Events have become an integral part of today’s marketing communication –
every organization and every company holds events of one kind or another.
From courses, further training and meetings to sporting events, public events, galas, test drives, congresses and concerts – the list goes on and on.
Sometimes events have to be particularly creative or impressive, sometimes they are consciously or unconsciously original – or even boring. Their organization varies accordingly: sometimes guests travel from far away and stay overnight at different locations, sometimes everything simply takes place in-house.
Events are as diverse as life itself. No two events are the same – or at least they shouldn’t be.
Above all, however, they are moments when people come together to experience or learn something together.
In other words, an event is technically an event in which people come together to…
- at a certain point in time or a fixed period of time,
- in one or more locations,
- and for a specific purpose
- to leave the event with added value in terms of knowledge, attitude or emotions.
Regardless of what type of event it is.
As considerable expense is often incurred both at the event venue and for the participants, the investment should not only be carefully considered but also specifically planned.
Processes and resources
Events are incredibly diverse and each one is unique – as is their definition.
When you talk to customers, friends and acquaintances about events, everyone has a different idea of what they are. For some it’s a concert, for others a wedding, a training course, an anniversary or an awards ceremony – the list is almost endless.
The situation is similar if you take a look at the relevant literature: there is an almost unmanageable variety of event types. A distinction is often made between consumer and B2B events.
At this point, we want to take a closer look at the individual event types, not simply listing them loosely, but trying to categorize them directly into a thought pattern. Let’s call it our “event universe”.
Like the real universe, the event universe is littered with planets to which you can travel, whereby the names of the planets are the different event types – and as mentioned, there are as many of these as there are stars in the sky.
Close planets are easier to reach than distant ones – in our event universe too.
As shown in our graphic below, in our world pure distance is described as “complexity” and the two defining axes are resources and processes. Consequently, an event with many resources and complex processes is in our eyes a complex event or, metaphorically speaking, a distant planet.
But what exactly do resources and processes mean?
| Resources | Resources include everything that can be provided and booked at an event: – Participation (but also cancellation) – Sessions/workshops/lectures (organized and presented in every possible way) – F&B (every kind of catering – from snacks to gala dinners) – Hotels (individual, in groups with or without meeting rooms and auxiliary material) – Tickets (cultural or sports. Own tickets, or supplied by third parties) – Travel (individual, group travel, scheduled or charter flights, ground transport and local event transport around the location, to the hotel or airport) – Special programs of any kind – Event merchandising (for staff or guests) |
| Logic/Processes | General booking processes and procedures Breakdown by: – Participant categories (VIP, press, sponsors, etc.) – Organizational units (countries, departments, etc.) – Languages – Access rights within an event or a company – Rules within the booking processes – Connection to CRM systems or other third-party systems – SSO with third-party systems for users or guests (single sign-on) – Check-out processes with payment systems |
Depending on the resources used and the processes required, an event can therefore become almost infinitely complex. The saying “Events are no rocket science” is therefore theoretically not entirely true – complex events are ultimately a science in themselves.
This is precisely why colada’s structure is so modular. With our diverse but closely interlinked solutions, complex events really are “no rocket science”!