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This article is written for Event Directors to explain how the concept of Events-as-a-Service model can help them overcome event planning challenges. Namely, budget constraints that cap creativity.

We can talk forever about delighting the audience and building relationships via events. But let’s be realistic. It’s rare that we can manifest every experience we want to ‘wow’ the audience with. And the reasoning behind this, more often than not, is a tight budget.

Event Culture: Budget vs Creativity

Every event director has run into an absolute buzzkiller of a roadblock – decreased or limited ‘budget’. Often, the case behind unimaginative and bland events is rooted in finances rather than lack of creativity. 

Some industry preachers may argue that delivering impactful events on budget is an expression of creativity and event management skills, but we beg to differ. You can’t make a cup of tea with a teabag and no boiling water, no matter how creative you are.

It’s a repetitive cycle too. The inability to deliver top notch events due to budget constraints leads to frustration and burnout. Both of these then result in passionless events that are, frankly, boring. But not everything is as bad as it seems. You can break the circle. 

Budget Cuts

Whether you’re scowling or scratching your head in confusion: hear us out. No, we have not been living under a rock for the past year and we are painfully aware of the financial strains the pandemic has put on the industry. It is very likely that previous tight budgets have only been slashed further, leaving you at a loss of what to do. Or, rather, what can you afford to do.

Here’s the solution: the way to break this vicious cycle of frustration is adopting the Events-as-a-Service model. 

Managing Expectations

EaaS won’t quadruple your budget by changing the minds of key stakeholders, but it will make every penny work for you. This new-age B2B event planning managed service model is built on a basis of collaboration, experience, relationships, and aims to maximise the impact of events while reducing the costs.

Sounds too good to be true? We promise, it is real. You will no longer need to sacrifice creativity to budget, because…

You Can Have Both 

The concept of EaaS was born amidst the crisis, while adapting to the new reality of virtual and hybrid events. Exploration of virtual event platforms opened new doors to opportunities we will certainly capitalise on as the live event scene recovers.

There are two key components of the EaaS philosophy that will be shaping the landscape of future events.

Sticking to a Single Provider

Organising an event usually involves working with a single source or multiple suppliers. Of course, ideally we want to stick with the suppliers that we know provide the most value. That’s where budget restrictions affect you the most. 

Whether your budget was cut, the supplier ramped up their prices or a competitor offered a better RFP – this can send your plans tumbling. From cutting costs of less essential aspects of your event to having to go with a cheaper supplier or lesser number of team members, this is frustrating.

These risks are eliminated with EaaS. See, it’s a model of close alignment with a single provider of services that your organisation cannot fulfill. In other words, instead of juggling multiple suppliers and trying to split the budget among them, often sacrificing less vital yet experience-building components of the event, you will be entrusting everything to one provider. Providing of course, they have the capacity to deliver what events require across all platforms.

Relationships to Ensure Success

We understand that it sounds risky and unrealistic, but take a look at it from a different perspective. First of all, having everything handled by a sole provider reduces friction in attempts of providing consistency. Secondly, a long-term commitment calls for building a relationship that both parties benefit from.

Success of each party will be dependent on the success of the other. If the sole provider of your choice fails to deliver value that results in a high turnover rate – you won’t have the means to compensate them for their work. And if they are not compensated, they cannot sustain themselves as a business. 

Co-dependence on one another enables fluid and transparent communication as ultimately you both work towards the same goal. This in turn builds a trust-driven relationship as opposed to RFP-based collaborations. Plus, as humans we are always likely to go an extra mile for those we care about as opposed to those who pay us more.

There’s also a layer of security here. A long-term sole supplier won’t be providing the same services to every competitor on the market. Remember how we said you need to build exclusivity to your audience? Well, you deserve to receive a service just as exclusive. 

Events-as-a-Service

The EaaS model is new and is yet to go through trials of time, therefore we understand if you’re sceptical about it. But the truth is that the event industry has changed. Live events will never be the same, and with a new hybrid format shaping the future of the industry, new processes and practices are needed. EaaS is one of them. 

The Early Bird Catches the Worm

Thought-leading companies are not successful because they have waited for someone to test the waters. Their secret lies in taking the risk and becoming early adopters, exploring and growing as they go. It’s the path they carve other businesses then follow, it’s the practices they qualify as working that are being adopted by others.

Simply put, if you want to be a trend-setter, you have to jump at the opportunity before it becomes a trend. And adopting the EaaS model is one of those opportunities.

Summary

Restrictive budgets have always been killers of potential-driven events. The past year has only deepened the issue. However, it has also led us to a solution.

Building a relationship with a single supplier that is based on collaboration and mutual goals tackles the long-standing issue. Working with someone who shares the same vision will put a creative approach and success over money talks: and joint effort is always better than misaligned interests.

Tired of having creativity hindered by budgets? We can liberate you.

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