The events industry is estimated to reach $538 billion by 2030. Therefore, if you've been put in charge of event planning, you want to make sure you do it right.
As the world opens up after the pandemic, corporate decision-makers need to face the new challenges of organizing in-person events again. Now, if this is your first time then you're probably feeling overwhelmed...
Thankfully, you've come to the right place. This article is your guide to planning an event from start to finish. So, after reading every section, you'll be fully prepared!
Ready? Let's start with the basics.
What Is Corporate Event Planning?
When you hear the words "event planning," you might assume that you need to send a few invites, organize food, and prepare a program for the day. It's that easy, right?
Well, no. It can be quite complicated to make the event perfect for your guests.
Corporate event planning is overseeing the planning process and evaluating the success of the event. The main difference between small and big events is that the professional stakes are higher.
If you make mistakes and are sloppy with the organizing, then your guests will go home unhappy. For major corporate decision-maker this can be catastrophic.
The event is a representation of your business, so if it's not a good experience, you could lose clients and money. There are several types of corporate events that you need to learn about such as:
- Meetings
- Conferences
- Influencer events
- Product launches
- Trade shows
- Fundraisers
- Holiday events
- Team building events
- Virtual parties
- Webinars
Each of these corporate events will vary in size and scale, so there will be different levels of planning involved. For instance, the guest list might be small for a local fundraiser...
Whereas, a virtual party might be small in size, but you have more components to worry about like internet connection and making sure everyone is included throughout the program.
To make everything go according to plan, you need to follow the tips in the next section.
Tips for Corporate Decision-Makers
Educating corporate decision-makers on the importance of event planning is essential when planning your event calendar. Particularly, if you want to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
1. Set Event Objectives
Corporate decision-makers are the ideal people for the first stage of the planning phase. Why? Because you need to make quick choices about training, venue locations, and the event program.
Firstly, need to set clear goals for the outcome of the event. As you will most likely have a diary full of events as a huge corporate decision-maker, you need to be specific about the objectives.
For example, you should ask yourself what does leadership expect from the event? And, how will we measure the success of the event?
Most of the time, events are held to boost brand awareness or communicate a message about implementing a change. Therefore, the aim of the event will change whether it's internal or external.
This means that events that are created for the public will be more about marketing a product or service, and getting more customers. However, internal events will focus on building team morale and finding solutions.
To help with setting your event objectives, you will also have to do some research beforehand. You should look into insurance, liability protection, and sponsors for the event if you need them.
In addition to this, you will also have to decide on a budget, who your target audience is, and other data information you'll need for the event.
2. Create a Detailed Event Plan
Decision-makers in corporations in New York as well as all over the country will need to create an in-depth event plan. After you've covered the basics of research, and outlined your objectives you can move on to the event plan.
This stage of the planning process is about nailing down the date, time, location, and theme. Once this has been approved you can move on to designing the layout of the stalls and seating.
But, why do corporations want decision-makers for this?
The reason corporate decision-makers succeed with designing events is because they can tie in different elements of organizing into a coherent plan. Therefore, nothing will be missed during this phase of the planning.
You will also have to reach out to vendors and tour several venues for external events before finalizing any bookings. Whereas for internal meetings, you might have to contact speakers and special guests.
As soon as you have the rough layout of the plan with the fundamental aspects like speakers and vendors booked, you can consider where to place food areas and information points.
However, you shouldn't forget about planning the technical side of things. This means you will have to figure out visual support, WiFi connection, and contactless payment options for sales events.
Just remember that all of these small details matter, so you should pay equal attention to the planning and research stages.
3. Think About Marketing and Branding
No event will succeed without good marketing and clever branding.
It doesn't matter how great your catering is or how many vendors you have showcasing products; there will be an empty room if no one knows about the event.
That's where marketing comes to the rescue. To begin with, you need to think about a memorable name for your event. If you have a killer title you're already one step closer to a successful day.
Next, you'll have to come up with a tagline and content strategy for your website. Apart from setting up an event page, you can spread the word about the event through social media as well.
Plus, to make your event stand out from the crowd you should choose eye-catching colors, a vibrant logo, and print some flyers to get the message to as many people as possible.
Sometimes, your venue can help with banding the event as they normally have the resources and experience when it comes to hosting events.
