Imagine the smile on your face, when reading your mail on Monday morning: your company has (finally?) decided to organise a team-building event. All employees – 200 pax in total – will participate. The event is likely to take place in 2015 and – why not – let’s go to the Middle-East.
Great news indeed! As an experienced event planner you can see yourself already stepping “out of the box into the seemingly boundless realm of creativity, recreation, sun and fun”. And you want to kick-start this project. Get a quote, a location and an itinerary. ASAP, please. Because this is a challenging project, and you want all stumbling blocks out of the way. ASAP please.
The truth is, ASAP may cause you a lot of headache and hassle, and you may want to prefer the more pragmatic approach of ASAA: as soon as available.
Define the definition
Que? Well, the mail may mention a team-building event, but are you sure that this is really what your company is looking for? The goal of a team-building is to improve team cohesiveness and performance and to ultimately improve business results. Any team-building event should therefore have a facilitator, who guides the team(s) through the various phases of team development. You know: form, storm, norm, perform.
Is that the briefing you received in your mail? Are the goals of the team-building event clearly specified? Is there a clear analysis of company issues that could be improved through such an event and how the event will impact on the performance and corporate values?
If none of the above is available, you are probably not looking at a team-building event but at a recreational exercise, intended to get your team out of the office for a time of relaxation, recreation and leisure. Nothing wrong with that, but organising a team-building event requires a different approach from the one needed to get your team a day out of the office.
Define a realistic budget
A lot of companies still do not set a target budget when initiating a team-building event, and start building their budget based on the quotes they receive, having briefed their suppliers to “submit the best quote”. Unfortunately, this approach eats on the potential quality of the event, as the lowest quote becomes the benchmark, and not the best or most creative proposal (which is by default more expensive). Still too frequent too are the unrealistic budget expectations: let’s admit it, expecting champagne on a fish and chips budget is not going to get the Moet & Chandon cool any time soon.
Define a realistic planning
These days, projects need to be delivered almost before the briefing goes out. To bring the project to a good end, prioritising becomes essential. The confirmation of the hotel, the event location, the event concept and available budget for example should be at the top of the event planning as crucial elements for the success of the event. Once these building blocks are available the construction of the event can really start and the details can then be filled in. After all, as any great chef knows, the main course comes before the dessert…
Trust the experts
Don’t just expect your local supplier to provide you with “the best quotes” and execute your pre-conceived plans. Instead, see them as the onsite extension of your event team: ask their expert opinion and use their insight in the local market to interact with them and build the best possible event. Even if that implies changing a desired location, avoiding a particular season of the year or reworking the initial concept.
Question the experts
Finally, and without contradicting the above, don’t just rely on any supplier. The “yes sir, we can do” reply you will undoubtedly get in the Middle-East is likely to charm you at first, but may turn into a major challenge onsite, when promises have not been met. Hence, check the international credentials of your local supplier: are they used to work on a global scale, according to international standards? Are you comfortable enough they are really up to managing and executing your event to the standards you have set yourself? How responsive are they? Do they interact with you or merely execute? And: are they properly insured?
All this info is available? Then the smile on your face should be even bigger than when you read the initial brief: you are ready for a truly memorable event!
