Month: June 2025

Winning the Heart of a Pharma Rep in a World of Change: Effective Communication Strategies

Posted on by Jessica Ivanoff

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our clients in the pharmaceutical industry, it’s that change is the only constant.

From new therapies to shifts in strategy to an unprecedented amount of mergers and acquisitions, it seems anymore that the industry is in a perpetual state of flux. Today’s pharmaceutical environment also brings about a new competitive intensity, compressed timelines, and increasing costs. Additionally, gaining access to HCPs has become more challenging than ever before.

All told, it’s hard to be a pharma rep these days.

Engaging the rep becomes not just important, but paramount to growing market share in the pharmaceutical space. Your reps are the lifeblood of the industry, serving as the vital link between the home office and healthcare professionals (HCPs), providing critical education that directly impacts the lives of the patients they serve.

With so many new challenges emerging every day, it’s crucial to find innovative ways to keep reps motivated and engaged. We’re asked by our clients every day to create new, innovative and, dare we say, fun, ways to engage this important constituency. Here are some of our recommendations for driving engagement and communication:

  1. Communicate Masterfully

Effective communication lies at the heart of engaging pharma rep. It’s not just about conveying information but crafting compelling narratives that resonate with them. Our tips:

  • Utilize various modalities of communication, from live get-togethers to ongoing dialogues that reinforce your messages on the daily. Said differently, do not rely on email for all of your communications.
  • Incorporate storytelling into your communication strategy, allowing representatives to connect emotionally with the message. Don’t be afraid to use humor and entertainment.
  • Embrace vulnerability and authenticity to capture their attention and foster a sense of trust and camaraderie. Reps look up to leaders and are constantly looking for ways to connect emotionally to them.

  1. Reduce Friction

Streamlining processes and reducing friction points is essential for empowering pharmaceutical representatives to perform at their best.

  • Embrace user-centered design principles to create tools and platforms that cater to their unique needs and preferences. Make sure messages are tailored and relevant to them.
  • Meet them where they are by providing intuitive and accessible solutions that enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. For example, don’t send them a video they can only access on their computer when the majority of their days are spent on an iPad in HCP’s offices.
  • Cut through the clutter of information overload, ensuring that vital messages and resources are easily accessible and actionable. We have clients that employ strategies like “no meeting October,” and the like to help reps stay focused.

  1. Recognize Meaningfully

In an era where lavish gifting is no longer sustainable or effective, meaningful recognition takes center stage. Understand what truly matters to pharmaceutical representatives and tailor recognition efforts accordingly. Some ideas:

  • One effective approach is to offer experiences that provide value beyond material possessions. For example, organizing trips to the home office can offer representatives valuable exposure to individuals who can support their career advancement. Such initiatives resonate deeply with representatives, far surpassing the impact of traditional gifts like branded merchandise.
  • Establish a system to celebrate success, whether it’s a corner at every monthly meeting, something aligned to your values or something more peer-focused. Establish the parameters and follow through early and often.
  • Make it personal, whether that’s personalized coaching sessions with the DM (District Manager) or a 30-second phone call from a leader at the home office to simply say “thank you.” These personal touchpoints, while a small investment in time, can pay massive dividends in rep engagement.

Driving engagement among pharmaceutical representatives in a world of constant change requires a strategic and empathetic approach. By mastering communication, reducing friction, and offering meaningful recognition, pharma companies can empower representatives to navigate challenges with resilience and enthusiasm. As the industry continues to evolve, prioritizing the engagement and well-being of pharmaceutical representatives will not just be beneficial—it will be essential for achieving sustained success.

5 Donor Engagement Event Strategies

Posted on by Jessica Ivanoff

There’s an undeniable truth in constituent engagement: the most memorable events are the ones that resonate deeply with audiences. When you’re dealing with donors, this resonation is paramount. They aren’t just an attendee, an email address, or a nondescript supporter; they’re key stakeholders. How do you ensure your event doesn’t just attract, but also immerses these stakeholders – pulls those heartstrings and makes them feel like an integral part of your organization?

What is Immersive Donor Engagement?

