itself must work harder. We need to build models that are more flexible, agile, and deliver more impact.
Here are three ways to get started.
More Regional Engagement Points
A once-a-year gathering is no longer enough to stay connected with the full range of your audience. Consider a model of smaller regional touchpoints that can keep your community connected, especially when travel budgets are tight.
This might look like topic-based meetups in membership hubs, collaborative workshops in industry hotspots, or small salon dinners hosted by local leaders. The goal is not to recreate the main event; it’s to show up where your people already are and build steady momentum for engagement.
This creates two wins: a more connected community when the annual meeting comes around, and opportunities for those who can’t come to still engage. You also gain clearer insights into what matters across different regions, which strengthens your content and marketing strategies.
Events That Advance Your Strategic Plan
For events to deliver more impact, they must have a clear purpose and direction. When the event becomes a core part of moving the strategic goals and priorities forward, every decision has greater clarity and meaning.
Start by aligning the agenda to your strategic plan. Identify what you want to be different in the world after your event has ended. Build sessions around the core topics that amplify and accelerate your goals. Both information sessions and collaborative working sessions will ensure a balance of content for all different types of learners.
Finally, state an outcome for your event and use the final session as a review of what’s been accomplished. This not only helps your audience feel connected to the shared purpose, but it also reinforces the value proposition in their minds.
Leave Room in the Schedule for Synthesis
Build in intentional breathing space so you can add late-breaking topics without throwing the whole program off balance. Make room for more discussions that help the community process fast-moving issues together. People need time to think, connect, and translate the content into something they can use.
Consider creating a content advisory team that meets regularly to help you track what’s shifting in your sector. This kind of structure gives you the proactive ability to adapt, and it also sends a message that your event is where people go to understand what is happening in their field. In this time of uncertainty, that message really matters. This model also helps when speakers are disrupted by funding changes, government shutdowns, weather issues, and more.
Town Hall-style conversational sessions to digest the issues of the day can easily replace empty sessions in a moment’s notice.
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The pressure on events is real, but flexible models help us stay relevant in the face of rapid change. These models aren’t theoretical. They are already helping organizations deliver more value in a more complicated environment. And they make it possible for your event to be exactly what your audience needs right now.
Beth Surmont is an event strategist who works with associations to reimagine their events. With experience in both corporate and non-profit events, and as the Head of Strategy & Design for 360 Live Media, Beth is a leading designer of the next era of events.
