How to craft the perfect entry: Lessons from successful Eventex cases

Since all events vying for Eventex Awards are worthy, the competition for the Eventex Hall of Fame is intense, meaning that your stellar event needs to be presented with an entry that does it justice. And since you only get one shot to impress our judges, we took the time to sift through some of last year’s best-performing entries and come up with practical tips to help you along. Read on! 

A picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million 

How to craft the perfect entry: Lessons from successful Eventex cases

Let’s start with what is arguably the most important element of your entry — the video. Chances are, you already have a video ready that you are showing to partners and potential clients. Why not use it in your Eventex Awards entry too? Here’s what you should keep in mind:  

• A well-edited video will showcase your entry better than any written essay can. Our research of last year’s most successful event entries identified two winning approaches to videos, the first one featuring footage from the prep work as well to build anticipation. With the second, the video wowed the jury from the get-go, jumping straight to the event’s impressive visual effects. Regardless of which approach you choose, make sure that your video contains results and relevant data.     
• A video presentation is the next best thing if for some reason you don’t have footage of your event — you can still include relevant data, images, graphics, music, voice-over, a memorable quote related to the event, etc., to give the jury additional proof that your event was remarkable. This is also a great option for entries in supplier or tech categories.
• Reliable platform — make sure your video is available through a platform that requires minimum effort playing it and double-check that the link you have provided works flawlessly. 
• Keep your video short and to the point — sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing. With a short video that whets the appetite of the judges, they will be eager to move on to the next portion of your entry. 

Note that your entry should still include photos (the more impressive the better), showcasing your event from different angles and making your entry more layered. Photos will also give the jury the opportunity to better study individual elements of your event. 

Focus on the endgame 

Every successful event, product, or service achieves one or multiple goals, meaning, you should make it a prominent part of your entry. Check out these tips to help you along: 

• Asking yourself the right questions will help you identify the results to present in your entry. Did you get better ROI this year? Or did you have more attendees, partners, or sponsors compared with a previous edition? Or if the event was intended to raise awareness and/or attract donations, what were the exact numbers you measured your success with? The answers will help you create a results-oriented entry. 
• Provide measurable KPIs — back your claims and statements with some facts and data, be it participant satisfaction rates, number of social media shares, survey feedback, etc.  
• Help the jury see results — to aid you in that, our entry form features a dedicated section where you can list all the data that proves your event, product, or service was a smashing success.

As with the video, keep the data concise and specific, to make it stand out better to the jury as it evaluates your entry/entries.    

Storytelling for the win 

While showcasing the results might possibly form the most important component of your submission, it is only one part of your story. Our research of winners shows that entries with consistent work on all their story elements land awards. So, think about how you will tell your story to get the jury on your side. This is particularly relevant in the case of budget events where you have worked with limited resources. Here’s how to do it: 

• Present your journey — focusing on the goal doesn’t mean neglecting how you got there. While the actual event, or the destination, forms the basis for the award, walking the jury through the challenges you faced (and overcame) will give your entry more substance. Even if your event is impressive on its own, it becomes more remarkable when you consider the starting point. 
• Envoke emotions — your entry should make the jury feel emotion. It might inspire awe in the face of your visuals and technology, compassion (if your event was supporting a worthwhile cause), or even laughter with a witty and snarky presentation. Emotion makes your entry memorable to the jury. 
• Show you care — craft your entry with the jury in mind. Structure your text in neat, readable paragraphs, and use lists if you present statistics (such as the number of attendees, etc.). This will make your entry more readable for the judges and as a result, convey its message better. 

Naturally, all of this is difficult to do at once. That’s why Eventex Awards uses Еvalato which allows you to save your work as a draft and return to it at a later date and time with a fresh perspective. You can also ask a colleague for help with crafting your entry, or to proofread it before you hit the submit button.   

Categories matter

One of the beauties of Eventex Awards is its constellation of categories which allows you to find just the right spot (or spots) for your event. That said, there are a couple of potential traps to sidestep: 

• Don’t copy-paste — while the Eventex Awards rules allow you to enter the same event in multiple categories, this doesn’t mean that you should submit the exact same entry in more than one. In other words, avoid copy-pasting the same text from one category to another. That said, you don’t have to start from scratch with each category, as long as you remember to shift the focus as needed. 
• Keep your entry focused — talking about focus, our research of last year’s entries shows that, for example, with use-of-technology categories, entrants don’t always explain well enough how exactly the technology in question (be it audio-visual or virtual) was applied or made a difference for their event. So, when crafting your entry, ask yourself why you chose that specific category for it and reflect the answer in the submission. 

To sum up, even though all the elements in your event matter, the category gives you the focus that you build your narrative around. 

At the end of the day 

The hallmarks of a memorable event are impressive presentation, notable impact, and all details tweaked to perfection. It is no wonder that those same principles are the ones you should follow when crafting your Eventex Awards entry — so, apply them and you’ll already be halfway to winning the hearts of the jury.  

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