Planning a corporate event has to be done with professionalism and you need to make sure that the objectives of the event are set from the beginning. The event may be to launch a new product or service, staff training purposes, staff motivation, communication of company strategy etc.
Corporate event planning is a little different from planning a meeting. Generally, they will include more than one event in the location such as conventions, entertaining clients, exhibitions, staff events such as motivational programmes, receptions, fundraising events etc. The organizing stage for a corporate event will take a good few months and you need to plan for every eventuality. The size for corporate events can vary from micro events that have about 100 attendees to large scale events with a tremendous guest list and multiple events. For small events, you need to think about refreshments, itinerary, transportation of employees, online registration facilities, audio visual facilities etc. Med size events will require more technical support and you will need to arrange for accommodation and transportation for delegates. For large scale events, you will need to handle hotel room booking, delegate flights, offsite activities and complicated itinerary planning.
The event budget will determine every one of your decisions from choosing one of the corporate event venues, entertainment, catering, technology etc. If this is a recurring event, you can have a look at the budgets of previous events for a start. This will give you a basic idea of how much each vendor will need to be paid. Since you have a baseline, you can easily know when you are being overcharged. But it is best to get several quotes for each item so that you have an idea of the current prices and the different services each vendor will provide. There has to be a certain flexibility to the budget as you will not be able to have a 100% accurate estimate. So make sure you have a contingency fund that can take in any additional costs.
Once you have all the quotations from the vendors, you will be able to create a comprehensive budget. You need to know the goal of the event and this will give you an idea of who the attendees will be and the scale of the event. This will determine the venue that you are going with. If you want to make an impression on the attendees, you will need to select a venue that will have a wow factor. But this will be impacted by the availability of the venue, capacity and logistics. With a flexible date, you will be able to save a significant amount on your choice of venue. You can check guest feedback if the event is a recurring one and see what complaints they had regarding the previous venue. This will give you an idea of what to look out for. You need to give all the details you have about the event for the venue so they understand all your requirements. The venue will take the majority of the budget so you need to have this finalized before you move onto the other vendors.