Brief for an event: why is it needed?

You have already encountered this more than once: when ordering services from professionals, first of all, you get a brief with an urgent request to fill it out in detail. Organization of events is no exception. So, why do you need a brief for an event, how to fill it out and what are the types of this document?

Brief – is communication

The event agency works with 100% efficiency on the condition of complete mutual understanding with the customer. In the first place, mutual understanding is when the team fully understands the needs of the client. Then the work will advance quickly, and the finished project will meet expectations. A brief is a prerequisite for achieving such a result.

A brief for an event filled out by the customer is the main document to be focused on during the organization. A client can fill out a brief independently or together with a personal manager from an event company. After that, the team of organizers analyzes it, using it as a basis for developing a concept and calculating the budget. In fact, the document is the official channel of communication between the client and the organizer.

Hence the conclusion – a professional event manager will not work without a brief. And if the customer flatly refuses to fill it out, this indicates his lack of interest in holding the event. Some clients openly admit: “Do it yourself, I am not good at it.” But the catch is that trying to satisfy the wishes of the customer at random is an extra waste of time and nerves without achieving a satisfactory result.

Brief and ethics of communication between the organizer and the customer

The client, for his part, fills out a brief, and the organizer’s task is to guarantee the fulfillment of all expectations. An unspoken rule for an event manager is to create a product that you like, that you want to include in your portfolio. Usually, this ensures that the result will be also appreciated by the customer. Quality without excuses – this is expected from professionals.

Types of Briefs for events

It all depends on the type of event itself. If you focus on this indicator, you can divide the briefs into:

• media – suitable for organizing promotional events;
• expert – they are used in the general concept of professional branding;
• Creative – help create successful advertising products.

Most often, the client receives a universal brief in the form of a questionnaire, where the answers help to obtain initial data for the organization of the event. The universal brief, which is necessary for the successful work of the organizers, includes such data:

1. A brief description of the future event.
2. The purpose of the event. The indicator on which effectiveness will depend.
3. Date. Specific indicator or indicative period.
4. Expected audience and the maximum number of guests.
5. Data on the target audience: age, nationality, countries, and regions of residence, social status, etc.
6. The format of the event. The way the customer sees it. For example, a business conference and an informal reception.
7. Specific data. If the customer has clear guidelines, data and experience in organizing the future event, the topic should be indicated in the brief, as well as data on past events implemented (topics, guests, speakers, headliners, what they did right and what they failed to do, etc.).
8. Requirements for the duration of the event.
9. Organizational aspects: the need for accommodation of the participants (and housing requirements), transfers, meals, the visual style of the event, the need for translation services, location requirements, awards or gifts for participants.
10. Suggestions to the budget (indicating a fixed amount, the limit of which is not allowed to exceed). Convenient payment methods.

Conventional Brief analysis

As an example, we may consider the organization of an international conference. The initiator of the event is a company being the industry leader in the development of projects of energy-saving systems for industrial enterprises. The topic is relevant for the whole world, therefore top speakers from Ukraine, Europe, and the USA, known for their expert knowledge in this field, are invited to the conference. What information can be picked up from the filled-out brief:

1. The goals of the customer are to attract an interested audience, demonstrate achievements, find potential employees (engineers) among the guests to enhance their team.
2. Expected audience – from 300 to 500 people.
3. Organizational plans: lectures (several simultaneous streams), presentations.
4. Sale of tickets – planned, and should reimburse the basic costs spent on the organization.
5. Advertising – It is planned to collect the indicated maximum number of guests.
6. The level of the event is high, with unique, memorable visual solutions.
7. Attracting sponsors – is welcomed, as there are manufacturers of equipment and solutions in the industry that can interest the audience. Sponsorship funds should cover the rest of the organization’s costs.

Conclusion – the more detailed is the brief, the more opportunities for the organizers to create the concept of the event and the ideal implementation. Therefore, you shouldn’t treat the document as another formality. The quality of the event depends on it.