If you are thinking of planning a corporate event for your company then there is any number of things for you to worry about. You might be concerned that you may overspend your budget, not sell enough tickets or get the wrong type of catering. There’s no need to worry as with a bit of forward planning and good time management you should be fine.

You should start by thinking about your objectives for the event and what it is you hope that the event will achieve. It is important that you clearly define your outcome before you get involved in any more of the planning stage as this will set out the blue print for the rest of the organisation process and help you to concentrate on the most important aspects of the logistics. You will also benefit from putting together a planning committee whose skills, experience and opinions will better inform the organisation process. Throughout the whole planning process try to have weekly meetings so that you can see what stage various delegated tasks are at. By doing this you will be able to ensure that the planning will be completed on time.

Once the goals of the event have been established you need to identify some possible dates that it could take place on. If there are any particularly important parties who need to get involved then you should liaise with representatives of these groups to see which dates will best suit them.

The next task is to draw up a list of guests who you wish to invite along with an agenda of events for the day. Doing both of these will help you narrow down your options for choosing a venue and will help you to establish a budget. When deciding how much money to set aside for your planning budget make sure you consider every possible aspect of the event and perhaps add a little extra in case of hidden costs. Once you have settled on a suitable budget it is important that you stick to it as every penny is accountable.

Once you have selected a few venues you should visit them so that you can narrow your choices down the one which is the most suitable. When shopping round for suppliers try to get quotes from companies who are in competition with each other so that you have a way to leverage a discount. Make sure that any quotes you get are down in writing.

You should create an official plan of events or a day schedule which you will be able to send out to suppliers who you are considering the services of. Their feedback will help you to gauge their suitability and what experience they have with helping at similar events.

The addition of food is a good way of enticing people to any event and yours should be no exception. Shop round for a suitable caterer or, if you have chosen a hotel as your selected venue, they may be able to include catering as part of their services.

On the day of the event try to arrive with your planning committee as early as possible and dont leave anything to chance. Make sure there is a registration desk for attendees and it is also a good idea to have event staff on hand throughout the day to assist anyone with any queries they may have with regards to the day’s events.

Author Bio: Dave Matthews is writing on behalf of Owl Event Management, a leading UK Event Management Company.

Category: Business Management
Keywords: event planning, event management, event organiser, conference planning, event plan