Planning an event can a fun yet grueling task. Check out our article below to see what you should also be considering, if you haven’t already.
Things to Consider When Planning Your Event
Great so you’ve decided to plan an event. There are 4 things you’ll need to take into account:
- Venue
- Date
- Type of Attendees
- Pricing
Venue
The venue is a big factor of any event. You’ll need to consider the size of the venue, location, the number of attendees. The venue isn’t so much of an issue if you have decided to hold an online event but you’ll still need to factor in a platform that can hold the number of attendees that are attending your event.
Some venues require that you have insurance and issue a temporary event notice. You’ll either need to get your event team or admin team to complete this.
Date
Choosing a date is the next step to securing your venue. A lot of event planners often forget to check for clashing public holidays or clashes with similar events.
You’ll also need to consider things like:
- The time of day – this will help you factor things like setting up for the event
- Day of the week – this will greatly depend on what type of event you are thinking of hosting and the type of attendees you are catering to.
Type of Attendees
When we talk of types of attendees, it’s whether you’re having exhibitors, guest speakers, or simply people attending your event.
You’ll need to factor in separate communication for exhibitors/guests to standard attendees.
Exhibitors and guests may need to know all the general detail, including ideas about accommodation etc. Whilst on the day, guests will need to be brief about emergency exits and what to do if something goes wrong.
Standard guests will need to know the location, date, parking options, accessibility options, where to collect their tickets and extra
Pricing
If your event is free, happy days. However, if it is a paid event, then you’ll need to factor in the costs of your event to try and gain a profit. You’ll need to consider the price of the ticket and whether people will commit based on what they think the experience will be like. Another factor that might sway people to purchase a ticket is free gifts upon entry.
Then you have the other problem of price points. Do you just have a standard ticket o do you have various levels that may include VIP tickets.
Where and How to Promote Your Event
Ticketing platforms
There are a whole host of platforms to advertise your event, some are free and others are paid for. It will depend on your budget and what marketing activities you’d like included within the platform itself.
Platforms such as Facebook can offer events via your company page which can redirect traffic back to your website for attendees to purchase tickets.
Marketing Channels
By ultising the on-platform event options on social media, you easily be able to share your event with your audience and across a wider audience you may not have targeted yet.
Email marketing is a great way of getting across event information to your audience and they have that readily available for events that are in the future. Your audience will also be readily available when you come to promote merchandise, products, or services during and after the event.
For a cost-effective way of generating brand awareness, you can utilise paid ads to target untapped audiences too. Simply create your ad and advertise within the space you have budgeted for. Google ads are a good option as it’s mostly text-based but retargeting ads can be used if people have shown interest in your event in the past or have been to a previous event.
OOH Advertising
If your budget allows, Out Of Home advertising is a great opportunity to boost brand awareness and generate conversions. A lot of thought is required to make sure the advert is on brand, has messaging that targets your audience, and is positioned correctly.
Execution of Your Event
If you have done all your planning well in advance you can sit back and relax, with final preparations making sure all your goods have arrived, all the literature is printed with no typos, and issuing last communications to exhibitors and attendees.
During this quiet period, you’ll want to check with the venue if they have received all the legal documentation and to help with any last-minute marketing activities.
As you inch closer to the date, any campaigns may be finishing so interpreting the data can start now, especially if you have a few events close together.
The Afterthought of Your Event
During you’re promotion phase, you’ll hopefully have been gathering data from people who want to hear from you. This is helpful because you can promote other events, products, and services and generally start developing a customer relationship. After the event, any data you have collected on the whole can be utilised to produce a feedback survey or the data can populate a campaign to reach out to attendees to continue developing that customer relationship.
At the event, you’ll speak to people who can provide instant feedback and you’ll be able to deal with any misconceptions about your product or service!
And… breathe. Simply enjoy the day, you’ve worked so hard towards.
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