Immersive donor engagement is never a simple transaction of funds or an isolated interaction. It’s a dance of sorts, a two-way street where donors don’t just give but are actively involved, listened to, and recognized. It’s where experiences are tailor-made, stories resonate, and mission-based promises are not just kept, but are lived. In simpler terms, it’s turning your event into a storyline where the donor is not a mere spectator, but a headline player. Our experience has proven the following engagement methods successful when working with donors, alumni, employees, and other key stakeholders.

5 Ways to Engage Donors the AJ Way

  1. Narrative Storytelling

At August Jackson, narrative storytelling isn’t just a method; it’s a philosophy. We firmly believe that every cause, every mission, has a rich tapestry of stories waiting to be told. Stories resonate deeply with human emotion, transcending statistics or bullet points. By crafting a compelling series of tales about your cause, you can create an environment where donors feel deeply connected, not only to the mission but also to the event’s ambiance and flow.

Imagine an event where every presentation isn’t just an update or a pitch, but a chapter in a grand narrative. Conversations aren’t mere networking, but exchanges of personal experiences related to the cause. Interactive displays become immersive storyboards, guiding the audience through a journey of empathy, connection, and inspiration.

It’s crucial that donors don’t just see themselves as passive attendees. They should be protagonists in the narrative, understanding that their presence, participation, and contributions shape the story’s outcome. When they depart, they shouldn’t just carry memories of speeches or displays. They should leave with a vibrant story imprinted on their hearts—a story that they helped shape, and one they’ll be eager to share with others, further amplifying the impact of your cause.

  1. Sensory Experiences

Events that captivate attendees do so by engaging multiple senses, leading to enriched memories and a deeper connection to the cause. While visuals are the most common approach to grabbing attention, incorporating a multisensory dimension can make an indelible mark. For instance, a signature musical track not only sets the tone but also acts as an auditory anchor, evoking emotions and reminding attendees of the event long after it concludes.

Or imagine transforming dinner into an interactive tasting session tied to the theme of the evening or your core message. By doing so, you’re allowing donors to explore through taste – a sense that’s closely tied to memory. Similarly, tactile experiences can be transformative. Rather than merely telling donors about the impact of their contribution, why not let them ‘feel’ it? By moving beyond the traditional presentation of statistics and figures, sensory experiences plunge donors into a realm of depth and immersion. This not only enhances the present moment but ensures the message lingers in their minds, fostering continued engagement and support.

Your attendees should have their breath stolen from the moment they walk in the door and leave with a sense of wonder imprinted on the senses.

  1. Personalization

Personalization plays a pivotal role in enhancing the experience for donors during events. Each donor, with their unique set of preferences, history, and connection to your institution, should be treated as an individual with distinct needs and aspirations. No two donors are alike, and this should be reflected in how they are approached and engaged. By harnessing data analytics and intelligent systems, organizations can delve deeper into understanding these nuances that make each donor unique.

The advantages of personalization range from simple gestures to more elaborate initiatives. A tailored note of gratitude creatively delivered during the event can create a lasting impression, serving as a reminder of the tangible impact of their contribution. On a grander scale for principal donors, a customized event itinerary based on previous interactions, gifts, and expressed interests, can make them feel truly valued. Such endeavors show donors that their past engagements haven’t gone unnoticed, making the connection with your organization more meaningful and personal.

By ensuring each major donor feels that the event is speaking directly to them, you elevate their experience from being just another attendee to a cherished partner in your mission. This not only fosters deeper trust but also encourages sustained commitment and generosity. Personalization, hence, becomes a tool not just for gratitude, but also for building long-term relationships and securing future gifts.

  1. Engaging Interactives

In today’s fast-paced digital age, passive presentations are quickly becoming outdated. The days of monologues are over, replaced by a hunger for interactive dialogues. Picture a room where attendees’ eyes glaze over as they discreetly reach for their phones, hungry for distraction from an especially lengthy speech. Or recall the whispered complaints about the uninspiring “talking heads” that dominated a past event you attended. Neither scenario is what any organization wishes for, especially when the audience comprises valued donors.

To ensure that your donors remain engrossed in the program, it’s imperative to weave in engaging interactivity. Adopting interactive sessions not only fosters attentiveness but also promotes deeper understanding. Q&A panels, for instance, can provide a platform for donors to clarify doubts, share perspectives, and feel a direct connection to the mission. Exploring advanced technologies like AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) can offer immersive experiences, making the event memorable. Bring your beneficiary stories to life in tangible ways – let them tell those stories in a way that encourages conversation.

