Great minds ‘clic’ at inspirational event

Leading event organisers gathered at Robinson College in Cambridge to share event planning best practice at the second clic+ Club seminar on 7 July.

Held at the college’s impressive new Crausaz Wordsworth Building, the event was part of a wider series that aims to provide a knowledge-sharing environment for event organisers across the country. Delegates were joined for the seminar by speakers from software specialist Redgate and Viva Live Music, which is part of the ‘5 Steps to Successful Events’ programme.

More than 50 event professionals from across the industry turned out to hear Annabel Bradford, Marketing and Events Manager at Redgate and Susan Heaton-Wright, Creative Director at Viva Live Music share their insights.

Annabel explored the architecture of organising an event and introduced agile working principles and techniques to reduce stress and allow more flexibility during the planning process. Susan shared best practice for working with suppliers and encouraged the audience to see them as an extension of a team rather than a separate entity.

The gathering was also used to showcase dynamic new event technology that could improve and build on delegates’ own events. Networking technology company Blendology allowed visitors to seamlessly exchange contact information at the touch of a badge and also acted as an icebreaker. Contacts are emailed directly to the delegate after the event to provide a hassle-free networking experience.

Engagement technology from Glisser also added another dimension to the event. Enabling the audience to respond to live polls and ask questions anonymously via their phones, it certainly brought some of the shyer members of the audience to the fore for ultimate engagement. Outspoken Bicycles also joined the event with its cycle-powered blender, which provided smoothies for guests.

Rose McDonald, Head of Sales and Marketing at Robinson College said: “As an innovative and forward-thinking conference facilitator, we want to create a supportive environment for industry experts to gather and collaborate. Both speakers helped our audience to reflect on their processes and approach to events and gave them a chance to gain insight from others in a similar event organising position. The technology on offer helps visitors to interact with products they might not usually come across and really helps to give them new knowledge to keep building on their own events.”

The clic+ Club has evolved from the award-winning clic+ 2014 and 2015 events and looks to build on the initiative’s founding principles – Connect, Learn, Innovate and Communicate. The clic+ Club will host one further event in the Crausaz Wordsworth Building this year: Event Creation on Friday, 21 October. Ben Cole, Director of Inspired will focus on content creation, key messaging and desired outcomes.