Event Technology will change and improve but there are timeless and unchangeable things in event management that all event managers and event organizers should keep into heart. These timeless gems are:

1.    Passion

It is hard to be an event manager, for that matter run an event management company. I should know it. We have been running a twelve year old company. If you do not have a big PASSION for this industry you will not stay long and your company will not stay long. Passion is what will keep you going. Any big problem is nothing because you have the resistance to overcome it because you have a big fire in your heart that is called Passion.

2.    Competence

If you do not have competence in this field your clients and potential clients will desert you. Competence is what makes other people calling your phone, asking you to work with them. Competence is what keeps the word of mouth marketing machine from spreading your company from potential clients.

3.    Creativity

The event management industry, the exhibition industry and convention industry is all about creativity. Creativity in content, execution, in generating buyers and other things that will make your event FRESH and act like a MAGNET for clients and potential clients. Your idea even if others argue that is similar to their ideas will always be DIFFERENT. You know why, it is because GOD IS IN THE DETAILS. The execution of the idea will always be different if placed to different hands.

4.    Efficiency

You must be efficient. Event Managers and Event Organizers must be like a Swiss watch in terms of efficiency. Yes, there is no excuse. Clients expect us to be efficient. If you are forgetting we called ourselves event organizer and event manager, we have no choice therefore but to be organized and great in management – in other words efficient.

5.    Resourcefulness

Even if we plan, Murphy’s Law will always catch up on us event organizers and event managers. The only way to counter this is to be resourceful. I have lots of stories about event organizers and event managers acting spontaneously because of the situation and their decisions proved brilliant in solving a problem. Example, in one of the event stories I am privileged to listened into, the dancers of the event failed to show up and there part in the program is about to start. The event organizer was able to gather available event staff and craft a simple dance number. The audience have no idea that people dancing in the stage are not the supposed dancers – the performance is clean and good and the event staff turned dancers generated a loud applause of appreciation.

6.    Values

No matter how good the event manager or organizers if they do not have values that are worth emulating then the event management company or exhibition company they are running are useless. No doubt about it, an event management company that do not have values and built only to make money will be short lived. Values are like compass, it will serve as a direction to the leaders of the event management companies. Values serves as a unique selling point (USP), clients love event management companies that embody values they can identify with.

7.    Relationships

In order to make a successful event management company or exhibition company, all members of the organization must value internal professional relationships and client relationships. Again, if we nurture staff and client relationships money will come. If we do not nurture staff and client relationships say goodbye to your event management company or exhibition company. The business of events is all about creating strong relationships with your people and clients.

8.    Trust

In event management and exhibition management, competence builds trust. Trust is what we must aspire to generate from our clients. If clients trust us then it is easy doing business with them. Clients will allow us to create events for them if they know we can be trusted. Clients will join or sponsor our exhibition if they know we can be trusted in delivering the results we promised.

We can still add from these eight attributes but for me these are the bedrock where we all can strengthen our event management companies.

Work should be fun and challenging.

These two things give us the reason to go to work every day with passion and energy.

In Exlinkevents we strive to do that. We strive to make it FUN. This is the reason why we have two GREAT ORGANIZATIONAL OUTINGS A YEAR. Every place we go we strive to know it. We always believe that the people that go to a particular place are changed, and sometimes forever changed.

We also strive to make it CHALLENGING. Ask one of the Exlinkers and they will tell you the challenges they face in staging an event to make it successful. No doubt, for us the event is an ART.. It is like a blank canvass during the conceptualization stage and colors appear during the implementation stage – making it an ART, we are all proud of saying we have a small part in making it an ART.

So we now go to the most important reason we are discussing about the FUN and CHALLENGE, this year Exlinkevents further challenge its internal capacity by creating bigger events. When we say bigger we mean BIGGER! Now because of this we need additional people in sales and marketing.

In particular, we need people who have EXPERIENCE in sales and marketing. This is to shorten the learning curve of knowing the industry. This also speeds up the contribution of these lucky people to the vision that we set this year.

The vision is simple:  Create Business Events that will make an Impact to the Learning and Economic Development of the Country.

The FUN and CHALLENGE is the gravy of what we do and who we are.

Who we are defines what we do. This is very important. Exlinkers work not only for personal economic reasons but for improving our society, our country. In what we do, we create progress.

You see, we do business events like tradeshows that facilitate business transactions. We also create and manage conventions that act as vehicle for knowledge transfer and dissemination.

