Members of the Professional Event Planners and Vendors Association of Nigeria (PEPVAN) have been advised to reposition their brand now and beyond the pandemic as the world grapples with the reality of the new normal.
This advice is coming on the heels of the second edition of the association’s annual two-day ‘Eventpreneurs Conference,’ which held recently. It had as its theme ‘Repositioning your brand now and beyond the pandemic.’
According to Adeife Abiodun-Adeyemi, TEC head of planning committee, the conference came at the right time to help members of the body to think beyond the current global challenge and see how they could pivot to other businesses to survive the times.
She said the conference attracted over 200 participants from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and US.
Abiodun-Adeyemi said, “It has become necessary for every professional to wake up to the realities of the times we are in and reposition strategically to remain relevant in the event industry.”
Bisi Sotunde of BusyBee Events, one of the conference speakers, emphasised the need for planners and vendors to build a strong brand beyond the pandemic. She stressed the need to carve a niche, track perception, market dynamics and consumer preferences, as these would be key to building resilience during and after the pandemic.
Azeez Balogun of Event Emergency, who is an event safety expert, spoke on the need to keep events safe and crisis-free at this time, urging participants not to wait until emergencies happen but must prepare for them always. He advised event planners to design their events and work spaces to reduce crowd, insure their events, have a medical team on standby and also be abreast of government safety protocols which must be observed by all staff and guests in order not to err on the side of the law.
Sharing his thoughts on networking in the post- pandemic era, Opeyemi Bello of Oomph Events said the participants should be conversant with virtual meetings.
He said they must be intentional, strategic and visible in their approach. He advised them to be courteous and project the impression they want people to have of them. He also spoke on the need to build trust, have a support system by creating or belonging to a tribe in order to get the best out of networking.
According to Mayowa Oloyede, president of PEPVAN, the objectives of TEC were to bring event practitioners together to learn, relearn, unlearn, interact/network with one another and get informed/exposed to new business trends and strategies that would help them build and sustain their businesses for the long haul.
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