The industry of events among all industries both in Ukraine and in the world occupies environmental impact with its annual volume of $ 1,1 billion according to Allied Market Research. Thousands of public events, hundreds of thousands of business and corporate events, exhibitions, sport events, entertaining big and small events – as a result around the world -these are multi-million events, which consume millions of kWh of energy and after which there are tons of garbage, especially plastic.

For more than 10 years global event industry puts sustainable system implementation in event industries first among priorities of development. In USA and Europe the percentage of Green Events is increasing every year.
For instance, the festival organizers monitor generator load, use sunny generators, biofuel or hybrid technology that helps to decrease the using of fossil fuel, expenses and associated emissions.

Almost 100% of events use separate garbage collecting system. Undoubtedly, it’s not the organizer’s merit. The matter is that event organisers have to follow the law according to the garbage sorting is a must. The point about garbage sorting – is only a part of all eco-activations, which are used in event organisation.

Unfortunately, we do not have all-Ukrainian statistics, but for example in our agency for 2019 the number of requests for green events or implementation of “green solutions” has doubled compared to 2018, it is about 5% of all events that we organize. But, these are tiny numbers for such a big market as Ukraine. We all know what kind of environmental problem we live in and how important it is to be treated with care in all possible directions.

In my opinion, there are two main stereotypes that exist in the Ukrainian event industry and hamper the development of mass use of green technologies for the organization of any event.
1. Green events are big money
2. Green events are complicated.

The first stereotype is easy to cope with. For example, Ukraine does not have yet a centralized garbage collection system, but there are many companies that collect separate garbage and the cost of these services is not space, as it was 5 years ago.
For example, the cost of separate garbage collection is somewhere around 15% higher than the cost of non-separated garbage collection. Using organic products from farmers for catering is about 20% of the difference. But this is not a problem either, because it is possible to plan an event and budget in such a way that the use of green technologies will not have a critical impact on the budget. It is always possible to find more affordable alternatives for other ” non-ecological components “.

But by the second stereotype, it’s much more complicated. However paradoxical it sounds, the Ukrainians are mostly still a conservative nation, which is hard enough and slowly changes its attitude to everything unusual and new, and swings very long to change something.

But I would like to note that eco-activities are no longer complex hydraulic machines, but are simple enough to implement and useful in terms of respect for the environment:
1. Separate garbage collection. In all major cities of Ukraine there are companies that collect and recycle separate garbage.
2. Paperless information materials. Replacement of paper printing with digital materials (flash cards, applications, web storage, etc.). For example, it is very easy now to make QR codes and lay out the materials in digital format so that participants and guests can download them directly at the event.
3. Information paper materials made from recycled materials. So, if it is critical for your guests to have materials in paper form, make them from eco-materials.
4. LED badges with electronic names of the event participants instead of plastic and paper materials
5. Digital room decoration
– Projections of conceptual solutions of the event on walls, ceiling, floors
– Light photo zones
– Interactive walls
– Digital decor of the main stage and the program of the event
6. Floristic decor of dry flowers or eco-artificial instead of rubber balls. There are already many solutions with such flowers. Even professionals find it difficult to distinguish from natural flowers. It is not only much more elegant, but you can then decorate your company premises with these flowers, or use them for other events.
7. Live flowers, trees, trees in pots with ground for decoration, which can be planted in the park, in the woods or on a farm in the garden instead of flowers that fall into the garbage immediately after the event.
8. Eco-products from farmers for the delicious part of the event. This is not only about caring for the health of your guests, but also about the opportunity to develop the farmers’ movement in Ukraine.
9. Eco dishes made of natural materials for summer and open air events.
10. Dispensers for water from glass or paper dishes instead of plastic bottles. Almost zero waste.
11. Economical LED lamps for light photo-zones, digital decoration. Such bulbs “eat” much less electricity.
12. Solar mobile batteries/lamps for evening lighting, mobile phone charging stations. Well suited for open-air events.
13. Involving participants and guests in promoting the “green movement”. Make “sustainability” a part of your concept and communication with guests, for example:
a. Turn off all lights and equipment for 1 minute to save power. You will be surprised when you calculate the benefits of this minute activity
b. organize a fundraising/lottery for a Ukrainian local environmental initiative, one of the lots could be potted flowers decorating the event, for example
c. Invite participants to come with their cups/bottles of coffee/water and reward them with additional delicacies or gifts.

