hi everyone I'm Amelia and I work with F calm and welcome to our second Skillshare of day three of the big Skillshare project which is f comms community Skillshare initiative and so really excited to be here um today we're going to be speaking to dan Walker from Ashfield meetings and events and he's going to be talking to us about focused outcomes and how to think inside the box when coming up with ideas so I'm just going to add him to the caller I'm so just a little bit about than he is they head of live events and Ashfield meetings and events and also at spark thinking while he's responsible for the live events team including the content communications and production departments with a clear focus on audience engagement strategies innovation technology and group activities plus any other unique and inspiring solutions that an event may benefit from so welcome Dan hi I was hoping you want to see me fumbling around with my phone whilst I was trying to work out there connect properly but yes so you're going to be talking to us today a bit about thinking inside the box or understanding the inside of the box and so I've got a couple of questions for you and on the subject and we hear alone about thinking outside the box when it comes to ideas and but what exactly do you mean when you say sort of understanding inside the box and why is it so important um so you're right if when he said there we hear a lot about thinking about outside the box but I think it's about for us it's a little bit about defining that what's what the box is and you hear all sorts of questions okay you know we won't never seen before we want blue sky thinking we want you know what we want to be wowed it's like we absolutely want to provide those things for you and but it's all I was able to do that we really need to understand what you're trying to achieve and to really define what the outcomes are it intended to be and what that purpose is in order to then do the blue sky stuff but I still have a central point where you want to come back to and I think if you have that consistency allows you kind of a clarity clarity of purpose and the you know even more so in a remote based environment I think people need to know the parameters in which they're working to and also that the framework in which they can expand out of or work within because we're not all set around the table and you know zoom calls and web conferencing is fantastic but you do need that headspace and that state yourself way to apply that a level of creativity and having a sensible reference point to make sure that you're you're meeting a brief and you're meeting most importantly the needs of the audience Thanks I think really important because it's so easy to become distracted by the big ideas we've all been in brainstorming meetings around the table I'm having a whole lot of fun with a project or a concept and the Adrenaline's going before you know it you've run away with yourself and that's all part of the fun of being in events isn't it like the excitement of a new brief or a new project and I think Richardson and one of your skill sessions earlier in the week that um which is fantastic anyone who's done watch it by the way there which comment session you can't be creative and evaluate at the same time so you have to go out and express and and doesn't matter how many ideas you come up with but it's been able to evaluate that and critique it which is important and I think that's the bit weather where the box comes in the ability to go back to you know critiquing effectively making sure your idea is a good idea because it's a great idea it can be lost on the wrong project and you won't want to waste a great idea well I think so for us it was this was just before lockdown we were sat down evaluating some of our projects and you know why some ideas completely smashed out of the park and then other other ideas that we thought were really you know just it just hidden around I mean can't always you can't always be successful with your ideas so we started to unpick and then stuff as opposed to look a little bit the methodology around ok how how do we evaluate so it came down to kind of two things really there's left gonna the external factors and it walks outside the box and then also you know what we would class is inside so the bits that we would say I would say outside is you've got your audience and so the you know the layer of what you want people to be able to think what do you want able to be feel really and ultimately what you're going to do so what are your audience know what do they what's their current reference point and also what do you know that they want to experience you know so we need to be clear that we're going to meet their needs and there's got to be a level of intent there as well and you know what do you want the audience to understand and then therefore how your positioning be the idea or the campaign or or the event there has to be some level of action I think we you know we all want the the work that we do to create an emotional connection that's that's part of what we do and but then how will that individual share that experience and what will they then do differently you know are we going to change their mindset and if it's not a mindset change is it just a case of you know actually getting them to understand something a little bit more and how it's personal to them and what they will then do and I think another limb is fulfillment as well that we want to make people feel that they have a sense of achievement that the time has been well spent be that honor on a webinar for for 30 minutes or be there at a conference you want to give somebody something back in a sense that they do know they've received something that was worthwhile be emotionally or physically and so that's going outside and then all the the nuts and bolts of what's inside helps us actually develop the idea so you know what is the client's value proposition and what environment are we working in what level of technical production will there be and what does interactivity look like to this