A corporate event is one of the most important opportunities for an organization to show its true colors. However, it’s not so easy to organize. You need professionals in this field who have years of experience and know what works best. Companies like ours offer this kind of help so you can concentrate on the most important thing of all: having fun and boosting your business profile!
Organizing corporate events involves several stages and can take between 6 and 3 months. In what follows, we’ll look at the main stages of this organization.
Define the target audience and objective of the corporate event
The first step is to define your target audience and your objective. What do you want to achieve with this event? Who will be taking part? Are they potential customers or suppliers? You may also want to attract new employees in order to develop your company or strengthen its image.
So you need to determine the type of people you need, where they come from and what their interests are. Once you have a clear target audience and objective in mind, it’s time to think about the event itself. What kind of event are you planning? Will it be a conference or a workshop? Where do you want to hold it? How many people will be taking part? Keep in mind that each event should cover a maximum of two (2) objectives, so as not to get lost in its organization.
Estimate the budget with a margin of error
Event marketing should be included in your annual marketing budgets. You never organize a corporate event with a surplus marketing budget.
Before you can determine the cost of an event, you need to determine its scope. How many people are you expecting to attend? How long will the event last? What are the requirements and capacities of the venue? These factors will help you estimate your budget, but there is always a margin of error of between 10 and 15% of the estimated budget to cover any unforeseen expenses.
Set the date and place
Once you’ve defined your budget, your audience and your objectives, it’s time to choose a venue and set a date. In general, the venue should be defined before the date is set, to avoid any last-minute changes or disruptions to your schedule and those of the venue owners, which could affect the success of your event.
Planning the event
With a well-organized schedule, a clear objective and a well-targeted audience for the type of corporate event you want to organize, it’s now time to get organized internally with the various department heads and project managers involved in the event, so as to clearly define everyone’s role before, during and after the big day.
As one of the key stages in a successful corporate event, we’re going to go into a little more detail here. To do this, you’ll divide the tasks into two (2) main groups: analysis of your needs and event logistics.
Needs analysis
- Define the activities that will take place during the event
- Choose your suppliers carefully, giving priority to value for money
- Validate with the owner of the premises the capacity to contain all the equipment planned with your suppliers
Event logistics
- Send a detailed brief to your suppliers describing the event, your expectations, the date and the venue, to avoid any surprises on the big day.
- Check that all technical requirements (electricity, signage, sound system, etc.) are met.
- Send invitations to guests of honor, influencers or other public figures, and provide reminders (usually electronic) before the event date.
- Draw up a time schedule for each planned task
- 3 weeks before the big day, finalize contracts with your suppliers, draw up a detailed hour-by-hour schedule of each person’s tasks
- 2 weeks before the day of the event, schedule a meeting with the main suppliers and personnel involved at the event site to make any final adjustments and inform them of the delivery location if materials are to be delivered directly to the event site.
Communicating your event
In the case of an event open to the general public or to external participants, you need to plan a large communication (3) months before the big day. This will give you a clearer idea of the number of people interested in attending your event.
In the case of a smaller corporate event, you need to communicate with your target audience at least 1 month before the big day, using both digital and traditional channels.
Conclusion
The organization of corporate events must go through several stages and cannot be left to chance. No matter what type of event you’re planning, you need to follow these steps to ensure a successful, well-organized event with no unpleasant surprises.