These are just examples of small steps that can help develop a culture of caring for people and the environment. And there are already many more solutions. Small steps are the beginning of a long journey. And we know how the “big way” can change the life of society from our own experience.

Author: Ivan Khorosh, Owner and Founder Bee Bee Event Agency
Specially for “Novoe Vremya”. Link to the article

Сообщение Green events. Why the Ukrainian event industry ignores global trends of sustainability? появились сначала на BBEA | Bee Bee Event Agency.

But there are 10% of lucky ones who start planning their events in October-November, and another 10% of superstars who do strategic event planning and arrange event-marketing plans sometime in August-September.

Nowadays, many companies, in response to the rapid changes in business, are forced to reduce the time they spent on event preparation. Still, outstanding companies that work on strategic planning early and take into consideration how to organize their activities effectively in August receive not only calm sleep throughout the year and high performance but also significant benefits, such as:

1) Effective budget arrangement and distribution. Fixing and booking to minimize additional costs. Booking and fixing the cost of locations, hosts and entertaining teams for 4 – 6 months beforehand would help to spare the budget as in Ukraine we exist in a situation where we highly depend on economic storms and political situation, which affect formation of prices. And fluctuations in worth occur at 20%, and even at 30%.

2) Time to create quality and effective content. Enough time to work on the concept, all the meaningful and informative details, key messages to minimize annoying mistakes that can affect the final result of the project and simply “destroy” creative solutions of the tasks. The concept and informative component, or Event Content Performance, as we call it at the agency, should be given time to mature and develop into logical. Therefore, even 3 months is not enough for this purpose.

3) Ability to choose providers carefully. When planning tenders in advance, you get more quality offers and, most importantly, solutions from event agencies. In general, it gives more time to analyze the market, new technologies, new suppliers and have more effective, high-quality and progressive solutions.

4) Complex digital or visual decisions take time. WOW and effective digital products/installations for events or videos cannot be made in a couple of days/weeks. For some, it may take 4 to 6 months. And not because programmers are slow, but because there are processes that simply cannot be accelerated and early planning helps to work through the details carefully.

In general, any planning is better than none. So what if you got to planning your event by the time you are unpacking Christmas presents? First tip, start planning after the winter holiday string.

Well, if seriously, the tips are very simple and useful:

1) Identify the PROBLEMS / “PAINS” that you need to solve with the help of given tools rather than the goals of your event. For example, we must define NO GOAL “We want a bright event that will impress our partners and they will love us even more and order more products”, but rather openly admit the PROBLEM “Sales are not as high as we want them to be, maybe because sales managers do not dedicate enough attention into making clients fall in love with products, building emotional relationships with customers; therefore, we need an event that will not only impress them with some wonderful food, but will assist in bringing the managers closer to customers, to immerse in our product”. I mean, by basing the strategy on a problem, not a goal, will speed up the search for the best solution, which is usually even more relevant if you don’t have a lot of time to think and plan your work in an accelerated mode.

2) Indication of the final result you want to get is MANDATORY. The result should have 2 components: quantitative and qualitative/emotional. For example, for a marketing event of a new product presentation quantitative is an increase in product sales, while emotional consists of 90% of participants of the event post on their Instagram pages and stories mentioning tags of the event because they want to be WOW-impressed.

3) Generate a key event message. Yes, that is the only thought you want to convey with the event toolkit. The opinion that participants or guests should leave your event with. Because the key message is the basis of effective Event Content Performance – the concept, history and information effectiveness of the event.

4) Organize brainstorming. Plan with colleagues from other departments or with an event agency. The synergy of different expert opinions, independent opinions and the atmosphere of creativity can reveal unexpected brilliant decisions and ideas. In Ukraine the practice of joint brainstorming with event partners is not very widespread at the stage of strategic planning. For some reason, agencies are getting involved at the stage of project implementation. Sadly it is so, however, event professionals with experience could have offered solutions that had been successful in other segments and could be possibly useful again. They also are familiar with all innovations and new technologies and could propose a fresh external point of view on the situation, which is important when looking for non-obvious solutions. But it is important to keep in mind that at this meeting you should already clearly state the three preceding points: THE PROBLEM, THE FINAL RESULT, AND THE KEY MESSAGE to send the creative wave in the right direction.

