If you’re faced with planning your first corporate event for your company, you’re probably starting to feel the pressure. Whether it’s a team-building event, holiday party, industry conference, product launch event, or a corporate meeting, you’ll be expected to get everything right. And you’re in luck since we’re sharing a simplified step-by-step guide to use in your event planning efforts. Print out this list and have a roadmap for corporate event planning success!
Start By Establishing Your Corporate Event Goals
Figure out the goals or objectives for your NYC corporate event. Outline benefits like team-building or leads generated. Figure out goals for ticket sales and attendance rates. And develop a mission for the event or create a “why” statement that defines why guests should want to attend.
Determine a Realistic Corporate Event Budget
New York City events and conferences cost money to curate. So start with the big-ticket event planning basics and begin assigning estimated costs. Consider venue, entertainment, catering, and marketing expenses. And give yourself a cushion of unexpected costs should there be last-minute changes or spending.
Themes, Designs, and Decor
With your event goals and audience in mind, get creative about choosing a corporate event theme. With an overarching theme in place, much of your event designs and decor details will come easily. Think fun and exciting, too, like a decade theme, a Hollywood red carpet theme, or an eco-friendly theme. Settle on a theme that helps build attraction around your event and sets the tone for your event marketing and announcements.
Guest Lists and Invitations
Begin assembling your corporate event invite lists. These might be employees and their plus ones for a holiday party. Or, these lists might be more extensive, including clients, colleagues, and community businesses, especially if you’re planning more of a conference. Segment your invite lists and create template emails and invitation language you can use in your initiatives. Now’s the time to set your timeline to send your invitations, follow-up schedules, and RSVP deadlines, too.
Selecting a New York City Venue
With your corporate event headcount in mind, start browsing all the incredible New York City venues. Be mindful to choose a venue with a similar corporate event hosting experience. And make sure the venue covers all the dealbreaker details for your event size, preferences, and needs.
Corporate Event Day Itinerary
With a date confirmed and the venue booked, you can put some ink to your corporate event itinerary. Start putting the flow of your event timeline together, including arrival hours, presentation times, entertainment performances, meal service, Q&A sessions, and networking opportunities.
Booking Keynote Speakers
Next up on your corporate event planning agenda involves booking any guest or keynote speakers you need to take the stage. These might be inspirational speakers, industry experts, or topic influencers. Line up enough speakers to allocate in your itinerary and reserve backup speakers should anyone cancel.
Booking Corporate Event Entertainment
Even the most official of corporate meetings need some form of event entertainment. And most corporate events will still offer DJs, live bands, artistic performers, AR/VR activations, comedians, or magicians. Explore all the NYC entertainment companies out there and book those services that are the best fit for your audience and event.
Marketing Your Corporate Event
Create a strategic plan for marketing and promoting your NYC corporate event. This strategy might include a series of email announcements, social media posts, reminder notices, and press releases. And if your company conference is open to a broader audience, you’ll need a marketing plan for selling tickets, securing sponsors, and advertising your event elements.
Corporate Event Website or Mobile App
Consider creating a dedicated website for your company conference or a landing page you can use for digital invitations and communication. And if your corporate event warrants it, create an event mobile app for ongoing connection and engagement with your invite list.
Assembling Your Corporate Event Vendors
Start booking all the other event vendors you might need to make your corporate event a success. This might include the photo booth and photographer. You may decide to book a barista for coffee, espresso, and latte service. Book the caterer and florist. Work through your list and make sure you bring on a proven professional for each item.
Corporate Event Facilitation Teams
You won’t be able to execute or facilitate this corporate event by yourself. And you might only be able to rely on venue staff for certain tasks. So, take the time to create event teams of staff or volunteers who can help you with registration, emcee announcements, and event-day issues that may arise.
Door Prizes, Swag, and Gifts
No corporate event is complete without incredible door prizes, giveaways, and swag. Allow yourself enough time to order promotional branded products. Decide if you plan to do companywide drawings for prizes or if you need prizes for various team-building games and activities, too.
Tracking, Monitoring, and Post-Event Surveys
Every aspect of your pre-event, event day, and post-event activities can be tracked, monitored, and evaluated. Make sure you have all the tools and resources in place, both online and offline, to keep up with all that valuable information. And begin preparing your post-event surveys now for immediate engagement and feedback after your corporate event is over.
Just Let EMRG Media Handle Everything
As you start to plan your first corporate event, keep this step-by-step guide handy. Or, you could tag in the professionals at EMRG Media. Our team can take all the hassle and guesswork out of curating the perfect corporate event or company party! Let’s connect and start planning together!
