10 steps to a memorable business event

How can you organise a public or private event on behalf of your company?

By using the best practices.

There are a multitude of professional events (trade fairs, congresses, open days, seminars, team-building, company evenings, conferences, training sessions, cocktail parties, etc.), but it is possible to identify the different phases in their creation.

Respecting these stages will give you a clear vision of the organisation of your business event and give you peace of mind. As any good organiser knows, an event that is badly put together can become a path strewn with pitfalls.

To help you avoid certain pitfalls, check out our checklist of good practice in event organisation!

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Step 1: set the objectives and format of your event

Questions to ask yourself

The very first question you should ask yourself when organising a business event is: why are you doing it?

• Raising awareness of your brand?
• Share your expertise with your peers?
• Communicate about a product launch?
• Convince potential investors?
• To improve your employer brand and talent retention rate?

Setting your objectives largely determines the format of the event, as well as the overall strategy to be adopted. A conference is a good opportunity to talk to professionals in your sector, while contact with your customers is best established during a gala or a festive evening.

Online events

More and more events are being organised online. And with good reason: this option offers a number of advantages:

• meetings can still be held if it is impossible to get together, such as during the Covid-19 confinement,
• reduced organisational costs
• raising the profile of the event, etc.

In addition, the proliferation of online events has been made possible by the development of a number of dedicated tools aimed at creating the same conditions as for a live event. These tools include :

• Hivebrite 👉 this community management platform offers features to simplify the organisation of events (online ticketing, calendar, etc.), but also to hold and run the event online. Thanks to videoconferencing and direct access via the event page, you can keep in touch with your community at all times.
• idloom.events 👉This user-friendly event managementsolution is extremely easy to use, from creating your website to registering your participants. Take advantage of a modern, intuitive interfaceand innovative features to create, manage and run your online, hybrid or face-to-face events.
• Sofa collaboration 👉 This collaboration software lets you virtualise your meetings by recreating the event space online, as well as the possibilities for interaction between participants. Finally, Sofa collaboration offers a range of tools for running your events (whiteboard, document management, etc.).

Step 2: Identify your audience

Who is your audience?

Defining your target audience is very important when organising an event. If your event is aimed primarily at a BtoB audience, it will be different from one aimed at a BtoC audience. Understanding your target audience is essential to achieving your objectives.

It is crucial to answer the following questions:

• Who is the target audience that best matches your objectives? It is important to remain realistic and ensure that your event will appeal to the audience you want to reach.
• What will your event bring to the audience? You need to identify the concrete benefits that will encourage participants to get involved and take part in your event.
• How many people can you or do you want to invite? The number of participants will depend on your budget and your logistical capabilities. It is important to assess the size of the event in the light of these constraints.
• What target audience would be prepared to pay for an event that isn't free, if that's what you're planning? If your event requires paid participation, it is crucial to understand which part of your target audience would be prepared to pay to attend your event.

By clearly defining your target audience, you can adapt the nature of your event, choose the right topics and speakers, and create a relevant experience for your audience.

BtoB events require a specific approach. They can take different forms (conferences, trade shows, webinars, workshops, etc.). To tailor your event effectively and optimally, we strongly recommend that you equip yourself with software tailored to BtoB event management.

Eventdrive, for example, is a benchmark software package for organising BtoB events.It's a 100% Made in France, innovative, all-in-one platform specially dedicated to professional event management, offering you the tools you need to create, promote and manage your event effectively. RGPD-certified, the solution lets you manage the entire lifecycle of your event thanks to its advanced features: Management of invitations, registrations and participants, creation of websites and mobile applications dedicated to your event, live or asynchronous broadcasting, detailed post-event analyses and much more!

Step 3: Calculate your budget

Have you identified the objective and target audience for your corporate event? Setting your budget becomes the most important thing... and perhaps the most difficult if you don't have any experience or if you don't have the support of an events agency.

And with good reason, there are many items of expenditure to consider:

• venue hire
• hosts and hostesses
• catering, if you're planning a meal,
• sound equipment
• furniture
• insurance, etc.

