Tijs Berens is a team leader at Frisse Blikken [Fresh Visions]. “At our organisation, everything revolves around stimulating entrepreneurship. I’m also starting a new label, that among other things focuses on connecting SME’s and attracting talent. Events help us to establish change and development in organisations.”
Events lead to behavioural change
Frisse Blikken has various main themes that focus on the optimisation of the business, implementation of a new strategy, or developing and attracting talen. Fresh Experiences is one of the nine teams that fall under these three main themes. This self-managing team focuses on getting large groups into movement and lets them understand the new direction or strategy of the organisation.
Berens: “Events are a huge help to get groups into action. Whether it’s a plenary opening or an event in a new way of working, such as break-out sessions. Activities, trainings, workshops and other meetings are an excellent opportunity to realise behavioural change. For this, we create tailor-made events every time, based on the client’s demand.”
Making impact with events
Berens notices that events are often part of larger developments in the organisation. “The kick-off of a new strategy is a great example. The starting point of the new direction immediately becomes concrete for all of those involved. An event also has a function later in a process, for example as a reminder: we have been working on something for a year now, what did we accomplish? Are all core values supported by the organisation?”
Events can clarify a new way of working together. “How do you explain how you will work together agile, self-managing or non-hierarchically? How are we going to confront each other about certain things? You can practice that during an event. But substantive themes, such as the energy transition, become more concrete at an event as well. Bringing people with knowledge together stimulates creation.”
Online and offline integration
According to Berens, events are more meaningful than projects that only offer an online experience. “Even more powerful is the link between online and offline. The added value is in experiencing the dynamics and collaboration. That works best offline. In addition to an experience-oriented intervention, you could also try to combine the online and offline elements.”
This worked out well for an event of Arcadis. “The CEO went into debate with a pre-recorded version of himself which was visible as a hologram at the event. But the digital escape room is also a good example of the combination of digital and offline. In addition, we often try to create an online platform where people can find content to keep evolving even after the event.”
Momice offers the solution for event registration
“At Frisse Blikken, we share knowledge about event organisation internally so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel all the time. I use Momice to design and set-up event websites and mailings. Internally, I recommend Momice to the team because it is very useful to monitor the registrations. The event website, where invitees can find more information about the events, are easy to create and keep up-to-date.”
What sets Momice apart from other softwares? “It is easy to use, the communication runs smoothly because of the platform, and it is clear who registered. In a few clicks, we divide the registrants in different sessions and send them the matching programmes. Momice also provides quick and good support whenever I have some questions.”
Conclusion
Frisse Blikken stimulates entrepreneurship. It helps clients in various ways. The organisation organises events for, for example, teaching new things, such as new ways of working together. But events prove to be useful for presenting a new strategy as well. Frisse Blikken focuses on integrating online and offline experiences, because that offers the greatest added value. The organisation uses Momice for their event registration, because it is easy to use and comprehensive.
