5 tips to deliver a successful corporate event - Grace & Tailor

5 tips to deliver a successful corporate event

A well-orchestrated corporate event can create a real impact for your business. Whether it’s launching a new product or service, celebrating a milestone, or an annual event such as a conference; planning and producing every aspect thoroughly can help present your business in the best light to clients and employees.

We’ve been involved with delivering so many amazing corporate events, and, although each event is often very different to the last, we’ve hand-picked some of the common themes and threads which help make an event as successful as possible.

1. Communicate key information to your delegates before your event.

 

For any corporate event, one of the most important factors to ensure it runs as smoothly and successfully as possible is to communicate clearly to delegates what exactly the event is beforehand.

Most events of this nature focus on some key internal messaging. Whether it’s outlining a new business plan, celebrating a year of reaching targets or explaining new processes, it’s vital to make sure that everyone attending understands why they’re going and what to expect. If you do this well, you can communicate all of this information as well as create some excitement for the event through promotional activity leading up to it.

The ways to do this are varied depending on the event and the type and size of business. For big organisations using intranet systems, online notice boards and email are great ways to get the relevant information out there. For smaller businesses, regularly discussing your event in team meetings or taking time to explain to people in person may work better. However you do it, make sure everyone arriving at the event knows why they are there, and try to make them as excited to be there as you possibly can.

2. Have a clear understanding of what you want your event to achieve.

 

Before you start any event planning, ask yourself, ‘what are the main things you want to get from your event?’ This is our first port of call when we discuss delivering events for corporate clients. In our experience we find it helpful to pick out two or three key objectives to help you make decisions regarding the content of your event.

For example, if you decide employee engagement is something you want to achieve you can think about adding in workshops or interactive elements throughout the day. You will also need to think about how to measure engagement level; whether you look at feedback forms on the day or following the event, or perhaps measuring productivity and sales increases or gained business immediately after the event.

3. Be fresh. Be original.

 

Certain corporate occasions can be very repetitive and monotonous, particularly for people who regularly attend these types of events. A day or weekend of conferences can mean long unbroken stretches of sitting down and trying to absorb information.

Think about fresh and exciting ways to break up your event. Maybe introduce activities that offer rewards, or a competition that runs throughout the day (an app is a great way to do this, but more on that later…).

We’ve included features like massage chairs in breakout spaces, bouncy castles, and five-minute massages for delegates during breaks. A great way to close an event is with a relaxed drinks reception to ensure that everyone who attends goes away feeling like they weren’t at a conference at all.

4. Use tech to involve your delegates before, during and after an event.

 

The world of event tech is constantly evolving, especially where delegate apps are concerned. They can be used as a tool to enhance the experience for delegates and encourage them to engage more readily and easily with your event. There are a huge number of ways you can use an app and, if you have the budget to design your own, then the possibilities are practically limitless.

You can use it get delegates to vote on discussion points which are then immediately shown on screens, or to show a live feed of messages (like a Twitter feed) where people can share their thoughts on a topic.

As well as these great interactive features, you can detail the programme of events, promoting specific events or workshops, encouraging people to sign up before the event through the app. Then, after the event, it’s a great way to collect feedback that can be as detailed as you like; from a full form to a simple thumbs up or thumbs down feature.

The beauty of an app is that a) it’s not too intrusive, b) it can tie in multiple elements of your event in an easy-to-use bundle, and c) it can act as a hub of information for delegates to reference at any stage.

The only drawback is that apps can be expensive to use, however, in our experience it’s worth the investment. If you think it could be a valuable asset you could even develop your own at a higher cost and reuse it for future events.

5. Wow your guests with amazing production elements.

 

Engage your delegates from the outset with high-quality, impressive equipment that creates the atmosphere that you want to achieve. Having professional and visually striking production equipment will immediately set the tone for a fantastic event.

Walking into a room with an old projector at the front and having to listen to a microphone that screeches feedback every few minutes is not going to excite anyone….

When we’ve used kit like our new 36m2 LED screen, alongside quality sound equipment and amazing lighting, you can feel the difference in experience for the delegates. It’s like going to the cinema versus watching a movie on your laptop on a busy train.

The other advantage of using top-of-the-range equipment is that it’s less likely that any mishaps or technical glitches might happen. An amazing audio-visual presentation can be easily derailed by sound cutting out or a screen playing up.

At Grace and Tailor, we use the best technology there is, and, as standard, we ensure we have an experienced event manager on hand who understands the event and the technical capabilities of equipment to ensure nothing goes wrong.

Whether it’s production equipment, or full delivery of a corporate event that you need help with, get in touch with one of our experienced team members.

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