It's up to you to quantify what you can put on the table by asking yourself the right questions:

• Do you have an unlimited or fixed budget?
• What are your options for external funding (grants, sponsors, etc.)?
• What is the average cost of the various items of expenditure?
• Are you planning to charge for admission to your event or to make it free?
• Are you looking to break even or make a profit?
• Is your budget fixed or can it change?

Keep an up-to-date document, an Excel spreadsheet for example, in which you record your estimated costs, income, outgoings, etc.

💡 We advise you to set aside a margin, which is essential for unforeseen expenses. Traditionally, when organising an event, allow for 15% of the overall budget. Better safe than sorry!

Step 4: choose the right date

It's a shame to devote so much energy to preparing a professional event... only to find on the big day that visitors are few and far between due to the lack of a suitable date.

So take particular care in choosing the right date.

☑️ Avoid certain times of year, such as school holidays, bank holidays, Mondays, periods identified as busy by your sector of activity, etc.

☑️ Keep an eye on your competitors' calendar of events to avoid scheduling your event at the same time as theirs.

☑️ If you're planning an event outside working hours, in the evening for example, make sure it's friendly. Who wants to concentrate during a brainstorming session after a day's work?

☑️ Deal with the different constraints of those involved in your event, whether they be your suppliers or the teams you intend to mobilise.

☑️ Choose a date that is neither too close (to give speakers and guests time to get organised) nor too far away (to avoid forgetting, and therefore no-shows).

Finally, think about the length of the event. It all depends on what you have to say. If there are a lot of subjects to discuss, don't hesitate to plan your event over several days so that the speakers can present and debate in good conditions.

Step 5: Choose the venue

The venue plays a major role in the success of your event. That's why it's important to book the venue in advance.

Type of venue

Reception hall, exhibition centre, town hall... Choose a venue that is suited to the number of people expected to attend, particularly in terms of size.

The various facilities and amenities available in the rooms also come into the equation, depending on the type of event you are planning: do you need a podium for your lectures? A kitchen to serve food to your guests? A refreshment area? A car park?

Location of the venue

It must be easy to get to. There's nothing like locating your event far from any transport infrastructure to annoy or discourage your visitors. Startups such as Kactus, Bird Office and Snapevent help you to be efficient in your search for a venue.

💡 We recommend that you take the time to visit the venue before the big day, to avoid any unpleasant surprises and to get a better idea of what the venue has to offer.

Step 6: Draw up your back plan

At this stage, it's a good idea to start drawing up a retro-planning schedule, i.e. a timetable based on a deadline. In this case, it's the date of your event.

Use this document to plan and monitor the progress of all the stages leading up to the big day, and to anticipate any delays.

Example of a retro-planning for an event :

© Mayboutik

💡 While an Excel spreadsheet, as in the example above, may be suitable for planning the various operations to be carried out in the run-up to an event, a project management tool brings additional benefits: management of resources, deadline constraints, interdependencies between different tasks, budget, etc. What's more, this type of software, available to everyone in SaaS mode, facilitates collaborative working and coordination.

Step 7: Build your teams and select your service providers

Call in reinforcements from within the company...

Depending on the scale of the professional event you're planning, you may need to call on reinforcements from within your company.

That's why we suggest putting together a team, in which everyone knows exactly what their role is, as well as the deadlines for their assignments.

💡 Use your retroplanning, or your project management software, to organise logistics and have visibility over all the resources needed to develop your project!

... and outside

Volunteers, entertainers, caterers, hosts and hostesses... depending on the nature of your event, you'll need to call on external service providers.

Define all your requirements in advance, with the help of your team. You can even draw up a set of specifications.

Then, once your needs have been determined, proceed with the selection process. There are a number of qualities you should look out for:

• 100% compliance with your specifications;
• be responsive. If your contacts are not reactive when you contact them, this does not bode well for the more intense moments to come;
• be adaptable, because the events industry is notorious for its many unforeseen events;
• offer the best price. That's why you need to get in early enough to get as many quotes as possible and compare them.

💡 There are platforms that make it easier to find service providers, such as EventAdvisor or Commeti.

When recruiting volunteers, you can also get help from dedicated tools. One example is Recrewteer, a solution designed to manage volunteers efficiently: creating posts, recruitment, communication, coordination during the event, managing meals and accommodation... all your processes are simplified and automated. What's more, you can use the white-label software to customise your event even further.

