Little did I know, this fascination of mine will land me in a job which will engage me in not only organizing Global events but also conceiving them. So, I thought of sharing my tryst with managing events : )

Let me first define Event Management: “Event management is a union between project management and marketing. The secret to successful events is early and detailed project planning. Unlike many general projects, planning an event should have strict deadlines with little margin for error. For this reason it is vital that planning begins early“

Some key steps that should be kept in mind while organizing an event are:

1) Develop Event Concept Note: When organizing an event it is important to define WHY the event is being held: The organizers must also ascertain WHO will attend the event. The key questions to ask at this early developmental stage are:

a. What is this event for?

b. What form will it take?

c. When and where will it be held?

d. How will the event benefit participants?

e. What could be barriers?

2) Develop budget and monitor finances: List all the essential costs for the event. Costs should include administration, event delivery, marketing, communication and contingency (normally 15% of total budget expenditure). Usually events also generate some income: Direct Income (Delegation Fee) Indirect Income (advertising, sponsorships and partnerships). All sponsorships should be noted as income.

3) Event planning and preparation: It’s a good idea to establish a formal team to organize the event. The team should consist of committed members who  posses complimentary skills. The team should also have the a leader who shall play the role of event convener.

4) Allocation of Responsibilities: Once the team has been formed outline the responsibilities of each member-their tasks with timelines. It is advisable to use appropriate project management tools to monitor timely deliverance.

5) Identify crucial activities for the event: It is important to divide the activities in event organizing into a project chart and then divide the chart into three phase viz:

a. Pre-Event Phase: During this phase the following activities should be undertaken and closely monitored:

i. Forming the Agenda

ii. Getting in best speakers

iii. Generating sponsorships

iv. Marketing the event

v. Delegate Acquisition

b. Event delivery phase: This means the actual day of the event. This requires a clear understanding at the event of each member of their responsibilities. The responsibilities may be as below:

i. Floor Plan

ii. Audio/Video

iii. Master of Ceremonies

iv. Speaker Co-ordination

v. Public Relations

vi. Delegates management

vii. Sponsors management

c. Post Event Phase: Although you and your team has been able to pull a successful event you must be careful of the post event tasks these include:

i. Obtain feedback from participants;

ii. Thank and recognise all involved in the event including volunteers, sponsors, media and participants;

iii. Hold a debriefing session;

iv. Send out event reports to all sponsors and key organisations; and

v. Ensure records are kept in a central place for running the event in the future

vi. Ensure all the business leads generated through the event are passed out to the relevant people within or outside of your organization

The management of events calls, largely for good planning and coordination, from stage one.

Contributed by : Richa Kapoor, Knowledge Buddy, External Relations, Milagrow

Hmmm… Agreed that that’s the flip side of marketing an event but on the brighter side there are learning’s which can be gathered during the course of organizing an event. Through a series of blogs I will share some of my learning’s in this journey; my first blog is dedicated to the process of event description.

The tradition of writing event descriptions is to tell the reader what the event is all about without even thinking about the most basic rule of marketing i.e. before presenting a prospect with surplus information we must make him identify the problem and then provide him with a solution. Take this blog as an example; I didn’t start it with giving tips on marketing an event rather I presented a challenge that is faced by anyone who hosts events.

Therefore, the description for an event should start with a problem experienced by the target audience for the event. The first, at most the first two paragraphs should explain the issue, or problem to the reader. Then the solution portion of the description should be taken as an opportunity to explain to the reader the knowledge that will be shared during the event, especially that knowledge which will help him solve the challenge he had been presented with above. It should be clear, concise, and action oriented. Energy words like action-packed, hands-on, powerful, interactive, etc. should be used. While writing the description we should also be mindful of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as it will help search engines to increase the event’s online visibility.

The traditional event description usually has a section presenting what will be the takeaways of the event but it is not necessarily an effective way to drive delegates to register for the event. Instead, we should consider telling them what they will be capable of, immediately after the event, something that they aren’t capable of now. This approach will create action and energy. It allows the reader to visualize a positive future scenario.

Another very important aspect is to build credibility for the event. Unless your company is an established name, credibility is a critical requirement for the event. Without that, you will not be able to ensure participation. In most cases, there are thousands of people who hold similar events. Since time and money are involved, the reader needs to know that you are an expert on this specific subject and others can vouch for you. What needs to be answered is: "Of all of the people in the world they should choose you?”

There are two components to establishing credibility. The first is to present, in a few sentences, what makes you an expert on this specific subject matter. It is specific to the topic of this event. Why are you passionate about this subject? Passion sells! The second is the use of testimonials. Testimonials are critical for converting those who don’t know you into registrants. Use testimonials that vouch for you as an expert on this topic and how attending your events has helped these people dramatically.

With the above elements taken care of the best suggestion is that once you have created your description, test it on colleagues. Do they see the value? Would they be motivated to attend? Once they approve of it and polish it, you are ready to drive registrations and attendees to your event!

Contributed by : Richa Kapoor, Knowledge Buddy, External Relations, Milagrow

March 12, 2008 onwards no Provident Fund deductions can be made from the amount received by an employee by encashing the earned leave. This is because earned leaves that are encashed do not constitute a part of ‘basic wages’ under Section 2(b) of the Employees’ Provident fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization has also directed through a circular directed to discontinue PF deductions on such earned leave encashments with immediate effect. Further, it has clarified that if any payment has been already made in respect of the same, it can be adjusted for future liabilities and no refund can be claimed from the same.