5) Involve event planning consultants if you are short on time or need to structure your thoughts. Communicating with an expert helps you to look at the problem and tasks from a different angle, more strategically, by lifting your head from the “sea of operational issues”. If you look practically, just 2 hours of such discussion helps you to simply see the effective and necessary solutions that were not previously taken into account. For example, as the head of an event agency, I often negotiate with consultants if I find myself in a state of sharp decline in solving a problem.

6) To choose partners, create for yourself a list of “My Partner” criteria that are important to you (work efficiency, impressive portfolio, reliable recommendations, flexibility, healthy budgeting, creativity, emotional compliance etc). The list will help you quickly identify the necessary partners. And take the time to meet with potential suppliers in person, whether it is an event agency or a production company even before the tender or your partnership. At the first meeting, you will understand more or less whether this firm will cope with your tasks. Frankly speaking, it will save you a lot of time and nerves. And it’s better to have 3 strong bids than 10 blind presentations that are beyond your expectations.

7) Consider the forecasts of the economic and political situation in our country. First of all, list the events that are planned in your field in 2020 by other market players that may affect your activities and your upcoming events. Of course, no outlook will protect against unexpected events, and in our country everything is possible, but it will help to include plan “B” and minimize risks in strategic planning.

This is by no means the entire list of strategic planning components, but the basic ones that should be entirely worked out regardless of whether you plan for your next financial year in August or January.

Written and published here by Ivan Khorosh, founder and owner of Bee Bee Event Agency 

Сообщение Do you have an event-plan for 2020, Mr. Fix? появились сначала на BBEA | Bee Bee Event Agency.

According to Allied Market Research, the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions) events industry is growing globally at about 4% annually, with experts anticipating it to reach $ 1,439.3 billion in 2025.

Unfortunately, we do not yet have official data or statistics on the business events industry in Ukraine. But based on the increased number of MICE requests from companies in Ukraine and projects that our agency has held in this segment the number has raised at around 15% in 2019 compared to 2018. In addition, according to the feedback from our colleagues from other agencies it seems that Ukraine does not lag behind and keeps up with the world’s pace.

But. But. But.

You might think business events are a totally dull but that is very wrong.

In the business industry, the pace of a segment growth is first and foremost a reflection of industry productivity, by reason of business and business clients being the engine of progress, the ambassadors of innovation, and the leading initiators of economic advancement and change. Therefore, world business congresses, conferences, forums, small and large business events are places where ideas and business concepts are being born, sold, demolished, re-established, where brands fates are being determined. Consequently, business events serve as the trendsetters for other formats of the vast event and entertainment industry.

In case of the event being inefficient it will not bring neither money, nor new opportunities, nor success for the organizers, participants, or company owners, if it is an internal corporate event.

Therefore, productivity was NUMBER ONE topic discussed at the conference. Although it happened in speed meeting mode and a section of presentation or experts giving speeches were not there, live communication with industry representatives from more than 15 countries of Eastern and Western Europe became crucial to understand and identify key trends of fruitful business activities that should be taken into consideration when planning your business events in 2020, unless, of course, you want to waste your money.

Trend # 1. STORYTELLING. NARRATIVE EVENTS

It sounds strange as it seems that storytelling and pragmatic business world exist in two different universes. But it is no longer enough to send a dreary invitation with plain description of the benefits one might experience if attending your congress or to place a minimalistic picture on the events programme. There must be a story that the event is conveying, a story that participants could take with them or share on their Instagram. For instance, like on the annual Web Summit in Lisbon. The Red Ocean of business congresses and forums requires creativity.

And for corporate or client events, this is generally a NUMBER ONE trend.

Without a good story, it is difficult to build emotional relations.

Trend # 2. MOTUS FOR RATIO OR EMOTION AS THE 5TH ELEMENT OF SUCCESSFUL EVENTS

Emotions are an integral part of any event and it has always been so.

But now business events are becoming motivational events, incentive events.

