Sarah Fejfar 0:00
It's dangerous to put on an event without systems. Why? Because it costs you time and money and energy, and it affects the overall guest experience.
Sarah Fejfar 0:10
How are entrepreneurs like us daring bravely to build a stage? Ditch the sweat pants? And step up to the mic? How do we create our own transformative offense? So we can get our message out into the world in a bigger way. It's not only profitable, but it's actually something we can be proud of.
Sarah Fejfar 0:30
That's the question. And the answers are inside this podcast. My name is Sarah Fejfar. Welcome to greenroom Central.
Sarah Fejfar 0:38
It's dangerous to put on an event without systems. Why? Because it costs you time and money, and energy, and it affects the overall guest experience. So I want you to keep listening, because I'm going to share with you part two of our conversation on the secret to removing yourself from the event planning process. This is going to help you save time, make time to do things that you really want to be doing during that process. It's going to help you be consistent event over a vent.
Sarah Fejfar 1:13
For your guests sake, it's going to help you ensure that balls don't get dropped. It's going to help you give your team the autonomy and confidence that they need to do their jobs and make the magic happen for you all that stuff we talked about back in part one. So if you haven't already listened to part one, go back and listen to it right now. And then come back and listen to this episode. So in in episode one, we talked about what is an SOP? And why does it work.
Sarah Fejfar 1:45
And in this episode, we're gonna talk about how you will make it happen. Before I get to that, I want to tell you about this client event I was at where it was about time for the offer to be made. And this was something that was so important to this client, obviously making some money, right? Don't we all want that. And we had talked about the process from a technical percent perspective, I was acting as an executive producer on this event, I do that for larger scales at scale events where a client needs a bridge between their team, their in house team and the technical production team, just to ensure that everything goes super smoothly on the stage.
Sarah Fejfar 2:37
And what they want to happen, actually happens, technically. And so we've had lots of conversations about technically how to make this happen for the virtual guests. And a little bit of conversation about how it would happen for the in person guests because it was a hybrid of them. But I got the sense that they had the ball when it came to in person. And we got on site, because my job was actually managing all things virtual. We get on site. And I notice that it's almost time for the offer.
Sarah Fejfar 3:12
And I'm wondering, why are there guests of the events sitting at the table for where, you know, the table rush, after the offers made people from the front of the room, go to the back and they talk to representatives from the business about investing in the offer? Well, the table is there. But there's guests sitting at it. And I talked to someone from the business and they said they were just too nervous to go talk to those guests to make them leave. And I'm thinking well, it kind of doesn't look like the table is ready to accept people when the the table rush happens.
Sarah Fejfar 3:59
And I wouldn't want guests confused like is this where they're supposed to go talk to someone about the offer? Or is it somewhere else out in the hallway and then have them go out in the hallway and no one be there and then then be like, Oh, I'm hungry. I'm gonna go get dinner, or worry about this later and then later just never comes? Can you see how having some procedures in place and teams, team members feeling empowered to execute on those procedures would be really helpful when it comes to increasing the sales at your next event? Yes.
Sarah Fejfar 4:39
Because I definitely saw a gap in how the the table was set how ready the team members and then they were team members there to talk to people about the offer but they were sitting on their laptops and working on stuff If and not, as I would expect them to be standing ready with the pamphlets sitting there the information at the ready. So it kind of looked like a place that you're supposed to approach. And that team members also had the order forms in their hands and were standing on the sides of the the ballroom ready to hand them out and had a process for who's doing what rose.
Sarah Fejfar 5:29
That's, those are all details that go in that come out of your head and into an SOP so that your team, whoever's doing it on that event can brief themselves before it's game time and then execute. And there, there's stuff that's, like, super mega important like that for in terms of revenue driving, but also basic stuff, like we talked about in the last conversation about how are we going to feed these people? Do we want them to have caffeine? Do we want them to have access to water? frequently?
Sarah Fejfar 6:10
I hope the answer is yes. Do we want to serve them lunch? If so what types of food when we make decisions from a hotel menu on what to serve or not serve? Like? What do we choose? Do we ever choose fried foods? or No? Do we? Do I always make sure there's labels on the buffet or? Or no, this is this is stuff that I know you have preferences. And you're you're the CEO, you have been to a lot of events, you have a very clear vision in your head for how you're should go. And have you ever taken it out?
Sarah Fejfar 6:52
And so, again, we talked about the what and the why, in last week's episode, part one, go back and listen to that. If you haven't, we're gonna move on now to the how, how will you make this happen? I want to give you some very step by step specific instructions so that you can give this episode to your integrator and have them listen to it and integrate this into your event planning process. Okay, first, how will you make these, and I'm gonna tell you a secret, there are people who can do this for you.
