Have you ever wondered if you should branch out into creating events to serve your niche industry?
Perhaps, relatively low-key business breakfasts.
Or that could be networking evenings, maybe with a high-profile speaker to draw in interest from professionals in your sector.
Or, if there's a gap in the market, that could even be you taking the lead in creating a major industry conference.
So, I'm here to tell you that this is achievable alongside running your regular recruitment business. But what do you need to take into consideration, if you're thinking of doing this in your industry?
If I were advising a recruitment business owner on setting up a new event and getting traction for it, these are some of the things I would work on:
- The theme of your event - you need something that will be a pull, to make people want to register and attend. What are the key topics that will be covered, what challenges will you be helping delegates to overcome, and what networking will be made possible by attending? Put another way, what will business leaders miss out on if they don't attend?
- Free vs. paid event - there are different dynamics with free and paid events. A free event may give you more control over the delegate list, depending on how you market it. But the likelihood of "no-shows" on the day is far greater if people haven't had to pay anything to attend. So pay particular attention to pre-event communication if you choose the free event option.Paid events, on the other hand, you're setting yourself a higher bar in terms of the experience that your delegates will expect.
- Consider bringing on board sponsors - I'd argue this is valuable for a number of reasons. Firstly, having some high profile sponsors associated with your event will give it added credibility in the market. They may also get actively involved in helping to market the event, thus increasing your event's reach and likely registration numbers.Sponsors also help with your budget, allowing you to do more than you would otherwise have been able to do (whether it's a free or a paid event that you're creating).On which note, please do have a quick watch of this short video, as I'd like to thank all the sponsors of this April's Canadian Staffing Summit. All your support really is massively appreciated!
- Make sure you resource your event adequately - firstly, because you want your event to be a success and to run smoothly. But secondly, you also don't want your main business to suffer because of the strain that event planning is putting on you or your core team.So make sure you have time carved out for some of your team to work on this, or hire in freelancers / agencies / events companies to help shoulder some of the workload.
- Choose your speakers wisely - your speaker line-up has the potential to make or break your event. You want to have speakers who are instantly credible and ideally recognised experts in their fields. This really helps with convincing people to devote their time and money to attending your event. I'm in no doubt that the high-calibre of speakers I've had for both my summits has contributed enormously to the first one selling out (and this year's event being not far off that same sold-out status).
- Consider partnering with others in your industry - the bigger the event you choose to run, the more anxiety you'll create for yourself in terms of it being financially viable. Hiring a major venue and flying in speakers from around the world does come at a price.If you aren't ready to take on that scale of risk, one option is to simply opt to run a smaller scale event. But, alternatively, you may be able to partner with non-competing businesses serving the same sector and launch the event together. Thereby de-risking the initiative for you, whilst retaining the kudos of pulling off a major event in your industry.
You can probably imagine that creating the Canadian Staffing Summit has been a whirlwind experience, but one that's been hugely rewarding too. I hope this whistlestop tour of what's involved has been of interest - and if anyone is considering events as a means of growing their recruitment business, feel free to drop me a message. Always delighted to talk through growth initiatives with fellow business owners.
