Conference News teamed up with event specialists, Showcase, to understand buying habits when picking a production partner.
How much thought does an event organiser put into choosing an appropriate production partner to deliver live, hybrid, or virtual events and experiences?
To understand greater context on the subject, Conference News teamed up with production specialists Showcase to take the temperature of sentiment in the marketplace. An online survey was completed by active event managers from both corporates and agencies.
When asked which of the following options best described the respondent’s role in deciding which event production company to use, 48.5% said they have a shared responsibility for deciding which event production company to use, while 30.3% said they have sole responsibility.
What drives an organiser towards a production agency in the first place? Of those taking part in the survey, 54.2% described design and creativity as being ‘very important’ when choosing a production partner, with only 20% feeling ‘neutral’ on that subject.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 70.8% of respondents said that value for money was ‘very important’ in the selection process with the remainder split between ‘important’ and ‘neutral’.
Having a full range of services also featured high on the list, with 54% marking this as ‘very important’, with a similar percentage suggesting a production company’s reputation was equally as important.
When selecting a production company, 50% said they are led by quality, whereas 37.5% are led by budget. Some 12.5% said they are led by aesthetics.
As you would expect, organisers will always have the delegate experience front and centre of their minds. When asked how important it is for a production partner to understand delegate expectations, 69.6% of respondents said it was ‘very important’ against 26.1% who said it was only ‘important’. Some 65% of respondents went on to say that to match delegate expectations is equally as ‘very important’. Again, 70% said to deliver a superior experience was ‘very important’.
This tallies nicely with responses to the next question, which asked if the respondents thought the production of an event is integral to retaining delegates for the following year. A whopping 95.7% agreed was ‘important’.
Expectations
To understand more about expectations, respondents were asked to rate various elements in terms of importance to them as a buyer. One of the biggest percentages was that 84.2% of respondents noted that it was ‘essential’ for a production company to consult with a client to determine needs and objectives. The same percentage noted that implementation management was equally as essential.
Conceptualisation was more divided, with 58% noting it as ‘essential’ while 31.6% said was ‘useful’. Curiously, 10% said it was ‘not important’.
Equally as interesting was the concept of roadmapping to plan tasks and objectives, of which only 37% noted was ‘essential’ with 58% saying it was ‘useful’. Perhaps most interestingly of all, was the measurement of key performance indicators in terms of satisfaction and performance. Approximately 52% of the respondents noted was ‘essential’ while 36.8% said was ‘useful’ and 10% saying it was ‘not important’.
It demonstrates that organisers generally know what they want before they set off. Indeed, when asked, 66% of respondents said they knew exactly what they wanted, while only 16.7% said they expected it to be guided by a production agency.
Live and virtual
In terms of buying habits, respondents were asked which of the following statements best described the type of companies they procure for when running events. The first question read “As a buyer I prefer to hire one company for an entire event”,
for which 66.7% of respondents noted they did this for in-person events versus 26.7% for hybrid, and 60% for virtual.
The next question stated: “As a buyer I prefer to hire multiple companies for the entire event such as technical production printing exhibition”, for which 66.7% agreed that they all did this for in-person events, 58.3% said they did it for hybrid events, but only 8.3% said they did it for virtual events.
To add context, most respondents attributed a full package of services as being the main reason why they would choose to use just one production company. Yet, interestingly, when asked why some people prefer to hire multiple companies for an entire event, there was no one single option, but rather several similar reasons including budget, specific expertise, and special offers being deciding factors.
Budgets
As we know, in the wake of the pandemic and with the rising cost of living affecting all aspects of our lives, budget is one of the industry’s key talking points. Respondents were asked for their rough budgets for various types of events. For live conferences for up to 300 delegates, the largest percentile of 85.7% said they had budgets in excess of £35,000. This was followed by the next popular budget range of between £5,000 and £9,999.
Approximately 71% of respondents also revealed that their budgets for hybrid events is at least £35,000, although this was far more evenly spread with 40% of respondents saying that their budget was between £1,000 and £4,999.
Virtual events clearly are viewed as a slightly more economical form of event, with some organisers unaware of what their budget is. The most popular response was 60% of respondents saying that their budget was between £1,000 and £4,999.
It should therefore not be a surprise that, when asked what and organisers’ main consideration is when procuring a new event supplier, pricing was by far and away the most popular element.
If one thing is clear, it’s that a production agency should not be brought in as just another cog in the event machine.
Organisers want to bring them into the process as early as possible, but it’s vital that these production agencies are transparent with budget and understand the needs of the delegates.
