Personally, my favourite definition of creativity is:
“The act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of an idea. If you have ideas but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative."Why is creativity important in events?
Consider your interactions in an ‘entertainment’ setting, including restaurants, bars, and how niche and enjoyable those experiences. When people attend large-scale corporate events, they are accustomed to experiencing quality interactions and are looking for something better.
Each event is essentially a 360 experience. I'm talking about sensory experiences; what guests/attendees hear, see, taste, touch and smell. Every brand touch point and part of the event can be elevated through creativity. From the invitation to the moment they leave the venue, creative injections are imperative to get the most ROI from your event. Each element is an opportunity to offer a memorable experience, especially considering what a large part of our lives social media plays. These moments which engage guests can extend to an online audience and create ‘talkability' and ‘shareability' which extends an event's life as well as its audience.
Creativity isn't limited to the ‘creative' department either; I see our client service team being creative regarding extending budgets through using partnerships to maximise experiences, or conveying messages to create awareness. Event professionals need to be creative in problem-solving, and how they apply this to all aspects of event management.
I see creativity flow through every member of the team. From complex problems through to designs, concepts, client pitches, ideas for content delivery, presentation formats, through to execution and even beyond, using a debrief approach to consider new ways and ideas.
It's important to go a little deeper, push boundaries, open up possibilities, entice conversations, add colour to client requests. But I'm not creative you say? Nonsense, you're surrounded by creative inspiration if you look, make time and use a little effort. If you're part of a team, place yourselves in a creative space and throw ideas around. Once you do, you will see how infectious creativity is and quickly it's sparked.
If you bring an idea to life, it will give you growth because you will have learnt something. If you want people to remember your brand and event, you need a creative approach and innovative delivery. Remember 2+2=4 but then again, so does 3+1. There are different ways to get the same results.
