The subject of creativity in events is a great one, because despite the fact that creativity is not tangible and it’s difficult to measure and track, it’s often used as a measure of success for many events. Anyone can throw together an event, but it’s creativity that will make your event stand out from the crowd. Event creativity isn’t just about the décor, it goes much deeper than that. If you are an event manager then you need to be thinking about how you can get creative with your budgets, your event marketing and even the process you use to plan and manage the event.
From event pitches and design ideas, to the event line up and how you sell tickets - there is always opportunity to be more creative.
Creativity is a skill that can be learned, practiced and developed. So we’ve put together 5 top ways to help you become more creative in the next week.
1. Experiment
Sometimes you need to learn to unlearn what you already know. If you always approach an event in the same way, then maybe it’s time to experiment with a new way of doing things.
In order to come up with new ideas and a fresh perspective you need to get out of your comfort zone and everyday ways of working. Experiment with meetings outside of the office, experiment with inviting people from different teams into your ideas sessions or look for ways that you can approach problems in a different way.
All you need to be creative is the right environment, stimulus and support. So experiment with what works for you and your team.
2. Expand your network
We’re not just talking about networking drinks with other event management professionals here.
Get to know people from other professions. How about web designers, software developers or online marketing experts? Expanding your list of contacts will enable you to expand your knowledge and the variety of ideas you are able to come up with. Creative people are always trying to learn something new.
3. Encourage those around you
Where possible try to encourage those around you to embrace change and to challenge the way you ‘normally’ do things. Just because the team normally promote or market your event in a certain way, doesn’t mean it always has be done like that.
Get others from you team involved in coming up with event marketing ideas, they will probably come up with viewpoints you haven’t thought of before. Encourage the ‘weird and wonderful’ event ideas and create an environment where people feel safe sharing their ideas. There is no such thing as a bad idea.
4. Question everything
Creative people are always asking the why, what, where, when and how. They don’t just accept the world as it is. Try to attend other events and ask yourself why are they doing that, or how have they achieved that, and more importantly how could I do it better?
5. Join the dots
Founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson believes so strongly in ‘always connecting the dots’ that he made it part of his company DNA.
What does ‘joining the dots’ mean?
When you look at the bigger picture, what do you think? Do you think that things happen by chance or that in the end looking back you will see that everything happened for a purpose?
Source: www.trendguardian.com/2013/11/innovation-always-be-connecting-dots.html
The idea behind connecting the dots is that you can find inspiration and insight from one area and apply it to something completely different. For example: if you collect event attendee data, then are you using this to help you generate ideas for your next event? If not, then you might be missing an opportunity.
Creativity is often thought of as being something you either have, or you don’t. But this simply isn’t the case – creativity flows through every event management process, from the event ticketing solutions you use to how you work with your team. Everyone is doing it to some degree, but the more you make creativity part of your daily life, the more it will grow.
What tools or tips do you use to help you with be more creative? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
