The fact that devising and upkeeping, even strengthening meaningful connections through events came up, was not surprising. All interviewees agreed that when people would again be able to come together in larger masses, creating connections should be priority number one. All the interviewees that worked in the companies with events described connections as a fundamental base layer for the existence of their events. No matter if the events are held for the personnel or customers or both, most interviewees
mentioned that what they first want to consider while creating those events, is the fact that how will they get the people to connect and feel unified and welcomed.
Interviewee G brough up that connecting after the longtime of isolating during Covid-19 pandemic is more important than ever. They said that one reason people in their companies wait for coming together and connecting is that they have some teams that have new team members and that some of them have never even met their coworkers in real life yet. Based on their output people are anxiously waiting for a green light to gather up.
With the shared mindset of all interviewees, the fact that events in the close future should and most likely will emphasize connections and communality is clear. This of course may not be the case for all companies in the world but with these findings it does seem like it will be in a big part of the planning and implementation.
Interviewee G went even further that just mentioning connections. According to them it is communality that will be the center of events in the future. They described communality as a shared feeling of belonging and that that feeling is what after all makes teams work well together, and that that should be a goal for all successful businesses. And surely that is correct, as the findings from these interviews show.
Most interviewees truthfully declared that they have not most often really thought of any specific goals or purposes for their events, but all did agree that communality is always, if not the main goals set, in the very highest part of the list. Interviewees B, E, F, G and H all connected into wellbeing of the community – all people should feel welcomed and important. Based on the findings getting and staying in touch with people is a key to success.
8 W.I.C.K.E.D. – THE FRAMEWORK
The interview responses were surprisingly similar. This could of course be an effect of the situation companies have been in for the past one and a half years and indicate that the mindset in companies has clearly changed somewhat in unison. The six themes altogether were surprisingly, or not, in line with themes appearing in the Kaohsiung Protocol (Ouimet et al. 2020, 4) and the report “The Future of Events” by Fell, Renton and McCrindle (2021, 5 & 22-23). Does it mean that the work is done and these finding must be true and no further studying is needed? Absolutely not.
As the interview results uncovered a wish for encouragement and straightforwardness, the event professionals are left to act the part and carry out their services to meet the rising B2B customer demands and expectations. Therefore, to give a slight push and something concrete for event and potentially other industry professionals to keep in mind, a framework called W.I.C.K.E.D., see Figure 3, was created by the author, Topias Myllynen, based on his findings from the studied materials and the interviews.
Figure 3 W.I.C.K.E.D. –framework © Topias Myllynen
As this study takes account customer demands and expectations going deep into the subject, the framework could offer potential information and beneficial sightings for professionals working not only in the events industry but across other industries as
well. Proudly bringing the framework for the world to see, the author wishes to offer a tangible base for studying the matter of customer expectations and demands in event industry further.
The framework, see Figure 3, offers insights to what customers expect and wish to see in the future. By the nature of the research, the broad spectrum of interviewees from nationally and globally operating companies and the combination of theoretical viewpoints, the framework has collected the most important issues found.
Based on the interview results and both, The Kaohsiung Protocol (Ouimet et al. 2020, 16) and the report “The Future of Events” by Fell, Renton and McCrindle (2021, 21), high stress levels are something most people may recognize in their own lives as well.
This makes it a clear aspect to consider in event management. Are event professionals able to create entities that help people detox and unwind?
The Kaohsiung Protocol (Ouimet et al. 2020, 22-23) brought innovativeness, when considering business models, as one of the necessary tools for going forward. The theory and interview results connected, indicating there is no reason why innovativeness should not be at the top of the list for every event professional. The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely brough out some weaknesses in the events industry and the lack of fresh, unique ideas is clearly one. Based on the findings B2B customers undoubtedly demand reforming out of the more traditional “have some food, listen to people talk and wait for the music” type of events.
Customer-oriented attitude seems simple but as heard from the interviews, in real life is everything but. The Kaohsiung Protocol (Ouimet et al. 2020, 16) declared that over the past decade of exponential expansion, the events sector has lost track of its core.
The industry has not followed advances in improved communication and generational changes in how people want to discover and gather, and instead has developed into a supplier-focused ecosystem rather than embracing outcome-based strategy (Ouimet et al. 2020, 16). As mentioned in chapter five, company cultures very greatly and each company is unique in their own way, even when sharing some similarities with others (Jaimangal-Jones, Fry & Haven-Tang 2018, 6; O’toole & Mikolaitis 2002, 2). This is
a vital part that needs to be understood to create an authentic customer-oriented attitude.
Both Fell, Renton & McCrindle (2021, 22) as well as the Kaohsiung Protocol (Ouimet et al. 2020) talk about how considering the virtual and physical becomes even further essential in the future. This united to the data gathered from the interviews, it becomes almost self-evident that “keeping things authentic” is a corner stone for making spectacular, authentic events. The use of technology must change and evolve for a more flowing whole, in and outside the physical events duration. Changing the way people interact with and through technology during events surely will not be easy.
