Experience University Podcast

The Event Design Canvas is an amazing visual project management tool to guide teams through the event design process - focusing on stakeholders and designing for impact. Modeled after the Business Design Canvas, this tool has helped countless groups achieve the near impossible by getting all decision makers on the same page. No, I am not affiliated with the organization. Yes, I am a super fan. In this one-on-one interview with co-creator Ruud Janssen, discover insights about the creation of the Canvas, experience an enlightening conversation about typical mindsets I have found from young professionals going through the design process, and how the Event Design Collective is pivoting online amid COVID-19. 

For further information about the Event Canvas or the Event Design Collective team: Eventcanvas.org and edco.global/core-team

Make sure to follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eventinitiative/ for more information and a behind the scenes look at everything we have going on!

Do you know who the top two stakeholders are that you are designing your event for?  Would everyone in your office, or planning team, or board of directors - all agree on who these are?  Do you know what the objectives you are measuring your event success on and which stakeholder these belong to?

This episode is all things stakeholder identification and analysis. As we go through the event design process over the next couple of weeks - this is a crucial first step to accurately define and make sure that everyone in the planning process (and those paying for the event) are on the same page.

In this episode we reference the Event Design Canvas and their stakeholder analysis tool. In Thursday's episode - we will be talking with the co-creator of the Event Design Canvas!

Make sure to follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eventinitiative/ for more information and a behind the scenes look at everything we have going on!

This session was originally scheduled to be released at a later time, but we made the decision to move it up as students return to University campuses this week. This episode features Lillian Nguyen, a graduate student at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Whereas most of our student features are student-created podcasts, this is a special interview-style episode.

In addition to sharing her behind the scenes experience in the Intro to Events class, Lillian shares her experience of being an Asian American university student in the era of COVID-19. Lillian shares about discrimination she has faced this year because of her skin color and how the events class community bonded together over her story and learned empathy through the process. This story is worth highlighting and sharing as hundreds of thousands of students return to campuses over the next few weeks. 

Lillian discusses how she made the transition from graduating in biological sciences to now studying event management. More than any other episode, this one gives you a much closer look behind the scenes of how our formal for-credit class is structured and what you could experience if you were enrolled in the class live and in person.   

Make sure to follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eventinitiative/ for more information and a behind the scenes look at everything we have going on!

If you were asked if you were creative - how would you answer?

In the Global Future of Jobs report - creativity moved up from the number ten most important job skill in 2015 to number three in 2020. This episode discusses how we don't just have the ability to be creative - that we are all creative already.

As event professionals of all levels, we recognize that there are very fine lines between recognizing that we don't have to recreate the wheel and innovating from year to year to a level our attendees will not get whiplash in our events.

Creativity is more than just staring at a blank piece of paper and coming up with something new. Its thinking of existing problems in a new light - working within boundaries (such as budget or space) and designing new experiences to solve real life issues.

This episode focuses on realizing that we are all creative and that this is critical in the design process.

Make sure to follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eventinitiative/ for more information and a behind the scenes look at everything we have going on!

This is a special student spotlight featuring Sydney Becker, a University of Nebraska Lincoln student. As part of her Intro to Events class she chose to create a podcast to complete one of her creative project assignments. Her podcast was so amazing that we decided to feature it on the Extraordinary Events podcast! 

No matter what you currently do, or aspire to do, having insights from the next generation of leaders into their thought process is critical (and often inspirational) to see where our industry is going. Additionally, Sydney is having non-event related professionals ask her their questions about events and hospitality. This also reveals what others are curious about as it concerns our field and may reveal some preconceived notions about our industry.

Make sure to follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eventinitiative/ for more information and a behind the scenes look at everything we have going on!

There are a million moving parts when it comes to designing and producing an event. As event professionals, it is natural for us to want to absorb everything all at once so that we can jump in and start designing. I am often asked where to start this process and my answer is always the same. Identify your why.

I always write WHY on the top of my notebooks. Why am I doing this? Why are we having this event? Why are we meeting? Keeping the focus on the why is critical for a successful event and helps to guide the evaluation metrics to identify if your event was a success or not.

This week, I talk about identifying what your why is - both in your life and for your event.

Make sure to follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eventinitiative/ for more information and a behind the scenes look at everything we have going on!