Values Drive the Major Event Machine (+ Free Guide)
Why one team crossed the finish line while others spun in place?
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Major Events don’t fail because the numbers are too big.
They fail because teams start moving without deciding the rules they’ll move by.
You can have the budget, the timeline, and the crew — and still lose the week to shifting priorities, split-second reactions, and a brand pulled in ten directions.
The teams that finish strong don’t just run plans.
They run on values.
A Story: The Festival That Stayed in Control
One team proved it.
The brief read like trouble:
One city-wide festival
Forty-two locations
3,000 volunteers on four-hour rotations
Six months to deliver
Most organisers would brace for chaos.
This crew didn’t.
No log-jammed radios.
No midnight budget panics.
No “just one more” meetings.
Every decision landed clean.
The difference was core organisational values — hard, specific statements that set behaviour before tasks started to pile up.
From Page to Practice
The festival’s leadership chose clarity over convenience.
They wrote three values that set behaviour — not mood words:
Own the Audience Path — every step from ticket scan to exit reads as one journey.
Protect Local Time — any request that burns a resident’s hour must have a reason the mayor could defend on camera.
Leave Gear Ready — every shift ends with kit packed for the next crew, or the shift isn’t over.
Each value linked directly to a Major Event Objective: brand trust, net-positive community impact, and zero slippage on hand-offs.
Every project proposal had to answer: Which value does this serve?
If the answer was “none,” it didn’t go ahead.
How It Changed Their Daily Work (+examples)
Faster decisions — the operations team only raised issues if they blocked the audience’s route.
Smarter spending — finance cancelled a drone show that would have taken volunteers away from equipment checks.
Confident volunteers — one shift leader stopped a sponsor from adding more VIP barriers, saying, “Protect Local Time.”
Clear boundaries for sponsors — everyone heard the same rules, so there was no confusion or extra demands.
What Breaks Without Values
Major Event Organisers underestimate the power of value creation as part of their strategy work. They shouldn’t.
When core values aren’t aligned, here’s what happens:
Priorities shuffle — Program Planning turns into whack-a-mole.
People freeze — they sense risk but have no rule to act on.
Identity blurs — competing sponsor demands stretch the brand until it snaps.
Trust fractures — if decisions flip-flop, teams hold back effort and momentum dies.
The bigger the event, the bigger the risk.
Budgets tighten.
Media cycles shorten.
Stakeholder lists grow.
Values cut the noise to signal.
They keep organisers steering instead of reacting.
That’s why values (as a core piece of a strategy) matters.
‘Here’s a one minute exercise for you.
Grab a whiteboard.
Write one behaviour that would have saved from extra work and cost at your last event.
If it ties to an outcome — you’ve drafted your first value draft for the next year’s event.
But don’t do it just yet.
There is proven model how to define core organisational values for major events. And you get it free (check details after the video).
Listen out my introduction why defining core values is a critical task for any serious event organiser.
How to Get the Free Guide
ORGANISATIONAL CORE VALUES FOR MAJOR EVENTS. STEP-BY-STEP. READY TO USE TODAY.
A practical guide to define core organisational values that people actually use — not just empty words in a pitch deck. Step 4 in the 10-Step Strategy Roadmap for Major Events.
🎁 FREE SAMPLE → USE CODE: GIFT2025
Just click here: https://www.jessekiuru.com/core-values-guide-major-events-free-sample