On today’s episode of Word on the Street, we bring you a shorter episode where Katie speaks to Kate Hutchinson, Founder & Managing Director of the award-winning events agency The Secret Event Service – An event management and consultancy business that specialises in the engagement and experience of event attendees through virtual and live events.
Kate founded SES 18 months before the pandemic began, which ultimately changed the future of the company, as what they were first born to do became temporarily illegal. Adapting quickly to the changing marketplace, Kate and Team SES developed their skillsets to the world of virtual and hybrid event delivery and are now one of the leading agencies in the Hybrid event delivery market. Kate works with global clients on a whole range of events and platform solutions and has recently been awarded the ‘Emerging Entrepreneur’ Award at the Northern Leadership Awards as well as making it onto the events industry initiative Tomorrow’s Talent list for 2021.
In this episode you will hear:
- In-person vs virtual events
- Event protocols and best practices
- Pre and post-event must-dos
- How to create a great new business event
There were so many amazing takeaways from today’s episode, and these were just a few of our favourites.
Pre and post-event must-dos
Although the actual event itself may seem like the most important thing to focus all of your energy on, good preparation prior to the event, as well as prompt follow-ups have a big impact and many benefits in driving new business and building good relationships. It’s important to keep people engaged and be front of mind even after the event has finished. You want to be as prepared as possible in order to create opportunities and encourage potential clients to take the next steps after your event, whether that be booking a meeting with them or getting them to sign up for future events, etc. The event process and preparation happen before the event has started and carries on after the event has finished, so it’s important to consider everything that happens in between because it will have an effect.
How to create a great new business event
Think of your event like creating a story. Putting on events takes a lot of work and effort, and as we’ve said above, it’s not just about the event itself but it’s also about all of the preparation before and after. If you are well prepared and have organised and put things in place in the lead-up to the event as well as following up afterward, it will put you in a better place to deliver the event successfully and be fully present.
In-person vs virtual events
When deciding on whether to go virtual or face-to-face for your event, Kate says it really depends on what your outcomes, drivers, and objectives are. You can utilise these to help you decide what event format you want to deliver in. There are positives and negatives to both virtual and in-person events. Consider your audience and where they are in the world, if your audience has grown and is based in different locations then a virtual event could be more beneficial in terms of gathering more data and expanding your audience. Data tells you a story, and you need to be looking at the data you have gathered through your events and doing something with it. You have to decide which kind of event will have the best impact on your agency.
Links & references
Katie Street: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
Kate Hutchinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-hutchinson-9b7757a0/
Our Sponsor
Series 6 of Word on the Street is sponsored by Tanba, The Agency New Business Academy, is a brand-new initiative aimed at equipping agencies of all sizes with the knowledge, content, partnerships, and opportunities needed to accelerate agency growth by optimising their new business ‘engine’. Tanba is an on-demand and affordable solution for agencies looking to upskill their team via training courses, content and insights delivered by our panel of industry experts, leaders, and partners.
The academy is all about empowering agency teams to get noticed, attract opportunities, increase conversion rates, and reduce the costs associated with the sales process. Visit https://tanba.io/ to find out more and start empowering your agency.