21 Jun How to Plan a Corporate Event: The Ultimate Guide
How to Plan a Corporate Event: The Ultimate Guide
Are you in charge of planning your company’s corporate event? The Comedian Company works with businesses every day that need corporate entertainment, and we know how much goes into planning a successful event. Planning a company event can be overwhelming, so let’s take a look at what it takes to make it successful!
Pre-Planning Checklist
Let’s first look at what you should consider when planning a company event.
What is Your Goal?
The most important thing to do first is to define your goal. What is the purpose of your event? Are you trying to attract customers, increase brand awareness, or attract investors? Or is your event employee-focused and you want to educate, increase skills, or simply provide your team with a wellness day? Once you have a clear goal and objective for your event, you can move on to other preparatory tasks.
Set Date & Define Budget
Now that you know the purpose of your corporate event, you need to set a date and plan a budget. Choose a date that is not a holiday weekend or during a similar event where your target audience may be attending. Check for internal conflicts with your management and probably avoid Fridays, especially if travel is involved.
Next, determine your budget. Break it down into fixed costs vs variable, and give yourself a percentage, ideally like 20% at least, for contingency to cover unavoidable costs. There is an app called EventMobi that will help you track your budget with your spending, or you can keep this information manually to make sure you do not go over.
Handle Logistics
Next, you want to handle the nitty-gritty logistics.
Choose the Venue
When you choose a venue, you want it to align with your budget, obviously, but also match your event type. Find somewhere easily accessible to everyone. If you have a lot of people coming in for travel, try to find something located near the airports or at least on highways, so it’s easy for them to find.
You also want to choose a spot that offers the technology capabilities that you need for the event. Also, can it accommodate a basic setup for your estimated headcount?
Take Care of Transportation
You want to make it easy for everyone to get to your event. Sometimes you may want to use shuttles, especially if you are hosting your event at multiple locations around town. Consider private cars for the C Suite and Uber or Taxis to or from the airport or hotels. You will want to coordinate so that everyone can get to the event on time.
Integrate Tech
In today’s modern world, with the use of AI technology, there’s never been a better time to integrate specific tech into your corporate event to make everything run more smoothly. From electronic badges for everyone in attendance to your very own event app, there’s plenty of cool tech that can make your event better.
Choose Food and Entertainment
Let’s face it, one of the most memorable parts of any event is the food or the entertainment. People look back and remember how they felt at an event. When someone asks about your event, you want them to say something like, “Oh, yes, that event had the funniest corporate comedian I’ve ever seen live!” or “They served the tastiest wings at their event.”
So while your boss may be telling you that entertainment is not important, we beg to differ. The Comedian Company has worked with many corporate event planners, and we know how successful they have been when they use one of our entertaining clean comedians. Make your event memorable by hiring a comedian with The Comedian Company.
Research Your Target Audience
Next, you want to learn about your audience so you can better serve their needs.
Define Your Target Audience
One of the most important aspects of any event, aside from the obvious details, is researching your target audience. Who do you want to be at your event? What do they need or are interested in? What do their purchasing habits look like? What are their job responsibilities? What industry do they work in? How old are they?
You can find some of your data online, through social media, or use tools like SparkToro to research your ideal audience. If you have an email list, you can use SurveyMonkey to request more data. There are even all-in-one event and data-gathering tools like Bizzabo, where you can access audience data and more.
How Can Your Event Meet Their Needs or Wants?
Once you have gathered your audience data, you can decide how you can meet their wants and needs through your event. You can then incorporate information, entertainment, and even wellness, like yoga or massage, to show your target audience that you are more than just business; you are about human beings.
Execution
Finally, you are about ready to execute your company event.
Create the Event Agenda
Once you know what you will include, create your schedule for the day. It needs to be organized and structured, and you can break everything down into an itinerary with 15-30 minute breaks. This gives guests time in between activities to use the bathroom or grab a drink of water, without feeling rushed through everything.
Make sure you print a hard copy for everyone, especially staff. It’s a good idea to do a run-through to make sure you have enough time for everything that you have scheduled.
Market, Market, Market
You want to be sure to market your event well so people know about it. You can send it out to an email list, post on social media, or have fliers made and passed out at local businesses. According to event planning statistics, social media marketing is the most used form.
You could also team up with a business in your niche and see if they’d mail fliers with packages to their customers. You want to make sure enough people know about your event so it’s successful.
Host the Event!
You will want to pre-check all tech and ensure everything is set up, including speakers and entertainment, before the event. Prepare for potential issues by having backup plans, such as extra equipment or alternative entertainment options.
Make sure volunteers and staff know their roles and how to handle unexpected situations. Doing a trial run the day before can help identify problems early, so you’re ready to host a seamless event and handle surprises confidently.
Afterward, send follow-up emails to stay in touch and share photos or highlights to reinforce the success of your event.
Choose The Comedian Company for Your Event Entertainment
Planning a corporate event can feel overwhelming, but with so many tools and event planning checklists, there’s no reason why you can’t throw the best event for your business.
For corporate event entertainment, whether it’s a hilarious comedian, a mystical magician, or a keynote speaker with experience, The Comedian Company has you covered.
Entertainment is one of the main aspects of any good corporate event and makes your event more memorable than the others your guests are attending. Reach out today and tell us a bit about your corporate event.
We’ll match you with a corporate comedian who understands your niche and can make everyone feel more connected while also making them laugh so hard they’ll never forget it.