Every time we do what we do best, in our hearts and mind we know that we are making a better society, a better country. This knowledge is enough for us to KEEP MOVING FORWARD AND FLYING HIGHER.  

Now if you have the experience, send your resume to info@exlinkevents.com. If you do not have the experience but believes in our Vision we will give you a shot to be part of our family.

Yes, we need additional people to expand the panorama of the organization. Lastly, to make the group jump shots that we take yearly, in our out of town sorties, BETTER and BIGGER.

Nature is a rich resource of event management lessons.

I got another one in my trip to Calaguas Island. You see going to the paradise called Calaguas Island entails a challenge. The challenge is to navigate and remain calm in the middle of a very unforgiving sea with waves that can go as high as a Cathedral. Luckily, for Exlinkevents group we encountered a wave as high as 2.5 meters.

The event management lessons that I got from this trip are these:

1.    Event Management is like a boat trip to Calaguas Island, you first must encounter the unforgiving challenges of the waves before you get to enjoy paradise.

Fear has no room in this endeavor of managing events. In order to execute and implement an event that meets expectations of your clients and group you must be willing to face the waves of problems that sometimes are as high as a cathedral.

2.    Event Management is like a boat driver. The more you are competent, the more you are confident to navigate the boat safely to shore.

Our boat driver is a tried and tested boat driver. He knows how to tame the swells that our boat encounters. This is the reason why we are able to safely reach our destination. The same is true to events manager. The more an events manager acquires experience in the field, the more he can control the outcome of the events. The more the events manager acquires experience, the more the probability of success is assured.

3.    Event Management is like a boat driver that having competence knows how to have fun in the middle of the unforgiving sea.

Despite the big waves that makes you feel like you are in a scene of the movie “Perfect Storm”, I saw our boat driver smiling and so relax. In fact, he is making fun of one of the 

Exlinkevents who seems on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

This is also true for events manager who are like boat drivers who have acquired expertise and can laugh at the challenges that are sometimes impossible to solve. The reason the events manager can relax or be humorous is because his competence gave him the power to see the solutions and tame the waves of challenges that are crashing into his projects.

I am very thankful for Calaguas Island for these 3 lessons. I am looking forward to ride again the waves that makes this paradise special.

The year is almost over. After numerous events that I have handled here are three project management lessons that I learned from hindsight.

Plan is not important, Planning is

I read this in one of the project management books that I devoured this year. The more I think about it the more it is alive in my daily encounters.

It only means that if you plan that is a good practice but be prepared to change your plan because the landscape of the project changes. Therefore, planning or re-planning is a must in order to answer the needs of the time.

Less Emotions, More Intelligence

In handling projects you cannot be too emotional. Being emotional because of the many demands a project gives you makes you prone to poor decision making.

It is best to master your emotions. This is hard to do but this is a must. The more you control your emotions that better you are finding rational and sound solutions to a problem.

I have been placed this year in some nerve wrecking situations. I almost cracked. Thankfully, my mind is stronger. This is the reason why I love events as a project. You are given an opportunity to wrestle with yourself and come out victorious.

This learning is the same as GRACE UNDER PRESSURE.

Forward Thinking - Solutions is important than problems

Every time a project presents problems and my staff reports to me about the problems I always say what are your solutions to the problem? This is forward thinking. You cannot do anything about the past. The only thing you can work on is the present. The present are the solutions to close the problem.

I never wallow on the pit of problems. I always swim along the problems and try to reach the shore. Better yet I look for a speedboat and drive over the problems.

If your brain is trained to be like this you can achieve a lot.

This is what I learned and molded me for this year 2012 in events management and project management. This too can help you be a better person in the many endeavors you wanted to embark next year.

This is an ordinary number for some, most especially to people who live and breathe the internet. This is a number that may be a commonplace that we can ignore – why not!

However, for me 100,000 is a special number that plays around in my mind every day. First, I never imagined that exlinkeventsblog will reach the 100,000 visitors this year. Writing for me is the first and foremost objective of creating a blog. To write is to express regardless of what topics are at hand. To express is to be free. Freedom is something you struggle to achieve and enjoy.

In addition, to be read or even to be viewed for a second is like a clap that a speaker receives in public speaking. This is a natural high for the writers. It is my opium. Writing is one of my paradise amidst the chaotic urban city that we live in.

