Corporate Event Planning Tips

Corporate events offer the opportunity of direct exposure to your target audience. Whatever the event, it should reflect your company's qualities as a professional, reliable and innovative organisation, and more importantly leave guests with a favourable image of the company. Events should therefore be high quality, creative and well planned and executed. And, of course, the longer period over which the guests discuss the event, the better - as it is all publicity!

Whether organising a small intimate gathering for your key clients, or a large office Christmas Party, the following tips will provide some points to consider when planning your Company event;

1) Selecting a Venue

Ensure that the venue you book matches your guests' needs. If it is a large event you will need to take into account how your guests will get home and may mean that the venue needs to be situated where public transport is available nearby. If any guests live a great distance from the venue or if the event is to continue until the early hours of the morning, then overnight accomodation may need to be organised. If this is the case, it may possibly be best hosting your function in a Hotel.

You may find that the number of guests anticipated at your event may limit the venue selection. For example, a small intimate gathering may be best held at a restaurant with private dining facilities.

2) Food and Beverage

Organising the food and beverage is not always a simple task. When planning your event it is important to remember that if you are providing alcoholic drinks you will need to also provide some type of food in order to avoid the inevitable occurring.

Dietary requirements will also need to be considered as guests with allergies and vegetarians may require special menus so that they too can enjoy themselves. At Christmas, many guests attend several events so where possible try and keep the menu creative and unique.

3) Entertainment

Depending on the type of event you are organising, you may need to arrange entertainment for the function. This could be a band to energise the crowd, a small quartet to provide background music during a meal or a professional disc jockey which can accomodate both the aforementioned requirements. If the entertainment is being provided by a band, you will need to factor in breaks and possibly the provision of light meals for any entertainers.

To ensure that entertainers can provide the very best service, ensure that they are fully briefed well before the event and are aware of what your event is trying to achieve. Make sure that all audio visual, lighting and sound re-inforcement requirements have been considered and that all suppliers are provided with a running order, which is both realistic and practical, prior to the event.

4) Obtain Feedback

After the event, try and obtain feedback from your guests. It is important to ascertain whether your guests enjoyed themselves and find out what aspects of the event worked and what didn't, so that you can use this information in the planning of future events. For example, if there was an aspect of the event that did not meet with your guest's approval, you can ensure that it does not re-occur at the next event.

Information obtained from feedback can also assist venues and restaurants in helping you make your next event even more enjoyable for your guests.

5) Book Venue Early

If your event is a success and you wish to use the same venue for the following year, if an annual event or for next time, it is alway advisable to consider booking it early to avoid any disappointment.