“It’s his ‘baby’,” said AMS Executive Director, Mike Parket, with a warm smile.
“It’s not that the events in the past were not successful by doing it all himself,” said Mike. “They were extremely successful and that is exactly why he needed our support.” The event had grown in scope and complexity to a level that required more resources in order to keep growing which was one of the client’s main goals. Mike and his team were hired to manage the event but the hand-off was slow and at times painful for both sides. “I quickly realized that we needed to clarify the scope of work, our respective roles and, really importantly, how the client preferred to communicate. Once we understood that and acted accordingly, we made major progress. Fitting all of these pieces together is what enabled us to identify what was helpful or if there was a duplication of effort. This was a first test for us because without that mutual understanding, the level of difficulty would have been much higher and potentially the event would have suffered.”
Mike created the project plan by assessing the event timeline from the earliest planning stages and building a detailed work breakdown structure. He identified areas where efficiencies could be employed, saving the client time and money, and just as importantly, improved the attendee experience. As part of his plan, Mike proposed feeding the registration data into a more versatile and nimble onsite badge printing platform utilizing a custom API. By incorporating the onsite badge printing process, Mike was able to successfully eliminate wait times for onsite attendees to register and shortened lines for attendees who had pre-registered. The attendee feedback was overwhelmingly positive and that first experience upon arriving at the event, set the stage for a successful event overall.
Using a combination of custom programming and registration software platforms as the building blocks, and establishing a friendly, supportive rapport with his client while sharing measurable outcomes, like increased attendee satisfaction, Mike established trust with his client. The client began to feel comfortable turning over more of the “nuts and bolts” event planning which created more time for him to focus on developing the agenda, recruiting speakers, and securing event sponsors to help finance his event.
“It’s been such a rewarding experience to provide our event expertise to support our client and his association. Our team has been asked to take on a greater role each year since we came on board and the event continues to grow year by year. That is a testament to the work that we and the client put in to make the event such a success. It’s definitely a win-win.”