By allowing donors to shape the event’s narrative, they become co-creators of the experience. This collaborative approach amplifies their engagement, ensuring they leave not just as financial contributors, but as emotionally invested partners. Making them feel valued, heard, and essential will not only increase their commitment to the cause but will also transform them into active ambassadors, singing praises about the dynamic and engaging messages they were a part of.

  1. Leverage Their Peers

Board members and other volunteers, with their intrinsic motivation and passion for the cause, bring an authenticity that resonates with other attendees. Use the power of these individuals to drive engagement.

Volunteers can act as ambassadors, sharing personal stories and experiences that align with the mission. These testimonials offer a human touch, allowing attendees to form a deeper emotional connection. Ask a key volunteer or recognizable donor to facilitate breakout sessions or moderate panel discussions. As they are not paid staff members, some attendees feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and questions with them. In addition, this involvement capitalizes on their expertise and perspectives, making the content more relatable and adding a stamp of approval. Their inclusion often feels less transactional and more genuine to attendees.

Bottom Line: Bring Purpose to Your Audience

Engaging your donors is not just about the wow factor; it’s about alignment. When donors see that their personal values align with those of your priorities, their commitment deepens. Craft your event’s message to highlight the shared purpose. Position your needs as not just another fundraising initiative, but as a movement they would want to be a part of, a legacy they’d want to create. With every speaker you bring in, every piece of content you share, and every experience you craft, the underlying theme should be the shared mission and the tangible change that every donor is facilitating.

In the intricate dance of donor engagement, it’s the subtleties that matter. Donors will engage if they feel you truly understand them – if you speak to their interests, meet them where they are, and truly value the uniqueness they bring to the table. As we have learned through our work with universities across the country, engagement is an art, one that requires understanding, intuition, and a genuine passion for the cause.

Putting Purpose at the Center of Your Event

Posted on by Jessica Ivanoff

All engagements should have a purpose—a central reason for being. When creating an event engagement strategy, it’s vital to start with why and build each component around that purpose to best reach your return on investment (ROI). So many events start with “let’s have an event” and the purpose is difficult to find.

How can you infuse purpose into every aspect of your event?

  1. Setting Appropriate Event Goals

Setting meaningful goals isn’t always easy but important when determining purpose. Tying purpose to your event is crucial to invigorate (or reinvigorate) your audience’s connection with your purpose. With the right goals, your purpose will drive audience engagement and meet your company’s needs.

How can you pick an appropriate set of event goals to fuel the objective of the event? It helps to use a goal-setting framework such as the SMART framework to identify goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

For example, a training event for employees in a company could have the following goal: “By the end of the event, 90% of the attendees should be able to identify four key benefits or features of our new product.” The goal is specific in that it identifies who is being targeted and their outcomes, measurable by percentile success rate, achievable in that it is a simple knowledge goal, relevant in that it relates to the company’s products, and time-bound because the deadline is the end of the event.

Narrowing Down Your Event Goals

When planning for an event, the hardest part of setting goals might not be finding a fitting goal to adhere to, but rather narrowing down the largest priority. It is common for an organization to have numerous initiatives that compete for your (and thus, your audience’s) attention.

Attempting to pursue too many goals at one time will be just that — an attempt. The end result will leave your audience wondering what they should do or turn them in a completely different direction than you intended. Consider the following organizational objectives when prioritizing your event goals.

  • Level of impact on your organization’s overall strategy.

The availability of resources to address each organizational goal.

  • How recently another event addressed each goal.
  • Requests made by your leadership.

Evaluating Your Event Based on Its Purpose

After the event ends, be sure to evaluate how effectively you communicated the purpose of the event and drove your audience to the right outcomes to match your purpose. Did the event meet your goals driven by your purpose? Or, did it fail to do so because of common traps like:

  • Delivering messages with a lack of clarity.
  • Telling stories in a voice that feels inauthentic.
  • Not understanding your audience’s pain points or points of pride.
  • Losing sight of your purpose partway through the event.

This evaluation is vital for ensuring that future events remain focused on purpose by identifying what did or did not work.

  1. Constructing Events Around Your Goals

If the first step in event management is choosing the right goals, the next step is constructing the event around those goals. To inspire movements that put your purpose into practice, it’s important to infuse that purpose into every aspect of your engagement.

