Executive Creative Director Bim Ricketson leads Creative and Innovation at George P. Johnson ANZ and shares these simple tips for solving a common challenge: how to give your event relevance and differentiation.

1. Be true to your purpose

Your company probably has a purpose statement – the unique ‘why’ your company exists. If your actions are true to your reasons for existing (beyond making a profit), then it’s not going to be like anyone else’s! A great place to start.

2. Know your audience

You should know your audience better than anyone; you might even have hard data that tells you what’s worked well in the past. Try to challenge yourself to not repeat a ‘winning formula’. Your audience is going to remember something unexpected much more than a variation on last time.

3. Fail fast

We all like ‘out of the box’ ideas. But this means you need to accept some ideas will fail along the way. Go with it! Try things out, create a supporting environment for lateral thinking, and pivot as you go. Before you know it, you’ll be miles away from that dreaded box.

4. Where are you?

Be sensitive to where you are. Does it make sense to ‘work with’ the location, or could you do something completely unexpected in the space? How would people respond if they found themselves sitting on the stage, with the action happening where the seating normally is? Ask how else you might upend expectations of the venue.

5. Don’t follow trends – not even Top 5’s!

It seems obvious, but if you want to be unique, the last thing you should do is repeat what others have done! You can’t end up in a new place if you take the same route as someone else!

You can catch Bim as part of the AIME 2020 Knowledge Exchange, click here to learn more.