Hiring event staff is an enormous challenge. It not only requires a clear customer relationship strategy, enlightened leadership, and management discipline but also the right partner to qualify candidates for you.

Marci Rice, Vice President-Account Executive at Gail & Rice offered up these answers to some common questions.

Often event staff members are referred to as "Brand Ambassadors" and "Product Specialists." What's the reason for that?
It reflects the reality of today's marketplace and the opportunity that a live, face-to-face interaction represents. It also reflects a philosophy at Gail & Rice that we are a living, breathing extension and representation of our client's brand.

When our people are on-site, representing a client, the average consumer doesn't know or care that we're subcontracted for a brief period to represent a product or brand. Consumers think that we're on staff with the company. They want to talk about their experiences with the brand. They have questions about new products or features and want to speak with someone who's knowledgeable.

We understand that's a unique and rare opportunity, and our people must put their best foot forward. In essence, they need to be ambassadors for the brand and company.

Where does one begin when looking to hire event staff?
Ideally, you should look for a firm with a solid reputation and extensive experience in recruiting, screening, interviewing, hiring and training people to connect with your target audience.

If you're a national or international company, you want someone who can match your national or global footprint. You want them to be able to find, prepare and place people in your target markets.

You should also look for someone who has resources to field a team that matches the demographic and speaks the language of your customers.

What are some common mistakes made when hiring event staff?
Not realizing how important this aspect of the event is. It's natural to start by focusing on the event's location, date, look and feel and display properties. Often the people working the event are given a lower priority in planning and budgets.

Don't look at your event staff as a detail or commodity that can be placed at the last minute. Your event staff is the human face and personification of your company. Factor them into your early planning. Get someone on-board who understands your company's mission, philosophy and the goal of the event you're producing.

What can you recommend to avoid these mistakes?
Again, it goes back to preparation and planning. Bring your event staffing into the planning stages early. Figure out who and what you need. Spend as much time and effort on the people who will interact with your customers as you do other critical aspects of the event.

Determine what level of knowledge they need, who they should be and what they should look and act like. Then make sure the company you hire has the ability to meet your criteria. And don't forget that the experience you're hoping to create can largely succeed or fail based on the quality of the people working there.

What should we look for in a staffing agency?
Experience and ability. Make sure the company has a proven track record and ability to deliver what you need. If you don't want to micro-manage the event staff yourself, make sure your event staffing company can and will do it for you.

If you're looking for a turn-key supplier, make sure they can handle more than simply locating and contacting people to show up at an event for you. They should know that the job also requires training, scheduling, wardrobe, travel and on-site supervision. Make sure the staffing company has a reputation for treating their people well, paying them promptly and offering their top-performers on-going work. Otherwise, you risk having unhappy campers representing your company and not putting your best foot forward in the fleeting instance that you get face-to-face with your customers. Be sure to look for someone who listens to you, asks questions and understands your needs. It's the only way to get what you expect.

What should we expect to pay for event staffing?
That's a little like asking how much a house costs. Where is it located? How big is it? What kind of amenities does it have? It's similar with event staffing. We have some clients with very technical and complex products trying to reach a knowledgeable and sophisticated audience. We might find someone with a background in engineering or science for them.

Others might simply want to draw people into their exhibit and encourage them to have some fun. A technical background may not be as important as simply having great interpersonal communication skills and a positive attitude. Prices really depend on the skills and knowledge required, the method of training, the length of the event, the hours on-site, how much coordination training and management you want us to take on and a host of other factors.

About Gail & Rice:
Gail & Rice, Inc. is a leading brand communications and experiential marketing agency based in Southfield, Michigan, with offices throughout the United States. Through a combination of integrated services featuring branded events, environments and experiences, Gail & Rice, Inc. helps clients across all industry sectors improve performance, increase sales and build brands.
www.gail-rice.com

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ON SITE

When you are executing an important event (and what event is NOT important) everything needs to come together in a perfect blend of hard work, timing and sophisticated detail oriented execution. And just like any high-performance sports team, it comes down to choosing the right "complimentary' team members, providing leadership to get them well integrated and trained and working together seamlessly. It starts with the right execution management and follows these core principles:

1. COMPLIMENTARY SKILLS
   • Have you assembled a team that knows why they are together, what their highest and best use is?
   • Successful partnerships recognize and respect one another's knowledge and expertise.
   • Partners plan together and delegate responsibilities with focus on individual strengths.
2. CLARITY OF PURPOSE
   • Are you clear about the objectives of the partnership?
   • Are you clear about what you can bring to the table?
   • Are you being realistic about what the partnership can help to achieve?
   • Have you set realistic targets and milestones?
   • Is it clear who has responsibility for what?
3. COMMUNICATION Probably the most important of the 3 C's.
   • Once partners agree on the mission, values, goals and measurable outcomes for the program, they need to be documented and used as a 'touchstone' or constant reminder in case anything gets off track.
   • Continuous AND consistent communication is then required in terms of daily, weekly, monthly and sometimes moment by moment contact to ensure progress against objectives.

ON BUDGET

Many have asked for suggestions on how to encourage attendance follow-through and how to decrease "no shows." Here are some recommendations for any organization.

• Use word-of-mouth referrals. Have previous participants personally invite their network to attend.
• Offer attendees a chance to suggest topics.
• Think outside of traditional advertising pre and post event. Don't underestimate post-event promotion. Sending out a re-cap highlighting event happenings and offering some insight into the next event offers a duel benefit.
• Offer door-prizes worth showing up for.
• Confirm their attendance with a follow up email.

• Site program planning: Our planning services transform your ideas into great events
  
  
• Site selection & management: Finding the right site. Building the right infrastructure
  
  
• Site logistics: It’s what you don’t see that matters
  
  
• Site staffing & course management: Our experienced team is focused on a single goal, creating a great experience for your customers
  

Please pass this on!
We believe you will find our newsletter valuable, interesting, and customer-focused. If you know of other colleagues who are involved with event marketing or planning, and would benefit from receiving our newsletter please feel free to pass this issue along or have them sign up here




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