Lastly, lest I am mistaken for boasting this achievement let me correct this. All I want to do is to mark this milestone as special. But most of all, I just want to say thank you to all the readers and co-bloggers that helped me in allowing this blog to reach this milestone today, November 28, 2012.

Now my mindset is to get that 200,000 with meaning that is to continue the purpose of this blog to educate and inform about events management, M.I.C.E, conference, trade shows, expos and association events that are shaping the lives of many people and are making a big impact in the economy of our country and the world.

Eventually, thru my blog more M.I.C.E. Professionals are born and Event Management as an industry becomes one of the industries where Filipinos are declared by the whole world as number one! 

There is no doubt that the landscape in advertising products and services has changed dramatically. In some forums and coffee table discussions the trend that companies are cutting back on traditional ads are very much talked about. Another trend that adds a kick on these gatherings is the increased budget allotment in events to promote companies’ products and services.

Of course, as one of the event suppliers I am too happy to hear this news. However, one of the clamors of companies is the scarcity of available suppliers – professional and well trained.

The question now is why is there a need for advertising and event suppliers to continuously learn and improve their craft. Here are the 3 top reasons:

1.       Event Management is Critical to the Success of the Brand

As more companies venture into event as a medium in promoting their products and services, the event becomes critical in communicating the brand personality of a particular products and services. Therefore, the room for error in the advertising and event companies executing an event becomes slim to zero.

2.       Execution of Event Must Always Offer Novelty

Continuously learning and grabbing any related conferences and learning forums that will improve the suppliers is a must. Ideas can only be generated by a pregnant mind. A pregnant mind is produced by observing and listening to great ideas.

A Novelty Idea is what will separate a brand to another brand. Most of the times, event concept is demanded to advertising and event suppliers. You cannot give what you don’t have. In this dictum, learn continuously or die.

3.       Event Management Companies Must Create Order in Chaos

A lot of details are needed to be addressed during the pre-event implementation. More details are tackled in the actual event. If the advertising and event suppliers are not prepared there will be an explosion and implosion – a great catastrophe in the actual event. The by-product will be an irate client and consumers or visitors.

Advertising and event suppliers first and foremost must have the skill to create order on what seems to be a chaotic environment bereft of structure. It is what the clients paid for. You can only have that capability if you continuously learn the craft and monitor the small trends taking place in the industry.

Maybe you have better ideas why advertising and event suppliers must embrace a learning culture I will be happy to know it.

Practice makes perfect. It sounds cliché but it is so critical in events management. How many times have we experienced problems that pop out all because we failed to discuss and conduct dry runs and technical meetings?

In events, we always say that the actual implementation is just the reward of the pre-event planning that your team worked hard for. One of the critical moments in the pre-event planning is conducting dry runs and technical meetings.

Dry runs and technical meetings is precisely what will take place in the actual event. The more you know, the more you are confident that it can be done. This is the mantra that you and a lot of people wanting to create an event must have in mind.

Knowledge is confidence. It is minimizing Murphy’s Law. It is preparing your mental abilities to what will happen. It is event management.

I for one have a lot of experiences of how important dry runs and technical meetings are. In some instances, I was witness and sometimes part of events that encountered problems coming from areas of the event that we are not able to discuss during the technical meetings or conduct during the dry run.

As I always say, GOD IS IN THE DETAILS. Dry runs and technical meetings are the important pages of this important rule.

Nobody is perfect. But in events you must strive for perfection. To err is human. In events to err is a mortal sin.

Perfection can be achieved in events because of the technical meetings where each details and key result areas are discussed. Perfection can be attained when we conduct dry run because we see the possibilities of our plan and its bad side that can be corrected before the actual event.

I believe I have given reasons and arguments why we must all conduct dry runs and technical meetings. I don’t care how easy or small the events are, when Murphy’s Law strikes you cannot do anything about it. The only force that can defeat Murphy’s Law lies in dry runs and technical meetings.

In my recent Event Management lecture at a membership based association of entrepreneurs, I was asked by one of the attendees why is it not important to think of the budget first before creating an event.

He eagerly awaited my answer as I requested him to wait as I unfold my lecture slide per slide. When the time is ripe I answered his question. I told him and the whole audience that in creating an event one must first think what will be the contribution of the event to the betterment of the society before continuing to move forward.

It is this that he felt puzzled. The attendee believes that budget must first take precedent in order to avoid risks and ensure profitability. My answer is not exactly what he expected.

