Planning a corporate or social event for your business? Let's face it, you're going to need a little help to pull everything together without a hitch.
So, here are our 6 tips for planning your next corporate event:
1. Initial Planning
Start this process as early as possible! Basically all you have to do to get the ball rolling is figure out what your corporate event will be; is it a social event for your business associates and employees (eg the office Christmas party) or is it a formal meeting event (eg discussing or celebrating a business merger or an event for a new business start up)? Once you have decided this, it is easier to find relevant venues and caterers.
2. Organise Your Event
While you're doing your initial planning, and in fact throughout the entire planning process, document what you're doing; the choices you've made, the reasons, and the costs of all the elements of the event. This is an important and useful step because keeping all this information will help you plan your next corporate event very easily. For instance, after the event you might decide that the caterers you chose were great and so you'll remember to hire them next time. This is going to save you a lot of time and effort in planning down the road.
Talk to people who work or own the venues you are considering. Tell them about your event and what facilities will be needed. They will know if their venue fits your needs or what can be done to make it better. Searching for a venue should happen in the first stages of planning. The sooner you find out where your event will be held, the sooner you can tell your caterers where they will need to operate and the sooner you can inform your guests about the location. Announcing a venue on late notice means fewer attendees, announcing a venue early won't have any drawbacks! Get to it!
You're going to need good food to keep everyone entertained! Whether your event is a social occasion for your business members or a corporate meeting event, good food is a must. Again, talk to people who work at the catering company and describe to them in detail the event you are planning. Make your own menu, put forward your own ideas for the kinds of food you'd like to be served at your event, but it's also important to listen to their suggestions; they are the food experts! Nothing kills the success of an event like bad food.
5. Check out reviews
To avoid any surprises (the bad kind) in the middle of your event, check out some reviews for the catering companies you are considering in order to get some second opinions. These reviews will usually be found online and also in particular newspapers or magazines. You can do the same for your venue options; a quick search online and you will usually be able to find reviews, and find out what other events have been held at the venue. This could help you decide which venue is going to be the best or most appropriate for the type of event you are planning.
6. Do you need an event manager?
By this stage, your event seems to be completely planned and ready to go! Ask yourself if you need an event manager; someone who can be on-hand during the event to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you aren't key to the corporate event, you could fill this position yourself; after all, you probably know the event from the inside out after all the effort you put in. The event manager could even be one of your employees or associates who is attending the event and who can act as your assistant to help things go just as planned during the event.