Above all else, we need to be curious   

Now don’t get me wrong, ensuring the nuts and bolts of an event are in good standing is essential, but we should be looking beyond this.    

We must get under the skin of clients’ brands and target audiences, immerse ourselves in their values, and get to know the team on a level that means we’re familiar with their quirks – whether that’s the layers of approval involved, peoples’ different working hours, or their preferred modes of communication.  

By being genuinely curious about our clients, event professionals are able to build up a sound knowledge base, which can be used to inform the experience design process. In turn it means the elements we weave in are more likely to resonate, and actually make people feel something when attending an event.  

As the saying goes: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,” and this is the magic we need to be tapping into. It’s a way for us to demonstrate both real added value to clients, and the power of face-to-face experiences. 

No brief? No worries   

Unclear briefs, half finished briefs, or no brief at all. We’ve all been there, and the beauty of this curious-first approach means none of these need to be deal breakers.    

Which brings me to the concept of the unwritten brief, an approach where we don’t need a formal brief to understand a client’s needs and requirements. Because if we take the time to challenge clients, ask them the big questions, investigate and research – via our own means and through chemistry meetings, 1-2-1 coffee catch ups, or calls with wider teams, among many others, – we really should be able to identify the big three without a brief at all:   

1. The challenge 
2. Why it matters 
3. The solution/s 
   

Purpose over churn 

The unwritten brief operates most effectively when purposeful partnerships are prioritised in favour of one-off churn and burn collaborations. 

This is because even if in-house teams are run off their feet, less experienced, or don’t have the niche expertise, their agency understands them and their needs to the finest of details, and acts accordingly.

They can predict things before they happen, and take action before an ask arises – whether it’s “we think we might need a green room” – where our answer is we agree, and we’ve already booked it, or “we need new ways to connect with our c-suite” – and we’ve already got a deck filled with equal parts elevated and unique concepts ready to present to them. 

The unwritten brief means championing curiosity, mutual client-agency trust and understanding, and delivering events not only to the highest of standards, but improving year-on-year. Because ultimately, we’re in the business of making our clients look good.

From restructures to redundancies, I predict in-house teams will become even leaner this year, and budgets and lead times will follow suit. In turn, embracing the unwritten brief will be a key point of difference for agencies, so long as they’re willing to go the extra mile.