In our previous article we discussed the importance of checking the calendar for holidays or other industry events before setting the date of your corporate celebration and to start building up our budget, either by asking for precise quotes from vendors and special speakers or by requesting our managers to let us know how much money we have available.
Now you’re ready to start planning your corporate event!
Who’s your target audience?
You should define who your target audience is. Will all your employees be invited? Will your corporate event targeted to a certain area of your company? Will at least some of your customers be invited? Will your employees be able to invite a family member?
Answering these questions is essential to make everything else fall into place: choosing the best kind of venue and catering service for your corporate event, choosing the format of the event and content, and so on.
Evaluate your venue options
Discuss your needs with the venues you’re evaluating. 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.
Deciding where your corporate event will take place should occur in the first stages of planning. The sooner you have your event venue booked the better, especially if your corporate event will occur in a time of the year where many other businesses and individuals can be organising larger meetings such as the end of the year. Besides, it means that you can inform your guests about the location earlier.
As you talk to the different venue managers, you’ll notice that some of them will offer you full service, that is to say, the catering service and a basic decoration for your event, while others will only offer you just the setting. Whichever option you choose, take into account that the former one will obviously cost you more money but, at the same time, have the catering and decor in the same package and probably save you a lot of stress.
The catering
You’re going to need good food to keep everyone entertained and satisfied. Satisfied stomachs make satisfied attendees, and if you want to make it memorable, good food is a must!
Whether you’ll hire the catering service that comes with your venue or go with an independent provider, talk to people who work at the catering company and describe to them in detail the event you’re planning. Thus, they’ll have a clear idea of what you envision for the event. If you are feeling creative, make your own menu! Put forward your own ideas for the kinds of food you’d like to be served at your event.
Make sure as well that you have an open mind and are ready to listen to their suggestions. They are experts in the field and they may come up with ideas on how to present your menu to the guests in an attractive way.
Next time we’ll discuss why you should market your event and how to do it, and whether or not you should hire an event planner.
Stephen Pearce, Marketing Manager, Adelaide Hills Convention Centre