Consider the nature of your event goals, your audience, and how to convey the message you want to send. For example, what are your audience’s top priorities and concerns? How do those priorities relate to your business’ goals? How can you craft a message that makes your event’s purpose relevant to your audience? What’s the best way to keep the audience engaged with your event’s main purpose throughout the entirety of the event?

These are just some of the critical questions that you’ll need answers to when crafting each piece of your event, such as:

  • Announcement Emails and Social Media Posts: Prepare your audience to align their expectations with your event’s primary purpose.
  • Event Ambiance: Non-presentation aspects of the event can help drive the event’s purpose home by creating an appropriate ambiance for the event’s purpose.
  • Post Event Communications: Communications after the event help to reinforce its message and purpose.
  • Technology: Custom apps and other resources can be effective for engaging audiences and making them feel connected to the event’s primary purpose.

For each and every component that you add to your event engagement strategy, consider how you can infuse it with your event’s primary purpose or incorporate other tools to help communicate your purpose to attendees.

Beyond Business: How Sustainable Event Planning Shapes a Better Future

Posted on by Jessica Ivanoff

Corporate events hold significant potential to leave a lasting impact on participants, the environment, and communities. Embracing sustainability in corporate event planning underscores an important message: a commitment to minimizing ecological footprints, promoting social inclusivity, and ensuring economic viability. This shift reflects the understanding that corporate events are more than just business transactions; they are opportunities to embrace values that resonate with stakeholders and contribute positively to society. Integrating sustainability into corporate event planning is not just a trend but a strategy aligned with responsible business practices.

As a part of the team responsible for planning these events, you have a unique opportunity to make a real difference. Here are the top tips to help you make your event eco-friendlier:

Sustainability in Event Planning: The Power of Messaging

Incorporating sustainability into event planning does more than reduce environmental impact; it reinforces an organization’s values and commitment to a better future. This aspect of sustainability can be an important tool in corporate communication. By hosting events prioritizing eco-friendly practices, companies exhibit environmental stewardship and align themselves with the growing public concern for the planet.

Sustainable events become platforms for companies to showcase innovation and leadership in corporate responsibility. This can enhance brand image and appeal, especially among environmentally conscious consumers and partners. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity for meaningful engagement with attendees, who often appreciate and resonate with green initiatives. The message is clear: sustainability is not an afterthought but a core element of the company’s identity and mission.

Tips for Intentional Green Event Planning

Making your events unforgettable for both your attendees and the planet becomes simpler by integrating eco-friendly practices throughout every event planning stage. As an eco-friendly event partner, our dedicated ‘Green Captains’ team is here to guide you through this process. We turned to them for their best sustainability planning advice, and here’s what they had to say:

  1. Start with an Audit

A sustainability audit gives you a detailed view of your event’s environmental footprint. It pinpoints where you can make significant changes and assists in setting achievable, effective goals for your eco-friendly transition.

  1. Research Sustainable Venue

The right venue is key to planning any green event. Research a variety of venues and choose one that aligns with sustainability values. Look for places with a LEED certification badge or those offering environmentally friendly outdoor spaces. Venues with eco-friendly amenities such as LED lighting are a big plus.

  1. Opt for Green Transportation

Encouraging attendees to use public transport, carpooling, or providing shuttle services with low-emission vehicles can significantly reduce the event’s environmental impact.

  1. Choose the Right Food and Beverage Partner

Choosing the right food and beverage for an event is important. Not only do you want everything to be delicious, you want it to be eaten. Food waste has a major impact on the environment. When working with a local caterer, plan portion sizes carefully to avoid excessive waste. Ask if they partner with local shelters or food pantries if there are leftovers.

  1. Minimize Waste Reduction

Implementing waste reduction strategies, such as recycling stations, composting, and minimizing single-use plastics, is standard practice at corporate events.

  1. Consider Ethical Gifting and Swag

There are many options to choose from when it comes to attendee gifts and swag bags. Instead of generic, environmentally unfriendly items, opt for sustainable and meaningful tokens of appreciation, such as plantable seed cards or reusable bamboo products. If there are leftover items, consider donating them to local shelters. You can also ditch them altogether and donate to a sustainable charity.

