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The Key Elements for a Successful Business Event

StrategyDriven Marketing And Sales Article | The Key Elements for a Successful Business Event

There are so many reasons why you may hold a business event. This may be to appeal to new suppliers or customers. Or, it may be to celebrate a business achievement. If a business event is not successful, you may find that it is a waste of resources, time, and energy. It is, therefore, imperative that you work hard to create a successful business event whenever you have the opportunity. Knowing what key elements an event must feature will give you the recipe you need for success.

Giving Your Event a Purpose

All events (no matter the size) must have a purpose. If an event does not have a purpose, then attendees will not know why they are there. Similarly, your business will not know what you need to achieve. A purpose for an event will give it much-needed direction. So, are you holding an event to stir up some new business? Are you looking to make new connections with suppliers? Or, are you looking to branch out into a new market? Why are you holding a business event, and what does a successful business event look like to you?

Knowing and Understanding Your Audience and Their Needs

After establishing why you are holding a business event, you then need to understand more about your audience. Who is your target audience, and what do they look like? What are their expectations from an event, and what do they need? If you are not providing value for your audience, and you are not catering to their needs, then what impact are you expecting to have? Establishing the demographics of the attendees, and knowing what is driving them, will help your event have purpose, meaning, and value.

Choosing the Most Appropriate Accessible Venue

A successful event is going to be held at a location that is accessible and set up for business functions. When you are looking at business event venues, it is important to establish what they have to offer you, and your upcoming event. For example, do they offer catering? Do they have a favorable reputation that you can use to enhance your marketing efforts? An appropriate venue is going to be one that can accommodate business meetings, events, and seminars for large groups of attendees (as well as smaller groups).

Emphasis on Keynote Presenters

A successful event will be broken up into various stages. It will also feature keynote speakers throughout the duration. All attendees expect value when they are attending any business event, so always provide keynote speakers that are well respected and valued in your industry. Keynote speakers can draw in attendees and guests, and they can keep them at an event longer, especially if they are providing usable and worthwhile content.

The Cost of an Event 

All business events cost money. Making sure that you do not overspend or spend more per head than you want to is crucial. A successful business event is going to provide you with value for money, and it is going to give you a great return on your investment. So, try to remember this when you are looking at overall costs per head.

Mixing Work with Pleasure: 5 Tips to Help You Plan an Awesome Business Party

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Business Party|Mixing Work with Pleasure: 5 Tips to Help You Plan an Awesome Business PartyDid you know happy employees are 20% more productive? Productivity at the workplace is more than just one’s skills and commitment. It also depends on the person’s mood, physical health, and mental state. Therefore, ensuring that your employees enjoy their time working for the company is very crucial in the growth and success of the business.

One great way to increase enjoyment in the workspace is to throw a party and reward your employees for their hard work. Hosting a corporate EOFY function in Sydney gives all the members of your business some time to unwind and reflect on everything that happened throughout the busy year. It’s also important because it shows the employees that you care about them as much as you care for your company.

Inasmuch as the objective remains the same, how and where you plan your End of the Year or EOFY party is very significant. Wondering how to hold a perfect business party for your company? Not to worry! In this guide, we’ll go over corporate event planning tips.

1. Plan the Party and Save the Date

Try and start brainstorming for your business party up to four months beforehand. One mistake that many people make is commencing their plans when it’s too late. This makes them quite desperate and will be forced to accept whatever comes their way in terms of venue, food, and other related resources. However, starting things early enough will give you time to research caterers and different conference centers.

Ask for help from other creative employees to help you plan the party. This way, you can share the planning responsibilities.

Find out from your guests of honor when they are available for the party. Once you know what dates are free, pick one. You can send out save-the-date invitations in advance so people can mark it on their calendar.

2. Choose a Theme

To make your party fun and exciting, consider picking a unique theme. Yes, you’re obviously celebrating a successful year, but without a definitive theme, everything will be dull and boring. Therefore, make sure you have something to base your celebrations on. You can decorate the venue according to the theme you choose.

