How to plan for a successful business event

I am currently planning a major regional event here in the UK. If you have to plan a prestigious event yourself, you might appreciate my guide on the aspects of arranging an event, from start to finish!

1. Define your aims of the event
What is the concept? Before you can start to organise your event, write down a few lines about what the event is going to be about and what you hope to achieve. It’s helpful at this stage to have a meeting with everyone involved to discuss the event. Here is a list of points to cover:
• Decide on the subject for the event
• Discuss what you hope to achieve, for example
Raise the profile of your business/organisation
Network with some sales prospects in a relaxed environment
• When do you want to hold the event?
• Where do you want to hold it?
• Who do you want to come to the event? How many?
• How and where will you promote the event to ensure that they come along?
• Do you want outside speakers? If so, who? What will they speak about?
• What budget do you have for the event?

THINGS TO CONSIDER:
• What else is going on at the same time as your event (both within your organisation and externally) – will this have an impact on your event?
• If you are, for example, running a training session, have you identified that there is a sufficient need for that particular topic?
• If you are inviting outside speakers, always make sure that, where possible, you have a ‘reserve’ choice in case your first choice isn’t available. If you have existing contacts that is fine but make sure you know they will be competent and “on message” - if in doubt contact an agency for advice (I recommend http://www.speakers-uk.com/ for no other reason that they will always spend time with you to make sure that you have a list of the right people at the right price). Watch out for expenses clauses as they can be hidden costs which mess up your budget.

2. Planning and logistics
Nominate a lead person to keep track of all the tasks for the event
what has been done
what still needs to be done
who needs to do it
when it needs to be done by
budget and actual expense

Create a spreadsheet detailing all the tasks for the event. This ensures that all tasks for the event are recorded in one place, so that nothing is missed or forgotten.

Hold regular progress meetings for everyone involved in the event to ensure that everyone is aware of what stage the event is at, as well as any problems that have arisen. Any further tasks arising as a result of these meetings should be assigned and logged in the planning spreadsheet. Depending on the number of people involved, you may also find it useful to take minutes of the meeting.

Here are some of the main areas you will need to consider – although it will vary depending on the nature of your event.

Timescale
• Allow plenty of time to plan and organise the event, particularly if you are inviting outside speakers as their diaries fill up quickly. A month is probably the bare minimum – more if it’s a large event with many speakers.
• Check deadlines!!
• Make sure that everything is arranged in plenty of time before the event, so that you’re not left with a last-minute panic the day before.
• If you find yourself with only a few people signed up with only 2-3 weeks to go before your event, don’t panic. This is fairly normal - we find that most people don’t sign up to our events until a week or two beforehand.

Venue and catering
• Decide on a venue for your event, bearing in mind the following factors (depending on the nature of the event, your needs will vary):
Location – is it easily accessible for your intended audience?
Size – ideally you want a venue that will fit everyone in, but not so big that you have lots of empty space
Cost – can you afford it? If your event has a charitable cause attached to it, please remember that some venues offer a discount for charities and not-for-profit organisations, so it’s worth asking
Availability – many popular venues book up months (even years) in advance, so you may need to hunt around
Facilities –do they provide catering? Do they have disabled access? Event equipment (e.g. data projector)?
Cancellation policy – if you have to cancel your event for any reason, you should check whether you’ll lose any money
• Once you’ve booked your venue, check when it needs to be paid for – then make sure it’s paid on time!
• Decide what catering you need for your event (this may be dependent on your budget).
People tend to be happy if they’re well fed and watered – so make sure there’s enough food and drink for everyone, as this is one of things they’re sure to remember about your event!
If you’re using an outside catering company, check if they have a delivery charge, as this can add to your costs.
Ask your attendees if they have any special dietary requirements and, where possible, try to meet their requirements. As vegetarianism is fairly common now, make sure there’s enough vegetarian food (as a rough guide, order half veggie, half non-veggie).
• Check the deadline for ordering catering – and again, make sure it’s paid on time!

Speakers
• Once you’ve decided who you would like to speak at your event, invite them. Initially, this can be a phone call to check their availability, but this should be followed up with an email/letter outlining:
What the event is about and when it is
What you want them to speak about, including a list of bullet points of issues you want them to cover
What time you would like them to speak (this is particularly important if it’s an all day event, as they may not be able to commit to a whole day)
Who else is speaking at the event
The intended audience for the event
The venue (if this has already been confirmed)
• Keep your speakers up-to-date with any changes to the event, and email them a full outline/agenda for the event once it is confirmed. You may also want to send them copies of any promotional material you produce. I like to meet my key speakers a week or so before the event to tie up any loose ends.
• For seminars/conferences in which your speakers are giving formal presentations, it is useful to prepare handouts for the delegates of all the presentations, as well as speaker biographies. Therefore, you will need this information beforehand from your speakers. Tell them that you need their presentation and biography at least a couple of days before the event – although you may find that you don’t receive it until the day of the event! If this is the case, ask them to bring copies with them.
• It’s also useful to have the presentation beforehand so that you can load it onto the computer you’re using, to avoid any last minute IT hitches. It also helps to prevent any surprises in the presentations!

