Knowledgeable staff greet guests at Northstar's Destination East hosted-buyer event, taking place at the Windrose on Hudson this week. Matt Klinger, Mad Pix Pro
When planners build their event strategy, they typically focus on venue selection, technology, transportation, attendee experience, production and budget management. Yet one of the most important elements of a successful event — staffing — often is treated as an afterthought.
Some problems that could arise:
• A beautiful venue can be undermined by a poor registration experience.
• A cutting-edge event app can't fix attendee frustrations caused by long lines.
• An incredible keynote loses impact if the speakers aren't supported properly.
• A flawless transportation plan fails if there aren't experienced people managing the buses and attendees on-site.
Your staff is the glue that holds everything together. You can contract venues and suppliers, plan every other detail, but if you don't have the right staff on-site to execute your vision, you're sunk.
Staffing correctly is an investment in the event's success
Planners are being asked to deliver personalized experiences, manage tighter budgets, oversee larger stakeholder groups, navigate compliance requirements, and execute flawless experiences with lean internal teams. At the same time, many organizations have reduced permanent event staff and rely heavily on flexible resources.
The result? Planners find themselves searching for qualified event professionals at the last minute. Finding the right people early on could be the difference between finding the right person with the right expertise and simply filling the on-site position.
If you've found yourself saying, "The on-site staff person was nice enough, but lacked the experience needed to perform the responsibilities of the role," contracting with a planner who does gig work is key.
Temporary help might look good for the bottom line, but in the long run could be costly. A temporary worker might be able to stand at a registration desk, but a meeting professional understands attendee flow, VIP arrivals, badge issues, session timing and escalation procedures. A temporary worker might be able to greet attendees, but a seasoned event professional understands cultural expectations, executive protocols and customer service recovery.
The question is not, can someone do the task, but can this person help ensure the success of the event. Hiring meeting professionals for on-site work brings in experience, judgment, adaptability and problem-solving skills that only come from working events. That distinction becomes increasingly important as events become more specialized and complex.
• Pharma and health-care meeting often require compliance awareness.
• Global meetings require language capabilities and cultural understanding.
• Executive meetings require discretion and professionalism.
• Large conferences require operational expertise.
Kim Demus, field operations director for the Creative Group, feels strongly about staffing and making sure her programs are compiling the right teams for their clients.
"Exceptional events are built by exceptional people," she said. "Travel Directors and on-site teams are the face of every program, shaping the attendee experience from the very first interaction. By bringing together the right people with the right expertise, we turn careful planning into memorable experiences that bring our clients' visions to life. Now, more than ever, we are looking at the experiential side of staffing and how it enhances every event we touch."
Industry marketplaces are a go-to for expertise
Traditional staffing models often limit planners to a small network of available resources. Marketplaces provide access to a much larger talent pool with specialized skills, industry experience, language capabilities, destination knowledge and event-specific expertise.
Marketplaces such as Cadre, Upwork, Fiverr, and Giggo provide access to a much larger talent pool with specialized skills, industry experience, language capabilities, destination knowledge, and event-specific expertise.
Need a bilingual registration lead in Barcelona? A travel director with health-care experience in Chicago? An event lead who understands congress logistics in Munich? An industry marketplace allows planners to source the right expertise for the right event.
Planners who have stopped looking at staffing as simply a line item understand that venues, technology and production are only as successful as the people working with them.
So while juggling the details around destinations, technology solutions and suppler partnerships, this question should be on every planning checklist:
"Who is going to help us on site to deliver this event successfully?" Do you have the right people in place to execute your meeting successfully?
Lana Wos is manager of customer success for Cadre, which offers a marketplace of meetings industry freelancers looking for gig work.