The impact of a good corporate event stretches far beyond the event itself. Done correctly, your event can help to attract new customers, cement your relationship with your existing clients, and help to improve company culture. That’s a lot of benefits that come from an event that might only last for a few hours.
But of course, as with all things in business, there are no guarantees that your event will be beneficial. In many cases, corporate events can simply come and go without leaving any sort of mark whatsoever, except for a pretty big hole in the budget.
So, how can you ensure that your corporate event has the desired effect? Let’s take a look at a few tried and tested strategies.
Work With Your Team
Achieving any type of success becomes much more straightforward when everyone’s pulling in the same direction. At their best, corporate events can help to galvanize the whole workforce, bolster the company culture, and all-around provide a healthy dose of positivity. At their worst, they become a corporate headache that has employees looking for the exit door.
The best corporate events are the ones where staff are fully onboard with what’s happening and have a say in the direction of the event. While the final say will be with management, gathering ideas from employees is essential.
Make an Impression
It’ll be much easier for the content of the event to make an impression if everything around that content is impressive. And if you need any convincing of that, just think of that: you’d be more likely to be impressed by a speech delivered in a trendy event space than one delivered in an uninspiring office. The venue sets the tone for everything else that follows, and can even become a backdrop for your future marketing materials if you hire event photographers to capture the evening. While the venue will do most of the heavy lifting, you can support the ‘let’s make a good impression’ quest by carefully choosing the catering company. Even if you don’t care much for food, we assure you that some of your guests will.
Bring the Fun
You don’t necessarily have to bring the fun, intrigue, or excitement to your corporate events — but you do if you’re trying to make as big an impact as possible. Talks are well and good, but something that breaks up the wall of voice can help to keep things fresh and engaging. How this looks in practice will depend on the type of event you’re hosting, but could involve demonstrations, hands-on experiments, or fun games (just make sure they’re actually fun).
Post-Event Work
You’ll (hopefully) have made a positive impression during the event, but getting the most impact — from your perspective at least — will depend in large part on what you do after the event is over. Reaching out to your attendees with a recap video, hosting a webinar that goes over the main points, and making offers available can all help ensure your event’s impact lasts for as long as possible.
