Business Planning

Mistakes to Avoid When Planning a Corporate Event

By Samik

5 Mins Read

Published on: 06 February 2021

Last Updated on: 23 December 2024

Corporate Event

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From product launches to conferences, team building events to seminars, planning successful corporate events can be tricky! Unless you have the right information.

Where do you start? How do you ensure that you stick to the stipulated budget? How do you go the extra mile to keep your attendees happy?

Fear not! It doesn’t have to be as complicated as you expect. Below, you will find a list of the various mistakes to avoid, thus helping to keep you on the right track.

Mistakes You Make While Planning Corporate Events

We all make mistakes from time to time. However, making mistakes while planning a corporate event is a big NO. As a professional planner planning a corporate event, I need technique and understanding.

Therefore, understanding these mistakes will help you avoid them; here is a small rundown of all the mistakes that you need to avoid to be a master event planner.

Here we go!

Budgeting Negligence

As a planner, your job is not just about keeping the drinks flowing or getting the DJ. It is also about maintaining the budget. Money makes the world go around, and your job is to keep the money flowing.

As a planner, you need to make sure that every little detail is planned and organized. Subsequently, you have enough money to afford and pay for the whole thing. Therefore, having a financial understanding is crucial.

Be realistic and allocate funds effectively. Do not skimp or be over-generous. These two extreme actions can really make things difficult.

Not Having a Contingency Plan

Remember Murphy’s law? If you can anticipate a problem or see a problem from a mile away, the problem is real and approaching closer. Therefore, if you think that your plan might capsize, have a backup one up and ready.

As a planner, your job is to plan effectively. Therefore, you must make sure that you have enough understanding of the importance of a contingency plan. You must remember that one or the other thing would end up capsizing.

Therefore, you must have a plan ready when that happens. In other words, you must be real and anticipate problems. Have backup plans for everything.

Not only that, if you are in the position of delegating, delegate some of the planning work. Have a person come up with a backup plan and can step in last minute.

Trust us, this will get you through bad days.

Poor Venue Selection

Do not select a venue based solely on the budget. Sounds contradictory to our budgeting advice. However, you must consider selecting the venue on the budget and the requirements.

In other words, if your event is set to host 1500 people, do not get a venue that will be able to host only 1000 people. This gross mismanagement will save money but put your reputation at stake.

Therefore, follow the requirement SOP and analyze the crowd. This will help you get to the right venue with ease.

Neglecting to Get Tech-ready

Having the right technology in place is a critical aspect of the vast majority of corporate events these days. You will need to organize projectors, screens, adaptors, microphones, etc., and be prepared to handle any tech-related issues that may arise before and during the event.

In this regard, it is certainly worthwhile to hire a tech expert to assist you in steering clear of any mishaps.

Not Keeping the Drinks Flowing

Booze plays a rather significant role in helping some people loosen up at a corporate event, so be sure to keep it flowing by hiring reputable event bartenders, such as those at eventbartenders.com. There are several bartending packages to choose from to suit your event and your pocket.

Forgetting About the Five Senses

The goal is to ensure that everyone who attends your conference or product launch has an incredible time, right? One way to make doubly sure that this goal is achieved is to appeal to your guests’ five senses:

Is the venue warm and inviting without being too hot, humid, or stuffy?

Have you decorated it with stimulating visuals and appropriate décor/marketing material?

Is there a pleasant aroma in the air?

Is there music playing that your guests will enjoy?

Have you provided a selection of food that will appeal to everyone’s tastes?

Tick all of these boxes, and you’ll be one step closer to putting smiles on the faces of every single one of your attendees.

Forgetting to Capture the Event

There are so many reasons why it is a good idea to hire a photographer and/or a videographer to capture the essence of your corporate event. For instance, if there are going to be speeches or knowledge-sharing, a videographer will be there to record everything for future reference.

Further to this, photographers and videographers will also produce valuable content that you can use to educate employees and customers/clients, as well as for marketing purposes on your website and social media pages.

Not Communicating Effectively

You will need to send out invitations to your guests – but that definitely isn’t where communication regarding the event should begin and end. You should also follow up with your guests a week before the event, as well as the day before, to keep it top-of-mind. Finally, take the time to contact all guests on the days after the event has taken place for feedback considering their experiences.

This is a great way to generate insights to help you in planning future affairs and also demonstrates to your guests that you truly care about their satisfaction and opinions.

The Wrap!

Now that you know how to avoid getting it wrong, you can focus your attention on getting it right. Here’s to planning a corporate event that none of your attendees will be quick to forget.

If you liked this piece of content, then do let us know. Subsequently, leave feedback to help us understand what we can do to vetter ourselves. Thank you, and have a great day ahead.

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Samik

Samik is a writer with 2+ years of experience in his pocket and a genuine interest in supply chain and logistics industry. He’s inquisitive and an Epistemophile who loves exploring industries like supply chain, business, finance, etc. When taking a break from his curiosity for logistics, he can be seen hyping over global phenomenon, documentary films, and motorbikes.

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