Could IAEK be the hidden code of all events?
We can and should apply more data science and custom models to allow us to design and construct events tuned to maximise participation for all actors at the event.
I came to the concept of IAEK after over 50 interviews with event planners, buyers and organisers during the pandemic. I have always found it fascinating how different disciplines have adopted analytics to improve their end product or get an edge from Football, Baseball, Formula 1, Toyota with Kaizen and many others. However, I have always felt that the commercial events industry needed to catch up in adopting an evidence-based framework to improve participation in its products.
That is when I hit upon the idea of IAEK, somewhat inspired by a conversation with one of our data scientists where we were trying to figure out how we could better codify the characteristics of a commercially successful piece of content and then apply this code to predict the future commercial value of a new piece of content.
We wanted to see if we could do the same for live events, which was an even more complex challenge as we quickly got into a muddle about how we codify a stand vs, say, a seminar or a roundtable in a normalised/structured way so we can join them up as components much like pieces of a jigsaw or a better analogy LEGO.
Akin to DNA, whose markers or bases give the four letters used to describe it, and how they are sequenced results in uniquely different outcomes each time. That is where my knowledge of biology and DNA stops. But if just four letters can represent something as complex as DNA, why can’t we do something similar for events?
I was not trying to get to four core components that just happened; there may be five. Who knows, it’s early days. However, I wanted to challenge myself to factor things down as much as possible to the — lowest common denominator. It’s much like you can make any colour with just three.
A eureka moment came from one conversation where the individual said we run events to ‘inform and be informed.’ It is that simple — I paraphrase, but it was something like that.
Inspired, I started to think of events differently, away from the features and what we traditionally use to more holistic outcomes. I came to what I propose are the four key measures of any part of an event.
Information Exchange
Knowledge Transfer / Gain
Action / Decision
Engagement or Experience
Every component from a stand, roundtable and keynote can be codified based on the amount of IAEK it generates.
Getting scanned at a stand is an act of information exchange, not much knowledge transfer; however, getting scanned on a stand and spending 15 minutes going through a demo adds a measure of Knowledge and Engagement. We can go on to do the same for all features, building up to a reasonably good profile of the event as a whole.
We can also define each participant with an IAEK profile to get an accurate picture of the value they derived and created by participating in an event.
I, K and E are within our grasp to measure and quantify. A is harder as, in my view, the action is not just actions I would take during an event but what action my participation allowed me to take with more confidence than I previously had after the event. It could be buying a product or engaging in a practice or service — like data science for events.
Codifying each element of the events in this way, as well as each participant, is not just some theoretical exercise but has the potential to create enormous value by optimising events to deliver the most significant possible shift in action over a given moment in time in an evidenced and quantifiable way.
I was thinking of using an analogy of a colour wheel that helps you identify complimentary colours when creating a design; I believe, however, the better analogy is one Tim Groot used in one of my UNSCRIPTED podcasts, the Camelot Wheel used by DJs to mix the perfect track, it is deceptively simple but allows you to create a harmonious sequence of songs — imagine having something similar for event experiences.
By codifying each event to IAEK, perhaps discovering some other letters along the way, but only a few:-) We can begin to create an events version of the Camelot Wheel.
We could now design perfectly harmonious event experiences for each participant's IAEK expectation.
It would be extremely valuable for figuring out how to improve and interplay ‘virtual’ events with physical experiences. It would enable us to make all events as great as they deserve to be. An organiser or organisation with a robust IAEK-centred event methodology would outperform the competition significantly.
We are working hard to figure this out as our early rudimentary modelling shows fascinating results. I wanted to get our thinking out there and release some early results next year as part of The DiG as we refine the models. The potential of collaboration could get us there quicker. I invite you to join this exploration. If it can be made to work, it's very exciting.