Creating Event Concepts

The difference between an event concept and an event theme is that the theme is the big idea behind the entire project. The theme usually involves the overall style or tone, structure, and the event’s objectives.

And as much as an event concept sounds similar, the concept is actually the event details and elements that make up the practical aspects of the event itself. So, where the event designers dream up the general event theme, the event concept focuses on bringing the designed theme to life.

To create an event concept that attendees will talk about for months afterwards, our mutual goal and aim is to design the event through a combination of strategy and creativity.

Before we can formally kick-off the production of any event, we (online) meet and sit down with our clients to outline these goals and the expected achievements.

And to do this effectively, we must have a clear & solid idea connected to the event’s objectives, the needs of the target market, and other key stakeholders. To simplify this process, our meet & talk will focus on answering the 5 Ws as a part of the event design process: what, why, who, where, and when.

1. What you’re planning
2. Why you’re planning it
3. For whom you’re planning it
4. Where it will take place
5. When & How you’ll deliver it.

And according to your mission (the purpose or the why of the event), we have to define the event’s mission statement; a brief statement that describes your big-picture aim and the reason your event exists.

The mission statement should contain:

And now armed with the mission statement, we will make the decision-making process throughout the rest of the planning process easier but especially simpler.

Measuring the success of an event

For measuring the success of the event, we need to look at a mixture of both qualitative & quantitative KPIs. The qualitative part includes subjects like attendee feedback, testimonials, overheard conversations and thoughts on programming, as well as what the overall energy of the room should be.

For the quantitative KPIs, we use elements like attendee growth or retention, sponsorship dollars, revenue targets, press hits, or overall attendee and stakeholder feedback to evaluate the event. And if in previous meetings we did not discuss things like exact targets (i.e. revenue numbers or percentages of growth), we now can get more specific and dig deep until we have assigned numbers or percentages to each goal.

We do this to make sure everyone agrees and understands from the get-go what we’re both trying to achieve AND to exceed.