Rational business part the first part or the first 1-2 days, the second part or days 3-4 are rooted in pure emotions – gourmet, wine tours, shopping tours, art, afternoon and evening entertaining programmes, enough free time for personal matters.

Business is business, but emotional satisfaction and happiness of the participants become one of the main criteria for successful growth of a company or its project. Life balance in action.

Trend # 3. LOCATIONS – HISTORY

We all know that the right venue constitutes almost 50% of any events success. Location, space, environment, amenities, equipment – all of these things matter.

But here’s even more. Cold dull hotels are greetings from the past. Place should be part of your event history, location should offer something that will be remembered forever in the hearts of attendants or on their Facebook pages. For example, the President Hotel with the rooftop we stopped at or the VárkertBazár  EventHall – hi-tech location with 1100 people that, at the same time, is an incredibly atmospheric, historical location on the bank of Danube river with a garden and 500-person banquet room. Or hotels situated in old castles in Slovenia, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic – it is clear that such locations bear history in themselves and conducting an event in such spaces becomes a good point of difference and part of the WOW effect of the event.

Trend # 4. GREAT EUROPEAN TRAVEL

Low-cost airlines and reduced prices on air transportation as well as no visa policy for the Ukrainians changed completely not only the tourism industry, but also the whole industry of business events and travel. It takes 1.5 hour flight to get from Kiev to Budapest, one hour to various cities in Poland, to Vienna only 2 hours.

EU companies generally arrange their external and internal corporate activities in any part of Europe, and there is even such a new tendency among Germans and Austrians to organize corporate events in Slovenia, the Czech Republic or Hungary as it is not far to travel to, while being cheaper and more memorable.

Traveling to another city is always out of the box experience in terms of both physics and emotional component. Therefore, business owners and top managers prefer to have strategic meetings or decisive events outside the convenient for people spaces. Change of settings opens up opportunities for creative thinking. A corporate event in an uncomfortable, uncommon space or in another country can have a tremendous impact on the team or clients and deliver great financial results.

In other words – everyone travels. Prices in Eastern and Western Europe do not diverge that much with figures in Ukraine.

Hopefully the improvement of domestic air transportation in Ukraine and the work of Ukrainian Railways will bring us closer to the introduction of MICO in Ukraine – the GREAT UKRAINIAN TRAVEL trend.

Trend # 5. CARING ATTITUDE

Caring attitude to all is actually a global trend in most social and economic sectors. Careful treatment of nature and historical sites, conscientious use of natural resources, use of eco or recycled materials, paperless events, use of farm products, eco-hotels, eco-car rental, use of efficient LED lighting.

And if in Ukraine this approach is only gaining dynamics, in Western Europe, on contrary, careful attitude is an essential part of business events industry.

No matter where, when, and how you are planning your business event in 2020, create effective and emotional events and let the trends be your guidance for that.

Author: Marina Ilchenko, Marketing Manager at Bee Bee Event Agency

This article was published in delо.ua

Notes

MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions)

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/MICE-industry-market 

http://micebusinessday.com 

Сообщение Top 5 MICE trends for companies planning business events 2020 появились сначала на BBEA | Bee Bee Event Agency.

For a start, being an adequate person, these days is already a big advantage

Yes, but still it’s not enough to become the best event manager.

When event manager is hired, employers look at his professional skills and personal qualities.

And if it is more or less clear with professional skills, then personal qualities very often fail. So, you can inquire about the person in another company (for example, the previous agency where he had worked) and find out what kind of projects he had done, and in general background information about this candidate.

There are some average personal qualities that are likely to come out on the first plan. Let`s guess… creativity, energy, multi-faceted personality (here add communication skills, etc.).

But there are also those qualities that are not tested in the interview. And employers don`t model special situations to appear these qualities. But in fact, it would be useful to select candidates according to the principle of selecting promoters for BTL projects (legends about some of the selections are still being made up in small circles). But the secret is simple – these are role-playing games. And they are being held in order to recognize the necessary key qualities in the candidate.

So, what is so special in “far-reaching” event manager?

From the observations …

To a far-reaching manager, honestly speaking, everything matters. This is absolutely not an indifferent person. He will throw in his two cents everywhere, but in a good way. Not literally, but from the position: what can I do better? And believe me, he will take and do it, even if the Client did not ask about it, even if this is not his area of responsibility. He will take care and make the most out of the situation. He will not pass by things he sees that immediately need to be completed or changed, etc.

