Why a creative concept makes the difference

Developing an event concept always begins with the brief. And this is often where it already goes wrong. A brief like 'we want an inspiring day for 400 colleagues' isn't a brief. That's a wish.

We always ask four questions before we think about anything creative. What should people do differently afterwards? What's your company's story right now? Which emotion should set the tone? And what absolutely must not happen?

That last question yields the most. If someone says 'no boring speeches', you know you have room to play. If someone says 'no silliness with the leadership on stage', you know the formal line is sacred. That defines the playing field.

Next, we look at the company's DNA. A family business with 80 years of history calls for something different from a scale-up that started last year. A tech company breathes differently from a healthcare organisation. A concept that doesn't fit who you are feels like a fancy-dress party.

Only once we have this on paper do we start brainstorming. Not the other way round. We've learned that an empty brainstorm with only the word 'summer party' on the board yields nothing. A brainstorm with a sharp question and a clear playing field produces three worthwhile concepts in an afternoon.

A creative concept isn't creative because it has a wacky title on top. A creative concept is creative when it touches the audience, fits the company and compels experience instead of watching.

That last one is the hardest. Too many concepts get stuck at a theme with a splash of colour and a nice title. 'Space Odyssey' with silver balloons. 'Back to the 80's' with a disco. That's décor, not a concept. A real concept has a mechanism: something that makes your colleagues not just watch but take part.

An example. A company wanted to launch its new strategy: 'we dare more'. The concept became an evening where every colleague was, at some point, taken out of their comfort zone. Nothing scary, but something new. One in a sumo suit on a stage, another singing in a choir, a third talking to a camera. The theme wasn't the title. The theme was the experience. And everyone understood the strategy without anyone having to explain it.

That's what we call the mechanism: the part of a concept that makes the message felt instead of told. Without a mechanism you have a party with a theme; with a mechanism you have a concept that works.

The question we always ask ourselves: if you take the title away, does it still hold up? If the answer is no, the title was the concept. And then we have to go back to the drawing board.

We're often asked whether there's an event concept template you can fill in. The short answer: yes, but the filling-in isn't the hardest part. The thinking that comes before it is.

Our template has seven fields. Goal: what should this event deliver? Audience: who's coming and what do they expect. What triggers them? DNA: what's the company's story that fits with this? Message: one sentence that has landed by the end of the day. Mechanism: the experience that makes the message tangible. Common thread: the connecting text or form that holds everything together. And finally: the proof points: which programme elements make the common thread concrete?

Mind the order. Goal before audience, audience before DNA. Only once those three are in place may you think about the message. And only once the message is in place does the mechanism go on top. Start with the mechanism and you almost always end up with a gimmick.

The beauty of this template is that you can sort out nonsense with it. If you can't fill in a section, you know where the concept isn't finished yet. Is there something vague under 'message' like 'we want to connect'? Then you know you first have to go back to the leadership for a sharper conversation.

We fill in this template as standard on every assignment. Sometimes in an hour, sometimes across three sessions. The time you invest here pays for itself ten times over, because everyone holds to the same direction.

Concept work takes time. We're honest about that. Developing a sharp concept for a corporate event concept takes at least two weeks, often four. Not because we drag it out, but because it has to mature. A concept that's finished within a day is often the first idea and not the best one.

For planning, we work to this guideline. Week one: sharpen the brief, dig into the DNA, formulate the message. Week two: brainstorm, work out three directions, test concepts internally. Week three: choose with the client, finalise the concept, develop the mechanism into a programme. Week four: make the production plan, confirm the venue, assemble the crew. From there, production gets under way.

On budget: concept work alone costs between 3,000 and 12,000 euros, depending on scale and complexity. That's just the thinking and the documentation. Production comes on top. For the full picture of a mid-sized corporate event with a solid concept, reckon on between 75,000 and 250,000 euros. For larger family days, anniversaries or international kick-offs, it can run considerably higher.

We advise never to cut back on concept work. It's the cheapest element and it determines the success of everything that follows. An event with a weak concept quickly feels like a waste of money, even when it's expensively produced. A smart concept with a smartly delivered production feels like exactly the story you wanted to tell.

On top of that, always schedule an interim review with the internal client. The aim is to check whether the direction still holds, not to run the concept past a committee.

You can devise a concept yourself. You can also hire an agency that only does concept and then arrange the production yourself with suppliers. Both are possible. We deliberately do neither.

We're not an agency that just devises concepts and throws them over the fence. We devise the concept and we make it. That's a deliberate choice. In our experience, 30 per cent of a concept's power is lost between the paper and the floor. A director who doesn't know the concept from the inside fills it in the way they're used to. A set builder who only gets dimensions delivers something that looks like it but isn't quite right. A speaker without a good brief turns it into their own story.

When we do the production ourselves, the thinking stays intact right up to the stage. The direction knows why a particular moment is in the show. The technical team knows why that light has to be just so. The caterer knows why the food is what it is. Every choice hangs on the same story.

The other advantage is practical. With one team for concept and production, you have one point of contact fewer to chase. No email traffic between three agencies passing the ball to each other when something goes wrong. We pick it up and we sort it out.

Good event work calls for a team that's involved in the story from the first brainstorm to the last clean-up van. It isn't the cheapest model. But it is the model that delivers the best result.

Want to get started with a creative concept for a corporate event? Then step one is always a conversation. Not about themes or venues, but about what you want to achieve.

We prefer to be involved from week zero. Not when you've already worked out an approach and you're looking for someone to deliver it. But when you know something needs to happen and you're still searching for the how. That's where we make the difference.

In a first session of an hour, we usually already know whether there's a sharp concept in it. After that, we take you through our approach: brief, DNA, message, mechanism, common thread. Only once that's in place do we start building.

We work across the Netherlands, especially for organisations of 150 to 2,500 employees. From kick-offs to family days, from anniversaries to strategy events. Always with our own concept and our own production.

Call us on 085 401 40 14 or send an email to hello@live-impact.nl.

Seriously fun.