The Moxxie Essential Eight

I have been planning events for almost twenty years, across corporate, nonprofit, fundraising, community, and just about every celebration you can name. Somewhere in the middle of all those galas, luncheons, open houses, and launches, a pattern showed up. The events that truly worked were never the ones with the biggest budget or the prettiest centerpieces. They were the ones built around a crystal-clear goal, where every single decision pointed back to it. I took that lesson and turned it into a simple framework I now walk every client through.

We call it the Essential Eight.

What are your event goals?

Get very specific on this, as every step after this always has to point back to your goal(s). We encourage our clients to set a Primary and Secondary Goal.

It needs to be more detailed than "to celebrate" or "to fundraise". Write out specific numbers and measurable markers: "Our organization will raise $105,000 through sponsorships and ticket sales" or "We will have 225 guests attend our company appreciation party" or "We want to know that we educated our 100 attendees based upon the results from the feedback survey" or "Our event will receive 95 new potential clients

Who is your target audience?

Based upon the goals that you are aiming to accomplish, who needs to be in the room? (Or who needs to be financially involved and possibly not in the room?)

Is it friends or family members? Is it business executives? Is it local movers and shakers? Or maybe it is young professionals? Does your organization have current committed supporters that can invite their friends? Spend some time identifying the humans that need to be involved with your event to reach your goals.

How are you going to spread the word?

This is the "marketing" step.

Does your event need formal printed invitations with an envelope, stamped and sent via USPS? Or can you achieve your event goals and reach your target audience with an evite or Facebook Event Page? Maybe it is an internal office event and a flyer on the bulletin board.

Do all of the details and event logistics align with your event goal?

This is the big one, and it is the step most people jump to first. Resist that. Every detail has to trace back to your goal and your audience.

Does the catering match the people you want in the room? Do your guests need valet, or is self-parking fine? If your goal is education, is your A/V good enough for every attendee to see the screen and hear the speaker? Is the venue ADA accessible? And are you choosing your venue, date and time around your audience, or just around what happened to be available? A $5,000 room on a Tuesday afternoon will not fill up with busy moms.

How are you engaging your guests?

This is the selfish-human step. In a world overflowing with things competing for their attention, why would someone say yes to your event and actually show up?

Are they coming to network, or to be in the same room as someone they admire? To walk away with new information or education? For food they will talk about later, or live music? Whatever you choose has to earn their yes and still tie back to your goal, your budget and your audience. Do not book a $90,000 performer when a local musician would have filled the room just the same.

What are the guests taking-away?

Step five is what happens at your event. Step six is what your guests carry out the door. Call it their emotional souvenir.

It can be tangible or intangible. Knowledge from a speaker. A new investor they met while networking. A branded keepsake or the printed program. The memory of the best meal they have had all year. Ask yourself what they will still be talking about at their next hair appointment or on the golf course next week, and make sure it points back to your goal.

Are you staffing your event for success?

You cannot greet guests, cue the slideshow, refill the food, count the money and turn on the music all at once. Events take a village.

Staff does not have to mean paid. It can be volunteers, an event company, hourly bartenders, your own team, even high school students. What matters is having enough of the right people so you, your client or your organization are free to do the things that actually achieve your goal. You need eyes and ears everywhere.

What is your plan for following up?

The event is not over when you think it is. Following up is how you protect the relationships you just built, and it matters most for recurring events.

A fundraiser means thank-yous and reconciling the money. A conference might mean a feedback survey or sending out the slides. A luncheon might mean asking how the food landed. A networking night might be a simple "so good to meet you" email. However you do it, touch your guests one more time, and point that touch back toward your goal.

Here is the honest truth: your goal defines every single thing you do. Get that right and the other seven questions have somewhere to point. Get it wrong and you are decorating a room without knowing who is walking into it.

If you are staring down an event and any of these eight questions feel foggy, that is exactly where we come in! Moxxie Concepts helps you turn a concept into an experience your guests actually remember, whether you want us to run the whole thing or just think through the strategy alongside you.

Reach out at www.moxxieconcepts.com/connect to get on our calendar! Let's Chat.

Be sure to follow along on Instagram and Facebook @moxxieconcepts for a behind-the-scenes look at how we pull it off.