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The market has evolved a lot, Corporate Conferences no longer mean just a conference room in a hotel, a coffee break, a 4:3 screen, a power point presentation with reports and a lot of content. We talk about how things improved with Sabina Poparlan, Event Manager in the M.I.C.E team.
Q: What is the biggest challenge encountered in designing a conference?
Sabina: The biggest challenge, which is actually the “engine” of an event organizer, is to always come up with something new and WOW! To understand who is the audience present in the event and to succeed through the elements you bring to surprise (pleasantly) everyone.
On the other hand, we are in the middle of an education process, let’s say, regarding the concept of an event. And here I am not referring to the fact that a conference needs a name, but to the fact that the impact increases considerably when there is unity in all elements, and the concept is declined on stage, in decorations, activations, including the set-up buffet. But we are on the right track and with each passing year the market becomes more and more competitive, which makes us more aware and more attentive to all these details.
Q: How do you take the pulse of an organization?
Sabina: Research, research and more research.
Especially if you have no previous experience, it is important to know your client and what is important to him. Who is he, where does he come from, what does he like, what has he done before? When you go to a meeting, you try to pay attention to everything around you – how the offices are set up, what the atmosphere is like, how technological the environment is, how colorful it is, etc. Any detail helps you understand which direction to go.
Q: Taboo or not – what is the budget impact?
Sabina: It is a very big impact. Depending on the size of the budget, you can choose very well what to proceed with. Certainly a bigger budget allows you to do a lot more things in the event – from decorations to international activations, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do things
extraordinary and with smaller budgets. Somehow, I think that here you can see the difference in the market. It’s a saying I believe in quite a lot – if it was easy, anyone could do it.
Q: How do you see the transition from a projector and a 4:3 screen to stages, activations and projections?
Sabina: Similar to switching from black and white TV to full HD. A complex technical set-up offers you extraordinary freedom, provided you know what to do and how to put it into value. It’s no use having a hall dressed in LED, let’s say, if from the content point of view you only have a static visual and presentations.
Q: How do you measure the impact of a conference?
Sabina: The standard method of measuring post-event performance indices is definitely very accurate. On the other hand, you can easily receive warm feedback during the event if you pay attention to the participants. How do they react, how attentive are they, how active? What are they talking about during the coffee break? If I’m talking about how spectacular Andrea Runceanu’s moment was or how the graphics on the screen were synchronized with the dancers’ movements, then you know you’ve hit the nail on the head.
Q: How is the digital impact felt?
Sabina: I think it is felt as much as we find it in other fields. Fortunately, digitization has helped us and helps us every time to increase the quality of events by implementing digital activations, developing the participant registration system that led to smoother traffic in events, using live voting systems during conferences. It is felt strongly, but in a positive sense, for sure.
A corporate event requires a lot of work behind the scenes – checklists, planning, phone calls and emails with suppliers, rehearsals and double-checks. Sabina, what is the most satisfying thing for you at the end of a conference?
That moment when during the event or immediately after the client and the participants come to shake my hand, congratulate me and thank me.