Make Events’ Managing Director, Holly Moore, went to Cosmopolitan’s Self Made Summit and here is what she took from the weekend.
“At Make Events our absolute passion is to create the ‘Ultimate Audience Experience’ from the moment the event is announced until the guest goes home; we want to produce events that just keep giving, and that’s what Cosmopolitan managed to do.
I’m probably the worst person to attend an event but I would say they absolutely smashed it. Here’s how.
Event Brand Identity – All good events should have their own brand identity to create a look and feel for the event which flows through, the design team at Cosmopolitan created an identity using their logo.
An events’ brand identity should start with the pre-event communication; at Make Events we believe the pre-event communications, whether it be a micro-site or an invite, should be like a trailer to a movie and build excitement on the run up to the event.
The Event ID can then be peppered throughout the event. Cosmo executed this well from lanyards with mini brochures, signage, vinyl, graphics on plasmas, stage sets – it was everywhere.
The only thing that I felt was missing was event branding outside the venue and in the main entrance.
Food – I didn’t have high hopes for the quantity of food as often organisers will scrimp on this to save budget but Cosmo kept us full up all day. On arrival there was a sumptuous spread of granola, oats and nuts with all the kinds of milks and toppings (bee pollen, chai, maca), there were bagels, fruit, yoghurts with toppings and the most delicious smoked salmon sandwiches on rye bread. The menu could have been written for me. A Lavazza coffee machine meant all the hot drinks were on tap all day as were sparking and still water.
Each break brought a different little treat and I particularly loved the savoury mini egg muffins at morning break.
Lunch was a delicious hot buffet with Instagram worthy quinoa, healthy slaw, edamame beans, chicken, fish – my only comment on this would be that lunch was the same on both days it would have been nice to have a change but still it was very tasty!
Freixenet were the drinks sponsors, at their branded bar they were truly generous with two of their sparking products. In addition, there were cocktails, mocktails and of course Cosmopolitans.
Freixenet have a non-alcoholic range which would have been great to have been activated at the show, particularly with so many wellness influences and followers there; maybe next year!
Stage Set – I am very picky about stage sets but I thought the clean white stage (thank god for no carpet facias and stage curtains – so many people don’t pay attention to this) a branded backdrop which was softened with lifestyle furnishings such as millennial pink velvet arm chairs, geometric gold metallic tables and clear acrylic chairs.
Content – My oh my…. every session I attended was informative and engaging. I never wanted each session to end and could have asked a thousand questions. All the panellists and speakers were confident, interesting and didn’t try and out shine each other.
The facilitators appeared interested and able to steer the conversation where it needed to go. There was plenty of time for a Q&A and yes, I did put my hand up a lot!
Farrah Storr, Chief Editor of Cosmopolitan opened both days and very cleverly set the scene. She found out if the audience had travelled, many had, but by identifying that you realised it wasn’t just for London. She also identified that all the Cosmo team were in pink lanyards which made it super easy to chat to them.
She encouraged people to network with each other, which I hadn’t had on my agenda – but as soon as she said that I made the most of it and made so many people. The celebrity keynote speakers, Emma Willis and Caroline Flack, were just the kind of people you wanted to be mates with.
They reduced the number of talks on the Sunday afternoon and neither appealed to me so I sat those out and caught up on some emails. It would have been great to have more of a selection that part of the day.
Venue – I have been to Etc County Hall before for an event and I just LOVE the space. There is one main plenary room which has some built in AV, tonnes of breakout rooms that surround the plenary and the most spectacular views of London.
Activations – There were some cool brands activating their products – Skinny Dip had metallic notebooks you could have your portrait painted inside; Candy Kittens had three products to try in branded cups; Eylure had a lashes station; Gypsy Shrine (remember the glitter party on Love Island) adorned guests in glitter and gems and Tinder had a head shot area where you could be a cover girl or boy!
Cosmopolitan created an engaging event that reflected their business and values. I can’t wait to go next year and bring the Make Events team along with me!”
