10 steps to a memorable business event

How do you organize a public or private event on behalf of your company?

By using the best practices.

While there are a multitude of professional events (trade fairs, congresses, open days, seminars, team-building, company parties, conferences, training sessions, cocktail parties, etc.), it is possible to identify the different phases in their creation.

Respecting these stages gives you a clear vision of the organization of your professional event, and brings you peace of mind. As any good organizer knows, a poorly put-together event can become a path strewn with pitfalls.

To help you avoid these pitfalls, take a look at our checklist of best practices in event organization!

See all software Project Management

Step 1: Set the objectives and format of your event

Questions to ask yourself

The very first question to ask yourself when organizing a business event is: why are you doing it?

• Increase brand awareness?
• Share your expertise with your peers?
• Communicate about a product launch?
• Convince potential investors?
• Improve your employer brand and talent retention rate?

Setting your objectives largely determines the format of the event, as well as the overall strategy to be adopted. A conference is a good opportunity to exchange ideas with professionals from your sector, while contact with your clientele is best established during a gala or festive evening.

Online events

More and more events are being organized online. And with good reason: this option offers a number of advantages:

• Keeping meetings running when you can't get together, such as during the Covid-19 confinement,
• reduced organization costs,
• increased event visibility, etc.

In addition, the proliferation of online events has been made possible by the development of a number of dedicated tools, designed to provide the same conditions as for a real event. These tools include :

• Hivebrite 👉 this community management platform offers features to simplify event organization (online ticketing, calendar, etc.), but also to hold and animate the online event. Thanks to videoconferencing and direct access via the event page, you can stay in touch with your community at all times.
• idloom.events 👉This user-friendly event managementsolution is extremely easy to use, from the creation of your website to the registration of your participants. Benefit from a modern, intuitive interfaceand innovative features to create, manage and run your online, hybrid or face-to-face events.
• Sofa collaboration 👉 this collaboration software enables you to virtualize meetings, by recreating event spaces online, as well as interaction possibilities between participants. Last but not least, Sofa collaboration offers a range of tools for animating your events (whiteboard, document management, etc.).

Step 2: Identify your audience

Who is your audience?

Defining your target audience is very important when organizing an event. If your event is aimed primarily at a BtoB audience, it will be different from one aimed at a BtoC audience. Understanding your target audience is essential to achieving your objectives.

It's crucial to answer the following questions:

• Which target audience best matches your objectives? It's important to remain realistic and ensure that your event will appeal to the audience you want to reach.
• What will your event bring to the audience? It's necessary to determine the concrete benefits that will encourage participants to get involved and take part in your event.
• How many people can you or do you want to invite? The number of participants will depend on your budget and logistical capabilities. It's important to evaluate the size of the event in relation to these constraints.
• What target audience would be willing to pay for an event that's not free, if that's what you're planning? If your event requires paid participation, it's crucial to understand which part of your target audience would be willing to pay to attend your event.

By clearly defining your target audience, you can tailor the nature of your event, choose the right topics and speakers, and create a relevant experience for your audience.

BtoB events require a specific approach. They can take many different forms (conferences, trade shows, webinars, workshops...). To tailor your event efficiently and optimally, we strongly recommend that you equip yourself with software adapted to BtoB event management.

Eventdrive, for example, is a benchmark in BtoB event management.It's a 100% Made in France, innovative, all-in-one platform specially dedicated to professional event management, offering you the tools you need to create, promote and manage your event efficiently. RGPD-certified, the solution lets you manage the entire lifecycle of your event thanks to advanced functionalities: Invitation, registration and attendee management, creation of websites and mobile apps dedicated to your event, live or asynchronous broadcasting, detailed post-event analytics and much more!

Step 3: Calculate your budget

Have you identified the objective and target audience for your corporate event? Setting your budget becomes the most important thing... and perhaps the most difficult if you're inexperienced or don't have the support of an event agency.

And with good reason: there are so many items of expenditure to consider:

• venue rental,
• hosts and hostesses,
• catering, if you're planning a meal,
• sound equipment,
• furniture,
• insurance, etc.