Transfer is the part and parcel of employment. Transfer refers to change in job that involve little or not change in status, pay or responsibility. The object of transfer is to increase the effectiveness of the organisation, its profitability and its service. If transfers are done for improving the functioning, then it is most welcome, but If it is done with ill-intentions or for punishment, then it certainly causes dispute and frustration as well. The right of employer to transfer his employee is inherent and implicit in the contract of employment. An employer is the best judge to know the capacity of his employees. He also knows well, where and when the capacities of any employee could best be utilised. As per the rules, an employer has the right to transfer the employee from one place to another. Non-compliance of the transfer order by the employee amounts to misconduct. The right of an employer to transfer his employee from one station to another though within the discretion of the employer is always subject to the condition that the terms of contract of employment of an employee are not adversely affected.

Customers get the suppliers they deserve and vice versa. Companies get the people they deserve and vice versa.

- Rajeev Karwal

MSME Act spurs growth:report

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Tamil Nadu to be ranked second in industrial map within two years: Palanisamy

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MSME task force may submit report on February 5

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PM to review MSME task force recommendations on Feb 5

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Tradeindia best way of marketing for MSEs: experts

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WEF: Infosys bats for small, medium cos

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SMES KEY TO FUTURE CANADA-INDIA TRADE

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“We are at the cusp of a radical shift where consumers want the convergence of lifestyle and work style on a mobile screen. Whoever fulfils this need takes the market share”. Thus said, Sumeet Gugnani, Director, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft India recently.

With an existing mobile user base of 288 million which is expected to rise to 650 million by 2012, the “mobile marketing” looks like the next holy grail of marketing warfare for the leading internet companies. As mobile phone manufacturers continue to roll out new models at frantic pace which are enabled to access internet, mobile phone content generation and advertising is expected to assume much larger proposition then it does now.

But first a reality check. The global mobile marketing and advertising market is estimated to be $ 3 billion in 2007 which is expected to grow to $19 billion by 2011. However most of these revenues come from the matured markets like US, Japan and Europe and India’s contribution is almost negligible. In fact of the total revenues of the telecom operators and internet sites in India, only 0.5 % is contributed currently by mobile ad revenues. Bad news?

Now the good news. At present around 60% of handsets in India have internet capabilities but only 10 % of the total subscriber base is using them. This means a huge untapped market for the current and new players which can result in a huge revenue stream in near future. But still the telecom service providers and internet companies like MSN, Yahoo, Google et al need to develop a clear strategy to monetize these opportunities.

Some of the challenges which stare in the face and might upset the cart are:-

• Bandwidth issues plaguing the Indian mobile scenario. Current downloads on mobile phones are slow and may become even slower as more subscribers start using internet features on mobile. Is 3G the solution?
• Adapting the websites to fit into the mobile screen. Most popular websites have come out with mobile phone versions like m.orkut.com, wap.indiatimes.com etc. These sites are quick to load and content is easy to read on the mobile phone screens. Still more work needs to be done here.
• Creating relevant advertising for users. The advertisements scrolling on the mobile screen will take up more space in percentage terms as compared to the computer screen. Thus to maximize returns the advertisements have to be made very relevant based on the profile of mobile user logging into the site. For example a farmer in Punjab logging into yahoo mail on mobile may see an advertisement of a commodities exchange but a university student in Delhi doing same at the same time needs to see advertisement of a sale in nearest mall.

The internet companies are aware of these challenges and working quickly to develop solutions which will help them to gain a larger pie of this market. Current strategy of the major players (MSN, Yahoo and Google) is two pronged – forge a tie up with a leading service provider (Yahoo-RCom, Google-Airtel, MSN-Vodafone) and then launch quick win, innovative solutions for having first crack at the user. These solutions will not be only mail or chatting but a very comprehensive bouquet of services like picture sharing, video sharing, maps, etc which makes the company’s webpage the default choice or in slightly more technical language “home page” for the largest possible number of users.

So in this light what should be the strategies for the leading players in the online space? We take a shot at it and try to explain keeping in mind their current strengths and weaknesses.

• Google: Google built up an entire empire based on a simple search engine. Wrong! Google built up an entire empire based on cutting edge innovative applications which they provided for free to the users. This will remain Google’s forte on mobile also. They already have a huge user base of GMail, Orkut and other associated sites who will definitely like to access those over mobile as well gving Google a head start over rivals. But the trick for Google lies in not only replicating its existing applications available on PC to mobile phones but launching, developed from scratch mobile phone applications which will then lead to advertising revenues.
• Yahoo: Having already taking a huge beating in the PC based online space, mobile based online space may become Yahoo’s saviour. But only if Yahoo is alert to its key differentiator against leader Google. It should accept that search is not going to come back to it. So it needs to focus on something else. Whats that? Looking at places where Yahoo is still nudging past Google are Yahoo groups, Yahoo answers, Yahoo finance. So what does it mean for Yahoo? Blend search with content, user generated content. Content has always been Yahoo’s forte which it unfortunately forgot. Looking at the mobile phone space, can I quickly log into Yahoo answers through my mobile and post a query regarding prices of Car Stereo systems in New Delhi while I am standing outside a car accessory shop and get a quick response on the same? The answer to this might just shape Yahoo’s future in Mobile marketing.
• MSN: One of the first movers in the PC based online space which has not been able to get back to its Hotmail days post launch of GMail. MSN needs to think differently for mobiles. It needs to think less razzmatazz, more relevant content, less spam and more openness in sharing applications with the users. If today MSN comes out with an internet explorer specially for mobiles which is “in reality” faster than existing browsers for mobiles or develops customized application for mobile based video, photo sharing which are again “in reality” faster than existing applications, I might be willing to give it a try. So MS needs to do what MS does best. Develop strong applications.

All said and done, mobile marketing space looks exciting and we are watching it keenly. Like right now I have just logged into my mail account on mobile and have been greeted by a banner ad selling sports shoes. Am I going to click ? Lets see !

Reference: Small Space, Big Battle, Outlook Business, July 26, 2008.