Blog

Published May 18, 2016    

5 Steps to Plan Your Corporate Event

Corporate events are a great opportunity for your company to showcase its accomplishments and create camaraderie among employees and clients. Options range from fancy a corporate fiesta to a casual party. You need to think of activities, themes, promotions, food, and entertainment. Employees, investors, clients, and even potential customers may attend, so it’s important that your company is presented well. This may seem like an overwhelming task, staying organized and following this corporate party checklist can help make sure that you have a fun and successful event.

Step 1: Planning and Research:

• Prepare a budget
• Begin brainstorming what type of event you want to have
• What is the goal of your event
• Choose date, location, and time
• Decide on your theme formal, casual, 80s, disco
• Research vendors and suppliers where your event is going to take place
• Research professional corporate event entertainment companies
• Some companies book both a band and a DJ if it is a multi-day event.
• If you are booking a band, make sure to ask and follow up with references they give you

Step 2: Begin Booking and Promoting:

• Book the venue for your date, Quebec Place at Fairmount is flexible to accommodate 50-200 people
• Decide on your theme shindigz.com is a easy to use website for any type of theme you’re looking for
• Order the decorations
• Book your entertainment
• Book photographer/videographer to record your event
• Review bids from suppliers and vendor
• Find hotels in the area of your event to accommodate your guests in case there are people coming from out of town tripadvisor.com can help with reviews of hotels in your area
• Order your invitations and RSVP cards to be printed
• If you plan on making a program or newsletter for your event, delegate that task so it’s one less thing to worry about
• Order or rent necessary equipment

Step 3: Invitations and Confirmations:

• Send out your invitations and tell people to RSVP by a specific date, nothing like having to chase people down for their confirmation, you’ll still have a few people that just show up and never confirmed they were coming. So plan on a buffer
• Confirm your hotel, venue, entertainment and food
• If applicable, let guests know if they will need transportation from the hotel to the venue or if you will provide it
• Confirm staff/volunteer responsibilities
• If possible, visit the venue to make sure you know exactly how you want to set up
• Determine security needs if any

Step 4: Day of Your Event:

• Have everyone involved in the event meet before in case there are any concerns and to go over the schedule
• Do a walk through, no one likes surprises that are not planned on a day like this
• Listen to what people like and dislike. This way you can make your next event even better
• Encourage your guests to be active on social media, which will help to promote your event. Create a Facebook page for your event where guests can post any updates

Step 5: After Your Event

• Put pictures of your event in your company newsletter, post to social media
• Send thank you notes, hand written thank you notes go a long way if you have time to do so. If not, at least send email thank you’s out vistaprint.com is a inexpensive site where you can order from
• Ask for feedback from your guests and make note of what they tell you whether it’s positive or negative
• Save all budget and vendor information, so that you can use it as reference for the next time

Save any items that can be used again, it’s always nice to be able to save money going forward for the next event.

Although your timeframe may vary depending on the scale of your event, it is important to follow the basic steps above. Planning a corporate event doesn’t have to be stressful. Start planning early and do your research. Soon you will have a good network of professional vendors and entertainment, making your future event planning much easier. Planning a successful corporate event will not only make you look good, but it will also benefit your employees, clients, and business. Remember, average events are quickly forgotten, but great events are remembered, along with you, for a very long time. Who knows, you might even have a knack for it and want to make a career change.

Quebec Place at Fairmount is flexible, with innovative spaces and with a staff focused on creating whatever environment you can imagine. To schedule a tour you may contact us by calling 303.993.0880. Let us help you plan your next successful corporate event.