It's up to you to quantify what you can put on the table by asking yourself the right questions:

• Do you have an unlimited or fixed budget?
• What are your options for external funding (grants, sponsors, etc.)?
• What is the average cost of the various items you need to cover?
• Are you planning to charge for admission to your event, or make it free?
• Are you looking to break even or make a profit?
• Is your budget fixed or subject to change?

Keep an up-to-date document, an Excel spreadsheet for example, in which you record your cost estimates, cash receipts, outgoings, etc.

💡 We advise you to set aside a margin, essential for unforeseen expenses. Traditionally, when organizing an event, allow for 15% of the overall budget. Better safe than sorry!

Step 4: choose the right date

It's a shame to devote so much energy to preparing a professional event... only to find on the big day that visitors are few and far between because of the lack of a suitable date.

So take particular care in choosing the right date.

☑️ Avoid certain times, such as school vacations, public holidays, Mondays, periods identified as busy by your industry, etc.

☑️ Keep an eye on your competitors' event calendars, to avoid scheduling your event at the same time as theirs.

☑️ If you're planning an event outside working hours, in the evening for example, make sure it's a convivial one. Who wants to concentrate on a brainstorming session after a hard day's work?

☑️ Take into account the different constraints of those involved in your event, whether it's your suppliers or the teams you intend to mobilize.

☑️ Choose a date that's neither too close (to give speakers and guests time to get organized) nor too far away (to avoid no-shows).

Finally, think about the duration of the event. It all depends on what you have to say. If there's a lot to talk about, don't hesitate to plan your event over several days, so that speakers can present and debate in good conditions.

Step 5: Choose the venue

The venue plays a major role in the success of your event. That's why it's so important to reserve the right venue.

Type of venue

Reception hall, exhibition center, municipal hall... Choose a venue that's adapted to the expected attendance, especially in terms of size.

Depending on the type of event you're planning, the various facilities and amenities available at the venue also play a part in the equation: do you need a podium for your lectures? A kitchen to serve food to your guests? A refreshment area? Parking?

Location of the venue

It has to be easy to get to. Nothing annoys or discourages your visitors more than locating your event far from any transport infrastructure. Startups such as Kactus, Bird Office and Snapevent can help you find a venue efficiently.

💡 We recommend that you take the time to visit the venue before the big day. This way, you can avoid unpleasant surprises and get a better idea of the possibilities offered by the location.

Step 6: Draw up your back-plan

At this stage, it's a good idea to start drawing up a retroplanning schedule, i.e. a timetable based on a deadline. In this case, it's the date of your event.

Use this document to plan and monitor the progress of all the stages leading up to D-day, and thus anticipate any delays.

Example of a retroplanning for an event :

© Mayboutik

💡 While an Excel spreadsheet, as in the example above, may be suitable for planning the various operations to be carried out upstream of an event, a project management tool brings additional benefits: management of resources, deadline constraints, interdependencies between different tasks, budget, etc. What's more, this type of software, accessible to all in SaaS mode, facilitates collaborative working and coordination.

Step 7: Build your teams and select your service providers

Call in reinforcements from within the company...

Depending on the scale of the professional event you're planning, you may need to call on in-house support.

That's why we suggest building a team, in which everyone knows precisely their role, as well as the deadlines for their missions.

💡 Use your retroplanning, or your project management software, to organize logistics and have visibility over all the resources needed to develop your project!

... and outside

Volunteers, entertainers, caterers, hosts and hostesses... depending on the nature of your event, you'll need to call on external service providers.

Define all your requirements in advance, with the help of your team. You can even draw up a set of specifications.

Then, once you've determined your needs, proceed with the selection process. There are a number of qualities you'll want to bear in mind:

• meet your specifications 100%;
• be responsive. If your contacts aren't reactive when you contact them, this doesn't bode well for the more intense moments to come;
• be adaptable, because the events business is notorious for the unexpected;
• offer the best rates. That's why you need to get in early enough to get as many quotes as possible and compare them.

💡 There are platforms that make it easier to find service providers, such as EventAdvisor or Commeti.

When it comes to recruiting volunteers, you can also enlist the help of dedicated tools. One example is Recrewteer, a solution designed for efficient volunteer management: job creation, recruitment, communication, event coordination, meal and accommodation management... all your processes are simplified and automated. What's more, you can use the white-label software to further customize your event.