The Event Planner Expo has a team of marketing professionals who you can learn from. Attend their event and see for yourself!
4. Get Ready for the Big Day
After getting through the stress of planning the event you'll be both excited and nervous about the big day when it arrives. However, just because the planning is over that doesn't mean the organization stops.
As the event planner, you'll be the main person for people asking questions, and the staff will look to you for guidance. To make your life easier, you can already give people roles and responsibilities for the big day.
It's a good idea to hold a meeting with your team of staff right before the beginning of the event to make sure everyone understands the goals, and program for the day.
During the meeting, people can ask for clarification about anything they're confused about. That way, you won't run into any problems when the guest starts arriving, and you have to switch your attention to other duties.
Not only will you have to communicate with your staff, but you'll also be the main point of contact for the guests.
Plus, the speakers and company executives will look to you to sort out problems with technology and if there are any issues with catering.
On the day, you'll be the glue holding the whole event together so you must have everything in place when the doors open. If you plan correctly, you'll be able to enjoy the day and what you've created.
Just don't be afraid to ask for help and delegate tasks!
Checklist for the Event Day
To avoid any major mistakes, here is a checklist for organizing the communication on the day of the event. This will help you keep on track of all the different tasks and who is doing what job.
- Are there enough copies of the program for everyone?
- Have you handed out clipboards?
- Are uniforms ordered for the staff?
- Do you need radios to communicate with each other?
If you have these things covered for the event day, then everything should run according to the plan. Leadership will be raving about your performance in no time!
5. Evaluate the Event
Now, the last part of event planning has nothing to do with the day itself. Even though the follow-up is not part of the event, it's crucial for possible future job opportunities.
Ideally, you want to ask for feedback from your guests as the event is happening. However, it's also possible to ask for an evaluation once the event has ended.
You can send out a survey in an email or start a social media post asking for recommendations to improve other events in the future.
Furthermore, you also want to hold a meeting with your team to discuss how the event went, what they could make better, and if the overall attendance rate was high...
That way, you can work together to make things better for your next event!
Overall, you want to focus on planning the event thoroughly, setting realistic goals, creating a budget, and picking the right team to have around you at the event.
As long as you follow these tips, there is nothing stopping a corporate decision-maker from becoming the best event planner in the country!
What to Avoid During Event Planning
Even though it's impossible to predict an unexpected problem that can come up during the event, it's always useful to know about the common mistakes when planning an event.
One of the worst mistakes you can make as an event planner is not getting enough information on your target audience. If the event is not suited to the needs of your guests then you'll just end up wasting money.
In regards to having a budget for the event, you don't want to overestimate or underestimate your expenses. If you don't spend enough on the details, your guests will notice.
So, you want to find the perfect balance between cost and quality.
However, on the day you can go wrong by not organizing a detailed plan for your staff. If you're paying for people to work at the event, you don't want them standing around without a task.
You'll need all the help you can get on the day to create an efficient and satisfying event for the guests. Although, you should put the same amount of effort into marketing the day.
Therefore, don't rely on great planning to attract a large crowd. The marketing for your event will be the deciding factor in determining if the day is successful or not.
If you don't know about marketing an event then you can always reach out to a professional for help. Alternatively, you can go to other conferences and see how experts execute a corporate event.
Get Experience
Sometimes, all you need is the right location to get in a positive mindset about an event. For corporate decision-makers, PR professionals, and other event planners, the venue is the foundation of the whole event.
You need a space that is big enough for a large number of guests, a car park, and a location that is easy to get to if you're traveling from far away. However, you also need infrastructure for virtual meetings as well.
The good news is, that The Event Planner Expo is known for bringing people together in a corporate setting, supplying catering, and branding events that get noticed by the public.
So, you can get inspiration for planning your event by attending!
Plan a Spectacular Corporate Event This Year
If you're one of those corporate decision-makers that dread the idea of planning an event and don't know where to start, you don't need to panic anymore.
As you can see, the planning process is not as daunting as it sounds. If you follow this step-by-step guide, it will cover all the important details without missing out on the marketing and branding of the event.
Reach out to The Event Planner Expo to find out more about attending an event at this magnificent location, and grab your notebook to take notes!
