At Impact Point Group, we help event teams achieve business goals by carefully analyzing and fine-tuning their event strategy. From audience size and event format to ideal content and speaker selection, our recommendations help businesses take their engagements to the next level.
Our clients often look to us to validate their plans and make sure an event will resonate with a particular audience. Using research that we continually gather, and conducting surveys and interviews with appropriate industry professionals, we keep tabs on what works best — especially now, in this rapidly changing, continuously challenging environment.
Recently we helped a client that regularly provides engagement opportunities for executive- and CEO-level customers and business partners. This client wanted to make sure the event they were designing would truly provide an enriching experience and valuable content for an executive audience.
We interviewed several of their customers and found the insights they provided to be extremely useful. Here’s what this group of C-level professionals had to say.
Concise Sessions Help Combat Digital Fatigue
Digital fatigue is real, whether you’re an executive-level or practitioner-level attendee. The executives we spoke with said they prefer shorter events — no more than two hours in length — with a relevant, focused agenda. Variety of format helps as well, so attendees have the opportunity to benefit from “sit and get” content as well as smaller breakout sessions that facilitate interaction and networking.
The chance to meet with peers who are experiencing similar challenges is especially valuable, so the size of the roundtable is key — no more than 15 people, said one executive.
“Virtual events should help me connect with other CIOs and like-minded executives,” he said.
Unique approaches to engagement and utilization of digital data can make events more worthwhile for the audience, and including a human element is more important than ever. Live Q&A, curated sessions, and digital networking opportunities were noted as components that make digital events more memorable, and finding ways to maintain these engagements will be crucial when the return of in-person events commences.
“The key is to make a virtual event feel real, not like you’re watching Netflix,” another executive said. “You need to feel like you’re in the room with everyone.”
What Challenges Are CXOs Facing?
Attracting a CXO audience means offering content that’s relevant to them. We asked this group of executives to tell us about their top priorities and found, not surprisingly, that most are focusing on pandemic-era challenges. Things like improving culture, optimizing teamwork, harnessing innovation, and cultivating resilience are top-of-mind.
So are things like cybersecurity, talent acquisition, digital transformation, and life post-COVID. With these objectives squarely on their to-do lists, the CXOs we spoke with are interested in talking about:
- Workflows and digitizing/automating their businesses
- The future of work
- Managing culture, teamwork, and innovation in the current work-from-home environment
- Business and tech trends
- New tools, metrics, and frameworks to help manage and grow the organization and prove the value of transformation
Having a plan related to these topics will help executives create environments where their businesses can succeed and their employees can thrive. Executives are interested in staying ahead of this both now and in the future, and the engagements you offer can help provide solutions. To learn more about how Impact Point Group can help you curate a digital event strategy tailored for executive audiences, contact us today.