Gillian Rusike

Fear of the unknown on the part of business executives and poor pitching on the part of some event professionals are standing in the way of the adoption of world-class corporate event concepts by businesses.

This emerged from a LinkedIn conversation started last week by ZAR Events producer and consultant, Constance Mazani who broached the sensitive subject of the quality of the business or corporate events in Zimbabwe.

 She commented that corporate events have become predictable in terms of their format, content and even takeaways.

“If you have been to one Zimbabwean corporate event you have attended all of them. A lot of them follow one template, be it the programme content and order of events, the overall event design and styling, the panelists (and) speakers. The takeaway value from the events is also the same.

“Let’s take a minute and look back at the events that have been hosted over the past five years, we will see that this is true for all conferences, summits symposiums, workshops, seminars, award shows, golf days, trade shows (exhibitions) and product launches. What can change is the sponsors, but if you have been to one, you have been to all of them,” Mazani posted.

Mazani attributed the state of the country’s business events to fear of the unknown on the part of corporate executives who approve the events.

Fear of the unknown

“Is it that our corporate space is comfortable with the copy-paste method (fear of the unknown) or there is a serious lack of exposure, creativity and innovation, the type that steps out of the box to make an event a memorable experience with real value takeaways and traceable return on investment (ROI)?

“As event planners and designers, we have pitched new ideas and experiences, complete with 3D presentations and real-time visuals of what events could be. These are tossed out with their teams only settling for the same old template they have produced over the years,” Mazani lamented.

Brand strategist, Fortunate Mwanyopa blamed fear of the uncertainty that comes with unfamiliar creativity.

 “Brands are afraid of change, afraid to think outside the box, afraid of creativity because they don’t feel safe. (Event managers’) job is to make them feel safe first but it’s draining and frustrating, creatives just end up regurgitating the same concepts. Mind-blowing concepts don’t always have to be expensive,” she weighed in.

Mwanyopa blamed the rejection of novel event ideas by business executives to the rigidity she said comes from people who have been in decision-making positions for way too long.

DHL relationship manager, Candy George-Banda also blamed fear of the unknown for stunting the adoption of world-class event concepts. She said that business executives used tight budgets as an excuse to hide their fear of the unknown.

“I think it is easy to hide behind budgets and blame designers and event planners for poorly selling the concept. The hard truth to swallow is that a lot of the decision makers (for events) are too scared to try something completely different. Resistance to change is a real thing,” she submitted.

Business development professional, Ordaine Ruwodo blamed formality and culture for the rejection of new event concepts by business organisations and suggested creativity in pitching as a solution.  

“The main challenge is as corporates we tend to snapshot and paste for formality as if it’s a norm or culture (like clapping hands, forced laughter and a hierarchical approach to everything). Creativity, different approach (and) new faces for presenters will save the day,” she said.

Tight budgets

Exhibitions stand supplier and exhibition specialist, Makie Mbanje was of the opinion that tight budgets played a role in the production of predictable and low quality corporate events. She contended that most business executives were not prepared to fund outstanding events.  

“It also boils down to budgets. A lot of corporates do know nice things, having attended events out there like the Dubai 2020 global expo, but few are willing to spend to make their events stand out so they revert to what was done last time,” Mbanje said.

Mazani, however, felt that world-class event experiences do not need to be expensive to carry out.

“Not all ‘out of the box’ concepts are expensive to execute, a lot can be done differently even within those set budgets.

“A lot can be done differently and still stay within the budget from last year. There is some real resistance and pushback towards anything new and fresh,” she said.

Pitching

Marketers Association of Zimbabwe (MAZ) founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gillian Rusike blamed the way event experts pitched their event ideas to business executives for Mazani’s frustration with corporates that did not allow event planners the leeway to “do things differently.”

“I don’t think there is a sane corporate which will turn down a mind-blowing, international standard idea to host an event. The problem could be how you are pitching your ideas which are failing to meet client expectations,” Rusike posted.

He suggested that event managers should not present their ideas as if they have a monopoly over them. Rusike advised event professionals to complement what their prospective customers are doing already instead of demonising it. He advised adding value to existing events instead of dumping one’s ideas on a prospective customer. The marketing body boss urged event managers to study and understand the companies they intend to pitch to.

Business Analyst, Mufudzi Mukandi agreed with Rusike but emphasised the content of the pitch itself rather than the manner of pitching.  

“I believe a lot of the issues maybe lie in how the pitch is received. Ultimately, all business people, if they are not making money, they want to cut costs. Your pitch has to appeal to these issues. If it’s going to cost the business to have a world-class event, your pitch has to also show that it’s not just the cost they should look at but the upside and if you can quantify it that’s even better,” Mukandi responded.

Business development expert, Matthew Jubenkanda agreed that pitching was difficult for some events professionals. He advised them to make it easy for corporate executives to accept their pitches by assisting them to see value in the proposed concepts.

“I am sure many of these (business) organisations have measurable key performance indicators (KPIs).  If not define them for them. Present deliverables in terms of the top line and the bottom line. Data always goes a long way to convince those who have the keys to the purse. In your outcomes what sort of actionable matrices are you including in relation to vanity matrices? For example, value in relation to cost and ROI, be it short term or long-term,” Jubenkanda contributed.

What have your experiences on pitching corporate events ideas been like? Please share using the comments section below.