Hey there event marketers Jessica Heasley here. Welcome to another episode of EML Access where we get you up close and personal with some of the biggest brands, the most interesting events and the most innovative marketers. Today's episode is sponsored by GES, a global full-service provider of live events and it focuses on connecting with consumers. They're busy, they're mobile, and they want self-eworthy content. Today's consumers have a changing emotional context and marketers need to understand those changes in order to create relevant and successful events. I spoke with GES Chief Creative Officer Eddie Nukquist about using storytelling. How did design and experience that unfolds and making events socially responsible? Let's listen in. So let's talk about some B2C trends. What are some things that you are seeing really impacting the event space right now? Well I would say that there's two that are always a primary topic and I don't typically talk about the technology for technology sake because technology is readily available. We all have computers in our pockets, we all have tele, you know, we all have cameras, etc. So I always try to go a little bit higher level and I talk about interaction and social responsibility and the reason I bring up those two is if you focus on interactions at your event and with your consumers it makes a world of difference and we have spoken before about fanatics and about people who are passionate about product and you really want to make sure that you can get into the mindset and the emotional context of your consumers or whoever is attending your event and really deliver for them. And they're looking for selfie worthy moments. You know they're coming to an event because they want to be somewhere. They want to enjoy this and if you look at the consumer side when you've got things like Comic Con and you've got things like what Disney does with D23 and those are very high level but everybody wants to have that sort of place to go and to celebrate and so if you think about interaction and then create some selfie worthy moments or opportunities to do some snapchat and an Instagramming about something special then then you're going to check that box of interaction and you're going to have a great success. The other part is social responsibility especially if you look at millennials today and your future customers they care. They all care and you want to make sure if you're putting on an event in a particular city that might have to do with food or might have to do with recycling or might you know Chicago which has done a great job with trees. There's a lot of things you can do to help make your event be socially responsible in the community where it's being held. And so we focus on that as well because consumers number one demand that. They're recycling as well. It's part of our lives. It's certainly part of a lot of the millennials lives and so it's important for people to give that some consideration in real thought because if your event is a green event it's going to mean a lot more people than if it's not. Is there one trend or is maybe even thinking broader and bigger than trends but is there something that GES really hangs its hat on when it comes to thinking about being responsive to what attendees want out of events today. A lot of people who are who are about to do an event will initially come to us or talk to us about we we think we need this we think we need that might be a stage it might be registration how do we do ticketing. So we'll certainly assist in any way that we can but what we really try to do is introduce them to the concept of storytelling and thinking about the story that they want to share or the stories that they want told as an attendee leaves. And if you start there just from a brainstorming standpoint you can do this on a white board you can do it you know on chalk if you want but if you brainstorm there and really think about it in that way then all sorts of things flow through it. So you might have a corporate message you're trying to present or corporate story you might want to do that on a big stage and you might want to do that with a great video but if you've got a product launcher or sort of a sub story that's important for that particular event you might highlight that through music you might highlight that through you know a reveal. So if you think about it from a story standpoint and how that story unfolds for your guests who are giving their energy and time and oftentimes a lot of money to go places then you are really showing how much you care and you're going to put everything into an emotional context for them as opposed to leaving them guessing was that important what should I do about this. So we really try to make sure that they start from an overall vision standpoint and really focus on storytelling and then everything else comes to support the technical the equipment the lights the audio all the important things for an event registration etc but those things are not as important as your message and what you are trying to convey so so we really like to focus on that we think it brings a lot of success and I would imagine with all of the focus on content that that story telling emphasis and staying true to that throughout the process can only serve your content in the best of ways ultimately. Well that's right so if you do it well then people will easily repeat your story and repeat your message hopefully if it's been delivered well and it's received well so you're absolutely right social media will light up with it with hopefully exactly what you're hoping to leave attendees with and there's great examples on just the consumer side and sort of the fanatic side and you can learn a lot from those even though your product it might not be an entertainment or your product might not be a new cell phone launch whatever it may be you can still learn a lot about how those things are done and and the care that a lot of companies a lot of leaders in companies take and you know realize what those best practices are and pull them into your event and that's what we really like to do. Start with the vision of the event and design the story and the sub stories from there as Eddie said when you do it well the consumer will accept your message and repeat your story I'd like to thank Eddie for joining me and you for watching learn more about this episode sponsor ges at ges.com and explore our growing library of EML access conversations and behind the scenes tours at eventmarketer.com