Complying with legislation (UK)
• Public liability insurance is required
• Public entertainment licence/gaming licence may be required for fundraising events – check with your local authority about their requirements for public events
• Risk assessment – guides are available from the Health and Safety Executive website
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns

Invitations and promotion
Once you’ve decided who you want to come to your event – what type of people – you need to work out the best way to get them to come to your event.
• Think about your event and the people that you want to attend – what is so special about it? Why should people come to your event and not someone else’s? What will they get out of attending your event? List at least three reasons – these are your unique selling points (USPs) and should form the basis of any promotional material that you create for your event.
• If you have a mailing list for your target audience, send personalised invites to them. Be sure to include details of how to book a place or where to get further information. The invites can be sent by email or letter. Both have their pros and cons and which method you choose depends on your resources.
• If your organisation has a website, list the event on it. If other organisations working in the same field have event diaries on their website, ask them to list it on there.
• Find out if there is an e-news that is sent to people in your target audience. If so, see if you can get the event listed in it. This is a particularly good way to promote your event, as the recipients will have chosen to receive the e-news and are therefore interested in the field.
• If you plan your event far enough in advance, you can also have it listed in the events page of magazines and newsletters. Again, check what your target audience reads – and don’t forget to check the deadline!
• Depending on your budget, you can also get flyers printed for the event. It’s worth making sure that these are printed to a high quality, as this will make your organisation appear much more professional – which is particularly important if you’re trying to attract a professional audience! Again, check schedules with printers before committing yourself – there’s nothing worse than having a box full of flyers and no time to distribute them before the event.
• If you do get flyers printed, plan where you’re going to distribute them and the resources involved.
• You may want to invite the press, particularly if it’s an outdoor/family event. Write a press release regarding the event or get someone like the Press Release Writing Service to write and distribute one (http://www.pressreleasewritingservice.com/). It’s usually best to invite your local press rather than a national newspaper or magazine – people are more likely to read their local newspaper cover to cover than any other! Also, if one of the aims of your event is to raise the profile of your organisation, or get more local people involved, then some local press coverage is a great (free!) way to do this. If in doubt, use a local marketing and PR company.
• Once people have signed up to the event, confirm their booking – either by email, phone or letter. Ask them where they heard of the event, so you can evaluate what promotion methods work best.

3. The day before and on the day
Hopefully everything should have run smoothly up until now, and there are no last minute panics…

The day before
• If appropriate to the event, compile a list of all the attendees and make name badges (don’t forget the speakers!)
• If appropriate, create and compile delegate packs. What you include is up to you and depends on the nature of your event, but it could include an agenda, copies of the presentations, speaker biographies, delegate lists, feedback forms, promotional material about your organisation, upcoming events and details of further suggested reading.
• Decide who is going to do what during the day, and make sure everyone knows what their role is, where they need to be and at what time.
• Create a checklist of everything that you need to take to the event. Starting collecting it all together in one pile, and tick things off the list once they’ve been added to the pile.
• Decide who is going to be responsible for taking the materials to the venue, and who is going to take it back.
• Book a taxi to take you to venue in plenty of time to set up before the event starts.

On the day
• All the logistics of the event have been pre-organised so you need to stick to that but obviously prepare for the unexpected (rain, delayed trains, speakers not turning up etc)
• Appoint a chair, if appropriate, to start the event (maybe the lead person who would know the speakers and audience). This can include:
welcome attendees and inform them of what will take place throughout the event:
the purpose/objectives of the event
introduce the speakers and the presentations
when Q&A session will take place
when breaks and refreshments will be provided
remind attendees to complete their feedback forms and return along with their name badges
provide practical information (facilities, cloakrooms, fire exit and assembly point)
• Make people feel welcome and remember to smile! – if problems arise remember we are all humans.

To collect data about attendees (and to know who didn't attend) have a spare person available to register people – even if that is just collecting delegates' business cards.

Follow up and evaluation
Evaluation and follow up after the event is equally as important as the planning and organisation, and shouldn’t be forgotten.
• Thank the speakers (and volunteers) for their time – by email, phone or letter
• Provide general feedback on the event to your staff and remember to let them know if they have done a good job
• If possible (or appropriate) email the attendees – ask if they need further information, invite them for further dialogue or to sign up to mailing lists for future events
• Keep track of the feedback and importantly evaluate – revisit every 6 month
• List and take in what worked and what didn’t
• Make notes of feedback suggested by attendees
• Nothing is ever right first time, so it’s important that you take note of what didn’t work so well and make improvements in the future!

Well, I have my event to start planning so here goes..........................