Guide to Planning a Corporate Event by a Corporate Event Designer
Event planning in Omaha is stressful. Hire a corporate event designer that knows exactly how to make your corporate event an affair to remember.
You are (most likely) reading this because you've been asked to help plan the big shindig. You know, the one with the big wigs? Right? And I'm guessing you need to impress them.
Go ahead and shoot your shot with this guide below. But, if you're ready to learn about the benefits of hiring a corporate event designer - skip ahead!
Where to Start
What resources do you have? Do you know where to start? What is your budget? I'll help you through the corporate event planning process in this guide.
What are corporate events?
A corporate event is hosted or sponsored by a company to focus on its clients or employees. There's a plethora of reasons for organizing a corporate event. Some of the most popular reasons are promoting a concept or product to the general public or staff.
A corporate event can focus on its employees to build or share corporate-level ideas when arranged by the company. The event is for clients; it's usually a client appreciation, product launch, or trade show.
Regardless of the reason behind the get-together, corporate events are a big deal. They provide ample opportunity for brainstorming to happen. Also, they can be a fun (and safe space) for employees to build team morale and camaraderie.
When whipping out the old pen and pad, be prepared to face challenges such as low attendance and budget constraints.
A lot of work goes into Omaha's corporate event planning. So grab your cup of Joe, and let's go!
How to Plan a Successful Corporate Event
Before planning a corporate event, it’s important to lay out everything that needs to be done. Visit the meeting room with the largest table (and quite literally); get ready to spread out! Arm yourself with time, money, and space.
As a corporate event designer in Omaha, here are a few things to understand and take care of before organizing a corporate event.
Pre-Event Planning
Goals & Objectives
Do you know what type of event you want to host? What’s your main objective? What’s the theme? Doodle, draw, and scheme up a rough idea of what you want this event to be, like a picnic at the park or a formal night indoors. A proper goal will help things run smoothly.
Your main focus should be on attendees. Keep their expectations well in mind. Make a list of things your guests might desire during the event.
Pro-tip: Create a vision board on Pinterest. You can share the board with other team members to collaborate. You can visit some ideas from The Party Bar here! Additionally, visit here for a few fun ideas.
Theme
By no means is a theme mandatory, but golllllly is it fun! At The Party Bar, we love themes. A good theme at a corporate networking event can make attendees hoot and holler! It truly livens things up and makes it more memorable for attendees. Additionally, a well-thought-out theme allows guests to plan ahead (and limits some awkward or forced vibes).
Creative Corporate Event Theme Ideas:
- Casino Night (classic)
- Summertime BBQ
- Coachella
- Winter Wonderland (holidays)
- Carnival-inspired
- Game-day (pick a sport)
- Nacho / Taco / Fiesta
- Mini-themed
- Luau
- Dancing in the Decades
- Movies (Hollywood)
- High tea
- Outerspace
- Donuts (or other sweets)
Research special or fun holidays that your event might fall on. You might find a holiday that ties closely to your industry that can double-up as your theme.
For example, Hurt’s Donuts recently hired The Party Bar to create a donut display for National Donut Day. With such bright colors and graffiti incorporated with their branding, we didn’t want to make a generic or typical donut garland. Instead, we custom double-stuffed all the balloons to create their exact branding colors.
Incorporating a theme with a special day? Expert advice! You’re not going to get this from a regular ‘shmo party planner. When you hire The Party Bar, you’re getting the full package, including extensive background knowledge in graphic design and branding.
Set Event’s Budget
Cue Abba: “Money, money, monnnnaaayy.”
Okay, let’s get real. How much coin did management approve for the event? It’s crucial to understand your budget.
If you’re helping determine the budget, you need to consider each possible expense that can occur. Put limitations on each expense to help yourself from overspending.
For example: If you have a $5,000 budget (and need to hire a DJ), limit the “music funds” to $1,000 (and don’t go over it).
