Every event organized by a company to interact with its employees, stakeholders, clients, and potential clients can be referred to as a corporate event. Corporate events differ from other types of events in various ways. For example, it is valuable to spend more money on a skilled technology crew and speakers than on fancy decorations for corporate events. Such differences should be taken into consideration when planning corporate events. Unfortunately, many event planners overlook this fact when managing such events. This results in dissatisfaction with their performance. The top five mistakes event planners make with corporate events are those stated below.
1. Failure to Seek New Knowledge about the Proposed Event.
Every event is unique. It is a grave mistake to assume that a new project will be the same as one that has been done before. Corporate events usually differ in theme, goals, and expenditure. It is important to learn more about the type of event to be organized to gain clarity and discover creative ways to depict the subject matter. Data from the previous gatherings an institution has had may be sought to get a feel of the cost and expectations for the event. Also, an event planner should be honest about their weaknesses, and seek the help of an expert or more education to fill the gap in their skill set when required. One benefit of becoming a subject matter expert is the fact that marketing those services to new clients is made easier when performance exceeds the expectation of the host.
2. Financial shortfall
The three common reasons why budgets allocated for an event are surpassed are:
- Estimation errors in prices of goods and services.
This may be intentional or unintentional and caused by ignorance, naivety, biases, or deception.
- The Underestimation of Project Complexity.
The misunderstanding of project content and nature induces cost overruns. The effects may be minimized through research and frequent meetings by stakeholders involved in organizing an event.
- Uncontrolled changes in the scope of an event.
This refers to the emergence of new ideas and requirements for a project. It often leads to a waste of resources spent previously on materials and the need for extra effort and funds.
Budget extension problems may be prevented by setting a clear budget limit for an event, tracking expenses at every step, and creating ideas that are free or not expensive.
3. Poor Communication with Stakeholders
Improper communication between the event planner and members of the host company often results in grave consequences for the event planner. It leads to dissatisfaction with performance on many occasions, and unwarranted suspicion of embezzlement of funds. Hence, it is of utmost importance that stakeholders are often informed about the progress of activities.
A member of staff should be engaged actively in the role of planning any corporate meeting. This would ensure that the event planner is quickly notified of changes in the scope of events. It would also minimize errors in judgment, ensure transparency in the management of funds, and preserve the integrity of the event facilitator.
4. Poor Entertainment of Guests.
People tend to remember how they were treated at an occasion more than many things. Every guest at an event is a potential brand ambassador. Although empty seats may ensure that the food goes round, having many guests attend an event is a great marketing opportunity for the organizations involved. Hence, it is important to ensure that guests enjoy themselves with the limited resources available. Dietary restrictions should also be put into consideration in food and beverage preparation. People also tend to lose interest in a program when they are hungry or thirsty, so meals should not be served too early, or too late.
The incorporation of humor and opportunities for invitees to do something fun, and entertaining like listening to a comedian, or playing games would help to make a corporate event memorable. It would also build excitement for the next event that would be organized.
5. Failure to Engage the Local Community in the Plans.
The use of reputable vendors in the locality would reduce the cost of transportation and logistics. The presence of residents of the community at an event would reduce the risk of crime because hoodlums know they would easily be identified if they engaged in heinous activities. It is also necessary to find out which local laws or events may affect a meeting.
To avoid making the five mistakes listed above and others, corporate event planners should assume that Murphy’s law which states that ‘‘Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong’’ is true. They should complete a risk assessment of their event and note the critical points where mishaps may occur. A backup plan should then be created to prevent things from going wrong, and to protect the image of the host company, and the event manager.
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