Planning an event can be extremely daunting - not only is a huge amount of responsibility placed on you with regards to sticking to the budget; but it can feel like attendees will be watching your every move, and holding you personally responsible for whether the event is a success or not. But don't worry, here at Conferences Group we've got some great tips to help you plan that perfect event that EVERYONE will be talking about!

Call Conferences Group

It's our job to help you find the perfect venue! Simply give us a call, and let us know whereabouts you want the venue to be, how many people it's for, your budget and any other information you want us to know and we'll help find you the venue that's right for you at the best possible price.

Draw up the perfect guest list

Is it just employees that you're inviting, or will you be inviting other people outside of your company too? Send out invitations in plenty of time, so guests can RSVP. Decide which is the best way to send out the invitations: if it's just your employees who will be attending, an email may be the best way. Alternatively, you could instead create webpage for the event. Finally, remember that not everyone will be able to attend, so you'll need to bear that in mind when finding a venue and organising the catering.

Stick to your budget

Draw up a budget and stick to it! Whilst you may think that money can buy the best in terms of things like the venue and catering; you need to remember that it will be you as the organiser of the event who will be giving your employees a good time, not all the money you've spent. Besides, you wouldn't want to blow your yearly budget on one day and spend the rest of the year regretting it, would you?

Plan your day

Make sure you have a clear plan as to what you want to get out of the event, and then schedule in times for each section. Not only will this ensure you get everything covered that you wanted to; but by distributing the schedule to delegates will mean that they can prepare themselves for the day ahead.

Have a back-up plan

So you've planned your day down to the minute. Now you need to carry out a quick risk assessment and have a plan B in place for each activity just in case the worst thing possible could go wrong. If it's a team building event you're organising, and you've planned the perfect exercise outdoors, make sure you have an alternate one that can be carried out indoors in case it decides to rain.

Section off separate areas

Make sure there's another room that employees can relax during the breaks, so that they can chill out and take their mind off of the information that they've been digesting; or maybe do some networking. Spending the whole day in one room can bore employees, and mean they can lose interest in the event, meaning productivity will be lower.

Get a great photographer

After planning the perfect event, you'll want a photographer to capture the moment, and it's best to hire one whose had plenty experience in photographing corporate events. With a bit of investigating, you can find yourself a photographer who will not only take pictures of the event, but will provide you with images for your social media, press releases and any other activities you wish to show everyone what a great event organiser you are!

Author: Gary Burgess
12-Jun-2014