Published: September 2023
As summer holidays, festivals, and celebrations come to a close, it’s time to get back into the busiest period for the events industry: Q4.
Whether it’s B2C product launches in preparation for Christmas, B2B conferences to drive your pipeline, or B2E induction programmes to introduce the latest grads, we’ve collated some key event considerations to get you ready for the quarter ahead...
Q4 is the season of festivities, and major holidays like Diwali, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas are just around the corner. Although you may not want to think that far ahead, it’s easy to forget that calendars will get booked up fast. This leads to issues straight off the bat, with your event attendance, venue choice and travel considerations all suffering as a result.
Begin to consider your target attendees and their availability. When is their busiest period? When would the majority of people finish work? Are there other industry events that would clash? Leaving your event too close to the holidays can lead to low engagement and low attendance as people’s schedules begin to fill with other priorities. Start to recognise attendee schedules and work around them. Get your ‘save-the-dates’ out and invitations ready so that when calendars get booked, your event is cemented in place.
You’ll also need to consider your venue sooner rather than later. Christmas parties and events mean that venues are always in high demand around Q4. Make sure to secure your desired venue as soon as possible.
Perhaps your attendees are travelling from different locations? Consider how travel or weather disruptions may affect your plans. Weather especially can be unpredictable, so take the time to create contingency plans, such as livestreams for those who can’t physically make it, or personalised branded umbrellas to encourage people to face the storm!
The arrival of the holidays isn’t all doom and gloom. With it comes the notion of finishing the year on a high, being reflective of what’s happened and taking learnings forward to make the next year even better. This means engaging people is easier than ever as they’re happy to get involved in activities that grab their attention.
With B2B, the best way to do this is through networking opportunities. People want to nurture the meaningful connections they’ve made throughout the year, celebrating great work and creating opportunities for collaboration in the future. A great way to leverage the holiday spirit is through exclusive ‘themed’ dinners. By inviting key members from each business, you can highlight the value between the brands and the importance of their relationship. An intimate dinner opens the door to further discussions and creates impactful bonds.
For B2C, it’s worth considering how your brand can sit at the centre of consumer minds. An interactive Christmas activation that engages the public whilst shopping is a great way to tap into the holiday spirit. Giveaways of the latest products, vouchers or charity donations will grab the consumer’s attention, putting your brand at the forefront.
B2E can leverage the holiday spirit through recognition and celebration of staff achievements over the past year. Awards ceremonies show gratitude towards your employees, recapping the brand’s milestones and showcasing the positive outcomes of the year’s work. The more personalised touches you can add, the better. By utilising the festive atmosphere, you can gain loyalty and get people easily excited about your brand.
With all these engaging experiences to plan in Q4, it’s worth taking a look at how you can unlock more budget from the key decision-makers and allocate it effectively. Use your previous experiences as the groundwork, highlight how these events can align with your brand goals and how you can capitalise on the current industry trends. Once you’ve done this, you’ll unlock the potential for more personalised and impactful upgrades.
Have a think about how you can showcase past success - how have previous experiences aligned with your business objectives in terms of brand visibility, customer acquisition or revenue growth? Are there any objectives that would benefit from an engaging experience? Use case studies, social content and attendee testimonials to demonstrate the human connection outcomes, alongside quantitative data to provide tangible ROI, such as new leads and attendance numbers. By providing data-driven justification, you can align this to the company's growth and goals.
Another way to unlock more budget is to highlight the industry impact you can make. Engage the decision makers through the latest market trends, presenting what competitors have been working on and the potential opportunities that an event can capitalise on. How can the experience gain a competitive advantage through innovative technology and valuable connections? Demonstrate how each interactive element will create a personalised touch, through the build, the content and the event identity, ultimately putting your brand at the front and centre.
Once you’ve unlocked this budget, think about how you can use this to push personalisation even further. Gift-giving and swag are great ways to promote the brand while keeping it personal. An unexpected surprise, like special guests, talent and entertainment, creates fantastic engagement opportunities on social channels and a feeling of exclusivity in the experience. Perhaps you can invest in production with memorable audiovisual elements to create a strong impact. Any way you can utilise the budget to delight your attendees is a win-win.
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but another consideration for Q4 is to think beyond it. As the year closes, Q4 is the time to wrap up your event strategy and take your learnings forward into the new year. With offices closed at the end of December, you haven’t got long before you’re thrown back into the deep end of the new year.
Reflect on your previous experiences and share insights through data and attendee feedback. What worked? What needed improvement? Define your KPIs based on Q4 outcomes and identify the key areas that need focus for the following year, incorporating them into your 2024 event strategy.
Did you manage to reach your required audience? Who will take the main priority in the new year and how will you bridge that connection through your experiences? Think about how you will determine the theme and identity so that it can reflect your business goals.
As mentioned above, talk to the budget decision-makers to define and unlock your budgets early on. Get them involved in the planning process so they have full clarity, input and opportunity for suggestions. Ultimately the more they’re included in the process, the more they’ll come to understand your experience and the strong ROI it will have through positive connections.
“When planning the next experience, I like to ask how this can lead into the following ones. The best activations form part of a series of messaging, so the story becomes easier to tell the further ahead we look...”
Russell YoungSenior Producer
There’s lots to consider for Q4, but if you get your plans in motion, your engagement strategy established and your budget unlocked, you’ll start to feel more control over the end of the year. No matter how stressful it seems, don’t forget about Q1! Although Q4 seems like a long period, it will fly by, just like the summer. Take the time before your holidays to consider next year’s aims, insights and budgets. Set the stage for 2024 and use your Q4 reflections to build upon next year’s event strategy.