I'm very excited to have another guest blogger contribution! Please welcome, Ty Howie, Mohawk College's Programming Manager. Ty and I have been good friends for over a decade and I'm happy to have him here to share his experience as an event planner through COVID-19.
March 13, 2020: the day my career changed overnight. It feels like yesterday (most days), but then I look at the calendar that stares me in the face each day in the corner of my screen, only to realize how much time has actually passed. I am an Events Manager. I program and manage events and engagements for a Post-Secondary student association. It has been my dream ever since 2008 (interning for an entertainment venue) and working at a Performing Arts Centre (6 years), to be in the position to lead the charge in programming talent, concerts, speakers, fun activities that bring people together. In November of 2019, I interviewed and presented my way into a role that I have had my eyes on for years. Between November and March, I took the reins and started making the role my own, highlighting key event themes that I felt were important, exploring new ideas that were not thought of before, and built relationships with key partners, opening the door to sharing resources and planning efforts. Although I adopted the role, I felt like for the first time in my career that I was doing the job I always knew I wanted to do, and was so grateful that this organization gave me a chance to program events in the way my team and I thought would be best for the student body. March 16, 2020: the day my career changed overnight. Who cancels St. Patrick’s Day? I did (for our student community). It’s a moment in my career I will never forget. What was once a highly well-known day in the post-secondary community for music, food, parties and friends, was immediately shut down as the growing fear of the Covid-19 pandemic loomed not only over our community, but the entire world. Events were gone, gatherings were no longer, and everyone was concerned not only for their jobs, but their health and wellness. April 1, 2020: the day my career was re-born. Before I get into how I navigated my way into virtual events, I wear my heart on my sleeve, and can honestly say that I am 100% grateful each and every day to be given the opportunity to plan events in my community and my industry. I am very aware that events have changed, and will look a lot different for days, months, or maybe years ahead. So many Event Planners, Coordinators, and Managers of all industries and backgrounds had their day-to-day work lives taken from them, with huge uncertainty of what the future holds. My department was back up and running, operating four events per week by April 1, 2020: open virtual meetups to chat, interviewing comedians from home (I can thank Seinfeld for that one), live music online and virtual games. I spent half a month on the phone; brainstorming with other institutions, watching videos, reading articles, doing everything I possibly could to flip what I used to know as an “Event” into a “Virtual Event”. The question I had to ask myself every day was how could I adapt an event (in person) to have the same look, feel, vibe and engagement level, but in the online/virtual world? What I quickly discovered and accepted was: I couldn’t.
Everything it took to put on an event (staffing, ticketing, production, rentals, prizing, people, people attending, people making new friends, people standing less than 6 feet apart, people…), had to be re-analyzed, re-evaluated, and looked at under a completely different light. Events (now) aren’t like they were merely six months ago. Virtual Events are a completely new ball-game, and the new lineup of ball players just showed up in a fancy new bus two minutes before game time with zero practice and prep.
So...how do you navigate event planning in a virtual world? You take any idea you have, and run with it. There are no bad ideas, and everyone in this world is learning to navigate virtually at the same time you are. With an open mind, open ears, years of experience and self-education, it’s a trial and error experience. You quickly learn what works, what doesn’t and how you can improve the next time you try it.
Six months ago, I did not know what Video Conferencing platforms were and how they operated. I didn’t need to. I thrived off of in-person meetings, texting, and phone calls, ultimately leading up to an event where the talent, production and audience was within six feet of my reach. Flash forward; September 16, 2020, we have programmed an interactive free-style hip-hop rap concert for students, showcasing a talented group of musicians and comedians performing live from Orlando, Florida, where students can not only watch the concert from wherever they call home (multiple countries), but can also interact, participate, and essentially become a performer in the show, as well as taking part in a one-on-one meet and greet. I am a part of an amazing team that has become knowledgeable and savvy enough to pull this off. Are there pre-event meetings? A ton. Does everyone live near each other? Absolutely not. We’re in Canada, the performers are in Florida, the production crew is in Philadelphia and Arizona, and the students are tuning in from many different countries as they navigate learning online. It sounds crazy! Events were not like this six months ago, but here we are, working as a giant team to pull off what once sounded like a terrible idea that would fall apart within seconds from a bad internet connection. Anything is possible in the online/virtual world, you just have to take any idea you have, and run with it.
If you want to host a virtual trivia night, you can. If you want to host a virtual game night, you can. If you want to broadcast a movie so friends and colleagues on the other side of the world can watch it together, you can. If you want to attend conferences, workshops, classes, concerts, live sporting games, graduations, weddings, parties, you name it...you now can, virtually, from anywhere. It is absolutely insane to not only think about it, but to grasp the fact that the Events Industry has done a complete 180 degree turn in just under six months. Do virtual events have the same appeal? Well, that’s personal to each and every person attending. Can you guarantee the engagement level? It’s much harder now, as anyone can easily disregard any marketing efforts by not looking at their mobile device or laptop. Can virtual events still be impactful, meaningful, and provide a distraction to all the negative situations currently taking place across the entire world? Absolutely. My biggest take-away from having everything I thought I knew about my career, flipped up-side down is this: There are times when you may get frustrated with your knowledge and resources. There are moments when you put hundreds to thousands of dollars of your budget into a virtual event, only to have the lowest engagement and attendance you’ve ever seen. Do not fret. Take any idea you have, and run with it. What our world needs right now are ways to alleviate the stress, opportunities to focus on the positives, and outlets to regain that feeling of participating in something meaningful and feeling good about it. In these times where everyone may be cooped up inside, that one person who may have attended your event, where you thought you may have had hundreds, you may have given that single person an experience they will remember and cherish forever, as going out into the world and experiencing it is not really possible at the moment. Health, wellness, and interaction of any kind is what everyone needs to focus on to get through this new world together. Making that one person’s day better (especially in these trying times) is absolutely worth the time and effort it takes to put your virtual events together. September 14, 2020: I’m writing this blog while I brainstorm what my next big virtual event is going to be. I’m going to take my next idea, and run with it.
Ty Howie has been in the been in the event planning
industry for his entire career, and excels at coordinating memorable and creative events. Today, Ty is the Programming Manager at Mohawk College, planning and coordinating many of the campus activities throughout the school year. When Ty isn't planning, he's an accomplished musician who loves sharing his passion for music with everyone.