Sarah Fejfar 7:30
So if you need to hire this out, then make that task for your integrator, because you need to have them first, the first step and how you're gonna make them is identify the task, and the y times two, we always talk about the y times two in that world class event planning formula. We're starting with identifying all the different tasks just like brain, dump it and then figure out the y times two for each, like, why is this important to the business that this be documented? And then also, why is this important to our guest? Okay.
Sarah Fejfar 8:10
So you've identified the task and the why times two. And then the second step is to come up with a format. This is easy peasy. But just make a decision. I like written SOPs with screenshots that's important to me or pictures. And I love an accompanying video. If someone's ever done a training on this, you know, or you're even just you're talking your team member through the what and the why. Record it, put it into the same dropbox folder with the documentation, you know, the documented SOP, and then decide on the level of detail.
Sarah Fejfar 8:55
I personally err on the side of being super, super detailed, like beginner level detailed. And I know that annoys some people who are a little bit more advanced, a little bit closer to that a player level. But it almost feels like too much detail to wade through. But here's the thing, you never know when someone's going to get sick.
Sarah Fejfar 9:20
You never know when someone isn't is going to have to go on vacation. That seems a little odd for this event example but you never know when a team member is going to leave. And you're going to be in a situation where someone else from the company or a new person has to backfill and do this role. And gosh forbid you are a week or two out from an event and they're green and they aren't advanced enough to fill in the gaps in an SOP I have trained in a lot of vas, who are very smart individuals, and I've watched them follow an SOP that I've created.
Sarah Fejfar 10:12
And it is blown my mind where the gaps are, like me thinking it was super detailed, and then watching someone follow it, and seeing what questions they run into has been so eye opening for me, and I highly recommend you do this if you haven't already. And I think that's important that then you are able to fill in those gaps so that they aren't gaps. It doesn't leave something open to interpretation. Because Gosh, knows, you have preferences, and we want them followed for your event that allows you to step back.
Sarah Fejfar 10:56
So I think it's Michael Hyatt, I remember him saying making an offhand comment once about how, you know, they have lots of events, and he's just totally removed himself from the process, it gets just, it's a well oiled machine. Because it's all it's all out of his head. So you're gonna figure out the format. Again, I like written with screenshots or photos and accompanying video if possible, and make it a like beginner level detailed. So then, the third part of this, how we're going to make it happen is I want you to have a meeting with the team member who's going to write the SOP for you.
Sarah Fejfar 11:43
And I want them to be taking notes, I want you to talk them through the one in the two that we talked about today that identifying the task and the why times two, and also the format, and then paint a really detailed picture of what you want. And this can be where you record this, record the zoom. And I was I'm reading right now Atlas of the heart by Brene. Brown, and I think it was the section on expectations. And she said, you know, she doesn't specifically do it when she's assigning a task to a team member, her team has trained to ask her the question, paint the picture for me. Because we don't in until we get it all out.
Sarah Fejfar 12:38
And maybe there are some team members on your team who are better at getting stuff out of you than others. And so maybe the step goes to Natl not the team member who's going to do the thing. But the team member who's best at helping pull details out of your head is just make sure that you have that, that meeting and you get everything out as much as you can. Okay, and then step four is you're going to have the team member, right SOP, you're not going to do it.
Sarah Fejfar 13:14
And then which feels like such a weight off your shoulders, doesn't it? I know it's not my, it's not my area of expertise, I don't have the patience to write it as detailed as it needs to be written. But have your team member do it. And then you review and approve it. That's an important step like it should never be written and then filed away. It needs to come back to you, you need to review it and approve it. I'd love if you had the time to have to have them, watch them, do it and then give feedback.
Sarah Fejfar 13:54
But I understand an event scenario, it might not be possible. And you might in the post mortem, just talk through any new SOPs and how it went going, you know, executing them and answer questions and fill in gaps. So that's number five, reviewing and approving it. Number six is, I want you to make sure you go back to these or you assign the task to somebody to every six months, go back or a year go back, keep it up to date, or after every event cycle make that part of the process is just like making new making updates to them while everything's still fresh in your mind about what just happened.
Sarah Fejfar 14:39
Number seven is the most important one. And you have to start this and underlined it if you're writing this down right now and I hope you are Step seven is holding them accountable. And this is important because like Starbucks and McDonald's they wouldn't Be what they are today, if they didn't have leadership in place that was holding people accountable to the standard operating procedures that are in place. Ken, are you? Are you agreeing with me here? Are you on?
