Petra Engel is a communication officer at NOM, the investment and development company for the Northern Netherlands. Every year, the NOM organises the Midsummer Festival. Every year, around 500 relations attend the event. In this interview, Engel explains how Momice Agency helped her with the complete event registration and communication, leaving more time for the substantive organisation of the event.
The Midsummer Festival has a different theme every year. Engel: “From a vintage summer camp with 60’s music to Pippi Longstocking or Alice in Wonderland: we try to be creative every year. This does not only shows from the themes, but also by the way they greet the attendees. By welcoming them on a private island they can only reach by boat, for example. This makes the event really stand out.”
Popular relations event
According to Engel, the goal of the Midsummer Festival is to enable their relations to increase their network. “As a bonus, our network appreciates NOM more because of this. In addition, we thank the governments, entrepreneurs and consultants for the pleasant partnerships and connect them with each other.”
This year the Midsummer Festival was organised for the tenth time. The event has evolved over the past ten years. Attendees are welcome from half past four until half past nine, and we don’t have a programme. There are, however, food stands and bars. As a result, the attendees will shape the festival themselves. I suppose this is one of the strengths of the Midsummer Festival. Every year we have 500 registrations and many applications, but unfortunately we don’t always have enough spots for everyone interested.”
Managing invitations
In the past, the invitations for the Midsummer Festival were printed. The downside of that: people gave the ticket away to their colleagues or acquaintances who wanted to attend the festival. “That’s a pity, because we want attendees who have a connection with NOM. To prevent uninvited attendees, we now use Momice for sending out and managing the invitations.”
Another way the NOM is involved in the event and the attendees, is by the more active role of the event organisation. “My colleagues and I are present at the registration desk or serve a welcoming drink to the guests. As a result, we are more visible at the event as organisation.”
More time for substantive organisation
This year, NOM worked together with Momice Agency for the second time. These project managers of Momice organize the event communication and registration according to the wishes of the client – from the design of the event website and mailing to the survey after the event. “Given their broad knowledge of the software, it was a logical step to outsource this to the Agency. We know exactly what we would like the event to look like. The Agency translates this into appealing invitations and event websites. This collaboration results in a good product.”
“I like the collaboration with the Agency. They are professionals who are able to see the bigger picture and think along with you. Because of regular changes of the invitee lists, it is very time-consuming to send out invitations and reminders. Momice Agency really offers a helping hand with that. As a result, I no longer have to struggle with Excel files. The time saved I can invest in the substantive organisation. It really improves the quality of the event.”
Experience improves the event
Engel: “I would recommend Momice Agency. Not only because it saves me time, but also because the expertise of the Momice team does help to improve the quality of the event. At our last edition, the director of NOM announced that he would leave. We wanted to share that information in the confirmation email, but Momice recommended sending out a seperate update to share this news. The communication became way more efficient because of that.”
As a communication officer, Engel likes to see uniformity in all communication. “That is why I think design is very important: everything should match, evoke the same feeling and radiate NOM. The design created bij Momice Agency fits the event so well that we decided to use it for more than just the website. We also used it on the name badges, parking signs and even on the label of the candies from the goodie bag.”
Conclusion
NOM organises the Midsummer Festival to thank the relations for the pleasant collaboration every year. It is a popular networking event, which used to have printed – and unintentional shared – invitations. Momice Agency helped NOM with customised event communication and registration. As a result, Engel could invest the saved time in the substantive organisation of the festival, which improved the quality of the event.