particular project and where's that where's the content coming from and what is that content and the creative strategy that sits around it so all those things that allow us to be able to to focus on a reference point so what elements are important to the project is that we project the a a three month campaign or a three hour meeting they're all have a different things and obviously looking at what we're doing now with online you know the the technical production piece is really really important as is as we purpose and then I think you want to come to that a little bit later on as well so which areas require greater focus than others and trying not to get too sidetracked by budget but always being kind of cognizant that it's there as well and I think a lot of how our past experiences been helping to form our decisions so have we been involved in this project before and what have we learned if we haven't what can we learn what can we gather what information can we gather to understand put ourselves in the best possible position to be able to put ourselves in that person's shoes is going to be enjoying the experience and then what do we know about the environment is is it built environment or is it not so can we create it can we evolve it can we adapt it are we limited by it you know how does that allow us to kind of as a starting point and and then you know what does what does collaboration look and what does interactivity look like because they're two words that get mentioned I suppose on nearly every project that we work in in this industry but it means different things to different people so again just if you know understanding that you know what that means to the client or the individual or the whole entire group and working back to that and and I think it just gives us allow that allows us to form a strategy I think you know creativity is about lots of ideas but I think it needs to also be wrapped in with you know my level of purpose and strategic thinking about how you approach it in the first place to help get and make it so it's actionable and effective yeah fantastic you just mentioned creativity there actually so I wondered how this method of really focused thinking actually can be used to support creativity and to support creative ideas um well I think not sure who said it Beth it was kind of creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye and I think it goes back to the piece that and that Richard mentioned about the evaluation you you need to be able to have some kind of reference points and to make sure that you're not going off-piste and if you are that's completely fine it might be totally fine sir to run away with an idea and then realize that it's better than the one that you had but is it still relevant there have to be a level of relevance to the work that you do to the brief that you're working and I think I'm probably some people listening that we think well that's far too narrow in the focus others others may agree but it seems to be you know what works what works for me maybe it's just the way that my brain works as well no fantastic and obviously we're in a very strange strange time at the moment and so how can we apply that thinking and this inside the box methods to working within the conditions of craving 19 do you have any advice there yeah and I think so as most events professionals at the moment we are working in a virtual environment so we rather pivoted from a live event to a virtual experience or we're now looking at the developing virtual campaigns and virtual strategies and for our customers the piece that we really want to focus on two areas that we keep focusing on with our clients at this time is don't forget the purpose and make sure the content is upset and what and how your content is going to connect because it's very very easy and that people get carried away with the platform and the technical production and the first four weeks of Kovach 19 I think they I thought I forgot how many times I got asked well what platform we're using how are we going to do it what's the technology and that's because people felt nervous around it the the platform should be the conduit to the content and I think you know work with your agency and rely and Trust on your agency to find the platform that's best suited to the needs though if they're not that's your box you know so it works there and then focus your time on why are you doing this and actually what you want people to do when they're on that session and working with you know how can we shape that unique to the experience because it's not it's not the same we'd be lying if we all said you can just do exactly what you would virtually in a in a physical environment it is different but make sure that the differences can become benefits as well use the data use the pre event engagement use the time to allow people to consume it on demand at a time that's relevant to them you use or last a few advantage don't be constrict and they're constrained by it so I suppose it's still relevant it might not be we might not be necessarily looking at you know huge built environments and they may be virtual environments and but the interactivity element is still still really important as well supposed to you can overdo the interactivity you can distract and I think that's again where you know is events agencies and live communications professionals that know we should be helping our clients navigate through what's the right balance of interactivity content and also platform choice completely well thank you so much we've got one more session today which is that the lovely Katie Mohan from fifty to eighty three PR who's going to be talking to us about how to get the press interested in events so pre event during and afterwards as well and so yeah until then thank you so much again then and thank you to everyone watching the on demand stuffs there on the overcome website you know what you guys it's fantastic I've really enjoyed it there's your veggie free float labelled Emilia but it's there all right where's lovely talking to you I hope you take care