The “given” objective to any client will be to produce a quality event within a set budget, and company objectives can include:

The event planner’s role is to create the conditions in which these events will occur under the client’s event and budget guidelines. The ways and the means that they are executed successfully is where strategic event design comes in.

How each event element is presented will achieve a different outcome. Take the example of a cocktail reception where guests are gathered together for a stand-alone reception or presentation or to take part in a predinner event. The components of a basic standard cocktail reception are bar beverages and some sort of food. Optional enhancements to a basic standard cocktail reception could include background music and decor.

The bar drinks can be either dispensed by waitstaff or guests can help themselves at the bar. Food will either be dry snacks; an assortment of hors d’oeuvres passed by waitstaff and perhaps a cheese and fruit display table. Music is usually inoffensive and played quietly in the background. Nondescript floral arrangements may be included (Set out on the registration table or by the cheese and fruit display. However, it is never recommended to have them on the bar as they get in the way.).

We have all attended cocktail receptions that have been set out in this manner. Where early arrivals walk into a room devoid of any animation, stand around holding a drink in hand, looking and feeling awkward until more guests arrive. Guests then stand in tight little clusters, seldom moving from the spot they have staked out in the room until a welcome speech, after which they quickly disperse or the doors open for dinner and they go in and sit down. If they do venture from their spot, it is to go directly to the bar or the cheese table and quickly head back to the spot they vacated before it is filled.

On the event planning excitement scale this type of cocktail party would not even register a one. There is barely a ripple of energy in the room and this is the tone that the event planner has set for the rest of the evening. It becomes a ho hum affair, colorless, forgettable. One of countless others, an energy drainer. The only objective this cocktail reception will have met would be to serve as a gathering place for individuals to kill some time and to hold off hunger pangs before heading home after a short speech or sitting down for dinner.

A step up from the basic cocktail reception is one that has been themed. The same basic elements will be in place but the bar drinks may be a little more exotic, the passed finger food will have a bit more novelty, the decor and floral arrangements may be more colorful and the music more intense. The energy level of the room will have been brightened. The guests’ senses are starting to be addressed. Good vibrations will be felt in the room but there still is no movement or true animation in this setting. Guests may begin to move to the beat of the music while standing in place, conversations may move from the mundane—the weather and how busy it has been at the office—to something a little more upbeat in tempo. Guests looking for ways to enter into the conversation—especially if they are in an unfamiliar setting or group—can begin commenting on the food or the drinks, a safe topic and a way in which to break the ice. The stress relief felt around the room can actually be tangible. For the most part, guests are still firmly in place in their comfort zones, and intermingling is minimal, but for those who do set forth a means has been created to spark discussion. Guests heading into dinner will be more alert and responsive to the evening’s events that are about to unfold. For some event planners accomplishing this—getting the audience warmed up—is where it stops.

This is where strategic event design comes in. Event planners must be skilled in this art, and they must approach the structuring of their cocktail reception with the intensity of a general directing their troops. They are on a mission and that is to turn the cocktail reception into an event element that will bring them one step closer to achieving their objective. To a strategic event designer even a cocktail reception is viewed as an opportunity to do so. Their cocktail receptions may be themed, but know that the theme will be wrapped in purpose—on purpose.

Strategic event planners begin by reviewing the group dynamics, which plays a big part in determining the style of event that is proposed. A cocktail reception designed for high-end stockbrokers or board of directors would be quite different in makeup than one for an active sales force, even if the client’s corporate objectives were the same. Strategic event planners know this. The high-end senior executives are more likely to enjoy events where they are pampered with proven activities, whereas the active sales force prefers events that have a more competitive edge and are more adventurous.

The strategic event designer goes into the planning process clear on the client’s objectives and the results they want to achieve. They know exactly who the client’s intended targeted audience is. They are ready to move into their battle plan and map out their strategic points.

Their first step is looking at the big picture. An event can be a stand-alone or one that takes place over the course of a day or several days, and may be a meeting, conference, convention or incentive. Strategic event designers need to develop their principal plan of action for the event and look at how they can use the event as a vehicle to move them closer to their client’s goal. Where a particular event element, such as a cocktail reception, is scheduled to take place is important in determining the event content. A welcome cocktail reception will be structured to produce different results than one that is scheduled to take place later in the week or one that is to act as the prelude to a farewell event. This applies to all event elements. Timing and overall structure play major roles in strategic event design.

