The nature of events is that they actually happen…there is a date, there is a deadline, a point in time when it all needs to be ready to go.
So much of our personal and professional lives can actually feel like a long trail of procrastinations, promises, bright ideas, good intentions, plans and missed opportunities. An event doesn’t wait. You have to get your act together, it’s coming, it’s going to happen, there’s no going back.
In business this finality can be incredibly powerful. Many large organisations crash along in a confusing blur of strategic intent and knee jerk reactions. This allows activity to drift and deadlines to stretch, particularly for Leaders. We all know how infuriating it can be when new priorities surface in the midst of a strategic plan, confusing, distracting and taking focus away from the agreed goals.
Stick an event or two in the plan and things change.
No one wants to a look a fool infront of an audience, particularly Leaders. Put an event in the calendar, book the venue and send out some invites…suddenly everyone is galvinised, everyone is focused.
In the case of an impending conference, leaders now know they are actually going to have to get their s**t together and they are going to have to make it simple. An event (with the obligatory Powerpoint presentations) in full glare of your peers and/or employees concentrates the mind. It is a setting in which a leadership team need to be aligned and consistent or they are going to look like fools.
Similarly in a personal setting there is nothing like an event to stop procrastination. Imagine you are committed to a future event such as (just take your pick) running the marathon, getting married, doing a presentation at the school open day, giving a best man’s speech, running a fundraiser for the local sports club. Now feel your pulse. Think through the implications of leaving all the prep for your wedding (let alone the speech) to the last minute.
The beauty of a deadline is just that, it is a dead line across which everything must pass and before which all of your focus needs to be sharpened. The levels of concentration, planning and preparation that events require is rare. Live events pull the focus of groups of individuals together in a unique and life affirming way, unlike almost any other experience.
The downside is that planning for a wedding, festival, conference, party can be intense. Most of us have experienced something like this. For some this is a nightmare. For others, however, the rush, creative intensity and immediacy of a live happening (and the changes that these experiences can make to peoples lives) is verging on addictive.
So next time you are stuck, next time you are unable to get traction, buy in or committment from others (in your work or homelife) then set a date, tell others that this is the deadline, invite people to witness the finale/event/completion…and watch it all come together. The cocktail of fear, adrenaline, success and achievement is surely one of the sweetest of life’s pleasures. Just ask Jagger.
If you think that doing this as a job could be that you, if you think that event planning, event management or event training are your natural bag then
check out our event courses.
They are all built around giving you the confidence to make things happen. We all procrastinate. You don’t need to any longer.
www.eventcourse.com
