A Guide to Planning a Successful Corporate Event

Hosting a successful corporate event is one way to connect with your clients, employees and other key stakeholders. Corporate events create avenues for building and fostering relationships and even promoting a new product or service. The event can be informative or fun, entertaining and more. Every successful corporate event requires delicate planning. It all starts with detailed planning and a strategy that sets out exactly how the event experience will deliver commercial value and your goals. Luckily, with a well-defined strategy in place, your business can design an event or exhibit that conveys the right message and delivers ROIs. This comprehensive guide to corporate event planning provides you with tips to help you navigate easily corporate event planning.

A Guide to Planning a Successful Corporate Event

Set a Budget

The amount of the available budget can significantly impact every aspect of your corporate event planning. From the levels of catering, choice of venue, speakers, technology, entertainment to staffing. Well, you need to know how much money you have to work with. Reach out to any potential sponsors and decide on the options you have in terms of budget. You may use a previous budget as a yardstick to help. This will go a long way in establishing a baseline for your budget.

For example, a previous budget can help provide a picture of how much suppliers charge. You will avoid being overcharged once you reach out for partnerships. Know where to allocate most of your resources once you have a budget. For instance, don’t spend more on fancy décor and forget other key facets like security. Strike a balance!

Venue Sourcing

The objectives of the event may partly determine the choice of your venue. Choose a venue that creates a long-lasting impression on prospective or valued clients. Factor in other aspects like budget, location, capacity, availability and logistics, etc. A clear understanding of these events requirements will allow you to shortlist several venues, arrange venue visits and send out requests for written proposals. The cost to hire some venues may be lower during certain times of the year since they offer seasonal pricing. Go ahead and find out the price of your venue choice once you have picked your desired date. You may be able to secure a better deal at your preferred venue if your dates are flexible. You can look out for last minute venue offers if your event has a short lead time. 

Decide on your Audience

Defining your target audience is an integral part of the planning. It could be the manager’s longtime clients, company executives, community members, business partners, or even a little combination of all the groups. By defining your audience, you can easily cater the programs to their interests and needs. Determining how many guests to invite to such events may also be tricky. Just make sure your audience size will fulfill all your event goals.

Create a Guest List

After setting the objective and planning the budget, go ahead and make a list of guests you want to invite, especially if the event is client-specific. If it is an internal event, you can create cute and attractive invitation cards for your employees. By determining the number of your audience before the event, you will be able to make the right decisions regarding the required infrastructure.

Safety

Safety and health should also be among your top priorities as you plan. Create an emergency backup plan that outlines the procedures for high and low-risk events such as fire, an active shooter, an intoxicated guest. etc. For guests over 25, it is highly recommendable you hire Armed security professionals to help keep your event safe. It is also better if your team and guests know what to do in case of a threat.

Additionally, with the active Covid-19 pandemic, think about sanitation and hygiene.  Provide an abundant supply of masks and hand sanitizers. You can also have PPEs on standby in case of an emergency. Add sanitizer stations throughout the event area. Please pay attention to the risks, make plans and be prepared to deal with them. Make time for a safety planning session with your team. It would help if you cared for everyone at your event. Ensure your organization’s reputation is protected. Put in the work at the planning stage to ensure safety is a key priority.

Select a Theme

You can select a theme for the event once you have defined your audience and set objectives. Determine the best format for presenting it to your guests. The overall theme of the event makes it easier to create your desired marketing strategy. Try as much as you can and incorporate the best practices in the industry, areas of development and emerging trends along with the event. Also, decide on the format you would host your event. For instance, seminars, trade shows etc. Go ahead and determine the theme once you have determined the form. Decide on the décor, type of furniture, props, color patterns and so on. You can go for colors that consist of your company logos and branding. Ensure the theme enhances the visual perception of the event and aligns with the expectations of attendees and your objectives.

Food and Drinks

No doubt the food and drinks will put a gloss on your event. A professionally crafted menu that is in line with your style, event demographic and expectations go a long way in projecting a supplicated image of your company. It will also boost your guest satisfaction. The type of catering you choose may depend on several factors. For example, the nature of the event, choice of venue, budget and special dietary requirements. Special dietary requirements may range from gluten-free, vegan to nut-free.

Some avenues have their in-house catering. Others will let you take full charge. Whichever option you decide to go with, check the reviews and ensure they have a good reputation.

Final thoughts

In a corporate environment, events are often staged to change internal company behavior, train reward staff, launch a product or service or service, motivate or influence external behavior of customers towards the brand. Planning and executing a successful corporate event can be a daunting task. We hope our guide equips you with tips that will help you plan and execute a memorable event!

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About Dequiana Jackson

Dequiana Jackson, Founder of Inspired Marketing, Inc., helps overachieving women entrepreneurs conquer limiting beliefs and create marketing plans that grow their businesses. This includes one-on-one marketing plan development, digital product creation, web design and content marketing. Dequiana is the author of Know Your Business: How to Attract Ideal Clients & Sell More and runs the award-winning blog, Entrepreneur-Resources.net.

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