  1. Select Recyclable Print Materials

Consider using banners and signage made from recyclable paper for your print materials. Not only are they environmentally friendly, but they also add a distinctive visual element to your event. And there’s a sustainable bonus: you can donate unused materials after the event. This way, you’re not just minimizing waste but also contributing to a broader cycle of sustainability.

  1. Embrace Technology and Sustainable Connectivity

Adding digital elements for your event is a nod to sustainability and fosters a connected experience. Going digital – from invitations to event apps – reduces environmental impact while keeping your audience engaged. These digital tools offer seamless information sharing, ensuring everyone is in sync. It’s about creating a unified and interactive environment that resonates with attendees, making your event sustainable, inclusive, and connected.

Sustainable corporate events are more than just gatherings; they reflect a company’s commitment to a better future. By prioritizing eco-friendly practices, from sourcing to execution, businesses can lead by example, showcasing their dedication to the planet while providing engaging, innovative experiences. With the right approach, every corporate event becomes an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in sustainability and make a positive impact on both attendees and the environment.

Changing the Volume: A Burst of Engagement Becomes a Hum

Posted on by Arun

August Jackson recently had the opportunity to evolve its relationship with one of the world’s leading Professional Services firms; leveraging learnings from having produced impactful meetings for them to becoming their partner for internal communications.

 

It’s a partnership built on putting people first.

For AJ, bringing people together for meetings and events is an opportunity to rally around shared values and goals: to amplify a group’s spirit with a burst of engagement.

We find those who create the most engagement with the communities that matter most to them utilize a burst and hum approach to drive engagement on an ongoing basis.

A burst, a hum- these are the sounds of joy. 

Joy in knowing your work is connected to meaning.

Joy in knowing you belong to a community of like minds.

There’s a collective effervescence that vibrates into existence when purpose is put into practice. It’s a feeling recently defined in a NY Times article as “…the synchrony you feel when you slide into rhythm with strangers on a dance floor, colleagues in a brainstorming session, cousins at a religious service or teammates on a soccer field.”

With our new Professional Services partnership, we’re capturing the energy of the burst and changing the volume to a steady, buzzing hum of engagement that keeps a unique culture singing all year long.

Theirs is a tune that’s easy to keep humming. 

This firm knows that one of their key differentiators is the fact that how they deliver is almost as important as what they deliver for their client; the feeling of working with them sets them apart from competitors. So, whether they’re meeting or communicating internally, they want to pull through a feeling created by valuing relationships and valuing people.

That pull through is created when we help them see creative engagement opportunities they may not otherwise have thought of.  They’re open to the partnership because they know we too are looking for those volume-boost moments; we too are looking to defy expectations.

The result is memorable, delightful, impactful, just-plain-fun creative ideas that go beyond what you’d expect from an internal virtual meeting or from an internal campaign. 

That unexpectedness is born out of valuing people 

There’s a lot riding on an internal event; creating a burst of energy that reanimates a narrative of caring for one another professionally and personally.

Those vital burst moments are our opportunity to bring that spirit to life and then harness it so that spirit doesn’t dissipate.

Now, our job as internal communications partner is making sure the spirit that animates their brand and drives their culture is always humming along, alive and vibrant.

Here’s our chance to turn the volume up and down throughout the year- rechannel the peaks and valleys of their cultural hum to create moments of reflection, celebration and joy echoing all year long.

Vision Architecture: A Holistic, Engagement-Focused Approach

Posted on by Jessica Ivanoff

Whether we’re working to increase engagement across a company’s entire workforce or within a specific division or team, there’s one thing we know is at the heart of every effective working culture: a shared vision that is memorable, focused, and motivating.

A strong vision is more important than ever for employee engagement. Why? Because vision is what gives our work purpose. It helps us identify not only what we’re working for, but why we’re working for it.

According to a 2021 Gallup survey on employee engagement, 34% of employees were engaged, and 16% were actively disengaged in their work and workplace. This is the first decline in reported employee engagement in a decade. Don’t let this be your workplace. A strong and relatable vision will help you.

Unfortunately, as important as a strong vision is, articulating one that works is easier said than done. Too often we struggle to cram everything we want to say about our work into one perfect, pithy, fragment of a sentence—or we drown in a five-line paragraph no one will remember in a week.

Vision development can be an abstract and lengthy process, but it doesn’t have to be.

