Many professional advisors set out to make their seminars and conferences as engaging as possible.  Unfortunately, few succeed.  Away from the obvious proposition of high-end corporate hospitality, many firms seem to struggle to create truly interesting 'thought-leadership' programmes or compelling live events.  The marketing objective may well be to create meaningful conversations with clients and prospects.  Too often though, these forums and events fail to achieve very much and clients seem increasingly reluctant to attend.

The particular challenge of high-value audiences

The challenge of making the participant experience engaging is even more difficult when the audience is made up of high-value clients, who seem put off by the predictable format and experience of taking part.  For example, at a family wealth management event, you can be sure that your client guest has turned up for more than the coffee.  Indeed, they may well have heard your keynote speaker before and yet, on this occasion, they have made a decision to attend your event, amidst a plethora of other opportunities.  So there has to be something of substance that they can take away from the experience of attending, or else they are unlikely to engage much further, nor return in the future.  Over the years our learning has been simple, but profound.

1) Content is king, but that’s not enough

Excellent content, research and thought-leadership is not enough.  Firms need to find ways to engage beyond demonstrating what they know, through being more imaginative about how they share their ideas.  While many firms wrestle with upgrading their digital content marketing, some seem to have simultaneously given up on personal client engagement through events.  Online interaction can be measured anonymously in terms of clicks and hits but, when a client has given up their time to be with you in a seminar or conference, this can be a pivotal moment for the relationship.  It is also the perfect opportunity to completely blow it.  The key is to be counter-intuitive and, therefore, less concerned with the content itself (which, if it has any genuine vitality, will already have been widely syndicated well before your event) and more concerned about how imaginatively you can share and develop those ideas with your audience through a live event format.  No one watches a TV show because it is “well-lit and can be clearly heard”.  But (depressingly) too often this is the bar at which live event production seems to have been set.  

2) It's not about you, it's about your audience

We have found that clients engage more with the subject and content when they actively participate in the discussion, not just with the panel or speakers, but crucially, with one another.   It sounds simple, but it is so often lacking at corporate events, where the physical and intellectual focus is always the stage, or the screen or the lectern, and the expertise is ‘broadcast out’ to an audience, not sought and explored from amongst an audience.  To gain the best return on investment for all parties, the level of interaction needs to be tuned up throughout the event - not just be left to emerge in the session labelled 'networking break’.   Think of the whole experience as an opportunity for clients to engage with one another from initial meeting and greeting to heading away from the event.  Imagine then what that might look and feel like if you were the guest attendee?    

3) Your senior exec host is not David Letterman

Don't mistake technical expertise for engagement or live facilitation expertise.  We believe that expert programme design and facilitation can transform the impact of these live client events.   Too often though the hosting and facilitation is delegated upwards to the senior sponsoring Senior Executive or Partner in the room.  This would not happen in the world of television, or theatre, or film, where the Senior Exec who managed and financed the Production is seldom asked to inelegantly and uncomfortably front the marketing, or recount the plot, theme and arc of the show.  Of course, it's a difficult discussion to have within the Firm, but with the experience of your client in mind, one worth having.  

Seen anything engaging lately?  

I have had the pleasure of working with high-value audiences around the world, from fourth generation family business owners in Europe and the US, to next generation clients in the faster growing markets of Asia.  I am constantly on the look-out for innovative thinking, speakers and live event formats for high-value audiences.  I have obsessed on these issues of content production and engagement and remain bewildered by some of the things I see.  If you have seen genius, or imagination, or something wonderful I would love to hear more.