A Guide to Corporate Event Planning

KNOW, FEEL, DO!

What’s that? It’s the tried and trusted approach BI WORLDWIDE takes when planning corporate events for our clients. In order to achieve an event’s objectives, we not only establish what our clients want their delegates to KNOW and DO because of an event, but also how they want them to FEEL.

We’ll go into more detail about that in a bit, but in a way, this article also adopts that approach. Below, we explore the factors that you need to KNOW when planning an event and give you the insight that will help you FEEL confident that it will leave a lasting impression.

And the DO? Read on to the end of the article and all will be revealed!

What is corporate event planning?

Before we go into the fine detail of successful planning, let’s take a step back and quickly explain what a corporate event is and why they’re important.

Corporate events are everything from conferences and product launches to teambuilding days out and hybrid events. They facilitate connections and experiences, something that’s even more important in the current work climate. But they have to be right. Getting them wrong can profoundly impact an organisation’s image and reputation. But don’t worry, that’s what planning is for.

Corporate event planning is the process of designing, planning, and executing the types of events and activities outlined above for businesses and organisations.

The objective of corporate event planning is to create and deliver high-quality events that meet an organisation’s wider goals and objectives. These events typically serve one of three purposes:

• To educate attendees
• To motivate employees
• To communicate a message

Remember at the start when we mentioned our KNOW, FEEL, DO approach? This is where that comes in! It helps to achieve the above objectives by not only keeping guests informed and clear on what’s expected of them but also triggering certain emotions throughout the event.

Why? Well, because we know that tapping into people’s emotions is the only way to truly power change in human behaviour. And it makes sense, after all, that’s where 77% of decision-making is happening. In making event delegates ‘FEEL’ we increase the power of the ‘DO’!

It doesn’t matter if it’s a regional sales meeting, incentive travel event or global conference, successful corporate event planning should provide experiences that create a lasting impression, tapping into delegate emotions to bring them closer to their organisation and its goals.

5 types of corporate events

Here are just some of the event types that can help educate, motivate, and communicate.

Corporate Awards Ceremonies

Recognises and celebrates the achievements and contributions of individuals, teams, or departments within a company.

By recognising achievements, milestones and dedication, corporate event awards can be a great way to boost motivation, satisfaction, and employee engagement. 

Corporate product launches

Introduces or unveils a new product, service, project, or initiative. It’s designed to generate excitement, anticipation, and create awareness. 

Whether your product launch involves reaching out to the press, engaging with customers or internal teams, how you launch a new product is key to getting off to a good start.

When you work with a team of product launch event management experts, they’ll understand what makes a successful launch event. After discussing your vision and initial plans, these experts will transform your product launch from an idea into a reality.

Corporate incentive travel

Rewards and motivates employees by offering them the opportunity to have the trip of a lifetime in recognition for achieving goals or milestones. 

This type of reward leverages hedonic motivations, tapping into people's desire to experience something memorable. Additionally, the promise of an exclusive bespoke and ideally personalised travel experience can be highly motivating, instilling a sense of purpose and achievement.

In doing so, corporate incentive travel encourages individuals or teams to meet and surpass performance targets, while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and dedication.

Meetings and conferences

Meetings and conferences are similar types of event but differ in scale.

Meetings are gatherings of smaller groups of individuals with a common purpose, typically for discussing, sharing information, collaborating, or making decisions on a range of topics or issues. They can vary in format, from formal board meetings to roundtable events.

Conferences, on the other hand, bring people together to discuss and share ideas on specific topics. They’re typically more structured than meetings and can operate over several days.

These types of events are an effective way to foster belonging and improve transparency. For this reason, meetings and conferences are often employed to announce performance updates and promote knowledge sharing.

Virtual and hybrid events

Take place in a virtual (remote) or partially virtual format. By leveraging digital technologies, these events can be more sustainable than traditional in-person events.

Virtual events are conducted entirely digitally, enabling participants to attend remotely from anywhere with an internet connection. Virtual events prioritise sustainability and accessibility, allowing a global audience to participate and interact through various digital platforms.

Hybrid events, on the other hand, blend both physical and digital components. They take place at a physical location, with an in-person audience, but extend their reach by providing virtual access for remote participants.

