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11 tips for organizingcorporate events
that attendees will rave about for ages
By Hila Shitrit NissimVP Marketing, Viola Group
www.viola-notes.com
{ A Viola Notes Presentation }
• It’s achieved its goals • It ‘Wows’ participants and keep them raving
about it for days (and even longer!)
You know that you’ve created a GREAT
corporate event when:
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In the following slides I’ll outline some aspects you can focus on to raise your event’s level of professionalism and boost its chances for success, even with limited resources.
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First, some things to consider before you
even start:
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IDENTIFYYOUR
PRIORITIES
Make sure you’re clear on which elements are most important to focus on and which are less crucial to the overall success of the event.
There’s always a deadline and always a budget, so knowing which elements you should focus on will help you pull off an event that will win over both the attendees and your boss.
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YOUR BUDGET MAY BE LIMITED, BUT YOUR IMAGINATION NEEDN’T BE.
Whether your budget is big or small, you still have the power to organize a memorable event.
If your budget is big, then you have more freedom to let your imagination run wild, but even if your budget is small, if the main part of the event is interesting and creative, people will still be glad they came and they’ll be impressed with you as the organizer.
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AIM FOR YOUR ATTENDEES TO FEEL LIKE THE EVENT WAS WORTHWHILE.
Although your main priority is your company’s goals (brand awareness, sales, lead generation etc.), always think about your audience – why are they coming to this event and what will they benefit from most?
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BEFORE THE EVENT
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Build an interesting agenda with enticing speakers.
TIP #1
• If your speakers deliver a brilliant, insightful presentation it will reflect on your brand as the organizer of the event, even if it doesn’t involve a “hard sell” of your company.
• People don’t like listening to obvious marketing and sales messages. They appreciate content that adds value, be it a best-practice presentation or just purely inspirational.
• Select the best speakers you can, provide them with guidelines regarding your goals, expectations and length of their time slot, and specifically ask them to avoid self-promotion and focus on the audience’s interests.
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Networking time is very important.TIP #2
Always think about networking time when you plan the event’s agenda:If you want people to be focused and seated during the event, allow time for networking and coffee breaks. Not only they will be more relaxed during the presentations, but networking is one of the reasons that people go to events in the first place, so let them enjoy it.
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Personalize your invitations and offer short and user-friendly registration forms.
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TIP #3
Personalizing your invitations is much more engaging than receiving a generic invitation that was sent to everyone.Highlight the RSVP button so that it will be clear to people how to register & try to avoid collecting RSVPs via email. It’s an old-fashioned method that can get messy and inefficient very quickly (unless it’s a small event of up to 20 people).
Automate invitations & registrations with Event Management platforms.
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EventBrite and Meetup.com are very popular. Splash is another intuitive and easy-to-use platform
that offers RSVP collection, ticketing services and management of invitee lists and has amazing design features.
A couple of other emerging event management platforms include Evolero, which focuses on repeat events, and Bizzabo which has great social and mobile event features.
Make sure that your form is as short as possible
so that the registration process is quick and fuss-free. Only collect the most relevant information.
If you’re preparing name tags for participants, be sure to collect the attendee and company names, both of which are crucial when networking.
There are some great free (or low-cost)online tools you can use like:
The design of the invitation is crucial.
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Tip #4
A beautifully designed, slick invitation suggests that the event will be equally as impressive and increase the odds that the recipient will want to attend.
Include the key details in the invitation: The name of the event and topic, venue, date, time and your contact information for inquiries.
If you don’t have an in-house graphic designer or can’t afford to hire one, you can still create impressive invitations on your own for free (or almost free), using tools like Splash, Smore, and Canva.
Make sure that your event is ‘Social’-ready before, during & after the event.
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Tip #5
Most online event platforms offer social features and on-site check-in options. If you want to create buzz around your event, this is a great way to do it.
Don’t forget to create a #hashtag in advance to leverage the social mentions and include the hashtag in the invitation.
#
DURING THE EVENT
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A flawless event requires attention to the smallest details and preparation for unexpected
hiccups and problems.
Create a master slide deck to
present the agenda, goals and speakers.
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Tip #6
Collect all presentations and videos in advance and upload them to one central laptop (preferably your own). Your slide deck should include: A “welcome” message, the event’s agenda, goals, and each of your speakers (one slide per speaker), with a hyperlink to his/her presentation. This way you can avoid wasting time on uploading the presentation files and connecting to different laptops, and achieve a seamless flow to the program. Most importantly, put the same file with all speakers’ presentations on a back-up laptop, just in case the original laptop stops working in the middle of the event.
Prepare “5 Minutes Left” & “1 Minute Left”
signs
Tip #7
Timing is everything, and one of the signs of professionalism at events is sticking to the planned agenda.
Hopefully all your speakers will follow your guidelines, but just in case they are carried away and lose track of time, you can subtly show them your “5 minutes left” and “1 minute left” signs while they are speaking to remind them that they must wrap up, ensuring that your event continues to run according to your planned schedule.
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Tip #8
Sometimes the Q&A session is even more interesting than the presentation itself, so allow time for people to ask questions. If you want to encourage them to participate you can prepare 1-2 questions in advance and ask one of your “friends” in the audience to be the first to ask them. But again, it is important to stick to a time limit in order to avoid deviating from the program.
Allow time for Q&A.
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Tip #9 Whether you’re organizing a roundtable for 20 people at your offices or a 200-person customer meeting in an external venue, make sure that your brand is noticeable.
Company branding at the event.
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In addition to displaying the company logo on the screen (in the agenda deck I mentioned earlier), you can also print the event program for participants, provide your company memo papers for attendees to take notes and print signs or even your company logo on other items if your budget allows.
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One item which is great for branding is the name-tag ‘string’ (or ‘lanyard’) because it appears in the event photos and helps people remember your brand’s association with the event long after it’s over.
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AFTERTHE EVENT
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Tip#10
Send ‘Thank You’ Emails
It’s important to send a personal ‘thank you’ email to the event speakers, but just as importantly to your audience. This email can be used for sharing event photos, presentations, media coverage, and other important messages. It’s also a good opportunity to ask for feedback.
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Tip#11
Plan your follow-up event/campaign
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Leverage the success of a completed event and the feedback that you receive from your attendees to help plan future events and activities.
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Thank You!
About Hila Shitrit Nissim
Hila is VP Marketing at Viola Group, Israel’s premier technology oriented private equity investment group, with over $2 Billion under management.
“When you’ve been organizing corporate events for over a decade as I have, you learn a thing or two along the way, like which elements are more important to focus on and which are less crucial in the overall scheme of things.”
Click here to read the original post that this presentation was based on.
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