Part 2: Persuasion for People Who Don't Want Change

We attend this event every year that is dedicated to showing internal event planners the latest and greatest in the industry. The audience leaves the event totally psyched about all the new possibilities they can bring back to their event in large and small ways.

And what we hear--time after time--is that they return to their team brimming with ideas and innovation and... are hit with the death-knell for creativity: "But we don't NEED to change anything. What you're proposing sounds risky. What we're doing now is fine. I mean...it's okay...not too many people complain. Why risk it?"

Some people are strongly motivated by security and a lack of risk--especially when it comes to putting on an event with, say, 3000 of their biggest clients. NOT EVER changing your event--even if what you're doing is working--leads to a stale event. There are tons of new technologies, creative ideas, presentation formats, etc., that are improving events every day. To reject them all summarily is madness--and yet we hear it all the time.

So how does one take brilliant new ideas back to their team and get them to adopt some of those ideas in the face of such aversion? We don't promise miracles, but here is some advice:

Provide examples
Give examples of other companies or events that have employed the same tactics with success. More than that, though, provide examples of exactly how what you're proposing will work; where it comes into play, what it looks like in the event, how it could be used outside of the event, etc.

Peer testimonials
Get testimonials not only from your own peers in the event industry, but also from the peers of the people you're trying to win over. How have other VPs been impressed by the same thing you're suggesting? What impact has it had on their event? Were they skeptical at first but saw how amazing the concept was once it played out? 

Put them in the moment
Try to immerse your team in the moment of the event through demonstration and examples. If you want to use a new social media platform, for instance, start trying it out during your planning meetings. If you can get them to attend an event employing a similar strategy--do it. Seeing is truly believing.

Make a bargain
You can provide the best examples, testimonials, and illustrations and there are still some people who will say, "That's fine, but that's THEIR group, not our group." The truth of the matter is that--despite huge demographic differences--all audiences have some pretty basic needs. They want to be entertained and engaged. They want to be interested. They want to play along (even if it takes some good pre-framing). To get the event strategy that you want, you may have to bargain. Baby-steps are better than no-steps-at-all, and if they agree to employing something for the first day (knowing that if it doesn't work it can be redacted completely on the second day) may make them more willing to try something different.

Click to see all parts of this 8-part series.