Working with an event planner can take much of the responsibility for ensuring your event goes smoothly off your shoulders. Your planner will organize most aspects of the event and you can simply provide the final sign-off or work closely with him or her. Here are five important services corporate event planners can provide.
1. Production Design and Management
Whether you need to stream or broadcast your corporate event or only need local production coordination, your event planner can take care of it. Corporate event planners such as Smartworks typically offer audiovisual (AV) production and lighting services. They will hire or provide lighting technicians and AV teams to make sure presenters and speakers are able to inform and entertain successfully. Your event planner can also hire IT professionals to set up and manage live streams and video conferencing programs for you.
2. Marketing and Communications
Most events require marketing and communication services of some kind. If your event is only for your employees, you may work with the event planner to develop invitations, instructions and other types of internal communication. He or she may also help you choose the right technology to use to do so. If your event is open to attendees outside your company, then you will need a website that provides one location for them to register, find more information and contact you with questions. External events also require additional marketing and advertising to show why people should attend and generate interest in registering.
3. Staffing
Many event planning companies will provide staff for your event. These companies may suggest vendors and staffers they have professional relationships with or they may work with vendors that you choose or that are located in your area to meet your staffing needs. You may require staffers for several reasons, including professional photography, translation, security, registration and information. Typically, an event planner’s team will manage and coordinate your event’s staff.
4. Venue Selection and Management
Choosing the venue is one of the most important aspects of planning an event. Once you book the venue, you will also need to manage it. An event planner can do both for you. He or she will either select the venue for you or provide you with several options to choose from, taking into account your budget, location preferences, accessibility needs and expected number of attendees. He or she will then coordinate with the venue to organize the event and file related paperwork.
5. Vendor Organization
Event planners are typically in charge of making contracts with and managing vendors. Vendors include caterers, transportation companies and hotels. They may also include companies that provide furniture rentals, merchandise, equipment rentals and printed materials such as business cards and brochures. Depending on the scope of your event, you may also need vendors to provide technological equipment and online vendors for the event website.
Planning a corporate event takes large amounts of work. Event planners have the skills, experience and connections to ensure your event is the best it can be within your budgetary and location requirements.