Running a Corporate Event or Choosing a corporate venue

currencies Running a corporate event or choosing a corporate venue is an essential activity to any business at some time or other.

We have been involved in running hundreds of corporate events that have included hiring Earls Court in London to hiring superyachts in St Tropez. And there are no short cuts to doing them well.

Here are my top tips for running an event or choosing a venue.

First – choosing a suitable venue is always crucial. It doesn’t matter who you’re dealing with, everyone likes to visit a different or intrigueing venue. On the subject of venues, I would advise to stretch as far as your budget will allow – don’t just opt for the cheapest location.

Secondly – who are you inviting? The media, customers or potential customers or employees? They each have different expectations of what constitutes a good Corporate Event.

The Media

Journalists have heard it all before and seen every gimmick going. They receive invites to this that and the other practically every week from some business who’d just love to see a write up in the Press.

Journalists can be enticed away from their desk by the thought of a nice freebie on a cruiseliner or a 5 star hotel in the Bahamas, but generally speaking they still need to get the idea past their editor particularly if the idea means being away from their desk for 2 or 3 days.

So first and foremost – if you’re inviting journalists make sure you’re going to give them a good story that they will want to use particularly if they invest all of that time in it. That is 80% of the battle. If you haven’t got that then it won’t matter how nice the Canapes or the double bedroom was – the journalist will be reluctant to compromise her professional standing by giving you a top review. On the other side, a journalist won’t generally nit pick about the venue or event as long as it was decently run. They are there mainly for the story and it’s important at all times to keep that the focus of attention.

Potential Customers

Potential or existing customers go along because they are interested in your product or service or because they feel beholden to a particular salesperson. They need to be treated with respect and money must not be seen to be wasted – but of course everything needs to be done to ap professional standard.

This is a subjective view. For example – if you sell a luxury product, then your customers will expect 5 star treatment and will judge you against that. However, if your product is also meant to compete on price – your customers won’t want to see money needlessly wasted when it could go into pulling in new customers for everyone. I encountered a company one time who offered a Car in a final day raffle by using the draw as a magnet to keep customers at the venue to the end. The result was a disaster as every customer concluded that offering a motor car was a complete waste or money that could have been better spent on client discounts! My rule of thumb over the years with customers is be professional, choose a nice venue that they can be proud to be a part of but leave a demonstration of efficiency on display at all times without too many extravagancies.
Employees or Suppliers

Clearly, if a company has had a good year, a good bash is welcomed by hard working employees and suppliers. These events don’t have to cost a fortune because often the mood of the team will carry the buzz and not the quality of the Michelin Star cuisine which might actually be wasted on a crowd that have just downed a crate of champagne!

What employees want is a thankyou, a day of rest, catching up, gossiping and letting loose with no comebacks the following day. I have clients who will fly their top people to Las Vegas for a weekend all expenses paid and the staff love it – well who wouldn’t?
On the other hand I had a client in London years ago that made each team pay for their own parties. You’ve never attended such miserable affairs – team leaders would order the cheapest wine and food and team members would deliberately organise that their flights or transport just left on or immediately after desert!

Of course, these are people you know a lot better as well – so there isn’t the same need to impress. I know one company in the building trade who send all his suppliers and top sales guys to International Rugby matches for the weekend once or twice a year because he knows they all love rugby!

So there you go, a few guidelines for hosting venues and events depending on you audience.

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