There’s a lot that goes into planning an event for your business. If you don’t have a specified events manager, you’re going to need to plan and budget carefully. That can be a little daunting; luckily, Hawaii Luau Company has some tips to help ensure things run smoothly.
Budget
Establishing an event budget is the first and most crucial step during the planning stage. It’s here that you’ll identify your available resources and determine the financial trade-off in expenses vs revenue, weighing up any costs (such as catering, venue hire, etc.) against potential earnings (either from sponsors or access prices). Make sure you’ve determined the objectives and key results for this event beforehand and, if possible, find a way to measure its performance numerically.
Location
When it comes to corporate events, money talks. If you want a standout experience in a luxury venue, you’ll have to pay more but expensive is not always better. You should also take into consideration factors such as:
Depending on these variables, you may find that a low-key function room is more suitable than a hotel hire. Larger spaces tend to work better for presentations, meals, or entertainment or you could consider somewhere smaller and more intimate for team-building/company socials.
Catering
Catering is one area that you’ll often find is better left to the professionals. The right service will depend heavily on the size and requirements of the event. You may need to accommodate allergies or religious needs, for example. To remove the possibility of mistakes, make sure you check online reviews, secure a quote, get an idea of the service’s previous clients, and look into their preparation methods before making your decision.
Entertainment
The performers during your event are often the difference between success and flatness. If you want to introduce some excitement, it’s sometimes worth bringing in live music or if you want to maintain professionalism, a guest speaker with knowledge in your field could prove more apt. Whoever you choose, make sure you’ve gone through a respected directory and found an act with reviews and testimonials that confirm their viability.
Promotion
There’s no question that every corporation needs a vibrant, successful marketing strategy, and that goes double for promoting business events. There are many ways to spread the word such as creating a promotional video, plugging the event on podcasts, writing a press release, and sharing images via social media.
Another strategy you should consider is infographics. Producing your own infographic is easy if you take advantage of free online tools, which give you access to templates you can customize as needed. From there, you can share your new infographic via social media and plug it on your website as well, all of which will help to increase awareness about your upcoming event.
Extras
Once you’ve nailed down the fundamentals, you can begin to think about extra features such as decoration, photography, and mementos. You might, for example, decide that staffing services (such as promo models, influencers, or booth hostesses) would bring an added level of class and interest to proceedings. Just make sure, when hiring, to go through experienced agencies. Alternatively, you could provide polaroid cameras to guests – the images will give them something to remember the event, post on social media, and generate interest for the next one.
Planning and hosting events as a business is often far more complicated than doing so for personal reasons. For this reason, make sure you’ve allocated enough time and resources to maximize its chances of success and cover any potential risks.
Credit: Jesse Clark
Hawaii Luau Company is the premiere private Hawaiian Luau, Corporate Event, Hawaiian Entertainment and Hawaiian Wedding Company. Call 888-582-8858.