At AJ, we put constituency and employee engagement first in vision development by looking beyond the traditional vision statement to develop something we call vision architecture—a comprehensive and practical vision framework that is fully integrated into a group’s identity and culture.

Here’s how we think about it:

  1. Claim Your Powerful Purpose

We start by working with our clients to create a statement of purpose. Purposeful work is work employees want to engage in, and a well-developed purpose statement gives us the ability to share and communicate the idea that motivates, unites, and brings meaning to a group.

A strong statement of purpose will capture both a team’s own aspirations—its internal push to be bigger, better, or more effective—and the reason for that aspiration—the external “why” that drives them.

For example, if we were working with a health insurance company, a team’s purpose statement might read:

“To lead the industry by simplifying and easing the financial burden for patients battling chronic disease.”

This as an effective statement of purpose because it consolidates and makes memorable the team’s ultimate reason for being (to simplify and ease the financial burden for patients), and its personal aspiration (to lead the industry).

While a powerful purpose like this one is the core idea at the heart of a vision, it can still feel abstract or unattainable if you don’t continue to build around it, which leads us to…

  1. Define Your “How”

You have a powerful purpose, now it’s time to show purposeful—and practical—progress. How is your team or company working towards its long-term aspirations? What day-to-day work makes your purpose real and attainable, rather than abstract and impossible?

One way to capture this “how” is to develop a goal statement. A strong goal statement grounds your aspirations in the reality of your work. It shows employees and external audiences alike that the tangible work your team does every day moves you forward.

For our fictional health insurance team, this might mean getting more specific and concrete about the team’s work, and who it works for. For example:

“We proactively deliver financial clarity, solutions and relief for people living with chronic diseases.”

If we layer this onto the team’s powerful purpose, we get a group that:

  • Aspires to be a leader in their field.
  • Why? To simplify and ease the financial burden of chronic illnesses.
  • How? By proactively delivering financial clarity, solutions, and relief to people living with ongoing disease.

Together, aspirational purpose and practical goals give us the full foundation for our vision—one we can now integrate into a group’s identity and way of working.

  1. Get Personal and Know Your Identity

A vision isn’t just about what you’ll do how and why, it’s about the people who will do it.

To fully integrate a vision into a group’s culture, we need to look to and understand the employees who make the work possible, and then envision a way of working that suits and empowers them. This means capturing a strong, vision-centered identity that highlights the group’s most important attributes:

  • Who joins this team or company?
  • What do they have in common?
  • What do they call themselves?
  • What’s their unifying or rallying cry?

We want to describe the team in way that ensures employees see themselves, and we want to link that self-conception to the purpose and goals that bring everyone together.

  1. Bring Your Purpose to Life

Once you know the what, how, why, and who of your work, it’s time to tie all the elements of your vision together with concrete, day-to-day actions employees can rally around. We do this by calling out a set of foundational behaviors that establish the norms of a group’s working culture and relationships.

These start with values:

  • What actions and ways of being does your community most need to be the best it can be, accomplish its goals, and realize its purpose?
  • And how do you make sure these values are practiced, rather than static words on a poster or website?

If trust is a core value of your team’s identity and work, you can transform this into a foundational behavior with an active statement of commitment: “We trust each other.” If efficiency is a core value, the behavior may be: “We look for ways to become smarter and more efficient.” Collaboration: “We work as a team.”

The most important thing is that these are easy-to-implement actions employees can use every day—and that people new to your team can use to immediately understand the team’s culture.

Ultimately, these behaviors bring vision to earth and give employees a daily reference for it. They know these behaviors not only reflect who they are as a team, but progress towards a purpose they care about.

An engaging vision is far more than one statement or idea—it’s an organizing principle that every employee can understand, see, or feel.

When we free ourselves to think about vision more comprehensively and create a vision that employees can fully buy into and use, we create a tool that can push every aspect of an organization’s work forward.

10 Tenets of an Effective Event Producer

Posted on by Jessica Ivanoff

The role of the event producer is one that brings with it a lot of confusion. “Does he oversee creative?” “Does she spec the staging elements?” “Does he manage the account?” “What does she do?” The short answer to all of these questions is, “Partially, and then some.”

Having spent the early years of my career as a producer, and then the bulk of it as an even less-easy-to-describe executive producer, I have wrestled with just how to explain what it is we “do.” And we all know we aren’t just sitting around waiting for the magic to happen!

