Corporate Event Planning: Do’s and Don’ts
February 26, 2022
If you’ve ever hosted a corporate event, than you’ve probably experienced one or more that haven’t gone so well. Attendees barely mingle, we feel the pressure of having to continuously come up with conversation to avoid complete embarrassment, and everyone leaves much earlier than we originally expected they would. It’s a complete fail and, typically, we have no idea why! Was it the mix of people we invited? The weather? The food? Sometimes we just can’t figure it out. Yet, the good news is that there are numerous ways to avoid hosting a corporate event that goes wrong. It’s all about the pre-planning and set-up.
Corporate Event Planning – The Do’s:
- Invite Everyone.
- When hosting a corporate invite, it’s important to invite absolutely everyone. And by everyone, I mean interns to top executives. In doing this, you not only set up for a welcoming and inclusive environment, but you also avoid any “event drama.” Inviting everyone will avoid creating any negative energy because no one will be talking about who was or was not invited, and trying to guess why.
- Amp it Up!
- By “amping” your event up, you’ll give your office something to look forward to. They’ll be excited and therefore, bring their best attitude upon attending. Let everyone know that this will be a fun event filled with socializing, games, food, drinks, and so on – not just another boring meeting.
- Plan in Advance.
- Planning your event in advance will not only relieve stress for you, but it will give you more time to amp it up at your office as well. If this is a big event, you need to remember that nice venues need to be booked months in advance, as well as caterers and DJ’s. Planning the overall “tone” of your event, and getting all the details in place ahead of time, will allow you to inform your office of who they can and/or should bring, what they should wear, appointments for things such as nails and hair they should make, babysitters they should call and/or various arrangements they need to make, and most importantly, the time and date they need to plan ahead for in all their busy schedules.
- Make it Fun.
This sounds like a simple one, but there’s actually a lot that goes into making a corporate event fun. Why? Well, you probably don’t want to set up for the same kind of fun you would have on a night out with your friends. In other words, you don’t want the fun of your event to center around alcohol, although it’s something you may want to include. With this, it’s important to pick a wide selection of food, maybe some more interesting or unique beverages, and think about games or dancing. What will the theme of your event be? Or will you even have one?
Corporate Event Planning: The Don’ts
- Charge Admission.
- This is a big no, no. You want attendees to feel welcomed and honored by the company at a corporate event. You want to create an atmosphere of gratitude for the company, and appreciation for everyone within it. Charging an admission fee will only create negative feelings of attendees wondering why they’re the one’s who have to fork over the money at an event the company is hosting.
- Lose your Charisma!
- Remember that because you’re the one hosting this event, everyone is going to be looking to you to set the tone. If you present yourself as “too busy” and/or stressed out, your attendees are going to feel the same way. Therefore, make sure to put on a smile and participate in the event, while simultaneously hosting.
- Pick a Bad Date.
- Picking a date is one of the most simple tasks to hosting a corporate event, and yet something people mess up on all the time. Therefore, you must remember to check the company calendar before choosing when this event will happen. Asking around about the schedules of various groups of employees or and/departments can also be helpful in choosing a date, just in case there happens to be events going on in the near future you weren’t aware of.