Hybrid events combine the benefits of face-to-face engagement with the convenience of virtual interaction, offering a broader and more inclusive experience for attendees. They require seamless integration of technology to ensure that both in-person and remote participants have a comparable event experience.

How to plan a successful corporate event

While every plan will be tailored to the organisation, when planning a corporate event, you should consider following the stages below.

1. Set your objectives

When planning a corporate event, the first thing you need to do is set your objectives. 

Not only do objectives provide a clear direction and purpose for the event, but they define what you aim to achieve - be that to launch a new product, strengthen client relationships, or celebrate achievements.

Through well-defined objectives, everyone involved in the planning and execution will understand the goals of the event which can help them in their role. Additionally, goals allow you to measure the success of the event more easily.

The objectives you set need to be tailored to your organisation and event. Think about what you’re trying to achieve and why. What does good look like to you? What do we want the delegates to KNOW, FEEL and DO! Answering these questions will allow you to set the standard for measuring success (both ROI and ROX) and set you on the path to meeting your objectives.

2. Set your budget

Once you’ve set your objectives and everyone is on the same page, the next step in corporate event planning is to define the budget.

A well-defined budget provides clarity on where and how resources will be allocated, ensuring that spending is aligned to support the event's objectives. With a defined budget, decision-makers can prioritise spending on the factors which have the most impact on the goals, such as the marketing expense, venue costs, catering, and speakers.

However, while it's essential to have a clearly defined budget, a degree of flexibility is important. Not only does flexibility allow you to provide some contingency to manage unexpected costs, in the current global climate with soaring costs affecting the sector, being aware that fundamental programme elements such as flights, ground transport and venue costs (including Food & Beverage) are most affected you can better plan and factor in for these upfront. This approach will allow you to more effectively allocate remaining budget to ensure it’s able to incorporate all the elements needed to engage your audience and hit your event objectives.  

3. Understand your target audience

When planning a corporate event, it's essential to understand your target audience as this significantly influences the inclusivity and impact of the event which in turn effects the event's success and attendee satisfaction. This understanding allows you to tailor the event to your delegates by addressing specific needs, accommodating cultural differences, and factoring in communication needs and individual preferences.

There is no point relying on guesswork to gain this insight into your delegates. Instead, you can send out some surveys prior to the event or even include a section on the event's registration page to gain an understanding of factors you want to or need to know about. Also consider asking your delegates what they hope to get from the event to help with tailoring your content.

4. Find the right corporate event venue

Choosing the right corporate event venue plays a crucial role in event planning. Not only is it the first thing that attendees will encounter, but an ill-suited venue can lead to logistical and technical challenges that may hamper the event's success.

Several key factors should be considered to ensure a successful event, including:

• Availability: A huge factor impacting the industry is lack of availability globally because of the recent pandemic. To mitigate this challenge, start your search far earlier than in previous years and, if possible, aim for some date flexibility to find more suitable options.
• Cost: The venue needs to align with your budget. As mentioned previously, venue costs have risen significantly so beware of this and budget accordingly.
• Accessibility: The venue needs to be inclusive. To assess this, research factors such as wheelchair access, parking availability, and location.
• Capacity: If you’re hosting an in-person event your venue will need to be able to cater for all of your delegates. Likewise, for virtual or hybrid events, the platform must be able to host your planned attendance. Also, consider if you require breakout rooms, production offices, quiet boardrooms for key stakeholders to take calls, and rooms for entertainment.
• Technology infrastructure: if you’re planning a hybrid or virtual event you need to ensure that your venue has the technology required to stream your event. If it doesn’t, ensure you budget for your AV provider to provide the technology infrastructure you need.
• Style: Whilst not operationally important, venue style can affect the motivational impact and memorability of your event. Selecting venues that align with your organisation or event’s brand values is a great way to demonstrate consistency throughout the whole experience.

5. Communicate your event

Effective communication plays a pivotal role throughout the corporate event planning process and is crucial to ensure its overall success and long-term impact.

Pre-event communication

Before the event, effective communication is essential in building awareness and generating anticipation. Well-executed pre-event communication can impact attendance, engagement, and set the stage for a successful event.

Pre-event communications could include a mix of digital or physical event teasers, promotional materials, delegate registration websites, email marketing, pre-event training or reading, and social media posts.

Communication during the event

During the event, communication ensures that everything runs smoothly and that attendees are well-informed.

