“Service is not just a department.”
“Everyone’s in sales.”
“We are all marketers.”
Platitudes such as these sound trite around the conference table but within them exist nuggets of truth. Today, add another truth: Creativity is everyone’s responsibility.
We can all be creatives, we all must be creatives.
As the role of event planner changes to that of experience architect and as we focus not just on meeting logistics but on the overall experience of a conference, creativity and the requisite acceptance of fresh new ideas is everyone’s job.
At the recent Professional Convention Management Association’s Convening Leaders conference, noted creative coach Scott Belsky delivered a closing keynote with a roadmap for creative thinking anyone can adopt. His formula for success?
Creativity x Organization = Impact
Is there a greater formula for creatively restructuring an event, for morphing the job of detail minded event planner into creative-minded experience architect? Belsky encouraged the audience to work diligently at overcoming creative pitfalls; here are five to avoid.
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Love of Idea Generation – For event planners, this could prevent you from executing one creative idea before jumping to the next. It’s also important to measure the success of your idea and it’s qualitative impact, before moving along to the next crazy thing.
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Operational Gravity – Yes, this is when you get stuck in FBO approvals and a seeming crisis with tablecloths at the venue. Suddenly you find yourself sucked down to tactical level unable to creatively solve problems, implement new ideas and even think strategically.
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Lack of Feeling Organized – This is where pretty file folders can help, or the latest organizational app. But rather than jumping into a hot new organizing method, create or adapt your own so that you become loyal to your own process. If answering emails in the morning works for you, don’t abandon that organizational method when you read a conflicting article.
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Lack of Accountability – Just do it, really.
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Lack of Leadership Capability – Your ideas need a creative leader, and that creative leader is you. Belsky urged all to keep pushing ideas forward, to break through bureaucracy by finding the boss who can make the one small decision that could bring your idea forward and pushing for that decision to be made, then the next small decision, and onward.
Belsky delivered a message for creatives, but the real message from PCMA was that we are all creatives. What’s the last thing you created? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!
