Franchise Event Management

We had a very eye opening day in April, when we visited the The International Franchise Show in London.  As huge believers in the power of events to connect people, we much prefer this approach to learning about our clients and meeting potential new ones rather than relying on Google and a laptop.    

We discovered, as expected, that outsourced franchise event management support appears on the agenda of many a growing franchise, when the person responsible for events is no longer able to wing it or when the significant investment of bringing your network together just doesn’t seem to be delivering value to the brand.  It’s fine to  handle these events in house when you’ve got 30, 50 or even 80 units you need to bring together, but that’s really the limit before you need a professional.   

As the network gets bigger; the stakes get significantly higher. The multi-stakeholder expectations of franchisee engagement events become harder to exceed with a spreadsheet and a hotel basic package with free parking.  Plus the likelihood is that the person who used to be in charge of the event now has a much bigger responsibility for the overall marketing, messaging and growth of the brand which is crucial to any plans for expansion to be successful.   

For all these reasons, events for growing franchise networks will quickly outpace internal personnel who have a million and one other things to do.  

In this article, we wanted to tackle some of the burning questions, such as: 

• What should my franchise event deliver for my brand? 

• What makes a franchise conference successful?  

• How to improve franchisee engagement through events? 

• How do franchises use events to retain franchisees?  

• When should you outsource franchise event management, or at least elements of it, to a professional event management company with franchise specific expertise?  

This is members an non-members of The BFA losing sleep over your next franchise annual conference, area meeting, or awards event. 

Franchisee Engagement Events Work Harder Than You Might Think 

To be clear, events for franchise networks aren’t admin or a nice to have. They’re one of the most direct engagement, retention and advocacy tools for: 

• Keeping existing franchisees on side, aligned, and loyal 

• Embedding operational and cultural changes across the network 

• Demonstrating to potential new franchisees this is a brand worth buying into 

• Giving high performers a stage and a reason to stay 

• Putting your brand clearly above the rest in a highly competitive market 

Conversely, the negative impact lingers when events are undercooked, causing issues like: 

• Fed up franchisees  

• Tarnished brand standards 

• Missed recruitment opportunities 

• Incomplete or confusing product or service messages

Think of it like this. Your franchise annual conference or regional event is often the only time the whole network is in the same room. And truthfully, getting it wrong has consequences. 

The Most Common Mistake Growing Franchise Brands Make 

Booking the cheapest available room and sending a calendar invite isn’t franchise event management powered by a solid, customised event strategy for growing franchises.  

The difference shows. But something has to change to let it shine. 

The thing is, scaling networks reach a point where the internal team are usually wearing many other hats. And as a result, you’re no longer resourced to do what your events need to do.  

Nobody’s done anything wrong. On the contrary, you’re a victim of the brand’s success, because this is when the brief expands and the audience becomes more complex: 

• Existing franchisees want recognition and real value from attending  

• Prospective franchisees need to be moved to a decision 

• Your brand needs a reputation for being the best in the market 

• Significant event investment needs to have measurable pay out for the organisation 

Well, a function room with a projector and a buffet lunch alone won’t score your goals. 

The good news is we know exactly what will. 

What Impactful Events for Franchise Networks Must Deliver 

A consistently overperforming event strategy for growing franchises has the following priorities at heart: 

• Clear commercial intent behind every session 

• What behaviour do you want to influence or change? 

• What are the objectives you need to achieve as a company? 

• How is the event supporting your overall sales, comms and marketing strategy? 

• Structured peer-to-peer networking, because hearing from a fellow franchisee in a similar position is worth more than any keynote 

• Specific and meaningful rather than generic award categories 

• Experiential elements and solid, valuable legacy content to show not tell prospective franchisees beyond the event 

• Consistent brand experience from the first comms to the follow up, with every single event touchpoint reinforcing who you are 

Incidentally, the final point matters more than you might realise, and we don’t mean just logos, banners and pop-ups. 

Instead, think about these vital factors: 

• The tone 

• The flow 

• The energy in the room 

• The way people feel when they leave 

These forces of nature are both communicable and controllable with expert franchise event management. 

The question is, how do you know if and when to go down the route of outsourcing franchise events. 

When to Bring in Specialist Franchise Event Management Support 

There’s no single answer and we have experience of solving many different and unique problems for our clients.  We find they usually fall into 2 camps; we can Make it Better and we can Make it Happen and there are clear signs you need the experts. For example: 

• Your network has grown to the point where one event now serves multiple, very different audiences 

• You’re noticing lower engagement or attendance 

• Nothing really changes after the events 

• You’re stretched to breaking point and event quality is suffering because of it 

• You’re using franchisee engagement events to drive commercial or cultural change, so they need to have the desired effect 

• You’re trying to attract new franchisees and the event experience is part of your pitch 

It’s important to understand outsourcing franchise events doesn’t mean handing over control. Think of it more like having a senior franchise event management team in your back pocket who: 

• ‘Get’ what the event needs to achieve commercially 

• Builds backwards from your event objectives 

• Manage every operational detail so you’re not doing it alone 

Ultimately, the events franchise networks deserve aren’t complicated. But they’re more challenging to organise and deliver well than many stakeholders expect – until they see it done it expertly. 

Find Out What Your Events Are Leaving on the Table 

Planning a franchise annual conference, roadshow or reward and recognition event? Need a fresh perspective on what it could achieve? 

At Brightspace Events, we offer a free, non-obligatory consultation about your goals and what exceptional looks like for your network. 

Get in touch if you think full service or modular franchise event management might be the way forward for your scaling franchise brand.