The producer’s #1 job is to manage the process of the entire event—from pitch through concept, development and finally execution. As such, yes, we are involved in the creative and the staging and partner closely with client teams. But, ultimately, we are not “in charge” of any of those specific aspects, nor do we do it without our dedicated teammates whose jobs it IS to run those facets. Rather, we are here to ensure that all those elements ladder up to an event, program or deliverable that is on-time, on-target with its messaging and creative activation, and on-budget.

The Most Effective Producer is Basically BASF

Remember those BASF commercials from the early 2000s? We were never really told what BASF was or did. Their tagline was: “We don’t make a lot of the products you buy, we make a lot of the products you buy better.” This has resonated with me ever since.

Essentially THAT is the definition of my job. I don’t develop creative, but I help ensure that what goes on screen or on stage fits the clients’ vision and their budget. I don’t design staging, but I make sure that what is designed fits within the guardrails providing the right intersection of creativity and value. I don’t manage the account, but I need to be plugged closely into those relationships so I can keep their needs and wants foremost as I make suggestions and recommend solutions throughout the development process.

The role of event producer can be a bit like the wizard behind the curtain—before it gets pulled back. When all the buttons and levers of an event or program are running smoothly, no one is the wiser. But if that role isn’t solid, or doesn’t have the right mix of experience and skill set… well, if a little dog could bring down the powerful Oz, you can only imagine how quickly excessive scope creep or missed deadlines could derail an otherwise flawless event, or worse yet—client partnership.

Ten Tenets of an Effective Event Producer

Everyone loves a listicle, so here is what I have found to be “10 Commandments” of being a value-added producer.

  1. Start with a sound budget.

This is where you set the resources for each aspect of the project. It’s important to be realistic and establish priorities, even at the early stages of development.

  1. Balance the timeline for development and production.

You don’t want to shortchange either. It’s important to allow for enough time to build a solid foundation of strategy and creative, but it’s equally critical to leave enough time for production with room for the course changes and additions that are likely to occur.

  1. Assemble a winning team.

Get the right mix of skills and humans. The guest list often determines the success of a party!

  1. Don’t be afraid to shake it up.

While all producers have their go-tos for teams and vendors, it’s also vital to grow and develop new approaches and relationships. The best projects have a mix of old and new.

  1. Communication is king.

Keep information moving appropriately with clients and team members. Everyone needs to be kept in-the-know, but avoid endless meetings that get in the way. Set regular meetings internally and with clients, but vary attendees based on stage of project.

  1. Be more than a “Budget Buddy.”

Yes, producers are stewards of the budget and schedule, but this is not just making sure the project is on-time and on-budget. The best processes have a flexibility to them, and as such require an experienced producer who can manage through the nuances of knowing when to borrow from one element for another without sacrificing client priorities.

  1. Pull back the curtain.

You’ve got a great team, don’t keep them a secret. Allow clients to hear directly from and develop relationships with your team. That interaction can spark new insights and infuse energy into the project, making the end result better for clients and more rewarding for the team.

  1. Don’t start fires.

Being transparent with your team and your clients is top priority. However, as producer, it is our job to bring solutions to the table. Taking a breath and a step back, plus a small amount of time to pause, can bring clarity so you can present the new solution rather than embroiling everyone in the issues.

  1. Make it enjoyable.

Ours is an exciting, exhilarating and fun industry, full of creative, smart people on the agency and client side. Finding what you love about it and reminding yourself of that will get you through the 800-line spreadsheets and the 4:30 a.m. call times (although I must admit I do love a monster spreadsheet!).

  1. Stay calm… and carry on.

Being unflappable is key. As producer, you set the tone for the larger team and, just as it happens with kids, they will pick up on your level of tension. Things are going to happen; whether or not there is screaming and anxiety or calm and resolution is completely up to us.

Mind the Details, but Be Open to Magic

Every project is organic. It is a living breathing process that requires a holistic viewpoint to be effectively managed from the first strategy meeting to the final second of load-out.

Yes, we live and die by the event production schedule and the budget spreadsheet, but the magic happens outside of those areas and that is how you deliver programs that are successful, meaningful and deserving of earning the kinds of long-term client partnerships that are a hallmark of an organization such as AJ.