What’s the difference between taking your 2 staff members to the pub after work on a Friday night and The Oscars? In one sense, not very much – they’re both corporate events.
Most corporate events will of course fall between the above mentioned two – not just in terms of stature and expense, but more importantly in terms of purpose.
Understanding the purpose of any corporate activity is key to its success. Doing something because that’s what your competitors are doing is not reason enough. You need to be absolutely focused on what you want to achieve.
There are all kinds of corporate events, and each will tend to serve a specific purpose (though certain events will serve multiple purposes). Typical examples might include:
- Christmas parties or incentive trips (purpose – staff reward)
- Staff fun-days (purpose – boosting staff morale)
- Team-building and seminar events (purpose – staff improvement/staff training)
- Hospitality events such as dinners or sporting occasions (purpose – client/supplier reward/lure)
- Conferences / award ceremonies / trade shows (purpose – upping industry visibility)
- Product launches (purpose generating press / PR)
- Fundraisers (purpose – developing charity / community affiliation)
- Networking events (purpose – expanding and developing organisational ties)
Irrespective of the exact nature of the event, the likelihood is that it will fall somewhere within the realms of what one would call ‘marketing’ and as such would therefore nibble away at the marketing budget. With many other legitimate pressures on that budget, you need to be selective in what you choose to host and what events you choose to attend. They will all cost money, so you’ll need to learn how to get the biggest bang for your buck in your particular business. There are no hard and fast rules here – every business is different and what works for one business may not work for another.
In time, and after an element of trial and error, you’ll find out what best suits your business. And as long as the errors weren’t too costly, all will be well!
As a business owner, you’ll often have to rely on your gut feeling as to what corporate event paths to follow, as the efficacy of most events (effectively the ROI that they deliver) is very difficult to assess.
I’m sure there are some highly complex algorithms knocking about – no doubt produced by top ivory tower marketing academics – that purport to assess this, but ultimately they do very little to help you decide how much to invest (if indeed anything at all) in your forthcoming product launch, let alone where to have it and how to do it.
For that, you’ll need a professional event organiser who ought to be able to extract from you quite detailed aims and aspirations for the event and then work within your budget to produce something tailored, targeted and ultimately worthwhile.
As a start-up, your corporate events focus is initially less likely to be on staff and suppliers and more likely to be on potential clients, industry positioning and PR (consumer or other). And given the naturally limited resources available to most start-ups and SMEs, it might be wise to stick to events that you attend rather than events that you host.
Trade shows, conferences and networking events all present prime opportunities to develop the foundations for your business in terms of positioning and building relationships with clients, suppliers and peers. There are very few overnight successes in business – most are borne of slow-burn development, hard work and targeted strategy.
Once you have progressed beyond the early stages of a start-up, and hosting events becomes relevant, affordable and potentially useful, there are just a few simple rules to follow.
- Be clear and precise about your aims
- Ensure that you have the correct audience
- Deliver you message clearly and succinctly
- Do not skimp on food and drink
- Entertain your guests
- Incorporate one unique element – a little something that will either help entice your audience to turn up, or at least ensure that they leave with an indelible memory.
There are also a couple of classic pitfalls that people make time and time again when organising events – and these really do need to be avoided.
The first is putting on a dull event. First impressions are paramount and putting on an ill-conceived event can be somewhat similar to flushing cash down a toilet. If your first hosted event is a damp squib, you’ll have lost that particular audience for good. It’s not always a question of budget, as creativity counts for a lot, but the base budget needs to be substantial enough to enable you to pull off whatever it is that you’re trying to do. So if the funds simply aren’t there, don’t pare the event down to its skeletal form, but rather wait until they are available and do it properly.
And at the other end of the scale, take note … you could put on the most lavish and spectacular event on the planet but if you haven’t’ got the right audience in the room to witness it, then ‘cui bono’ ?
Events are of course very much a relevant part of corporate life, but they need to be handled and delivered with care. As a general guiding principle to start-ups, the secret is not to go for too much too soon.
Mish Toszeghi is co-owner and director of KP Events Ltd, a London based event management agency with almost 20 years’ experience working across the private, corporate and public event sectors.
A one-stop-shop for all your event needs, KP are happy to help with anything from providing an unforgettably good band for your Christmas do, to producing a full-on award ceremony that includes the provision of venue, catering, PA, stage and all necessary production elements, as well as all ancillary aspects from speech writing to trophy engraving.
Take a look at www.kpevents.co.uk
+44 (0) 20 8883 7411