Blog  > What I Have Learned  > Events

You’d think events would be meticulously planned in good time? Nope. I am increasingly surprised how often a client comes to Magnetic Storm to create an event within a short time frame. With budgets getting tighter, few organisations want to commit to an event 10 months in advance – which is why short lead time events are becoming the norm.

So how do we pull off an event with a quick turn around without compromising on the creative execution, or event experience.  Firstly, the Magnetic Storm client service and creative teams work together from the word go.

What’s the objective

Understanding the ultimate goal allows us to expand on creativity and know the boundaries right from the start.

Early budget sign off

The minute a client calls, the client services team gets budget commitment and budget sign off.

Streamline the proposal process

When it comes to short lead times, we skip the 100-page proposal and provide a succinct proposal in the clients’ hands within days (not weeks) so the client can quickly digest, and sign off.

Big decisions made upfront

With a short deadline, there’s little time to mull over big things like location, theme and keynote speakers. By getting big decisions made upfront, a lot of stress is saved down the line.

Work from a plan
Creating an overall project plan is key, it identifies the right resources, right equipment, tasks and processes to be carried out.

Define roles and responsibilities
This is why we have a creative team and a client services team, from the first meeting everyone knows their role and what they are responsible for and how they fit into the bigger picture.

Prioritise and compromise

Even for events with short lead times, some clients expect the world, so we have to manage expectations. Collaborating with the client, tough decisions are made about what the client might not get due to time, availability or budget. And, so we understand what they’re willing to sacrifice and what they consider must haves.

Client hotline

Phone tag and long email chains work against teams with short-turn events, so the client services team makes it clear to clients that we need access them, and need quick replies on critical decisions.

The above makes it sound simple and easy but I can promise you, knowing what happens in the background, that is an illusion we obviously like to create as the client should never “feel” the pressure points.

Looking forward to sharing my next insight soon.