Considering the findings, however, implies that people do believe that if implemented properly, the chance can make a huge difference and bring the event industry a towards a more inclusive, innovative, and accessible future.
Promoting exploring the “unusual” while planning events together with the rising need for meeting people, having meaningful discussions and connections, and feeling a part of something that, in some words, has come up in all studied material and especially through the interviews, can become a powerful combination. This literally translates to “Encouraging customers” and is something to consider further, more than ever before, looking into the future of events.
As explored in chapter five, O´toole and Mikolaitis (2002, 6) state that events are one of the main ways of communication in the corporate world. Based on the theory explored and the interview findings, events clearly are an influential way to connect to employees, customers, and partners. As the role and degree of events vary, one can understand that a single event compared to an event constellation with a unified theme offers a completely different feeling and touch withing the working community (Fell, Renton & McCrindle 2021, 5; O´toole & Mikolaitis 2002, 6-9). This brings us to the last theme “Devising meaningful connections and communality”. While B2B event customers do have numerous demands differentiating from each other, the event professionals should actively work towards creating events that really support the need and demand of the customers considering the connections and communality among the employees. Based on the findings this also means that the events should acquire
visible or invisible, clarified meaning and goals that can be reached and measured. The base line, based on the findings, of events should be to help the B2B customer companies get and stay in touch withing their community, customers, and partners.
And it should be considered no matter the type of the event - based on the findings this is what the customer need and expect in the future.
To Disclose, the acronym W.I.C.K.E.D. was indeed created from the six themes that were found in the interviews’ coded results. By actively returning to the baseline issues the framework showcases, event professionals are offered a tool for evaluating their actions and W.I.C.K.E.D., as evil as it sounds, is meant to be the opposite offering a foundation for creating deeper customer connections throughout the event industry.
9 CONCLUSIONS
Through this process, the author´s understanding of the overall value of corporate events for B2B customers has only increased. It is now even further evident that B2B customers need events and that they see a bright future ahead again. After a long period of working from home and not being able to meet, companies all over seem to be zealously waiting for the moment to bring everyone back together. After all, the real meaning from created connections and unicity was the strongest vocal point of every discussion during the creation of this thesis. Corporate events really seem to boost businesses performance and their spirits, giving the events value that in some ways cannot be measured.
Companies markedly have different views of how they will use events in the future.
Some have noticed the importance events have considering their own customer relationships, and others emphasize creating and strengthening connections inside their working community. One thing, however, has become obvious. Companies have now started to realize the true potential behind events, and most will for sure implement events into their actions even more strongly than before 2021. The
companies are becoming hungry for events that are versatile, fresh, and increasingly interactive.
In the future as B2B customers’ understanding of corporate events grow, their expectations and demand towards event professionals’ actions will also grow. Already now during this thesis process, a shift in the mindset of B2B customers was visible.
Many have started to evaluate their corporative event behaviors or are thinking of doing so in the near future. And while doing so, they expect the same from event professionals. New ideas, out-of-the-box thinking, imaginary creations and efficient use of resources seems to be a hot topic. The B2B customers will demand even higher standards in the event operations and in the end, it seems they will expect nothing less than perfection. High expectations have outwardly been a part of corporate culture already for a long time but now as the B2B customers are starting to see the potential and cruciality of events, it becomes even more important that right issues are considered and the services offered by event professionals are thoroughly, uniquely created and individually personalized.
Going through the process, these affairs seem to be only a fraction of how the value of corporate events becomes visible in the future of B2B customer demands and expectations. Diving deeper into the subject is needed through further studies and a great starting point for future studies would be to see if these assumptions have been correct. This will of course become possible only as the event industry again starts to recover and face-to-face events return after the decline during 2020–2021.
For Events Tampere, the W.I.C.K.E.D. framework can be a great tool going forward, as it has intakes from various types of businesses and describes the summation of multiple interactions with B2B customers and industry professionals. Everything starts from small, yet with a right mindset and actions all is possible. Events Tampere, in the future, should thoroughly think through all things that have risen during this process and through the professional actions emphasize their skillset to the customers. They are already off to a great start in the industry and there is no doubt that with implementing the framework into their work, they will become a name to follow.
That “from small to big” mindset was how this thesis process came to be and during the whole process, reading through countless materials, theory and via talking to people, the overall professional understanding of the author has significantly increased. Professionally speaking this process was not easy and required hard work and countless hours, but in the end feels even more rewarding as the personal and professional growth that has happened, has been an incredible yet challenging journey.
Through this process the author has gained more confidence in his skills and has found many new ways in which the skillset can be even further developed and used in his professional as well as personal life. Event better when the work can be passed on to benefit others and, in that way, offers a change to proudly present the skills gained and used to the world.
Now, in August 2021 as this thesis process nears the end, one thing remains certain. It will be interesting to follow the growth and development of the event industry and likewise the customers do, it feels like the whole world waits for W.I.C.K.E.D. events more than ever.