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Consider These Things Before Planning A Corporate Event

By KEMI
28 August 2015   |   10:39 pm
PLANNING an event requires much technicality. It also requires basic principles which must be followed with a dogged determination. These involve the entire vision and objectives of an event as well as the budget.

EVENTPLANNING an event requires much technicality. It also requires basic principles which must be followed with a dogged determination. These involve the entire vision and objectives of an event as well as the budget. If these two things are not well defined and structured, then as you go along, your plan will be forced to keep changing and this will lead to a compromise on certain aspects of the event which is undesirable.

Regardless of the size of the event or the number of guests, an event needs to be detailed with no surprises. Generally an event is considered successful if there are no last minute surprises. Remember as an event planner you should always aim to over deliver.

One rule to live by is ‘under-promise and always over-deliver!’ Ensure that your promises are within client expectations and you meet their needs. Clients are happiest when you deliver what they expected and more. That way you get more referrals and your

portfolio greatly improves.

Define the primary and secondary objectives of the event
The first thing that you need to do before even getting into the nitty-gritties of the event is to determine the objectives. The following questions are very important. Why is the event taking place? What are you aiming to achieve during the event? What are you trying to achieve beyond the event? It is necessary to define all your primary and secondary objectives. It will help you to look at the long term objectives beyond the actual gathering.
Determine the event type that tallies with your set goals
The next step is to determine the best event type to achieve your event goal. Good examples of event types would be conferences, board meetings, retreats, fund-raising events, launches, trade shows and so on. Your event type selection should be centered on your target audience. You have to select an event type and activities that keep your audience engaged.

Select the appropriate event outline

Once those two steps are done, you can then strategize on the event outline that can meet your set goals. The next step is to determine the scope of the event. When planning, it is important to have the guest expectations in mind, as well as the client’s. There are three main considerations to make and these are- great anticipation, full attendance and reaching the overall goals. Once you find a balance to this then the rest of your planning becomes more focused and you are able to hone in on the necessary requirements for the event. A lot of planners fail to outline their event effectively and they try to compensate by spending extra costs on items that add no real value to the event.

Money, money, money

Now the big question… HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Determining your costs is important as it can have a great effect on the event type you choose. This also has a great effect on guest capacity. You may consider getting sponsorship. This generally is good for event marketing purposes, maximizing attendance and ensuring a top of the class event.

Another option would be event partnering. If your client partners up with someone, they share a vision and split the costs leading to an even bigger and better event.

Ensure that you do a preliminary costing, that is a rough cost estimate based on the event vision. This helps to determine what is practical and what needs to be restructured. The budget will likely change after the preliminary costs are drafted but this helps to set a general figure so that you are not moving in blindly. The worst thing that could happen is having to compromise on quality halfway through the planning because the pre-planning wasn’t done properly.

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If you desire a career in Event Planning, then join our upcoming Training class in October for the right start up in the industry. For more details, please use any of our contact media. We will be glad to serve you.
Also for more tips on Event Planning, please visit our blog www.royalsdelightblog.com.

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