Top Tips For Your Corporate Events
Holding events is an excellent way to promote your business, network with people in the industry, build relationships and also have a bit of fun. However, memorable events don't just happen; it takes good ideas and planning. So, what is a corporate event?
Your event could be for your employees, stakeholders, clients, the general public or a charity and you could hold one for a number of reasons such as to raise money; to build customer relationships; to launch a new product or service; to increase your sales or clients, or simply to promote the work you've been doing. Some companies hold events annually like a company conference or a summer party, while others are more sporadic or only hold one when the company has something important to share or showcase.
So, how do you plan a corporate event?
There are a number of different factors you need to consider for your corporate event and how to manage lots of different elements – including networking, fundraising, celebrity guests and social media shareability.
What Is The Purpose Of The Event?
Most events are planned because the company has an objective; for example, they might want to reward their employees for their hard work or engage with potential investors for a new product. The purpose of your event will determine which type of event you throw and who will be invited.
What Is The Theme?
Once you have decided on the purpose of your event, then you can decide on a theme. For example, will your event be an auction, which is a great idea for corporate fundraising? Is it an awards ceremony, which is ideal for recognising and rewarding the hard work of teams and individuals. It could be a breakfast briefing, a morning event if you have an announcement or launch to present. This is great for those who want to reach a business audience who would otherwise be unable to attend an event in office hours or after work. Or what about a seminar, a session focussed on a single theme where attendees are invited to participate by following along with specially designed academic exercises.
Do You Need Extra Help?
Depending on how big your event will be and how many employees you have to help, you might want to find an events agency to help If you have a large number of people attending, or a considerable event schedule with lots of conference sessions that will need presentation slides formatting, this might stretch the average PA's skills. Whereas if it's just an event for you and your company, there may only be a small workload that you can manage yourself.
Also, consider the logistics. If your event is local, you can efficiently liaise with the venue and catering companies, whereas if it's further away, you might need another company who knows the area to take care of things.
What Is Budget?
When looking at your budget, you also need to make sure that each thing you spend money on adds value in some way so that you can see the return from your investment. It could be that you hired an awe-inspiring sculpture to put in the centre of the exhibition hall which acted both as a symbol of the event's spirit and as a central meeting point making it easier for people to connect and do business at your event as well as giving them something symbolic to remember. Whatever it is you're spending your money on, whether it's food, dancers, mural artists for hire, make sure you create a budget tracking sheet which sets out your budget for each area and what you think you'll spend.
Where Is Your Venue?
The venue is key to the success of your event. You will need somewhere with enough space to host your guests and a location that won't be hard for people to get to.
What Is Happening At The Event?
Do you need someone in the public domain to speak at your event? If it's a private event, it may just be a well-known expert in your industry. Does there need to be any leisure activities on site? Or do you need to organise some different activities to suit different age groups and types of customers you have attending?
What Is Your Post-Event Plan?
With internal events, it's straightforward as you can do a survey to your employees to see if people have enjoyed it, to see what they would like to do next time and what could be done differently. Have they have taken back the message and do they feel enthused? Other than that, there is usually nothing financial to measure. However, with other events you can measure the cost of your leads; how many leads did you get? What was the cost per lead? The value is sometimes intangible, but you should get a good sense of whether it's been worthwhile. Then, how will you be following up with attendees? It could be sending them an email, tagging them in photos on social media, sending them something to say thank you for attending, offering them a discount for the next event? Try and get feedback off them too to find out what they would like to see next time. If you offer an incentive to fill out a feedback form, you'll more likely have a better uptake and more data to play with.
Whatever kind of event you decide to put on, quality face-to-face conversations with your prospects are far more valuable than receiving 100 clicks, or email captures through a landing page. Hosting your event can give you valuable rewards and could even get you some great PR coverage too.
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