Whether it’s through announcements, event apps, social media, email, or onsite staff, having clear and transparent two-way communication channels is critical for creating a positive experience.

Post-event comms

An event shouldn’t just be a moment in time. Carefully considering your post-event communication plan is key to securing the long-term success of the event.

Within your plan, consider how your post-event communications will;

• Thank attendees and speakers
• Request valuable feedback to help with event measurement and future planning
• Re-enforce key event messages
• Share and distil event content to wider business stakeholders who weren’t in attendance
• Follow up on key discussions
• Demonstrate how the event is/has supported wider business objectives

With a well-curated post-event communication plan, you can extend the impact of your event, ensuring it maintains momentum.

6. Engage your attendees

The success of a corporate event hinges on the ability to engage attendees effectively. Engaged participants are more likely to be satisfied, attentive, and eager to contribute, ensuring the event's objectives are met.

When considering how to engage your delegates, consider the following:

• Creative design and tone of voice: A strong visual identity and clear tone of voice that can transcend across pre-event communications, onsite assets, presentations, and post-event messaging is a great way to cut through noise, engage your audience, and make your event memorable.
• Venue choice: Aspirational or unique venues can be a great way to engage your delegates.
• Event programme: A well-thought-out event programme that resonates with attendees will keep them engaged.
• Onsite activities: Interactive activities and workshops encourage participation and foster connections among guests.
• Entertainment: Entertainment not only adds to the experience but also ensures attendees remain engaged.
• Communication: Open channels for questions and discussions before and during the event help foster engagement.
• Technology: Whether it’s self-registration and badge printing at check-in to an onsite app which can be used for personal agendas, polling, and Q&A, consider what technology will help you will provide a seamless onsite guest experience.
• Gifting: Thoughtful giveaways or incentives can pique interest and provide a tangible reminder of the experience.
• Speakers: Dynamic speakers who can captivate and inspire the audience are crucial for maintaining interest.
• Time at leisure: Allowing downtime for networking or relaxation is vital to prevent attendee fatigue and create a sense of community.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Incorporating CSR activities can engage attendees while demonstrating the company's commitment to a larger purpose.
• Content: Ensure your event isn’t a cinema-style experience by considering how you deliver your key messages with impact. Well-designed PPT slides, video content and two-way communication are just some of the ways to ensure your audience are present, invested, and inspired.

7.Organise the logistics

Effective logistical planning and arrangements ensure your corporate event runs smoothly. When organising your event consider the following:

• Aviation: If your event is taking place overseas you’ll likely need to organise group or individual aviation solutions to transport your delegates. Depending on the size of your organisation and geography of your delegates this may involve air lift from multiple hubs to minimise travel time and maximise time within your event agenda. Economy seats on flights have a far lower carbon impact than business and first-class.
• Ground transportation: Depending on your agenda, number of venues, event style and audience profile, this may include a variety of different transport options. Don't forget, transport doesn't just have to be functional. It can also be an experiential component of your event.
• Agenda: Effective agenda planning needs to carefully balance the functional requirements such as travel time with the core programme elements such as business sessions and entertainment activities.
• Ground agents: Especially when working in new destinations, having local knowledge in your team is priceless. Build relationships with ground agents for local expertise and support in sourcing quality local suppliers.
• Sustainability: Whether it’s through your transportation choices (public transport or electric vehicles where possible, economy seats on flights have a far lower carbon impact than business and first-class) or the menu choices you offer (for example, having meat free menus) making considered decisions about your logistics can be a great way to support your event’s sustainability objectives.
• Staffing: Adequate onsite staffing is critical to ensuring smooth and safe running of your event. Not only is it important from a programme perspective but also to manage the wellbeing of those working on your event. Effective staffing ratios should be considered based on several factors including the number of delegates, the complexity of your programme, number of venues, and length of your agenda.

How to measure the success of your corporate event

As mentioned earlier in the article, corporate events typically serve one of three objectives: to communicate, motivate, or educate. Consequently, when measuring the success of your event, evaluating performance in relation to these specific objectives can be a great approach to demonstrating quantifiable ROI (return on investment). As important is ROX (return on experience). Understanding the importance of ‘FEEL’ within your events, ROX looks to measure softer measures such as ‘sense of belonging’ to ensure the event is delivering an experience of value.