You can host a costume party or throw a breakfast event. Throw a luau party in the middle of winter to boost office morale. If you know your employees like trivia or bingo, you could host a game night. Of course, it would be wise to do something in which most of your employees will be interested to participate. You can gather this information either by going through every member’s hobby or conducting a survey.

Once you have this information, be sure to pick something that won’t be too expensive for you and your business. If you need help and have the budget available, call an interior decorator.

3. Pick a Venue

What space you choose will depend on the number of attendees and who you’re celebrating.
If you only have a small gathering, you could throw the party at a worker’s home or the office.
For a fancier gala, book a local hall.

4. Food and Drink

If you’re serving food at the event, you’ll want to hire a caterer.
Find out from your employees what kind of food they prefer. You should also find out if anyone is a vegan or if they have any allergies. You want there to be food choices for everyone to enjoy.

With your planning team, talk about if you’ll offer alcoholic drinks at your event. Find out if there are any local liquor laws for a business party. Your company could get in trouble if someone gets hurt because they misused alcohol.

If you decide to offer alcohol, hire a responsible bartender.

They will help watch guests and make sure minors don’t drink. Some caterers even provide this service with their food.

5. Hire Entertainment

You can hire entertainment for a large-scale event.
Choose from a comedian, singer, or a master of ceremonies. Make sure you approve the material beforehand.
Check out these corporate event ideas for more inspiration.

Now You Know How to Plan a Business Party

We hope this guide on planning a business party was helpful. Make sure you plan ahead of time and work with another employee.

Don’t forget to bookmark our site. This way, you won’t miss out on any of our resources.

The Ultimate Guide to Throwing Events for a Business

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | The Ultimate Guide to Throwing Events for a Business EventThe U.S. has about 32.5 million businesses, although the exact number depends on just how you define a business.

With millions of other businesses to compete with, how can you ensure yours stands out? Throwing events is one surefire way to get noticed.

However, a business event can quickly become a business disaster if it’s not properly planned out. If your event is badly organized, out of touch, or otherwise unimpressive, it can actually be worse for your business than not having an event at all. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but for small business owners, that doesn’t ring true.

But don’t let the risk of a failed event scare you away from trying. To ensure that your event gets you the right kind of recognition, you just need to plan ahead properly.

Not sure how to promote an event successfully, or how to make sure the event goes well on the day of? We’ve got you covered. Here’s our complete guide to throwing events as a business.

1. Lay out Your Goals

One of the hardest parts of planning a business event is knowing what kind of event it should be. To decide what the main event should look like, it’s often easier to work backward from your goals or desired outcomes.

Why have this event? Is it to thank your current customers, turning them into repeat customers?

Is it to get the word out about your new brand? Is to have an exciting place for a big announcement?

Once you know your goal, the type of event will soon become clear. For example, if you want to get the word out, you could consider having an open house with free refreshments and entertainment. If you want to reward your current customers, you could have an exclusive after-hours shopping event with special discounts just for them.

2. Lock Down the Basics

Now that you have your goals or “why” together, you need to nail down the “who, what, when, and where.”

In addition to knowing what kind of event it’ll be, and who it’ll be for, decide who on your team will take charge of different aspects. Figure out your location and set a date.

Make sure the date is far ahead of time so you can prepare. When it comes to event planning, it’s best to start early, especially for big events.

3. Create a Promotion Calendar

Now that you know your event basics, you have a timeline to work with. Take the time you have between now and the event date, and create a calendar for promotion.

This means you’ll also need to decide how to promote it best. Social media always works well, but email, text, mail, and other tools can also help.

Add each promotional method to the right places on the calendar. For example, you might start making monthly social media posts about the event now while you’re six months out. But when you’re two months out, you could bump it up to biweekly posts, and send a save-the-date mailer to your current customers.

4. Work Word of Mouth

Although it may not go on your official promotion calendar, word of mouth is an important part of promotion too.

Make sure to talk up the event to everyone you meet. Train your employees to do the same. Consider giving them a short “script” so they can easily pitch the event essentials.

Talk to customers, other business owners, neighbors, and anyone who you think may be interested. Consider carrying a stash of flyers to hand out when opportunities come up. While this can’t replace your promotion calendar, it can be more successful than you might think.

