Event Planning: Understanding What’s Best

The evolution of event planning and management is something that fascinates and drives us. We know that the way to stand out is to keep learning and stay close to the ground in terms of popular culture and tech trends. We need to consider the world our consumers live in. It’s digitised, it’s mobile-first and it’s a two-way-feedback-street. Expectations are high. Standards are even higher. So what are some of the best practices of modern event planning and what are the key things we can take away from them? Let’s start with a recap to understand what the world of events encompasses, shall we?

DIFFERENT TYPES OF EVENT MANAGEMENT

So, in the world of corporate events (the world that this blog post lives) there are a few types to mention, all of which differ in set up, layout and structure. Of course, these come to life in different ways but in a nutshell, we’ll define them as:

• Roadshows and tradeshows (these can be single, or ongoing)
• Internal company events (celebrating individuals or milestones)
• Charity-centric events and fundraisers (often to boost CSI profiles)
• Team-building or upskilling (think seminars and conferences)

EVENT MANAGEMENT STARTS WITH EVENT PLANNING

Read that heading again. It’s that important. In order to run a successful event, you need to plan. In our wanderings around the web, we came across this article on event management best practices which echoed the importance of planning. They also then outlined these 7 core elements as steps to consider if you’re going to roll out a strategy that’s scalable and suited to a broad audience: Goals, Budget, Marketing, Event Registration, Event Check-in Solution, Attendee Experience and (something we cover a bit further down) Event ROI. And we totally agree.

BEST PRACTICE: EVENT GOALS ABOVE ALL

Based on the type of event you’re planning and what you ultimately want to achieve through it, there are different things to that need to be focused on. Something important to keep in mind is that the successful running of an event is not the ultimate “achievement” you should be after. You should be setting your sights on strategic goals that meet business objectives (all the while ensuring whoever attends has the best experience possible, of course.). For example, some specific measurable goals that could be applied to corporate events include upskilling about new products so employees can better represent them, encouraging uptake of internal software enhancements for better internal process or even simple – but always important – morale boosting for a team.

But no matter what your specific goals may be, when event planning, it’s important to unpack the basics from the get-go. Understanding this will lay the foundation for the details that follow. It’ll also allow you to delegate the right responsibilities to the right people down the line. So don’t forget to:

• Be clear on who your audience is
• Be focused on your core content and how you’ll bring it to life
• Be single-minded in your objectives
• Be sure of the ways you’ll measure success

CORPORATE EVENTS: LET’S GET SPECIFIC

Fine, we’ll admit it. Conference event management may not sound like the “sexiest” type of event planning out there, but it’s brimming with opportunities for creativity and success. Nowadays there are ways to monitor the success of any corporate event but it’ll mean getting a few core things established ahead of time to make sure these are measurable and quantifiable. We wrote a blog post about experiential marketing ROI and thought it was also worth mentioning in the context of corporate event planning specifically. Sure, an approach to experiential events is different to that of corporate events but any event is not a success without ROI, so finding seamless ways to incorporate how you’ll approach it is hugely important. Here are some topline ways to track involvement, interest or interaction with your corporate event:

• A custom microsite or bespoke web page to host all details (including registration)
• Email marketing (to an opted-in data base, of course)
• Social media channels (for promotion, information and as a live customer service platform)

EVENT PLANNING: PEOPLE & PRACTICE MAKE PERFECT

With the technicalities and nuances of event planning these days, we’re lucky enough to face a huge amount of potential and options. It’s a multi-dimensional field. That’s why it’s so important to split up the roles and make sure you’ve got experts where it counts. In event planning, don’t settle for a jack of all trades. Need more inspo? Take a look at these suggested best practice ways to cut it in the event management world or mosey over here to read about event management courses and careers.

We’ll leave you with final thought. Sure, it’s important to continue to grow, disrupt and adapt in the events planning space but one things that doesn’t change is the need for personalisation. For the Jawbone crew, personalised event experiences and personal client relationships are incredibly important to us. Get in touch to find out how passionate we are about what we do, and how that passion can mean success for you.