Tips on Planning and Organizing a Corporate Event

Corporate events such as product launching, exhibits, seminars and trainings are all year round company activities for Sales and Marketing. Either in-house or  outsource  personnel, an event coordinator is required  to do the  job.  Here are some tips on  planning and organizing a  corporate event :

Planning. Initiate meeting together with the key persons to plan the event. Know the basic details : type of event, budget allocation, number of target attendees, preferred venue and other specified details. The goal of the event and the role of each person involved in a team should be clearly defined.

Prepare a checklist and calendar all activities specifically the deadlines of each task. Schedule a periodic meeting to monitor the progress of the event or have it done electronically to save time. Have a quick directory of resource persons, suppliers, and other pertinent data needed.

Venue Requirements. Canvass for the appropriate venue tailored to the type of event. Conduct an ocular inspection to personally see the facilities. Once location has been chosen, closely coordinate with the person-in charge and review thoroughly the details of the contract. Bear in mind that one detail missed can cause hassles and failure of the event.
Target Attendees and Invitations. Know first what type of attendees you want to attend for the event. Do you want Architects, Designers,I.T. Professionals, HR Personnel, be specific on the Industries for your attendees. How do you achieve the target number of attendees ?

Example :   500 target attendees
500 x 4 = 2,000           Distributed invitations
1,000                          More or  less half of it will confirm
500                             More or less half of it will attend the event

Now you hit the target with 500 or more attendees on the actual event .

Ways of Distribution for Invitations :
Create a webpage for the event. On-line registration is the fastest and a more economical way of drawing attendees.

Email blast. An effective and a more personalized distribution but if the recipient is not part of the of the existing database, make sure a disclaimer is indicated at the bottom of the invitation.
Direct mails. For traditional invitations, direct mails are being printed out and sent to targeted attendees. Though it is more costly, it still makes a good impression to the recipient since it is personalized and tangible. The downside is it requires a timely distribution, make sure that you hire  a trusted courier agency to do the job.

Equipment and Collaterals.  One major detail to be handled efficiently is the equipment specifically the audio and video requirements. No matter how good the speaker and the presentation itself, the event will not be successful with a poor quality of the audio or malfunctioning equipment. Technical interruptions is a “no-no” to any event.

Resource Speakers. Prepare honorary token for speakers and attend to their requirements.

Event Day. This is what we call the big day. The venue usually gives an “ingress” time, two hours or more depending on the type of event. There are events that requires an ingress a day before the event as well as specific hours for “egress” to vacate the area. The event coordinator, technical persons and the welcoming party are the very first people should be in the venue to make sure everything is set  before the program starts.   Normally, a Photographer or a Videographer is required for  documentation purposes.

Post-Evaluation of the Event. Prepare an evaluation sheet for the post-evaluation meeting. Is the goal met? Evaluate performance of each person in the team,  formulate actions to be taken to improve  future events.
Managing a corporate event is challenging and stressful but with careful planning and efficient execution, success can be achieved. An event coordinator should possess the following traits : leadership, detailed oriented, resourceful, can deal with different types of people, time management skills, can handle extensive pressure, highly flexible and optimistic.