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Something Will Go Wrong: How to Cover Live Events

It’s going to go wrong. Just expect it. Plain and simple. Once you’ve come to that realization, then, that is when you will succeed.

 

I wish someone had told me that when I started running marketing for live events.  Now, many years and many events later, this is the best piece of advice I can offer to any marketing professional looking to create or implement live event marketing strategies.  As a Director of Marketing, I have conceptualized, strategized, and executed a variety of marketing tactics for on-the-ground activations, including sporting events, fundraisers, high-profile parties, photo shoots and concerts.  Some have been major successes and some have been major disasters, but every event has taught me something about myself and added something to my “marketing tool belt” that cannot be learned in a classroom or in an office.

Leading a team and running live events often involves posting on social media in real-time, sparking community engagement, running and monitoring a livestream, facilitating paid media campaigns, distributing mass communication, or managing a web property.  Oh, and most likely doing all of it at the same time.

Back to the best piece of advice: it’s going to go wrong.  Understanding the potential for mistakes as you head into an event allows you to manage your expectations internally and prepare yourself for the unknown.  Throughout the years, I’ve encountered many situations from which I can offer advice to other marketing professionals looking to get into the same line of work.  These are my stories, these are my disasters. You’re welcome.

 

What I’ve learned: Always have a personal hotspot (and good friends).

The company team and I were in Austin running live social for a sporting event.  The weather took a turn for the worse and a lightning storm was quickly approaching.  Don’t worry, we were only in the tallest metal structure in the middle of a flat, open field.  As the tournament paused, and athletes and staff ran for cover, I asked someone from the event staff where they were going and they told us to head for our car.  As that staff member ran away, I yelled back, “Our team didn’t rent a car, we Ubered!” As the rain came down harder, I caught up with yet another staff member who generously offered my team her rental car with her.  Space was tight so I ended up in the trunk of an SUV to wait out the storm. Of course, the client then called and told us we were responsible for contacting all the athletes to inform them of the delay, including an updated schedule.  So, there I sat, in the trunk of an SUV, using someone else’s personal hotspot for internet (which was generously lent to me), handling my task at hand.

 

What I’ve learned: Get creative on the fly.

We are minutes from going live on national television and we realize the announcer does not have the correct branding on his current mic.  With 120 seconds until going live, I race to swap mics with him, only to find out the correctly branded mic isn’t working. We attempt to switch the flag stick but there is simply not enough time.  This is where I get creative, telling the announcer to use both mics and claim, “This event is so big I need two mics for you to hear me.” Yes, he went live on national television with two mics to his face.  Yes, it might have looked a little silly, but, the branding was correct and it was ultimately a success (and a crowd pleaser).

 

What I’ve learned: Bring food as a backup plan.

Things go wrong during live events.  Internet goes out, miscommunication happens, and even food runs out. One time I ate Skyline Chili for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week straight..  Avoid eating chili for a week straight like me; always pack healthy snacks and have backup meals in place.

 

What I’ve learned: You will expand your skill set.

When running marketing for live events, you will do a lot of things that are not in your job description.  It’s common. Things come up and because you are a make-things-happen kind of person, others happily put tasks on your plate because they can count on you.  So that may mean, in order to get the Facebook Live interview with Rob Riggle, you suddenly need to become a red-carpet host, interviewing celebs as they walk by.  There is no point in getting upset or arguing that this isn’t in your job description. You get it done and just remind yourself you are expanding your skill set.

 

What I’ve learned: Crying doesn’t help anything.

I’ll reiterate… things will go wrong.  You will prepare perfectly, predict the unknown and you will still get blindsided by an issue that needs to be solved immediately.  Crying and feeling overwhelmed won’t solve the issue at hand. (Yes, I have cried at events). For example, when you have to restart the livestream and have the announcer re-announce the event in front of a live audience who is very confused, you stop crying and follow an earlier piece of advice: get creative on the fly.  Suddenly your second intro for the livestream has turned into a interactive competition to see if the audience can get louder than the first intro.

 

What I’ve learned: When something goes wrong, the event doesn’t stop.

When the internet goes out or your server crashes, you can’t yell out, “Hey, can you hold that acceptance speech? The website has crashed.”  Yeah, not happening! Because you know things are going to go wrong and you can’t hit pause on the event, I have found security in what I call the “Game Plan Doc.”  This is a massive document that literally has every piece of information ever needed for the event—hotel location, talking points, social platform logins, messaging, event schedule, content calendar, and everything in between.  It has everything in one place so there is no confusion. And when something goes wrong and you suddenly find yourself behind, just follow the Game Plan Doc. My thought behind the Game Plan Doc? If you aren’t over-prepared, then you’re already behind.

 

What I’ve learned: Be transparent to the client (to an extent).

At a live event, you cannot hide behind email.  There’s no, “You bring up a good point. Let me discuss internally and I will follow up.”  The client can always find you and ask any question, complain, or ask for your input (when in reality the livestream is down and you are trying to fix it before she realizes it is down).  It takes a very unique skill set to manage the client relationship and interaction during an event. You need to give attention to the client (because they deserve it and are the paying customer) but you still need to do your job (because remember, a live event doesn’t stop for anyone).  This skill set comes only from practicing time and time again.

 

What I’ve learned: Surround yourself with a good team.

As you enter into game time, aka your live event, your team are your teammates and your most valuable resources.  When someone spills a chocolate shake on your computer and completely destroys your laptop mid-event, your teammates are the ones who will run around New York City to buy you a wireless keyboard, a new battery pack and a new laptop, to ensure you have everything you might need to get back up and running as soon as possible.  Your team will fail with you & succeed with you but because of these experiences, you will create a strong bond that cannot be found anywhere else.

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