Laying what is “known” out on a grid will create the shell from which the strategic event planner begins to work. Known elements are those outlined in the proposal request qualification meeting. The client may have said they would like to have daily meetings as part of their agenda, with a welcome cocktail party and dinner, as well as other program inclusions. The event planner will have been given the basic outline the client would like to see take place. For a seven-night meeting event elements could include:

Event planners know the itinerary, the budget, the group demographics and dynamics, the client’s objectives and the group’s past event history. The elements as they are known are laid out on the day-by-day grid, which is then divided into sections (see Appendix for example). Each day has a square for breakfast, morning activities, lunch, afternoon activities, reception, dinner, and evening activities. The known event elements are then penciled into the appropriate section of the grid. For some event planners, it is merely a case of filling in the blanks and moving directly to telephoning suppliers to check availability and rates. What the client will receive is exactly what they requested. Will it meet the objectives? Not necessarily, unless the objectives were to simply move the office environment to another location with a few drinks thrown in. Requesting a half day team-building activity on the final day, however, suggests that team-building and creating company camaraderie is an objective—whether verbalized or not. A planner must be able to read what the program elements are telling them when they are laid out in the grid beyond what has been spoken or formalized in the written event outline.

In this case, the event outline is saying that they want to bring their guests together to relax and talk over dinner (and wine) every night at the end of their business day to create a mood of esprit de corps and fellowship, and to boost morale by including a team-building event.

Once the grid has been filled in, it becomes a map from which event planners begin to break down the process of how they can achieve all of the client’s objectives—the ones they have requested as well as the ones they may not be aware of. For example, the minute an event planner skilled in strategic event design hears that a client requests a single team-building event at the end of a program, red flags will be going up. In their qualification meeting with their client, they will be able to address the problem of meeting the client’s objective of bringing their staff closer together, if the team-building activity is left until the very end of the stay. The time to create a feeling of fellowship and companionship is at the beginning of the program not at the end, because you can use the week to build upon the initial activity.

The strategic event planner must clarify whether the client is really looking for a team-building event or merely one that will leave participants psyched up and ready to return to the work force. The two are very different. If the client is seriously interested in team-building, the strategic event planner can review options with them in the very early planning stages. And in order to best achieve these objectives, the event planner would review timing with them to see if the program format could be changed to allow for a half-day meeting, followed by a team-building activity to take place earlier in the program, one that can be designed around meeting content.

An example of a team-building event that could be tied to meeting content would be an adapted version of Geocaching. This high-tech game of hide and seek using global positioning systems (GPS) can be created with the clues tied into new company information or featuring new products. Another creative example, Reel Madness, is a team-building event (generously provided by Helen Schur Parris, CEO, Sunlinc Barbados) that is described in detail in the sample proposal located in the Appendix. The objective is to have the participants come together as a team at the beginning of their program and build upon that bond during the course of their stay.

A grand finale team event can then be incorporated into the program which will act as a means to send the work force back to the office psyched up and ready to go come Monday. Once it has been established with the client whether or not event flexibility can be factored in, the strategic event design process can begin.

Strategic event designers plan events that will achieve their client’s objectives. Each aspect of the event elements is looked at with an eye on how they can best contribute to the event’s success. Each event element is targeted to address specific areas and each one is layered one on top of the other, leading the event forward and contributing to meeting the event’s goals. The grid in the hands of strategic event designers becomes a tool they can use—a blueprint—on which to lay out the inclusions that will build a successful event.

A strategic event designer uses a grid to map out the event elements and to sketch the event energy. Balancing an event’s energy is one of the secrets of producing a successful event and it is an essential component that is often overlooked by planners. The event inclusions must be carefully selected, and the event planner must know exactly when and where to bring each in to obtain maximum effect. Strategic event planners carefully construct and orchestrate their events. They understand the study of cause and effect. The client’s intention—to meet their objective—and the actions they can bring into play to create a response that will work towards that goal is the strategic event designer’s primary focus.

In the above example, the cocktail receptions, the dinners, and even the coffee breaks can all be designed to foster team spirit. Every activity can play a pivotal role but before development can begin the structure and energy of the event must be reviewed. Budget will limit what you can do and what can be included but it does not factor into event structure and event energy.

An event planner is being brought in for their expertise. If the event planner was to follow their client’s outline—without recommending changes or coming up with alternate solutions such as moving the team building event to the front of the week for best results—they are not providing their client with the benefit of their experience. The first question a strategic event designer would ask themselves when reviewing the proposed event is how can I structure everything so that the client’s objectives can be met in an environment whereby participants are:

What event elements need to be in place to be right on target and to make their meeting meaningful and memorable?

Bringing any group together for a week and keeping them together 16 or more hours a day is going to be wearing on anyone, especially when you couple that with the intensity of learning new information. If all breakfasts, lunches and dinners are planned as private group events and held in the hotel, in addition to being together during the meeting and coffee breaks, the participants are going to feel a need to have some breathing room to break away from the group. This claustrophobic feeling will be compounded if the hotel or resort is out of the way. Participants may begin to believe that there is no way to escape and they are on top of one another. Instead of pulling people together, an event like this could push them apart. Too much togetherness can have a negative effect. But there are ways to structure a program so that the group is still together for the most part but feels as if they have been given some breathing room or personal space.