What do you do if your event planning efforts have failed and you need to regain your confidence?

Allow yourself to process the setback fully. Once you’ve done that, set aside your ego and emotions to think objectively about the situation. Ask yourself: Is this a reflection of my abilities? Has working in a corporate environment affected my confidence? Do I need to bridge a gap in my knowledge, or is there an attitude adjustment needed? Answering these questions factually can help you regain your confidence and set a clear path forward.

After organising a corporate conference that didn't meet the client's expectations, I took some time to reflect on what went wrong. I realized that I had underestimated the complexity of managing multiple vendors and overlooked the importance of regular communication with the client. Instead of blaming external factors, I took ownership of my mistakes and acknowledged where I could have done better. Eventually, I identified specific areas for improvement, such as implementing a more robust vendor management system and establishing clearer channels of communication with the client. By honestly assessing my performance and recognising my shortcomings, I was able to learn valuable lessons that would inform my future event planning endeavours.

Failure is a part of the play. You can't always have a hit event in your hands. So, look back and do an honest reflection of what went wrong. 1. Was planning left to a lot of last minute fire-fighting? 2. Was it a wrong day of the week for guests to commute? 3. Was it not the best city to activate? Start with macro analysis (environment, timing, guest profile, project planning) and then come down to the micros. Once you have the full picture, start searching for fixes. Speak with other event marketing professionals who have activated the same cities and ask them about pitfalls and how they solved it. Work with your own team to brainstorm ideas to plan better for the future.

Events should work as PART of an overall strategy to engage your audience. The engagement doesn't begin when they enter the physical or virtual event space, and it shouldn't end when they leave the physical or virtual event space. By making sure to have those connections and touchpoints throughout the year, such as smaller in-person or virtual gatherings, online community access, and bonus content. If your audience is not engaged, a great way to start conceptualizing your next event is to survey your existing attendees as to the subject matters they are looking to cover at future events, suggested speakers, and even the not-so-comfortable critiques that can move the needle.