Big or small, if you are hosting a business event you need to know about the 8 most important considerations you’ll find below. Read on to find out more.
- Choose the right date
The first thing you need to do when throwing a business event is to choose the right date. This is far more important than most people realise and some serious consideration needs to go into it, if you want people to show up for your event.
First of all, you need to make sure your event in not in the middle of the busy season for your business niche. For example, if you have something to do with wholesale selling of christmas decorations, your busy season (when you are selling the most product) is in the summer. That means throwing an event in the summer is a bad idea as no-one can spare their best people in the midst of the rush.
Its also a smart idea to check that your event doesnt clash with any other popular events thrown in your industry. Oh, and as a rule avoiding times when people are more likely to be on annula leave such as Christmas, Easter, and the Summer Holidays is also a good approach.
2. Pick your venue
Almost as important as the date you choose is the venue you pick for your business event. Indeed, there are several important factors you must consider when choosing a venue. The first is location. People will likely be travelling to your event from all over the country so a central location, or at least one with good transport links is crucial. Next, you will need to consider the capacity and facilities of the venue you choose.
First of all, you must ask yourself whether it can hold the number of people you plan on inviting. If the answer is no, then you needs to move on to the next option right away as overfilling a space is not only irresponsable but dangerous as well.
Next you will need to assess the facilities at the venue to check they work for your purposes. For example, if you are throwing a large conference, then choosing a venue that has food vendors surrounding it is a good idea as people will need refreshments throughout the day.
For a company picnic on the other hand, you may not need food vendors as people will bring dishes, or you as a company may even pay for a caterer. However, you will need to make sure there are enough toilet facilities, especially if you are hosting it in a local park or nature spot. The good news is you can hire out great value porta potties for this purpose. Thereby ensuring that no one has to wait, and that the local environment is taken care of as well.
3. Get promotional materials made up
To get the most out of your business event it makes sense to get promotional items with your business branded made up. Banners espillay are a good idea because it will remind people that your company is behind the event, establishing your authority in your industry.
Branded free gifts are always popular as well, as everyone loves something for nothing. The funny thing is that as people accept items like branded mugs, hats, and bags they will also be helping to promote your brand to others! Its a win win!
4. Decide on the goals for the event
When hosting a business event its vital that you outline the goals and aims during the planning stage. This is because these goals should inform the choices you make, and the amount of budget you spend on the various aspects of the event.
Remember to be as specific as possible here. That means if one of your goals is to get 100 new leads for your business, set out how you will collect these, and who will check that you have them once the event is over. It also makes sense to decide who will follow them up once you have the details as well.
5. Decide on the agenda
Going with the flow is never a good idea when you are hosting an event with multiple people. Instead it can be very useful to set an agenda ahead of time so you have some idea of what should be happening when.
Althoug you may find that things may not might run perfectly on schedule, as there are so many moving parts to events that things can and do go wrong. Happily if you have a schedule to work from as least you will be able to see what comes next and maintain somesort of order as your event proceeds.
6. Invite people to attend
Invesiting people to attend your event is a pretty important step. If its a celebration or reward event for employees invites might be as simple as a group email. However, if you are running a larger open conference you may need to market and promote you event well ahead of time to make sure enough people show up.
Always try and get replies or sell tickets ahead of time for your business event, as this will give you a good idea of how many people you can expect and will need to cater for.
7. Review how things went and work out what you can improve the next time.
Last of all, once the event itself is done and dusted, you will have a little time to sit back and evaluate how the event went. The key here is to compare the event to your original goals and decide how much it managed to meet these. The review stage of the event process is one of the most valuable there is for two reasons.
The first is that by assessing how well you met your goals you will have the information you need to demonstrate to your business and bosses that throwing these types of events is a worthwhile investment. Secondly, evaluating them in this way allows you to spot any issues or weaknesses that could be problematic next time you throw an event, and get ahead of them so it’s all smooth sailing.