5. Stick to a Budget

When you’re early in the promotion game, you may not need to think much about a budget. Unless you’re paying to reserve a venue, most of your early promotion and planning will probably be free or inexpensive.

However, as time goes by, the event will become more pricey. You might need to order promotional merch, hire a catering company, or pay local bands or speakers, for example. Without a budget, your event can quickly become impractically expensive.

Set your budget early and make sure it’s realistic. Try to foresee every possible expense, but leave some flexibility beyond the essentials too.

If your budget is tight, you can still have a great event, but you might need to compromise. For example, instead of the fully-catered meal you imagined, maybe bringing some food trucks to the parking lot will be more realistic for this event.

6. Make a Day-Of List

You’ve meticulously planned everything else out so far. So don’t leave the day of the event up to chance.

Make a list of all that needs to happen on the day of, when it needs to happen, and who’s responsible for it. This schedule will keep you and your team on track.

Of course, unexpected things during the event can throw the schedule off a bit. It’s important to be flexible too. But having a map to guide the day will ensure nothing major gets forgotten.

7. Have a Follow-Up Plan 

Finally, the event doesn’t end when everyone goes home. You’ll need to follow up, see how it went, and start planning your next event.

Send out an email to attendees with post event survey questions to learn what went well and what could’ve been better. Offer a thank you to those who attended, like a discount or free trial.

Then, start planning the next event using what you learned! Whether you make your last event a regular occurrence or plan something totally new, you’ll be able to make it a success thanks to your prior experience.

Ready to Start Throwing Events for Your Business?

With this guide, you’re ready to start throwing events that everyone will look forward to.

A good business event is a great experience for your customers, your staff, and you. These events are crucial for keeping your brand ahead of the competition, so start planning yours now!

Looking for more ways to grow and improve your brand? Our insights might be just what you need. Check out our other blogs to learn more.

Tips For Planning A Successful Business Event

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Tips For Planning A Successful Business EventOrganizing a successful business event takes time and careful planning, whether you’re holding a small event for 20 people, or arranging a huge company-wide conference for hundreds of attendees. Whatever your reason for holding an event, here are some top tips to help you plan a successful business event and ensure that everything runs smoothly on the day.

Consider your budget

Before you can start planning your business event, it is vital that you determine what funds you have available so you can create an event budget. You need to plan carefully to ensure that every necessary element of your event is covered. For example, you could consider cheaper catering options to allow you to invite more guests to your event. However, on occasions where brand image is essential, you may choose to host fewer attendees to allow higher-end catering at the event. Remember that your budget should include things like catering services, venue hire, guest speaker fees, equipment rental, and supplies. You can look online for advice on how to create an event budget.

Choose the perfect venue

Remember that first impressions count, so wowing your guests with an impressive venue is definitely worthwhile. For instance, the award-winning Adelaide Hills Convention Centre offers the perfect conference venue with its modern high-tech facilities and stunning views over the picturesque Mount Lofty Ranges. If you have a small budget, then you can always help dress up a simple room and create an atmosphere with a few finishing touches like flowers and lighting. It is also important to carefully consider the location of your venue; try to choose somewhere that is centrally located and convenient for all attendees to get to. Make sure that you also check for things like free onsite parking and public transport links in the area.

Provide food and drink

When people are attending an event, they will expect some food and drinks to be provided. The style of catering you offer at your business event will largely depend on your budget and number of attendees, but it’s important to remember that quality is generally preferred over quantity. For instance, champagne and canapes will usually give a far better impression than a cheap 3-course meal. Whatever you decide to provide, be sure to make your attendees aware before the event. People are likely to be unhappy if they turn up to your event expecting to be fed, then find that no substantial food is being provided. You should, therefore, include a quick line in your invite outlining what food and drinks will be served at the event.

Think about the guest list

Planning a guest list can be a challenge, and it’s important to think carefully about who you’re going to invite to your event. Remember that the size of your guest list will largely depend on the budget you have available, so make sure you consider which people are your priority. If leaving certain people or groups of people off the guest list is going to cause problems, then you could look for ways to cut back on other areas of your budget to allow you to increase the guest list.