Anvil Centre

With Heidi Hughes the day the stairs were poured

Deciding to build a new venue is always part dream and part business case. The Anvil Centre just above the riverfront in New Westminster is certainly a great example of recognizing and then filling a need, for both meetings as well as the community.  

Having been on several hardhat tours over the previous year, I was simply thrilled to be at the Grand Opening at the end of October and to see many familiar faces from our industry also there to

One year later on the staircase!

celebrate this gorgeous addition to our meeting inventory. There were also many faces familiar to me from work both in other Vancouver venues and across the country, so I know they have also spent the time and energy on building a great team that thoroughly understands both service and operations.

This boutique conference centre will easily serve both corporate and association needs and its proximity to Skytrain, thoughtful building planning, and commitment to supporting their local community including a museum filled with local history (which can also be included in your event) makes it a shining example of sustainable design, which I always appreciate. 

Go ahead, check it out!

Event Planning - Part 2 - Process

in my last post I looked at the questions you need to start with before you decide that an event is the best way to move forward to solve a problem, meet a need or let people know about your cause (as a start).

Then there is the process (and hey, we aren't even at the fun part yet). If we look at the step-by-step process and some of the major components that would be required for a meeting or event, this again, is just a start.

1. Determine WHY you want to host an event
2. Define goals and objectives
3. Determine measurable goals and measurements of success
4. Review event history
5. Know your organization - who they are, their values, their goals and how this event needs to fit this
6. Confirm the stakeholders
7. Confirm the committee - key / chair / program / funding / finance / marketing / sponsorship / exhibit / other 
8. Confirm the stakeholder needs
9. Style or format of meeting - conference, exhibit, incentive, hybrid, festival, public, symposium, seminar, workshop, peer-format conference
10. What is this meeting / event?
1. Name
2. Date
3. Destination
4. Venues
5. Goals and measurement tools
6. Budget
1. revenues - all streams
2. expenses - all anticipated
3. resources
4. management of the funds
7. Audience
1. numbers
2. who are they?
3. why do they want to attend?
4. how will you reach them?
8. Sponsors / Exhibitors / Donors
1. recruiting / sales
2. management
3. fulfillment
9. Your team
1. leaders
2. support - internal
3. support - vendors
4. confirming responsibilities
5. reporting processes
10. Measurement and evaluation

Again, just a start on the process - what else do you do that I might have missed? Now it is on to some key tools that will help you as you go through this process.

Event Planning - Part 1 - Questions to Answer

I recently had the pleasure of a discussion about becoming a guest blogger and several topics were tossed around. One, Sustainability and producing "greener" meetings was an easy one, as this is something we have been talking about and doing for a long time.

The second is trickier, "What does a Producer do?"  Trickier because the topic is so vast, and so close to me that it is hard to step back and analyse what we really do. I have decided to do this in several sections, the first today will look at it from the perspective of a learner / instructor. Along with Chris Lowe and Rita Rogers, for a decade we have been teaching a twelve week Event Planning class at BCIT. This course is designed to give an overarching synopsis of the basics of planning events, giving about an hour to each major topic, and pointing the learners in directions where they can seek more information. In many cases, it is people who are already planning meetings, events or trade shows in their jobs and this for these learners provides more structure to what they are doing.  So, what do I hope they walk out with at the end of the 12 weeks? Hopefully they understand that to produce successful events you need to be able to answer the following questions to start, then it is about the process of planning with these answers.

Questions you need to be able to answer, appropriate to your event

1. What is the mission statement / driving idea of the event?
2. What will define success?  What is the key factor that will be measured?
3. What is your client's ROI measurement?
4. What do you want your guest experience to be?  What do you want them to say when they leave?
5. How do you (with some accuracy) define your target audience? How are you reaching them / what makes your event attractive?
6. What is the budget? What does it have to include?
7. Where is this money coming from? (sponsors, registration, donors, fundraising, exhibitors, auction items, other?)
8. Is an event the right way to spend your money? Does it fit the marketing mix? Will it achieve the objectives? If it is a fundraiser - is it the best way to raise funds?
9. Why does an organization sponsor your event and how can you make your event an attractive vehicle that supports their marketing initiatives?
10. Who are your stakeholders?  What will satisfy the stakeholders?
11. Who is on your team - who will actually make this all happen?
12. Where will it be? Destination, venue(s)
13. When will it be - what impacts the date selection?
14. What are you planning - multiple day program, single day event, something inbetween?  Conference, incentive, fundraiser, celebration, festival, public event?
15. WHY? Why is this event necessary?  Why is there a commitment? YOU MUST BE ABLE TO ANSWER WHY.

As just a start, if you can answer these big questions, you can begin to consider the process of planning and build a plan.