Helping HR Mary #1: Choosing The Right Event Organiser
Corporate Event Planning
Last week, we talked about celebrating the festival of Halloween in Singapore. This week, we will be sharing tips and guidelines on choosing an event organiser for your company’s events.
Corporate Event Planning
To start, what constitutes our decision to write this article and start a series to help Mary out?
From the conversations we had with our clients, we have noted that many of them were tasked to organise events for the first time. Their heads were certainly filled with questions before we arrived and solved them.
However before we dive into the key considerations to look into when appointing an event organiser, you would need to know what are the different types of corporate events in Singapore.
Dinner & Dance
Family Days
Conferences
Types of Corporate Events
In a fiscal year, companies usually allocate a budget for corporate event planning. It can be used for either recreational or for business purposes.
How Do You Decide On An Event Organiser?
Key Considerations
We feel that there are four points to consider when choosing an event organiser and we have listed them down below in no particular order:
Price
You would usually be given a budget to carry out your event planning. With that, you would need to consider costs such as venue rental, audio-visual equipment, food catering to say the least.
Having a cost-effective proposal while meeting all the requirements, would put you in a good position with your management.
In some instances, some organisers would also entice you with complimentary add-ons, which should go in your favour during your evaluation.
Event Budget
Creative Ideas & Concepts
Another point to consider would be the ideas and concepts shared by the event organisers. Be it planning an internal event for your staff, or an external event for your business associates and your customers, what is important is your event presentation.
Aesthetic design visuals would deliver a strong impression to your audience and it would perform a great job in attaining awareness for your event without doing much of email marketing or social media postings. Impactful event concepts would also allow your guests to have an immersive and positive experience attending your event.
Therefore, if the objective of your event is to impress your audience, this key consideration might be important to you.
Ideas & Concepts
Track Records
The third key consideration would be the track records and experience of the event organisers. For example, if you are planning an event for 3,000 attendees, certainly it would be harder to entrust your event to an organiser that has only done up events up to 500 attendees.
With that, it is also important to know that all event organisers have different expertise. Some excel in organising recreational events, some excel in organising business events. Do have that in mind while you are evaluating your options. A good way to do a background check on the organisers would be to skim through their social media platforms or take a look at the testimonials from their past clients.
It is often said that there is no margin for errors when it comes to the execution of an event. Hence, do check up on the backgrounds of the event organisers and their capabilities before making your final choice.
Clients’ Testimonials
Event Manager / Team
The 3 pointers discussed above are generally well-established facts. However, we do feel that this key consideration that we are about to discuss, have often been missed out. And here is the reason why we feel is important:
Event planning comes at a huge commitment of time and money. You will be working with your event organiser for a long period, where there will be back-and-forth discussions from time to time. The event manager/team that is tagged to your project will have to understand your vision fully. Likewise, if you cannot understand what they are trying to convey, there will be a communication breakdown soon after.
Another point to note would be the work style of your event manager/team. As a consumer, we would love prompt follow-ups, but do bear in mind that your event might not be the only project on their hand. Hence you will know that an event manager/team is top-notch when they get back to you with detailed developments and a clear timeline plan moving forward.
You may start by observing how the event organisers handle your inquiries, and if they show that they understand your vision, from the presentations of their proposals. In short, an effective-working relationship will help a lot in your event planning.
Project Management
To sum it all up, the following key considerations will be useful to you, when choosing an event organiser:
Price
Creative Ideas & Concepts
Track Records
Event Manager/Team
With the right organiser, you would then be able to move on to plan for the different aspects of your event.
We will certainly be sharing more tips and information to help Mary out in the coming weeks! Stay tuned.
Appointing An Event Organiser
If you are looking for an event organiser for your company’s events, drop us an enquiry here for a non-obligatory quote!