Step 8: Communicate about the event

To attract people to your event, plan a well-oiled event communication strategy.

Here too, everything depends on your budget and your target audience. Nevertheless, there are several communication media to consider.

☑️ your own website: easily relay all the information about your event and benefit from high visibility, particularly through natural referencing.

☑️ emailing: this is the appropriate channel for sending invitations to the segment of your database selected in advance.

☑️ your social networks: these are an easy way of communicating with your audience, but they can also be used to distribute information to people with interests related to your event, via paid advertising. You don't need a huge budget: a few dozen euros can be enough to reach several thousand Internet users. It's up to you to choose your network according to your positioning and target audience: Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter Ads, etc.

☑️ Other networks, such as meetup.com, bring together members around specific, often professional, themes. Any way you can to raise the profile of what you're doing.

☑️ the press and public relations: you should then write a press release containing all the essential information.

💡 Some events software packages can help you get the word out. This is the case, for example, with AgoraEvent. Among other things, this solution takes care of creating a responsive web page for your event that can be customised to your image. AgoraEvent then takes care of the follow-up of participants, from registration to the sending of emails, including the management of accompanying persons.

Step 9: Brief your teams

Before the big day, take the time to brief all your teams, as well as your service providers. Everyone needs to know exactly what their role is.

Also plan to set up a communication system so that everyone can talk to each other easily during the event. For example, you can use

• walkie-talkies, very practical in case of unforeseen events,
• collaborative messaging available on a mobile application, such as Slack.

Step 10: Welcome your guests and host the event

Give your guests a proper welcome

Your event should leave a good impression on your visitors... right from the start! Looking disorganised and incompetent is out of the question.

💡 Checking your guest lists using a paper listing is time-consuming, and you run the risk of seeing the queue at the entrance to the venue get longer. That's why using event software can save you precious time. With Prezevent, you can easily create, personalise and send access badges to your guests. Next, the application's intuitive interface makes check-in easy: a visitor turns up? Scan their badge or enter their name, and that's all there is to it.

Liven up the event

Plan some entertainment to make your event attractive and interactive.

Here are some ideas

• games (quizzes, prize draws, etc.) to give your visitors the chance to win prizes. For example, during a business start-up exhibition, why not offer a coaching session with one of the professionals present?
• polls to give the public the chance to have their say, but also to gather feedback on your event. Which workshop did you prefer? Which speaker convinced you? etc.
• photo or video stands to broadcast live, or later on your various media.

We live in the age of the web and social networks. So you need to make sure you have a presence there, even during an event. Your visitors, and those who are unable to attend, expect interactivity and information. What could be better than a Tweetwall (wall of tweets) showing the messages posted live on the network on a television or giant screen? By communicating on the event's hashtag and broadcasting it, you encourage its use... and therefore virality!

Organising a business event: 8 general tips

You now have the keys to organising memorable business events.

Before you get started, here are a few general tips:

☑️ Always keep your objective and the expectations of your target audience in mind, like a common thread, throughout the organisation of your business event.

☑️ Do everything you can to arouse the interest and commitment of your guests. Substance (by carefully selecting your speakers, for example) should take precedence over form.

☑️ Anticipate and organise well in advance so that you don't get overwhelmed.

☑️ Keep to your budget and deadlines as far as possible.

☑️ Think about the technology and software solutions developed to support you throughout the organisation of your event and make it unforgettable.

☑️ Never hesitate to ask your teams for help and to enlist the support of external service providers.

☑️ Make sure that you project a positive, professional image to your audience throughout the event, from sending out the invitations through to the debriefing and entertainment.

☑️ Be original and creative.

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After the event: don't rest on your laurels

Your event is over, it went well... but your work doesn't stop there.

First of all, you need to continue communicating about the event, even afterwards. Keep up your presence on social networks, sharing videos and photos (ask people to identify themselves if they recognise themselves), thanking participants and speakers for attending. And, of course, don't forget to respond to any comments.

Also, take stock of your event. For example, send a questionnaire to your guests. Or use the post-event reports and statistics generated by your work tools.

This work is important, because it's the only way to identify areas for improvement so that you can prepare your next event even better.