Are you sick of hearing that technology or some silver bullet is going to turn your event around? Sure there are some tools and processes which will make your event more efficient and easier, but none will fix an event which is poorly conceived, researched and not wanted by your prospective audience.
I launched my company, three years before the stock market crashed in 2008. When I was just getting started, I was consumed with the effort to keep my business alive. I started my business knowing there were no snappy techniques or technology to help mesurvive the ‘Death Valley’ of the recession that followed. Acquiring and securing business required my adherence to the unassailable basics of how to turn around events that were suffering and launch new ones in tough conditions. Gimmicks would not get the job done.
An article I read and quickly followed was authored by Tom Peters, an expert on business management best practices and excellence. This formed the foundation of my philosophy for making my events successful and profitable. Here are the key excerpts on how to succeed in times of adversity, with several of my own thoughts mixed in:
- You work harder.
- You dig deep, deeper, deepest – and always bring a good attitude to work.
- You take care of your physical, mental, and emotional state.
- You work the phones, keeping in touch with everyone.
- You simplify.
- You sweat the details like you never have done before.
- You do your homework on how to a) make the buy-sell connection, b) know what your customers want, and c) make money doing it.
- You don’t care about what the competition is doing.
If your philosophy about how to create a valuable event is wrong, there’s no amount of technology that is going to save you. If it is well thought out, the above list may help you fulfill its potential.
BTW, I am not anti-technology. But I am saying that while technology may accelerate a good plan, it won’t help poorly-conceived or unwanted events.