The truth of the matter is we must always put first the benefits that the event can give to the society or a particular segment of the society before pushing forward because it is the best way to ensure profitability.

For example, Exlinkevents created the first Customer Loyalty and Rewards Conference. This generated excitement and a lot of participants from companies that already are implementing Loyalty and Rewards Program but are looking to upgrade and develop it further. They saw that the conference is the event that they are looking for and that no one in the market is offering this needs.

We created the event not thinking first the budget and the risk that a new concept entails. We created it thinking that it is needed and will benefit companies in retaining and creating loyal customers. In accomplishing this, we strongly believe that companies can further experience growth.

After a lot of explanation and convincing, I used the powerful “ADD VALUE” to the society when you start a business or create an event. In the end the audience and the attendee that asked the question were convinced.

I strongly drive this point by quoting Zig Ziglar’s “People will not care until they see and feel that you care for them”. Not exactly the precise words used by Ziglar but in essence it is what he said, a saying so true in our society.

Again, in anything you do before you start to create it you must always bear in mind that ADDING VALUE is the first and most important step one must take in event creation or project creation.

I saw the eyes of the entrepreneurs after the seminar and they are all shining emitting to me that they understood what I am driving deep into their hearts.

In return, I just smile secretly as the time I spent with them did not go to waste.

Every day I receive a lot of applications and every week I conduct interviews for prospective new members of our organization.

I always include the question “Why do you want to be in the events industry?” and most of the times their answer is that the event industry is a fun industry. After this answer I make a follow-up question “Yes its fun but are you aware of the hard work it demands for us to create a fun and great event?” This second question almost always illicit a blank stare.  

A large number of applicants grapple to answer this question. It seems that all they have in mind is the fun and entertainment side of the event. It seems they always place their role when judging the industry as the audience or user of the events. When in fact, as part of the industry they will be the service provider of making the audience or user of the events experience the fun and entertainment they have experienced in attending past events.

Indeed, the truth is that events are fun and some events are entertaining. But there are a lot of events that are created to achieve an objective other than to make it fun and entertaining. And as events professional, we must be prepared to deliver objectives that clients asked us to achieve - most especially, if the objectives are reasonable.

In fact, that is what I advice all of those aspiring to be part of the events industry. As events professional, we are tasked to create an event that meets the objectives of the client often times in the middle of the back draft where scarcity of resources and time are two of our constant companions.

These two companions can shake our spirit and make us lose our focus and bow to pressure, but we are professionals who must battle these two companions until the actual implementation of the event. In the end, hard working and creative event professionals earn the smile and accolades of the clients for an excellent job which is a byproduct of sleepless nights and a lot of near bouts with nervous breakdowns.

Of course, for some sleepless nights and bouts with nervousness are taken as an adrenaline rush savored like the steaming hot coffee in your table.

Events industry is about hard work and creativity. Only those with the passion to be in this industry can withstand the constant pressures. Only those that embrace the challenges that knock everyday at the door of an events company can comprehend the fun part that this industry offers.

So to those who are planning to apply to our organization, you already know how to answer me back once I throw the two questions to you. But even if you answer these two questions that does not guarantee you are in. I guess that is another matter reserved for another discussion.

I know everybody will agree that the holiday season will bring out the best events in the land. For one, this part of the year is the best way to make a killing and laugh your way to the bank. The Corporate, School and Family Christmas parties are events that bring out the merriment of the season. Bazaars from every corner of the metro and the provinces sprout like mushrooms. Concerts and plays bombard us.

The malls and commercial establishments also come out with a lot of gimmicks, even extending their time of operations just to capture the spending spirits of the shoppers.

Indeed, we are all lost in this crazy season.

However, for the events management companies this is the time where their creative juices are challenged, and their struggle to be heard in the midst of the noise become an Everest – too high and too stiff.

I am enjoying the dynamic air of the energy that is everywhere and I am happy for all the projects that all the event and production companies are getting and implementing this season.

As for me, Exlinkevents still has one event to implement the MegaBalikbayan OFW Expo this December 9-11, 2011 at Megatrade, SM Megamall.

The turn-out of this trade show is very encouraging and broke all the pass records in terms of exhibitor participations and, hopefully, visitor attendance.

What can I say the sea of opportunities is so wide and the events industry is so big that it is dominating the holiday season like colorful and bright lanterns that adorn our streets, highways and homes.