Probably, for this reason most event managers are girls. It’s just that women are tend to delve into details more and they love to be everywhere. Of course, there are different women. Therefore, not all event managers become “worth their weight in gold”.

A far-reaching manager is never afraid to ask questions neither to Client, nor to colleagues, nor to contractors. Not because he is not afraid to look stupid, but because he really wants to understand the matter. He really did not understand, he doubts, he thinks differently and therefore he asks all questions directly.

A far-reaching manager is not afraid to change an already approved state of affairs on the project, if he already sees that the future product will not correspond to the desired and conceived. Even if there’s very little time.

Thanks to such people, creative ideas are embodied in the same form as were conceived by creative departments. Thanks to this quality, event managers become the best friends of Clients. Because they want everything to be perfect. So often the Client wants. And wanting something as much as the Customer himself is really hard to find nowadays.

A far-reaching manager takes on more than he can. Because of ambition, because of his “shining eyes”, because he is interested in many things. And if life gives him situations where he can try something new, he will not miss it.

Employers do not always need ambitious people, and not for every position. There are a lot of working fields in which employee just needs to do his job qualitatively, “from call to call”. And both sides are satisfied.

But there are professions and positions in which such work “from call to call” is unallowable. Sooner or later, a person will resign or be asked to find himself in another area.

Do you think that I suggest you to work from morning till night and be proud of it? Oh, no, it’s up to you to decide how much and where to work.

I suggest you to be proud of contribution that you make every day to yourself, to the industry in which you work and to the company that you have chosen to work in.

Today you work in this company, tomorrow will be in another, the day after tomorrow will be in the third. But all the achievements that you’ve achieved will remain with you forever. If they, of course, were.

There are no achievements without extra efforts.

Nobody can win a gold medal without a strain. Even if he has a God-given talent.

Cause we all have it.

We are always looking for such people, these “far-reaching” managers.

But it’s not always easy to see whatever we’re looking for.

Always with you,

Bee Bee Event Agency

Author: Marina Ilchenko

Сообщение Qualities of event manager that are difficult to be seen at an interview появились сначала на BBEA | Bee Bee Event Agency.

But what if your target audience are fitness trainers?

Keeping this in mind, our creative department had combined the love of movement and health with Herbalife’s product in one solution.

And it resulted in a stand – an interactive zone.

When creating the stand, we have used cans from Herbalife products as stairs on which we could climb to the very top.This idea symbolized the company Herbalife Ukraine as a kind of support for growth, a symbol of recovery, development, achievement of goals in a healthy lifestyle.

Each can in the stand was filled with cement to make it heavier. The stand itself was 60 cm, it was also filled with weighting material. These tricks made the stand very stable. Several people could climb on it at the same time, and he did not even stagger.

So, this stand has become our main photo area. Fitness trainers tried their hand and demonstrated their stretching skills with great pleasure. The photos were really very impressive.

The second zone was also initially planned to be a photo zone. Looking at it for the first time, you may think that these are jump ropes, curved in different directions. But this is not entirely true.

During the process of developing this stand, we were faced with the problem that to implement an idea with a volumetric effect, we needed a 3D layout with a clear miscalculation of the jump ropes’ length. We did not have enough time to do it and it was a great difficulty for the whole process. Therefore, we completely trusted the contractor. And the decorator, at his own risk, bent the armature, which simulated a jump rope.In some places we attached handles of real jump ropes with built-in flashlights. They blinked and it looked really spectacular.

There was also another photo zone which was favorite for our Client. In an interactive zone XBOX KINEKT your body acts as a joystick. So, due to active movements, you participate in a game on the screen. It was not a new solution, but really appropriate here. And this was NOT the activity for lovers of lazily lying on sofa, but quite the opposite – for our target audience.

We wish everyone to make courageous decisions, be healthy and more active in everyday life

Always with you,

Bee Bee Event Agency

Author: Marina Ilchenko

Сообщение Exclusive exhibition stands for Herbalife Ukraine появились сначала на BBEA | Bee Bee Event Agency.