Step 8: Communicate your event

To attract the right crowd, you need a well-oiled event communications strategy.

Here too, everything depends on your budget and your target audience. Nevertheless, there are several communication media to consider.

☑️ your own website: easily relay all information relating to your event and benefit from good visibility, notably through natural referencing.

☑️ emailing: this is the ideal channel for sending invitations to the segment of your database selected in advance.

☑️ your social networks: these allow you to communicate easily with your audience, but also to distribute information to people with interests related to your event, via paid advertising. You don't need a huge budget: a few dozen euros can be enough to reach several thousand Internet users. It's up to you to choose your network according to your positioning and target audience: Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter Ads, etc.

☑️ Other networks, such as meetup.com, bring together members around specific, often professional, themes. Any way you can to raise the profile of your actions.

☑️ the press and public relations: you'll need to write a press release containing all the essential information.

💡 Some event software programs can help you spread the word. This is the case, for example, with AgoraEvent. Among other things, this solution takes care of creating a responsive web page for your event, and customizable to your image. AgoraEvent then takes care of the follow-up of participants, from registration to the sending of emails and the management of accompanying persons.

Step 9: Brief your teams

Before the big day, take the time to brief all your teams, as well as your service providers. Everyone needs to know exactly what their role is.

Also plan to set up a communication system to exchange information easily during the event. For example :

• walkie-talkies, very practical in case of unforeseen events,
• collaborative messaging available on mobile applications, such as Slack.

Step 10: Welcome your guests and host the event

Make your guests feel welcome

Your event needs to leave a good impression on your visitors... right from the start! Looking disorganized and incompetent is out of the question.

💡 Checking your guest lists by means of a paper listing is time-consuming, and you run the risk of seeing the queue at the venue entrance grow longer. That's why using event software saves precious time. With Prezevent, you can easily create, personalize and send access badges to your guests. Next, the application's intuitive interface makes check-in easy: a visitor shows up? Scan their badge or enter their name, and that's all there is to it.

Liven up your event

Consider some entertainment to make your event attractive and interactive.

Here are a few ideas

• games (quizzes, prize draws, etc.) to give visitors the chance to win prizes. For example, at a business start-up trade show, why not offer coaching from one of the professionals present?
• polls to give the public a say, but also to gather feedback on your event. Which workshop did you prefer? Which speaker convinced you? etc.
• photo or video booths to broadcast live, or later on your various media.

We're also living in the age of the web and social networks. So you need to ensure your presence there, even during an event. Your visitors, and those unable to attend, expect interactivity and information. What could be better than a Tweetwall showing messages posted live on the network on a TV or giant screen? By communicating on the event's hashtag and broadcasting it, you encourage its use... and therefore virality!

Organizing a business event: 8 general tips

You now have the keys to organizing memorable business events.

Before you get started, here are a few general tips:

☑️ Always keep your objective and the expectations of your target audience in mind, like a common thread, throughout the organization of your business event.

☑️ Do everything you can to arouse the interest and commitment of your guests. Substance (by judiciously selecting your speakers, for example) should take precedence over form.

☑️ Anticipate and organize well in advance to avoid being overwhelmed.

☑️ Keep to your budget and deadlines.

☑️ Think about the technology and software solutions developed to support you throughout the organization of your event and make it unforgettable.

☑️ Never hesitate to ask your teams for help, and to call on external service providers for support.

☑️ Make sure you convey a positive, professional image to your audience throughout the entire event, from the sending of invitations to the debriefing and entertainment.

☑️ Be original and creative.

See all software Project Management

After the event: don't rest on your laurels

Your event is over, it went well... but your work doesn't stop there.

First of all, you need to continue communicating about the event, even after the fact. Keep up your presence on social networks, sharing videos and photos (ask users to identify themselves if they recognize themselves), thanking participants and speakers for attending. And of course, don't forget to respond to all comments.

Also, take stock of your event. For example, send a questionnaire to your guests. Or use the post-event reports and statistics generated by your business tools.

It's important to do this, because it's the only way to identify areas for improvement, so you can prepare your next event even better.