Don’t forget to prioritize items within your budget. For example, if jazzing up the space with fresh-cut flowers takes the cake, make priority within the budget first. You want to spend your money wisely.
Create a Guest List
After setting killer goals and a clean-cut budget, it’s time to curate a list of guests you want to invite. In addition to this, if you want to entertain or attain guests, send invites at least two weeks prior to your event.
Client-specific: Dig through your CRM to create a guest list. Additionally, your sales team wants to rub elbows with the guest list (and with good reason). Boost your bottom dollar by prioritizing them by “absolutely invited” to “if we have room.”
Internal Event: Hop on Canva or Etsy to create an attractive digital invitation. Andddd yes, you still have to invite Marg from Marketing, who won’t stop chewing her gum loudly. And we should probably invite Frank from Finance, who won’t stop talking about his kid's soccer practice.
Pick a Location
Now that you’ve crossed “create a guest list,” it’s time to pick a location (and make it memorable).
Don’t forget your budget. Pick an event that will appeal to your guest list, one which your management will appreciate. The venue should relate to your theme that directly reflect upon the objective of the event.
Unfamiliar with event locations? Skip ahead to my Event Inquiry page. I know all the cool spots around this town. In addition, our event location is the most important aspect.
Tell Everyone About It
Shout it from the roof tops! Call everyone you know. We’re throwing a party! Buuuuutttt, don’t skip on designating money toward marketing and advertising for your Omaha corporate event to do so.
Also, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to advertise it if your event is internal. You’re going to need to allocate funds to telling everyone about it. It is essential to incite excitement for guests building up to the day they get to enjoy your hard work.
What are some almost free ways to advertise?
- Content creation on social media
- Being active in Facebook Groups
- Sending out Newsletters
- Free Email Marketing tools
- Update event calendar
Obviously, you can also hire a corporate event planner to help you promote the event and help with the process. At The Party Bar, we’ll help create a consistent marketing campaign that will always be unique and attractive.
Planning the Arrangements
Yay! You’ve made it this far. Let’s get started on making all the arrangements for the event. Go back to the “name” or “theme” of the event to help you tie all the small details together. Consider what equipment or things you’ll need, like rentals and catering.
Prizes, souvenirs, and gifts should attend an award ceremony. First and foremost, don’t forget about tables and chairs. And food. We’ll totes need food.
What activities will happen at the event? Don’t forget to inform the guests! Undoubtfully, they’ll want to prepare accordingly.
You might not know what you need (and heaven, help us if you forget something important). Unsure of who to call for arrangements? No stress. I’m an expert corporate party planner, and I can take the wheel from here.
On the Day of the Event
Welcoming Atmosphere
It can be hard to attend an event AND work out the courage to make connections. Our secret to making conversations happen naturally is by designing a welcoming atmosphere. From there, encourage guests to start a conversation by creating an atmosphere that inspires them to brainstorm, share ideas and be chatty.
Order a custom welcome sign to do exactly what they’re titled - welcome guests! Let them know they’re in the right place and save your event coordinator the trouble of having to reassure everyone who waltzes in the door that they’re exactly where they need to be. We did just this for OrthoNebraska’s Employee Appreciation Event at TopGolf Omaha. The Party Bar created a custom welcoming sign. It had its logo, painted colors, and balloons that matched its branding guidelines.
Fun ideas to make an event feel welcoming:
- Name tags
- Good food
- Area to unplug
- Area to plug in devices
- Inclusivity
- Ice breakers
Happy guests? Success! Encourage guests to have fun, relax and participate.
Networking & Connection
Networking at corporate events can be a great chance for groups of professionals to gather together and make connections.
Events that allow time for networking hit differently (in the best possible way). Additionally, people love the chance to speak casually and converse with one another.
So, what are we celebrating? Talk party to me! Whether it’s a super sale achievement or a gang get-together, let’s talk about the who, what, where and when’s of your corporate event party planning. Let’s talk about building out a budget, hiring for food, and making your vision a reality!
