There are many benefits to throwing business events, ranging from a boost to employee morale to building better relationships with partners. However, like any project, an event is a serious matter that can produce a negative effect unless used right.
Should it be a failure of an evening, you might lose a deal or reduce the productivity of your employees who will be stressed and upset. And in case you use an event as a marketing opportunity, the negative impact on your business can be huge.
To avoid these problems you need to plan your event very carefully and use a few tricks along the way.
6 Tips for Organizing a Business Event That’ll Be a Success
1. Let guests participate in the event
Offering entertainment, like music or performances is amazing, but you can make even more of an impact on your guests by allowing them to become co-creators of the event. Do this by running a competition on creating simple decorations or giving everyone who wants to do it a go as a DJ.
Depending on the type of the event you want to organize, you can get your employees involved into the planning and prep stages. This way, people will be more involved and invested, thus they will be able to enjoy the success of it more. You get extra points for getting people to work together in groups so everyone can mingle.
2. Create a custom setting
To get more flexibility with your event planning you should consider hiring a venue, which you can fill on your own with the help of an event furniture rental. This will allow you to create a perfect setting for any theme. Be sure to give that furniture a test run to check if it’s comfortable. Few things are as annoying an uncomfortable seats at a party.
3. Build up the buzz
Building anticipation for your event will help you boost its emotional impact. Therefore, you should start generating positive feedback for it at least a month in advance. Send out reminders and surveys to get more ideas about what people actually want to see there. If this is an event for your customers, start marketing it on social media, your blog, and via email newsletters.
4. Change the atmosphere with the lighting
You should put a lot of thought into the lighting for your event. This is the element that has a very big impact on the atmosphere. Use it wisely and you’ll be able to turn a setting for a formal dinner into a fairytale dance floor with a single click. Check out event lighting effects available today and come up with ideas on how to incorporate some of them into your theme.
5. Go live on social media
Any business event can help boost your marketing, so don’t waste an opportunity. To make the most of it, you should create hashtags for your event and run a few live videos during the evening. But most importantly, encourage your guests to take their fun online. Offer incentives for sharing on social media and be sure to thank every guest who uses your hashtags in the comments.
Note that you should have a follow-up for the event as well. For example, have fun posting the ‘morning after’ pictures of your tired but happy employees and ask them to share their feelings about the event. Use the feedback to make the next one even better.
6. Have a strategy
Do you use the SMART goals model when planning your business projects? Apply the same principles to planning an event. This is a project, like any other, and it can boost your business, so treat it with the care and dedication it deserves.