Communication

To assess how well your event ‘communicated’ its key messages you can evaluate audience understanding. During the event, instant polls and assessing the types of questions asked and discussions held will give you indications of message resonance. Post-event surveys and feedback sessions can then be leveraged to ensure clarity, relevance, and impact of message was as you intended.

Education

When evaluating the educational impact of your corporate event, a practical approach involves measuring the knowledge levels of attendees before and after the event.

To do this, comparing pre-event and post-event assessment results or surveys is a great way to assess training effectiveness. A consideration to make here is around short vs long term recall. Where relevant it may be beneficial to provide follow up material and further post event assessments to ensure long term retention of knowledge is maintained.

Additionally, consider examining the practical impact of training provided. For instance, are improvements in customer satisfaction rates or sales performance recorded by those in attendance? Do you have a group of individuals that couldn’t attend that can act as a control group?

Motivation

If the primary goal of your corporate event is to motivate employees, success can be assessed through a range of performance and engagement indicators.

To determine the event's effectiveness in motivating attendees, consider the following metrics:

• Improved performance: Track performance metrics, such as sales figures, productivity, or project completion rates, before and after the event. A significant improvement in these areas can be a direct measure of motivation's impact.
• Retention rates: Reduced turnover can be indication that the corporate event has been successful in motivating employees to remain part of the organisation.
• Employee satisfaction: Surveys can be instrumental in measuring motivation's success. If employees report higher job satisfaction, increased enthusiasm, and a stronger connection to the company after the event, it's an indication that motivation has been achieved.
• Employee Net Promoter Score (ENPS): An increase in ENPS indicates that employees are more likely to recommend their company as a great place to work, a sign that motivation has had a positive impact on their perception of the organisation.

Wider business objectives

Regardless of the aim of the corporate event, you can measure its success in relation to wider business objectives. For instance, if your organisation has wider sustainability objectives, you could consider evaluating the event in relation to sustainability measurements like the event’s energy consumption, waste management, and resource consumption.

Corporate event planning checklist

To ensure that you’ve covered all the relevant factors as part of your corporate event planning, consider the steps below.

Before the event

• Be clear on the overarching purpose of the event. Remember, these will typically be to communicate, educate or motivate!
• Outline how the event ties in with your organisation’s wider objectives.
• Identify who the audience is, what they want to see, and their requirements
• What delegate registration tools do you have and how can you maximise engagement and use of these.
• Confirm your budget.
• Identify key stakeholders and schedule planning meetings.
• Content, key messaging and how each programme element will incorporate this to create cohesive experience.
• Research suitable destinations and venues (remember to consider accessibility).
• Agree catering plans, ensuring that dietary requirements have been met.
• Establish all AV and onsite production requirements (i.e. lighting, stage sets and room styling).
• Confirm what apps and event technology will be included (E.G AR and VR).
• Plan and execute video production - launch pieces / teasers / onsite edit and show to bring message to life.
• Consider agenda and how you’ll integrate entertainment such as keynote speakers, CSR and free time.
• Conduct site inspections and risk assessments to qualify suitability of each of your venues.
• Negotiate costs and contract terms with all suppliers.
• Produce detailed risk assessments to support emergency contingency planning and safe event delivery.
• Consider data security requirements and GDPR compliance.
• Work with designers and copywriters to develop your event identity.
• Develop and implement a communications plan – what formats will be used, messaging segments.
• Coordinate travel and accommodation requirements.
• Schedule speaker training, photography, and videographer briefings.
• Prepare onsite event materials (i.e. presentations, lanyards, schedules, gifting).
• Sustainability tracking and measuring your carbon impact and considering how to reduce / off-set.

During the event

• Be clear on roles and responsibilities of your onsite team and how to reach each other throughout the event.
• If you’re running a hybrid or virtual event, ensure you have someone tune in to monitor quality of the feed.
• If appropriate, use technology to monitor real-time engagement and feedback.

After the event

• Review how well you executed the event from an operational perspective.
• Thank and communicate with guests following the event. It can be a good idea to follow up with summaries or key information from the event.
• Thank the speakers for attending.
• Make content available on-demand (if appropriate).
• Measure the success of the event in line with your objectives (conduct follow-up surveys if required).