When it comes to planning a corporate event, a small mishap can quickly escalate into a nightmare. Of course, a lot is at stake! Plus, you have to be answerable to all the stakeholders. Whether you have some experience organising corporate events or are just looking for common pitfalls, read on to learn about some of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to corporate event planning, and how to avoid them at all costs – which are all things we’ve learnt organising countless successful corporate events as a leading event management company in London.
5 Corporate Event Planning Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
Mistake #1: Not setting well-defined goals for the corporate event
It’s always advisable to start the event planning process by establishing set goals and objectives for it. Therefore, you need to ask questions like: What are we trying to achieve with the event? Thinking in this direction will help you set high-level goals that are measurable.
Mistake #2: Not Giving Enough Importance to Audience Research
Before you start planning for an event, it’s crucial to know your audience well. You need to find out what motivates them, and what are their likes and dislikes, plus other event-specific information. This will help you gain more interest and engagement from your audience on the event day. Doing such research beforehand helps you to incorporate their interests into your event.
Mistake #3: Not promoting (or marketing) your event
There’s no reason for event marketing to be ignored! It’s crucial to actively engage the attendees not just on the event day, but much earlier than that. You can share with them regular updates via existing internal communication channels, email, social media, or even print media for that matter. This will help build up the excitement and momentum leading up to the main event day, but will also ensure that you don’t end up with an empty venue.
Mistake #4: Wrong budget allocation (or going overboard with the budget)
One of the major problems faced when planning for a corporate event, especially when you’re doing it for the first time, is not being able to clearly evaluate each purchase decision or expenditure. It’s always a good idea to make everyone aware of the required budget and allocating event managers to manage specific sections of the event. If you’re asking employees of your company to help organise the corporate event on top of their existing jobs, try offering an incentive so that they can focus on minimising the budget as far as possible and organise an event that achieves all the objectives you’ve set for it.
Mistake #5: Lack of on-site event management
Having a solid event agenda is a key ingredient for making a corporate event successful. However, if you don’t focus on delivering an appealing and engaging on-site experience, chances are – your attendees will certainly notice!
Some of the most common issues that inexperienced corporate event planners face on-site include lack of audience engagement, long queues, and inadequate food or beverage options. With a little bit of planning and on-site management, issues like these can be easily avoided.
Here are a couple of important questions you need to ask if you want to identify the gaps in your on-site experience and fix them:
Is your on-site event management team proactive?
When something goes wrong, it’s important to have a communication strategy in place to help you stay in control.
Is your on-site team understaffed?
It’s your responsibility as an event organiser to hire an on-site event management team that can get the job done with minimum hassle.
Final Thoughts
The success of a corporate event can be linked to the business reputation and the potential of future corporate events. Event management is not something to be taken lightly and every tiny bit of detail should be taken into consideration because if not then it can affect the successful delivery of the event.
It’s advisable to keep in mind some of the common event planning mistakes shared in this article when starting your event planning process. This will ensure your corporate event will provide your delegates or employees with a rewarding and memorable experience. If you’re not sure where to start, an event management company can guide you and your team through the process — not to mention do all the heavy lifting for you.
Want to learn more about how we can help you plan, organise, and deliver your upcoming corporate event? Contact us today!
