For any event to be a success, it has to be planned and executed intelligently. But all too often, especially for small businesses, neither planning nor execution are good enough. The problem with this is that poor planning can reflect poorly on your company and turn what was supposed to be a launchpad for your business into a PR disaster.
Exposure is good: but businesses need to have the right kind of exposure. Guests at corporate events need to feel exhilarated, informed, even pampered once it has drawn to a close. This way, your business has the maximum chance of success and doing more business in the future. The following is the anatomy of an incredible corporate event.
Rule 1: Discuss Your Objectives With Your Team
The first port of call will be to discuss with your team what it is exactly that you want to get out of the event. Remember that corporate events are a risk as well as an opportunity and so shouldn’t be taken lightly. Ultimately, the business should run the event with the aim of getting more customers and generating more profit overall.
A good place to start is to write down all the ways that people will benefit from your event. One benefit could be to learn more about your product, another could be to learn about a new technology in the industry. Once you’ve decided how delegates will benefit, merge this with your own agenda. For instance, discussing the benefits of a new technology could be a good opportunity to hint at the fact that your company sells a solution that makes implementing that new technology easier.
Rule 2: Pamper Your Guests
No matter what type of function you decide to host, it’s always a good idea to investigate ways in which you can pamper your guests. Workshops, business breakfasts, fundraising gigs, award events: they all have opportunities to make guests feel like VIPs, creating positive sentiment towards your company.
If you’re serving food, make sure that you choose a caterer who has experience in serving the needs of the clientele at your event. If you’re hosting an event in an outdoor area or a park, always go for luxury toilet hire rather than “bog standard” portaloos used at festivals and on building sites. And finally, add little extras, like corporate gifts, to make sure that people have something to take away with them that reminds them of the day and the time they spent with your company.
Rule 3: Hire Event Staff
One of the risks of managing your own event is that things can quickly go wrong. This is why there are professional event managers: people who are able to take care of the logistics so that you can get on with delivering the actual content you want to deliver. Event managers can deal with things like seating, cash management, advertising on social media, scheduling and catering service. Their role should be to coordinate the event around you and your team, so all you have to focus on is your primary objective: to grow sales.