“We need a wow factor.” What does it need to do?
“We need a wow factor.” Of course. Is there anything else the event needs to achieve, or shall we invoice the wow directly?
Start with the people in the room.
A leadership meeting, an employee celebration and a product launch can all involve a stage, a screen and a microphone. So can karaoke. The equipment is not the brief; each occasion asks something different of the audience.
For a leadership gathering, the useful result might be a decision people understand and can act on. For a celebration, it might be recognition that feels personal. For a launch, it might be a product story people can explain after they leave. A brief gets much clearer when we agree on that result.
Give the creative team something to solve.
Tell us who is coming, why they are coming, what they know already and what should change by the time they leave. Add the date, place, budget range and the person who can approve a decision. The last one is unusually popular to omit.
Tell us what happened last time. What landed? What felt forced? What did the audience ignore while politely holding a canapé? Those details beat a folder called INSPIRATION with 400 images of other people’s stages.
Let the objective make the spending decisions.
If conversation is the point, protect the time, seating and sound conditions that allow people to talk. If recognition matters, give the award moments enough rehearsal, visibility and care. If the product needs explaining, budget for a clear demonstration and content that survives the back row.
Agree the essentials before the lovely extras. Ask of each addition: does this help the event do its job? It makes feedback clearer and gives the budget a chance to become a plan, rather than a collection of surprises with a purchase order.
Leave some room for a better answer.
A good brief can be precise about the problem while leaving the solution open. Give the agency access to the people who understand the business, share the practical limits early and appoint someone who can bring feedback together.
At evenflow, that is the conversation we want before the design starts. It helps us connect the idea, the content and the production around something worth making.
Then we can discuss the enormous entrance arch. We like one as much as anyone. We would simply prefer that it leads somewhere.
From the portfolio / AccentureLeadership training, Goa ↗
Photographed work