Marketing & lead generation

What Is Event Management and Why Is It Important?

5 min read

Event management is a dynamic process that involves applying business management and project management skills to create, plan, and manage events of any kind. The term can be applied to both business or social events.

Good event management involves a mix of technical and creative skills and has the power to create lasting, positive impact for your business.This article will uncover the factors of effective event management, why it’s important, and how technology can help.

The role of an event manager.

The general purpose of any event is to gather people who share a common interest at a particular venue.

Of course, the specific objectives of an event vary depending on who’s running it, the people involved, and where the event is taking place.

For example, business events can be set up to build brand awareness, launch a new product, encourage networking, or raise money for charity. On the other hand, the goals of a social event are usually to celebrate an occasion, have a good time, and enjoy the company of other people.

To meet the event objectives, the event manager liaises closely with the venue owners, technical staff, entertainment providers, caterers, etc. The event manager’s main duties are to secure a suitable venue, handle the budget, and organise the event logistics.

In our digital age, events have changed considerably, and interactive features such as event apps and conferencing software can be used to bring people together in new and exciting ways.

Why is event management important?

Whether an event succeeds can considerably affect your business reputation and client base. Implementing solid event management best practices and ensuring that the event runs smoothly are even more important for events involving sponsors, as it’s not only your own reputation on the line but theirs too.

If you manage an event successfully, you can expect the following benefits:

Encourage Growth

A well-organised and engaging event can lead to extra exposure and brand awareness for your business. It can also lead to new contracts, B2B relationships, and may attract a wider client or customer base. All of these things have the potential to bring in more revenue and accelerate your growth.

Increase Reputation

Companies that stage useful and engaging events are considered more highly by their clients, customers, and other businesses. The reputational boost is likely to lead to more business, sales, and customer loyalty.

Save Time and Money

A successful event can do the job of several salespeople by bringing in highly-qualified leads and customers. This frees up time for your sales team to concentrate on nurturing sales and closing deals.

How to successfully manage an event.

Prior to the event date, the event manager has to create an Event Management Plan (EMP), which details who the stakeholders are, what the event objectives are, how the goals will be met, and identifies any factors that may negatively affect the event.

The event manager carries out all the research needed and collects all the required information from stakeholders and potential attendees. The event manager and stakeholders must agree on the overall budget, potential venues, sponsorship deals, event themes, and marketing.

Throughout the course of planning and implementing the event, the event manager handles the following:

Targeting and sending invites
Tracking attendee registrations
Writing up the EMP and any other relevant documents
Monitoring the budget
Calculating the event ROI
Managing marketing and advertising efforts
Managing risks
Meeting health and safety and other regulatory compliance
Monitoring the success of the event.

Event management software.

It’s clear that an event manager has a lot of work on their plate to ensure the event will run successfully. Fortunately, in this day and age, powerful software is available to automate certain tasks, freeing time for the event manager to focus on high-value tasks.

Event management software is usually available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) product that enables people to automate certain tasks and oversee event activities from end to end. An event management platform consists of powerful tools, including data analysis, to provide useful event management insights.

Using a CRM for event management.

If you’re organising an event, it can often feel like you’re spinning plates. Managing several moving parts can get complicated very quickly. The event manager needs to plan and oversee ongoing tasks, organise people, and overcome any challenges and unforeseen events. Meeting deadlines and managing large events can be draining and stressful.

Applying CRM technology can help event managers with every aspect of the job, from recording lead and prospect details to following up with customers, issuing tickets, and monitoring attendance.

How do CRMs help with event management?

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool is designed to make it easy to collect, manage, retrieve, and analyse lead and customer data – all in one place.

The CRM database can be used to manage reservations and measure the overall performance of an event, information which is extremely valuable to event managers.

A CRM improves the processes and workflows that go into managing an event, leading to a selection of benefits:

Saving time

A CRM stores all the event and guestlist information in a centralised database. Data such as the number of guests, existing customers, VIPs, and the number of reservations made are automatically stored and can be retrieved easily. Storing information like this cuts down on manual tasks, saving time and preventing timeline slips.

Valuable insights

Using data-generated insights helps event managers make informed decisions, improving the likelihood of delivering an engaging and impactful event.

Moreover, businesses can use data accumulated during the event to determine the customer satisfaction rate and other relevant information.

With a wide range of analysis tools, a CRM like efficy can help you keep your database up-to-date.

More conversions

Integrating event management with a CRM means you can record valuable information about your prospects from different sources. Accurate and easily-accessible lead information helps to improve sales and marketing efforts.

efficy CRM has a unique feature called a marketing campaign module that businesses can use to follow up on attendees and generate more future sales.

An easy-to-use yet powerful CRM is useful to help manage any kind of event. efficy CRM has all of the features you need to ensure your event is a success. Book a demo of efficy CRM today.