Holding your own business event allows you to create a huge amount of buzz about your brand, whilst interacting with your target market. You might want to promote a new product, demonstrate your expertise in a certain area or simply connect several companies within your own industry. Whatever the reason for holding your business event, you will want to make sure that it is memorable for all the right reasons. The way to do this is to create a detailed plan well in advance of your event and remember that success is in the details.
The first way to create a remarkable business event is by booking the venue. Ideally you will want to do this at least six months in advance of the date to give you time to market your occasion. When scouting for the perfect venue, pay attention to what the location can offer you in terms of capacity, layout, accessibility, parking and acoustics. Take care with determining the best date to choose for your business event. Try not to book it too near to any major public holidays or bank holidays when employees might extend their break and not be able to attend your occasion. You should also look at rival event days to make sure that you don’t book a clash which might split the interest of potential attendees.
Always be clear of the goals and motivation that your company has for creating this business event. This will help you to create a clear strategy and ensure that you are able to successfully engage with your customers and receive excellent feedback.
It is imperative that you set a realistic budget in the early planning stages of your event. Try and come up with an estimated number of attendees to work out how much it will cost you to host the event. You will usually want to attract sponsors to help you finance the event, but can also pay for it from ticket sales and internal marketing budgets. Crowdfunding might be appropriate if you are on a limited budget. Always remember to factor in the cost of licenses for food and drinks.
Your event will be nothing without its punters, so make sure your marketing team has a great strategy to attract ample numbers of attendees. Give people reasons to show up – these might be the promise of demos, freebies, entertainment and even keynote speakers or celebrity appearances. The use of traditional media and social media are vital ways of spreading the word about your event. You can also offer early bird incentives in order to encourage commitment.
Even the best business events can be long and tiring days out. Keep your attendees alert and enthusiastic about the proceedings by introducing short and energising activities throughout the day. These might be speed-networking or team-building exercises, or something a little more light-hearted such as a human bingo game.
Hosting your own customised business event gives you a great amount of freedom in deciding the essential details. However, it can seem overwhelming if you’re new to event co-ordinating. An experienced event management team will be able to assist you with structuring the perfect plan, which will free you up to concentrate on marketing the occasion.
Charlie Berry is the Event Director for London based Zing Events, a corporate event company that delivers innovative and creative team building activities.
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