On Planning Public-Institution/Government Events You Can't Find by Searching
On Planning Public-Institution/Government Events You Can't Find by Searching
Hello, this is Chris & Partners.😊 Looking at the calendar, only about three weeks remain this year. Recalling the events we ran this year, there were many kinds. Today, among them, we'd like to explore events held based on public institutions/government. Let's look at what public institutions' purpose and value are and how such events are planned.
Differences between public-institution and corporate events
Public institutions and companies have different founding purposes, so the purpose and value pursued in holding events also differ. Public institutions hold events centered on delivering value for the public interest, while companies hold events for private profit and purposes. In planning terms, when doing marketing, public institutions focus on an academic image rather than an industrial feel in delivering information. Companies, on the other hand, have few constraints on raising participation, weighting promotion, and holding events (gift giveaways). Also, you find differences in targeting. Companies weight creating private profit, so they set a specific target segment fitting the event and promote. But public institutions, since drawing a wide range of people from young children to the elderly—not a specific target—is an important factor in public-sector events, sometimes use traditional media like TV and newspapers for indiscriminate mass exposure rather than new media for target-specific promotion.
This is how we plan public-institution events
Planning a public-institution event is similar to planning other events. The biggest difference, though, can be seen as the ‘bidding method.’ For public institutions, the event schedule and plan must be shared and announced in a public space, and most public institutions decide the event operator through a bidding process. Once a proposal and contract are made mainly this way, the rest of the planning is similar to other events. For corporate events, on the other hand, an event-planning/operation company can propose the event plan first, or the company can propose the event plan to a planning/operation company first, after which the contract and purchase are made. The event-planning process can be seen as follows. 💡 Event planning ▪ Consult with the client to grasp the corporate event's basic requirements ▪ Decide the event's venue, audience, scale, and mutual roles to fit the purpose and budget ▪ Book speakers/MCs who can persuasively introduce the event's value and meaning ▪ Prepare for the traits of companies, executives, or audiences needing special care ▪ Write and deliver a detailed event plan (including expected imagery and budget) 💡Event preparation ▪ Check and support progress against the prep schedule ▪ Install systems—stage, sound, lighting, special effects, ceremony, rental setup ▪ Book and secure schedules for performances, recreation, narrators ▪ Check VIP-speaker protocol ▪ Prepare on-site live readiness through meticulous pre-event rehearsal ▪ Prepare a Plan B for weather, no-shows, etc. 💡Event execution ▪ Management role per the running order ▪ Monitor overall proceedings and support against risk factors ▪ Consult with the company contact on the need to run Plan B 💡Follow-up — venue teardown ▪ Restore to the pre-event state ▪ Send emails to attendees afterward and build relationships ▪ Get feedback from attendees and stakeholders on venue satisfaction, system build-up, and the like
If you're curious how corporate events and awards ceremonies—besides public-institution events—are run, you can check via the link below. 👀See the corporate-event and awards-ceremony planning process at a glance👀
C&P public/government event cases
1. UNESCO 2020 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage
Hosted by the National Intangible Heritage Center and the UNESCO ICH Centre for the Asia-Pacific Region, the 2020 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage was, following a four-part UNESCO webinar series, an online video conference held September 23–25, 2020, under the theme ‘Humanity, Nature, and Intangible Cultural Heritage’ to spotlight intangible cultural heritage as a solution for the post-COVID era. Running over three days, it was a hybrid event that installed and operated a stage for on-site speakers. Chris & Partners did schedule management through continuous communication with not only on-site speakers but some 20 speakers from 12 countries worldwide—the Americas, Europe, Micronesia, Kenya, Japan, and more—and ran three advance rehearsals in total, including technical checks for smooth webinar operation. Achieving a cumulative ~7,000 views (YouTube, as of 09/29), it successfully planned and ran the 2020 World Forum for Intangible Cultural Heritage.
2. 2020 Seoul Peace Dialogue
Held on November 17, 2020, the 2020 Seoul Peace Dialogue was hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and The Seoul Institute and planned under the theme ‘Human Security and Peace’ in Seoul, the heart of Korea and a city of peace. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it ran contact-free at the Seoul-On Studio at Seoul Citizens Hall, built with 360° LED, sharing the broad insights of 24 experts from 10 countries with YouTube viewers—a success. The Seoul Peace Forum maximized visual production using the studio's 360° LED screens and cameras from various angles. Chris & Partners ran the online seminar operation, studio construction, and speaker management, successfully delivering the webinar.
3. Walk21 Seoul International Walking Conference
Co-hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Walk21, the Walk21 Seoul International Walking Conference ran over three days, May 26–28, 2021, via live YouTube streaming and in hybrid format under the slogan ‘Seoul, a Smart Walking City.’ As the conference was held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza video studio newly opened in April 2021, Chris & Partners identified and built additional equipment and systems in advance to run the hybrid conference. Chris & Partners organized sessions considering the time zones of some 70 speakers and participants connecting from Korea and across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and for participants' convenience built a Korean/English event website with a time-zoned program, program details, speaker pages, a Seoul-promotion page, and more; to recruit more participants, it ran a photo contest. As a result, it held the event successfully, recording about 1,000 pre-registrants and a cumulative 5,500 live-stream YouTube views.
4. The 1st Seoul Peace Think-Tank International Conference (SPIC 2021)
The 1st Seoul Peace Think-Tank International Conference (SPIC 2021) was held over two days, November 8–9, 2021, under the theme ‘Cities and the World: A Path to Peace and Coexistence,’ hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and organized by The Seoul Institute. Starting with the 2020 Seoul Peace Dialogue last year, Chris & Partners again, with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, successfully delivered the event planning, speaker management, venue construction, and operation of the 1st Seoul Peace Think-Tank International Conference (SPIC 2021). As a hybrid international conference, through thorough advance technical rehearsals—on-the-day connection-environment checks and more—even overseas speakers attending online presented and discussed smoothly without dropouts. We also planned various pre-events to promote Q&A sessions with diverse participants via YouTube, holding the event successfully with about 1,000 concurrent viewers and a cumulative 1,500 YouTube views. We don't usually think about corporate events and public-institution/government events, but in covering today's topic we could explore the value and planning process of public-institution/government events. Like the events above, it would be good to take more interest in the public-value creation within public-institution events. 😉
Planning a hybrid event running online and offline in parallel due to COVID-19? Chris & Partners—partner with us! As a proven PCO that responds flexibly and aptly to clients' needs, we provide tailored services to deliver the best results from the planning stage to the finish—program and content planning, consulting, speaker booking, follow-up, and more. Chris & Partners provides a solution that, while meeting clients' needs (budget, target, purpose), books and manages capable speakers at home and abroad who can deliver value-centered knowledge content. Our overseas-speaker managers have realized business-event goals by managing speakers through smooth communication from booking to the event's end.