Sarah Fejfar 15:16
Are you tracking with me because that's why it's a consistent experience for us when we go to one place a Starbucks in New York versus Starbucks in Dubai. Right? It's, it's that consistency that's comforting for us. And that consistency, is what's going to be comforting for your guests. It's also going to be comforting for you knowing that your vision is being executed as you wanted it to be executed. So hold your team accountable. Like let them know when you notice that they're deviating from the standard operating procedure.
Sarah Fejfar 16:03
Not in a punitive way, but just like, hey, I noticed that it's okay. It's okay to it's okay to do this, but it's not okay to do this. Remember to be constantly setting those SOPs are kinda like boundaries, you're setting them, and then you're holding people accountable to them. It's also from Atlas of the heart right now. I loved her section on boundaries, and just her her two part framework, which is for say, It's okay to then say, but it's not okay to.
Sarah Fejfar 16:35
And I felt so freeing. I love it. So now that we've gone through the seven steps, I want to give you a couple pro tips. So you might be asking the question right now, what about my Monday or Asana or clickup? Great question. I think these definitely should be considered for inclusion in your project management systems. And it's for you to decide how it feels right?
Sarah Fejfar 17:10
I think it's a great idea to have a task templates that include either a link to the SOP, or the task template is the checklist for the SOP, and the SOP is linked there as like the visual documentation for the nitty gritty on how to do it. So consider that. Also consider that when you are creating job descriptions for your employees, team members, whoever's helping with the event, consider linking these SOPs as line items in those job descriptions.
Sarah Fejfar 17:49
So that people, once they're in the job, they know where to go get the instructions on how to do the thing. I think one of the coolest things about Brendon Burchard, is his event experience feels like a well oiled machine. And I don't think that's by accident. I think that it I just get the sense that all of his team are on the same page, and know what the page says.
Sarah Fejfar 18:30
I went to probably five of his events like large scale like 1000s of people each in the span of a year. And I will say that all of them felt like a repeatable, scalable experience. And I loved it as as the the event planner and me the executive producer and me just I had my head on a swivel and I was just noticing like they've got their act together. And they're on the same page. And someone's intentionally decide decided this stuff. And and they are making it happen.
Sarah Fejfar 19:22
So even though it looks effortless. I know there's just there's so much intentionality behind it. And leadership. This whole conversation in both part one and part two of this conversation on removing yourself from the event planning process really is about you stepping into the next level of leadership, in your business in your events.
Sarah Fejfar 19:53
And it's standard operating procedures so sexy. I know but it's the secret. So, again, if you have not listened to part one, I want you to go back and listen to her right now. And then the homework I have for you is sending this episode to your integrator so that they can go put this into practice for you. And I'm excited. I'm excited to see the next level, the next iteration of your events, I want you to send me a DM, and the first SOP that you've decided to write for your events.
Sarah Fejfar 20:36
I'm excited to hear what it is. I remember, I remember listening to an episode, Chris harder. Shared recently, after he'd gone to Brendon Burchard, private mastermind, and had such a powerful experience sitting in U shape table with everyone in the room and being able to look them each other in the eye. As they talked over the two three days they were together.
Sarah Fejfar 21:07
And then he went back home and was internalizing the lessons from the event and one of them was that his mastermind his elite Level Mastermind had gotten away from U shaped tables for whatever reason, maybe it was just a venue they selected once couldn't support it. And they switched from U shape to classroom and then they just hadn't gone back. And he said in this podcast episode, we're going back to you shape because it was so powerful from a mastermind perspective.
Sarah Fejfar 21:41
And we're not going back like it's now going to be how we do things. And it just made me think that's, that's why we do SOP it's it's powerful. And it just, it keeps the train on the track. Keeps the plane on course. Right. All right. Thanks for hanging out with me today. This has been so fun. Take care of making an outstanding rest of the week. Thank you for listening to the greenroom central podcast. If you love this episode, then please take a screenshot on your phone and post it to Instagram and be sure to tag at zero Fejfar and let me know why you liked it.
Sarah Fejfar 22:24
And what you'd like to hear or who you'd like to hear from in the future. That'll help me know what to create for you. Also, if scaling events in your business sounds like something you want to tackle this year and you need a coach, let's connect to see if one on one coaching is for you just go to greenroom central.com You and I can work together one on one throughout the course of the year and dive deep into the inner workings of events in business, who receive mentorship, personalized feedback, and customized guidance to define your goals and achieve your next level of success. Just go to greenroom central.com right now to apply.
Sarah Fejfar 23:01
I appreciate your commitment to leveling up and learning the mindset and strategy of live events. Keep going, keep learning if you want more head over to Greenham central.com For show notes and all the links from today's episode.
