Everyone loves sports, be it cricket or football; a friendly game is an excellent team-building initiative to help employees unwind. Bringing everyone together in a friendly competition for a good cause allows organizations to build team spirit and motivation. Many organizations use sporting events to support charities or motivate their employees with a competitive team bonding initiative.
However, planning a sporting event requires a great deal of consideration, challenging logistics, and budgeting. Things can get drastically out of hand if not organize adequately. It takes diligent attention on details to avoid budget increments and disasters that can damage its reputation.
Bellow, in this article, we will propose some incredible tips and tricks to help you play ball without any hurdles.
Here, take a look:
ESTABLISHING A PURPOSE
In the corporate sector, organizations do not spend money without outlining a specific purpose. Naturally, sporting events have well-defined objectives. Organizations organize sports events to support charities, motivate their employees, or create a little league. Many organizations hold celebrity sporting events with the plan to expand their network and cement their brand identity.
The purpose of the sporting event will determine the considerations and budgeting requirements of the event. For a celebrity or charity sporting event, organizations have to work on landing sponsors, aligning with charities, and landing celebrities. On the other hand, organizing a friendly match between their employees and competitors would prove considerably easier.
BUDGETING
Once you finalize the purpose of the event, it’s time to get down to budgeting to maintain feasibility. It is crucial to isolate all necessary expenses to fulfill the purpose of the sporting event. These typically include the venue, trophy cups, portable facilities, refreshments, and caterers, event t-shirts, team gear, sports equipment, signage, and more.
Sporting events also require security arrangements, announcers, photographers, sound systems, and event insurance. It is vital to make a detail of all the expenses and maintain a flexible budget.
PRIORITIZATION
Organizations seek to avoid going overboard on the budget, so it is ideal to start with a flexible budget. It is where prioritization steps in to help you avoid over-stretching the budget excessively. It is perfect for prioritizing all the inventory and amenities that are integral to making the event successful.
Responsibly spending requires event planners to prioritize everything and allocate a specific budget to each priority. It is wise to create checklists for all items that hold importance.
The management and budgeting should pick up in a manner that addresses priorities and then moves onto menial chores. It will help the management avoid leaving necessary arrangements to the last-minute and maintain efficiency.
BOOKING THE VENUE
Are you hosting an indoor event, or perhaps an outdoor event at a popular sports complex? Either way, it is crucial to book the venue earlier in time to avoid last-minute hurdles. You cannot ignore seasonal weather fluctuations, as they can make it challenging to find the right venue at your chosen dates.
Organizations can work with the city authorities to find the right outdoor venue for their event. It is ideal to rent a sports complex with all equipment and amenities. Or else, the organization will have to spend a considerable sum to recreate the sports arena and set up equipment.
Indoor events can be just as challenging as hosting outdoor sports events. Indoor sports complexes are usually limited, and if you’re holding a large-scale event, finding the right venue should be a priority. It is always ideal to find sports complexes instead of pouring money to transform a space into an elaborate field.
FOOD TRUCKS INSTEAD OF IN-HOUSE REFRESHMENTS
A terrific idea! Collaborating with local food trucks and stalls will help free up space in the budget. In-house refreshments and catering can prove highly expensive, and it can be hard to offer variety. On the other hand, collaborating with food trucks and stalls can make the event a roaring success.
People adore food and sports, and the two are an inseparable combo. Collaborating with food trucks allows organizations to implement a revenue-sharing model and make money instead of spending it. There will be many local food trucks that will jump at the opportunity to expand their audience and gain prominence.
This strategy will aid the organization in saving money, time, and human resources, alongside reducing stress levels. You can charge an up-front fee to the chosen food trucks and stalls, and ensure your audience enjoys a tasty variety.
ALIGNING MARKETING AGENDAS
Are you planning to sell tickets and raise money from the event? Or you seek to turn the sports event into a large-scale networking event to expand your organization’s circle of influence? Regardless of the underlying plan, you will need a well-aligned marketing mix to fulfill your goals.
It is always helpful to forge local partnerships and collaborations to bring out a sports-centered audience at your event. You can collaborate with local gyms, fitness studios, sports bars, golf courses, and even community centers. These local establishments will make sure that your event is on the radar of their audiences and affiliates.
Event managers can also look out for local sponsors, advertisers, and participants to aid with promotional activities. Social media is the ideal platform for hyper-specific targeting and garnering a specific audience. Facebook and Instagram, even YouTube ads, allow marketers to narrow down their promotional activities to the relevant audience attracted to your event.
Email marketing is a tremendous promotional initiative to reach out to customers, networking partners, and industry affiliates. If you host yearly events, you already have a marketing playbook and a list of previous attendees. It is advisable to create elaborate promotional emails with immersive graphics to attract your audience and encourage attendance.
CONCLUSION
It is crucial to collaborate extensively and work closely with the local community to make corporate events successful. As opposed to shouldering the entire financial burden, organizations can invite local vendors and businesses to provide amenities and products. It will help the organization cement its presence within the community by aiding local partners and cementing relationships.
Turning a sports event into an opportunity for local businesses to expand their audience and generate revenues enhances feasibility and ease. Having multiple stakeholders will also ensure that everything unfolds smoothly and efficiently. Event managers will also have to collaborate and communicate with the city or town administration to streamline activities and obtain permits.