While organising a corporate or company event can be a great way to raise your profile within the company and increase your experience in events planning. A company event can be a stressful event to plan. With a tremendous amount of money invested by a business and a level of expectation from employees, worker as well as customers and supplied, it is crucial to have an event that is both high-quality and makes a positive impact.

Follow our six easy steps to organise a company event.

Step one: define the event

One of the most common ways for an event to fail is the lack of definition from the start. Before you plan the event, its location and its content, you need to decide what the event is for and how it will work.

Whatever message you want your event to portray, from a celebration of a successful project or year or an awards ceremony or even a marketing event or project launch. The message of the event should be clear so that the whole occasion can unfold naturally. Appropriate activities and entertainment should be chosen in accordance with your theme, whether it is a relaxed, informal gathering or a black-tie event.

The best way to ensure your event is well defined it to come up with objectives of what you want the company event to achieve. Set the goals, reflect and measure them; that way you’ll make sure your event stays true to the message.

Step two: consider content

Following on from deciding the message, how are you going to get this message across during the event? Whether you choose guest speakers, demonstrations, team building activities or a meal. Consider the content that you want to include in the event and that will help you to structure the event allowing enough time and helping with important decisions such as venue, capacity, dates and start times.

For each aspect of content, ask yourself: does this add value to the event and portray the right message? If the answer is yes, then you’ll have great content that is crucial to your corporate event’s success.

Step three: start booking

One of the most challenging aspects of planning a company event is managing the many suppliers needed. Once you have decided the event, the theme and content; it is time to start sourcing the appropriate suppliers who can bring your event to life. Before you begin contacting suppliers, it is wise to have a list of essential details to hand such as;

• Number of guests
• Duration of the event
• Dietary requests
• Accessibility requirements
• Size of space required for you and your other suppliers.

You’ll then need to ask the suppliers for crucial information such as costings, insurance and cancellation policies.

Keep a note of every phone call and email, so you have all the details available in case an aspect is missed. For some suppliers and complex events, it may be worth using a project management tool so you can update all of the suppliers at the same time and they can communicate among themselves if needed.

Step four: communication

As well as maintaining contact with suppliers and keeping everyone in the loop for updates, additions and change, you need to communicate the event to the most important people: the guests. Utilise all the networks that you have at your disposal whether that is the company intranet, social media, emails or physical invitations. Make sure to spread the word and promote the event as something that is unmissable.

It is the people that make the event, so make sure that it is well-promoted so that it attracts guest and sets a positive tone for the whole event. Remember, misleading claims will cause a negative atmosphere which can kill the ambience of your event. Be honest, clear and enthusiastic to make your event a success.

Step five: budget

For company events, unexpected situations can occur, and with these, deviations usually bring additional expense. When budgeting, make sure to have a reserve put by so that you have to finances available for unforeseen costs and to accommodate additional requirements.

Keep your budget documentation up to date at all times, so you don’t miss any aspect or supplier out of your costings. It may be worth utilising a specific software to help you keep track of all your expenses easily.

Step six: be original

A sign of a great event is a talking point or an impression you’ve left which sticks in somebody’s mind. Consider the attention to detail and try to come up with new and innovative that leaves a great impression. So many company events and conferences pass people by as they are all a similar setup.

Try and think outside of the box to come up with a new idea, focus point or an unusual approach to a standard event aspect such as the awards ceremony or catering to make your event remarkable.