The “Quo Vadimus” Approach to Event Planning and Marketing

1. The “Quo Vadimus” Approach to Event Planning and Marketing

5. What I hope to do… • Provide some tips on things to do in the early stages of event planning that can help eliminate problems later on. • Provide you with some tools to help identify the often overlooked, ignored, or forgotten “little things” in the event planning process that can cause major headaches on event day. • Provide some basic tips on marketing that can help you have major impact with a limited budget.

6. My favourite questions… Finish this sentence: “Next year can be considered a success for our organization if…” List three specific things your executive is going to accomplish this year. What do you hope to get out of being an Executive this year? What does <TEAM MEMBER> hope to get out of being an Executive member next year?

7. Ask yourself “Quo Vadimus” “Where are we going?”

8. “Where are we going?” Q. Why ask “where are we going?” A. Because things rarely ever go as planned.

9. “Where are we going?” Alice came to a fork in the road.  "Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."(Lewis Carroll - 'Alice in Wonderland')

10. “Quo Vadimus” Planning • The “polish session” • Collectively discuss “where are we going?” • Create the vision • Evaluation of the vision/plan • The “Walk Through” • “Six Hats Thinking Approach” • Goal Setting • Creation of the Critical Path • Post-event Evaluation – “Hey Idiot Questions”

11. “Quo Vadimus” Planning • The “polish session” • Collectively discuss “where are we going?” • Create the vision • Evaluation of the vision/plan • The “Walk Through” • “Six Hats Thinking Approach” • Goal Setting • Creation of the Critical Path • Post-event Evaluation – “Hey Idiot Questions”

13. Who should “polish” your idea? “The Principals” • People you like, people you trust, people you have worked with before. • These will be the people who are the driving force behind making sure the event happens. They will be the ones doing the majority of the work. • Usually a pretty small group.

14. Who should “polish” your idea? “The Audience” • People who are examples of the people you hope will come to the event. • These groups should be very small (3-4 at the most) • Make sure some of them do not hold “official” leadership positions. • You must be genuine, you must listen, and you must be willing to adjust your original conceptions.

15. Who should “polish” your idea? “People of Influence” • Opinion leaders on campus. • Who they are differs from campus-to-campus. • Which ones are going to be important to you differs from event-to-event. • Can be members of student government, captains of teams, executives of clubs and residences. • Important to recognize that people need not have a title to be a person of influence, and that not all people with a title are well-liked and influential.

16. Who should “polish” your idea? “People of Influence” There are two strategies to employ: • Identify what communications networks already exist on the campus, and bring into the fold the people that control them. • Identify the real leaders on campus, and get their “buy in”.

17. Why bother getting this input? • The more perspectives applied to anything, the stronger the end result is – “Many hands make light work…but many minds make great work.” • To create “psychic ownership”: “Well….you could always do X, Y and Z…..and you could add X, Y, and Z, and you could ask X, Y and Z to do X, Y, and Z.”

18. Why bother getting this input? • The more perspectives applied to anything, the stronger the end result is – “Many hands make light work…but many minds make great work.” • To create “psychic ownership”: “Well….we could always do X, Y and Z…..and we could add X, Y, and Z, and we could ask X, Y and Z to do X, Y, and Z.”

19. What you want to occur: Generic Student #1 walking down hall…sees poster/banner/goat with sign on it. Turns to friend and says: “Hey, have you heard about this thing?” You want Generic student #2 to respond with the greatest lie in all of student social life. All of your marketing needs to be aimed at having this line spoken:

21. “Yeah….I hear that EVERYONE is going.”

22. Evaluating the Vision • Ask each member of the planning team to provide a “walk through”. • Employ the “Six Hats Thinking” Exercise

23. “White Hat” Thinking • Focuses on the hard data available • Looks for gaps in the data you have • Analyzes past trends and extrapolates from historical data • Focuses on quantifiable things “Facts, observable information, what is known. Also, what is not known, but is needed.”

24. “Yellow Hat” Thinking • Focuses on the positive things in your plan • Examines what value your plan is going to produce “Benefits, value, why this idea might work. Why is it worth trying? What could be good about it? How does it meet our audience’s needs?”

25. “Black Hat” Thinking • Focuses on the negative aspects of your plan • Allows you to identify the parts of your plan that need strengthening • Allows you to identify what contingency plans should be prepared “Why this idea might NOT work. What could go wrong? What are the risks?”

26. “Green Hat” Thinking • Stands for creativity • Involves brainstorming solutions to identified problems • “Nothing is too stupid” “Alternatives, possibilities, new ideas to fix the black hat risks.”

27. “Red Hat” Thinking • Looks at plans using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion • Examines how others will react emotionally to your plans “Emotions, hunches, and intuitions. We don’t need reasons, just feelings.”

29. “Blue Hat” Thinking • The blue hat stands for process control • Worn by the people chairing your meetings • Responsible for triggering shifts between hats by the group

30. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign Adequate lead time Ask yourself two key questions: • How much time will it take to market this event PROPERLY? • Do we have that much time?

31. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign “Get Symbolic on their Ass!”

32. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign “Get Symbolic on their Ass!”

36. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign “Get Symbolic on their Ass!” Create a style guide to ensure consistency and professionalism in the way your organization appears.

38. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign “Hit ‘em in Waves…”

40. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign Connect the Dots…

45. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign Don’t skimp…get pro work, even if it’s not pro cost.

48. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign “Be Aware of Webfalls”

49. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign “Shape Up a Bit” Avoid always advertising with the 8” by 11”

50. Critical Pieces of a Successful Marketing Campaign “Embrace Diversity” From tabletalkers to stamps, surprise screens to random goats – fight poster domination!