Podcast: Martijn Timmermans reviews storyboarding for planning events

This week, Event Industry News’ journalist, James Dickson, welcomed first-time guest, Martijn Timmermans, to join our weekly podcast. Martijn is the co-founder and creative director at the Amsterdam-based, event experience design agency, The Red Line Project. Martijn described his process of creating events as “storyboarding” – just as with creating films, he can use this technique to create a sequence of events that follow a timeline. Each ‘scene’ in his storyboard can be designed to create a mood/experience for the audience. This process also allows organisers to easily understand and participate in the design and creation of the events. This “co-creating” process is vital for designing an event that is creative and effective for the overall outcome. Proved effective across many industries, storyboarding allows designs and plans to be laid out in a visual manner, allowing different people to see and remark on them. Commenting on the benefits of this, Martijn stated: “We need different minds because that is what change and innovation are all about, otherwise we stay on the same road, do the same things and we never question what we’re doing.” Referring to a project he worked on for a bank that “held the same conference every year”, Martijn suggested involving, not just the marketing managers, but the interns and clients to help produce a completely different concept. This process, he believes, is the best way to create effective events. Martijn finished by demonstrating his storyboarding toolkit, a reusable pack of wipeable cards that can be used to ease the process of creating a storyboard. If you would like to feature on one of our weekly podcasts, please email [email protected].