If you’re allowed to bring in third-party/outside vendors, shop around to make sure you’re getting the best deal. You can sink hours into research, find a great list of five locations, then realize after reaching out that they’re all way out of your price range. Venue sourcing tools make everything so much easier. Targeted email marketing is a great way to promote your events when you have a vast database. Comment below about a particularly successful event and what you think made it memorable. Check out 10 Terrific Themes for Corporate Events. Check out Budgeting: How to Estimate Coffee Consumption. Other ways to promote? What event type is it? This website can include videos, more information, and lead to a registration site. And they don’t have to be budget drainers–they can actually be big money-makers for your organization. Figure out your goals and timeline for the event, Develop a plan to build on your new relationships with attendees, 21% of their marketing budgets were dedicated to those events, How to Plan an Event: A Simple 8-Step Guide, Logistics of the event (size, length, venue, staff, shipping), Experience necessities (catering, A/V equipment, decorations), Amenities (e.g., wellness offerings, dog adoptions, swag bags, etc. The most important thing to remember is that no two events are the same – just like snowflakes. Planning a virtual event takes as much time and dedication as an in-person or hybrid event. Tracking ROE will give you greater insight into a singular event or across multiple events. This will ensure a seamless user experience, and that nothing falls through the cracks. Like a lot of planners, you may start with a Google search. Depending on how long you’ve been planning events, you have different concerns. Published Nov. 01, 2019 by Check out our Privacy Policy. When you’re onsite, it’s incredibly likely that you’ll forget to sleep. The most important thing to remember about event promotion is to start early. Use a tool that captures each purchase so you don’t have to root through your purse, car, and office to find a crumpled receipt. Copyright 2020 Cvent Inc. All rights reserved. From concept and planning to marketing, executing and follow-up, this 70-page eBook includes: Worksheets, to-do lists and timelines; Reviews of tools to make you more effective; Step-by-step marketing plan; We worked with five top event professionals who love to break boundaries, set aggressive goals, iterate year over year, and listen to … Consider taking that speaker’s session off of the agenda and replacing it with a higher rated speaker. Maybe you were recently assigned an event to plan by your manager or you’re just starting out in the field, either way, there are a few basics for how to plan an event. This eight-step guide on how to plan an event has everything you need to get started. Online Survey Pitfalls: Ambiguous Survey Question Writing, Online Survey Pitfalls: Double Barreled Survey Questions, Data Types: Using Nominal Data in Survey Research, Deliver a seamless virtual experience with Virtual Attendee Hub, Start growing group and transient business, https://www.cvent.com/venues/las-vegas/resort/red-rock-resort/venue-9ace40ba-c9…, https://www.cvent.com/venues/new-york/hotel/kimpton-hotel-eventi/venue-9ae45ce6…, Do Not Sell My Personal Information (CCPA Required). Include when any permits or insurance policies need to be submitted, when registration ends, and a detailed timeline of the day-of. You need to develop a singular vision for your event theme and build your marketing campaign around that. Take the time right after the event to identify what went well and what didn’t, then do a deeper analysis into event success using metrics. You should be able to, and it shouldn’t take hours of searching in multiple Excel sheets to do it. While many planners rely on sticky notes and spreadsheets, there’s tech out there that will save hours and take events to the next level. Once the general location is set, it’s time to pick the specific venue. Make it clear what this event requires and hopes to achieve. You don’t need to spend extra time laboring over a pie chart – it’s created for you. One of the major challenges with tracking spend is making sure that every single purchase is accounted for. After the actual event, the event budget is one of the most highly scrutinized aspects of any planning process. Technology has made event budget tracking easier than pen and paper or building out a complicated, formula heavy Excel sheet. In-person, virtual, or hybrid? Join nearly 4,000 employees around the world who power our technology. Setting goals about what you hope to achieve with this event, whether it’s an increase in attendees, increased attendee engagement, or higher ratings for speakers, is key. Think about an event you attended recently. Some things cost more than you might think. Your theme should be tied to the goals you set out at the beginning, and the audience you’re after. If a speaker is poorly rated and they’re going to do the same talk at a different time – change up the schedule. They include salaries and overhead of the teams involved in staging an event as well as other shared expenses. But setting an event budget is crucial–and all stakeholders need to be on the same page. Read our Event Marketing Guide for more event marketing tips. In recent months, we've had to adjust event programs to incorporate these new event types, adding on a learning curve for planners as they get a feel for virtual event planning.