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Effective Communications at Meetings and Events

19/08/2019

George Bernard Shaw nailed it when he declared that “the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”. For #eventprofs there can be no illusions - live events happen once - get it right or go home!

Great communication before during and after the event

Technology is our friend here bringing a world of choice in terms of platforms and tools to make communication easier. The challenge is which ones to use? We asked some Twitter friends:

Miguel Neves, CMP, a highly experienced #eventprof who specialises in Social Media deployment around events offers stellar advice. It’s not always the 'best' platform or tool - it’s the platform or tool most people are 'comfortable' using:

 “ …it’s all about lowest common denominator, or a tool that everyone is comfortable with. Email is default, WhatsApp if in company / local culture. Slack + GoogleDrive / Dropbox is probably the best option.

How we handle event communication

At Croke Park Meetings & Events we have our own internal processes that ensure no balls are dropped when it comes to delivering seamless events that exceed our clients’ expectations.
 
Pre-event, the Banquet Event Order, or BEO, is our Bible. This is where everything about the event is compiled, updated and shared. If it’s not on the BEO, it doesn’t happen.
 
During the event, we fall back on the lowest common denominator approach, as highlighted above by Miguel Neves. Then it’s all about smart phones, reacting on the fly, IM, and WhatsApp to text, send pictures, videos or sound files. With a network infrastructure to support more than 27,000 people or 40,000 devices simultaneously at Croke Park, we can rely on our connectivity to communicate.

At the EMEA PUG Challenge here last year - a conference for users of Progress products to develop or run business systems - our client, Julie Anne Clift-Thompson, highlighted the vital importance of great on-site communication:
 
“We had a WhatsApp Group amongst the Operations team, the AV team and our team and the reports back from my room monitors were that, if they had a problem, they had it solved very, very quickly, instantly, and from our point of view that helps us to run the event and make it a success for our delegates”
 
WhatsApp proved particularly useful during the EMEA PUG Challenge as Julie-Anne deployed human monitors in all breakout rooms who used the platform to request additional water, adjust room temperature and provide minute by minute updates on when the breakout session was likely to finish. Result was catering was delivered with “just-on-time” precision as the session ended. 
 
What platforms, tools and technology do you use during your meetings and events to ensure that i's are dotted and t’s crossed?

Contact us when planning your next event and let us help with your event communications.

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