So often a company will ask someone in house to plan a special event. This could be a seminar, customer dinner, company holiday party or even a full conference. You may or may not have experience, so where do you start?
Start by sitting down with whoever has asked to you take this on. Discuss the budget. Is it a set amount or based on per person? Do you need approval for say any amount over $500? Or as long as it fits into the budget it's okay? Talk about their vision. What type of atmosphere are they expecting? Casual, business professional, fun and wild? What results do they expect? Gain more business, thank the employees for a job well done or get partners together for some casual fun? What do they like eat and drink? It can very important to keep 'the boss' happy at these events!
Here are basic things to consider when planning a corporate event with a limited budget. I will go into details on these points in future posts.
- Audience:
- Who is your audience or on your guest list for this event?
- Employees and guests - or - customers? This makes a big difference in your approach.
- Budget:
- Is the company footing the entire bill or are attendees paying a registration or event fee?
- Here is a very basic event budget template from Microsoft It is a good place to start in your budget planning process. You can easily add more items and customize as needed.
- Update your budget constantly as you make commitments, spend money and make plans
- Food and Beverages:
- This will depend on the time of day and length of your event.
- If you start early, but don't offer any sort of breakfast, then do offer a morning 'snack' and of course beverages (coffee, tea, juice at a minimum)
- Same goes if you start after lunch, have a break with some snacks and beverages
- Meals can be as simple as box lunches or as elaborate as fancy multi-course sit down dinners. It all depends on your audience, the event and your budget.
- Beverages: one big question is "what do we do about a bar?" Again, based on your audience and budget you have several options:
- Full Hosted Bar: you (the host) pay for all drinks and a full bar can serve any type of drink.
- Full Cash Bar: any drink is available, but must be paid for by guest
- Limited Hosted Bar: you pay for the drinks, but they are limited to say beer, wine and perhaps a signature cocktail (and soft drinks). You could also issue 'drink tickets' so that all guests can get a 'free' drink, but you limit how many they can have.
- Entertainment:
- This can vary from having a play list set up on an iPod to plug into sound system, hiring a DJ, or arranging for a private fireworks display. Again - consider your audience and your budget.
- We will talk later about ideas for entertainment.
- Decorations:
- A table centerpiece at meals is always nice. Flowers are great, but can be expensive. Think about a glass vase or container filled with fresh fruit or some small objects that are relevant to your event. Pinterest is a great resource for ideas.
- If this is a business event, then keep things clean and simple.
- Social events call for a bit more in the decoration department. Talk to your event coordinator at the hotel or restaurant where you are holding event. They may have items that you can use. Consider a fancy napkin fold to add some glamour to your tabletop display.
- A large banner with your company logo is sometimes all you need for a business function.
- Education / Training:
- If you are planning an event where the focus is on education or training, then typically there is another group that is handling this content for the event. You do need to be kept in the loop. Keep in mind:
- Who are your speakers?
- Include them in your Food/Beverage counts and get their meal preferences.
- You should have a brief bio to include in the materials for the event
- Has travel and lodging been taken care of for them, or are you responsible?
- Are there materials that you need to coordinate into a binder or on a flash drive? Set those deadlines and make sure they are met.
- Work with the team in charge of the education/training sessions. Make sure that the appropriate sized rooms are available and set up accordingly.
- Work up lists of AV needed: laptop, projector, screen, microphone, smart board, etc. This will effect your budget!
We will further explore these areas and more in future posts. Just remember to have fun with your planning!
