I recently read The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. It was a powerful book discovering how moments are created in our lives. I really appreciated this book because event planners are responsible for creating moments for our attendees and guest every single time. Every event is special. So that means event planners are powerful people. We hold the capacity to create moments that will stay with people for the rest of their lives.

An event can be forgettable or unforgettable. Typically what makes it unforgettable is the experience that the attendee had at the event. What makes the event unforgettable are the moments that are experienced. Chip and Dan helped us to realize that capturing moments are done four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection. In my review of The Power of Moments, I want to share my insights on these elements.

Elevation

When we think of elevation, we think of raising something up. Many moments are special to us because we were elevated through those moments. These can be like special occasions in our lives like birthdays, graduations, and weddings. However, I’m sure you can say that you remember some birthdays over others. This might be because you experience with the ones you can remember were perhaps moments of elevation.

Chip and Dan Heath discuss several stories in their books all centering around how different organizations helped elevate their audiences so that the moment they experienced was special. Some brands stand out because they elevate their customers in a unique way that only can be attributed to them. In doing this, the customer continues to talk about the brand and will remember the brand because of their experience.

Event planners must remember that elevating the attendees or their clients create memorable moments for them. At large events, attendees experience these special moments together.  These experiences can happen in a small way too. A  small personable gift that you give your client to make them feel like the most important client in the world. Find ways to create moments of elevation within your events and your personal interactions.

Insight

Elevation feels really good and euphoric, but insight at times can be very revealing. Elevation might come with a strategic surprise, whereas insight can come as a powerful revelation. Insight comes with learning. Many times what makes people walk away talking about our events are the profound takeaways that they received by participating in them. The little nuggets of information that they get that makes them jot in their notebooks, or even just be overcome with wonder on how they can apply what was just said to their lives.

Insight can be personal or it can be experienced in a group. You can use insight in order to help attendees understand that a project needs to be done. Or you can use it to communicate a vision for a company. Finding unique and artful ways to use insight to the advantage of those who experience it is the unique gift that we as event planners can help create.

Pride

We usually are pretty good with using awards events to help push pride with our attendees. However, Chip and Dan’s book helped me to realize that sometimes the same old award show isn’t always the most impactful and memorable. If a person is always rewarded for doing better than everyone else, chances are you’ll get the same people being recognized all of the time. So what happens to those that never get a chance to be recognized for what they do? Sometimes people need to be appreciated in different ways.

As leaders, we need to pay attention to our team and how they are growing professionally. Knowing your teams can help you identify when they conquer something that they normally were struggling with. You may find that they might experience a “first” while working with you. The first big event, first onsite experience, or first kudo from a client. Recognizing these little wins within your employees can go a long way and even help change the trajectory of a persons career or life.

(Looking for more ways to engage your team, check out this post.)

Connection

Finally, the power of moment can also come through connection. There are some people that are truly gifted in connection, they can make best friends wherever they go because of their connection ability. Again, there is an art to connection. And when a person feels or event is close to you they can experience intimate moments that can be pretty memorable. The book focused on ways of sharing with each other that helped deepen relationships and promote close connections.

This can become useful because through these connections the moments that are shared can be powerful and memorable. With event planning, it is hard for you alone to connect with every attendee. However, the point is that if you can leverage the power of connection in your events, you can help attendees connect with each other in a more engaging way. This can lead to them making meaningful connections at events than ever before and remembering your event for it.

I really enjoyed reading The Power of Moments. It was a quick and easy book to read and was nicely divided up into separate parts. I think that having more focus in these areas can really help event planners to bring more meaning to their events. Event planners that leverage the power of moments will bring more meaning to their lives and the people that they share their lives with elevating, getting insight, giving pride, and making connections.

Did you read Power of Moments with us for Book Club? Let me know what you think?

P.S. We had a wonderful book club event on this book, check out the video here!