We need to talk...

We need to talk about miscommunication between the people making the decisions and the people executing them.

Let’s call them ‘deciders’ and ‘executors’.

This is a classic problem that affects all industries, not just events.

Too often the deciders will decide to change something, add something, or get rid of something without consulting the executors.

The executors are expected to figure it out.

And sure, a fair amount of the time, executors are able to figure it out and scramble to make the changes happen.

But sometimes the changes just aren’t possible.

There’s lots of potential reasons: not enough time, not enough crew, not enough money, or just not even physically possible.

When this happens, everyone is unhappy.

The executors feel like the bad guy as they have to tell the deciders it’s not going to happen, and the deciders are frustrated that they can’t have any version of what they want.

But we can avoid this problem if we use a system for everyone to communicate effectively from the get go.

It’s a simple system:

- Both deciders and executors should make zero assumptions.

- Deciders should not assume that all changes are possible.

- Executors should not assume that deciders know the pros and cons of what they’re asking for.

- Deciders should clearly state what they would ideally want.

- Executors should inform deciders what is actually possible based on the venue capabilities, the room dimensions, the different elements that need to fit together, the budget, technical constraints they’re not aware of, etc.

- It is the responsibility of the executors to make sure they outline the pros and cons of each option before a decision is made.

E.g., front projection has the pro of pushing the screen right up to the wall and freeing up more room space, but it has the cons of requiring the projector to be in the audience zone and sometimes have people walk in front of it depending on placement.

Rear projection has the pro of being behind the screen so that no one will see the projector or walk in front of it, but the con of taking up more room space due to the physical limitations of how far away the lens needs to be from the screen. This also potentially negatively affects how your stage looks as well as sight lines depending on how large the room is and where you planned on placing the stage.

- Deciders need to be made aware that while executors are open to changes and want deciders to be happy, not all changes are possible and the earlier the changes are requested, the more likely a solution can be found in time to make it happen.

If we follow this system, we will have better communication between deciders and executors, and should usually be able to find a compromise between what the deciders want and what the executors are able to do.

This makes everyone a lot happier.

#weneedtotalk #miscommunication #eventprofessionals #audiovisual #eventproduction