Planning a corporate event in 2022 – top tips

After a couple of years on hold corporate events are back on the business agenda.  The environment, however, is different.  On the one hand we now have to accept that Covid is here to stay and events must take into account all that this means in terms of health precautions.  On the other, after months of lockdowns, working from home and prolonged periods of isolation, face to face events are enjoying a surge in popularity.  In this post we share some tips on how to plan and create successful business events in this cautious but enthusiastic new world.

Start with why

There’s no point in having a corporate event just for the sake of it.  You need to have a clear picture of what you want to achieve - otherwise you are just wasting time and money.  Do you want to improve employee engagement or are you trying to attract new clients, is the objective to create some space for your management team to recharge their batteries and generate a renewed sense of direction or are you staging a conference to improve your company’s thought leadership credentials?  If you don’t have a clear goal in mind it’s hard to plan how best to achieve it!

Make your goal SMART

The more clearly defined your goal the easier it becomes to create a plan with a good chance of success.  Use the SMART formula – make sure your goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.  Also agree a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) so you can evaluate the extent to which you achieved that goal. 

Decide on a format

What’s the best way to approach your goal?  With an in-person event, with a hybrid event or with a virtual event?

In-person

In terms of engagement and impact you can’t beat an event where people meet face-to-face in a physical offline venue.  However, getting people together involves greater expense and takes up more of their valuable time.  There are also all the health and safety issues around Covid to consider.  Then again, asking people to travel is not eco-friendly, especially if it involves flying people long distances.

Virtual

Technology now makes it possible to create a wide range of events online.  This type of gathering is safer, less costly, more convenient for people to attend (so attendance may be better) and has a lower environmental impact.  The downside, however, is that participation via a screen is less engaging than being there in-person.  Having said that, if you make use of the latest augmented reality technology attendees can explore a virtual event space rather than simply staring at each other on a Zoom or Teams platform.

Hybrid

These events give people the choice of physically attending and meeting others face-to-face or participating remotely.  Hybrid events combine the best of the in-person and virtual formats – so it’s not surprising they are rapidly becoming more popular. 

Make your event as experiential as possible

Meeting people face-to-face has some novelty value after months of lockdowns and working from home – but you still need to make your event as exciting and stimulating as possible.  Try to avoid predictable formats, agendas and content.  People’s expectations are higher now and technology has moved on – traditional PowerPoint presentations are not going to hold people’s attention for long!  Try to get people involved as much as possible with interactive sessions and immersive experiences.

Photo by Elissa Garcia on Unsplash

Keep sessions short and leave sufficient “white space” in between - people are excited to see each other in person again. Give them sufficient time to meet and catch up at their leisure. The schedule does not need to be jam-packed with back-to-back with sessions.

Choose venues with care

Covid is still very much with us so bear this in mind when evaluating potential venues.  Make sure they have everything in place to host covid secure meetings.  Do they have comprehensive and robust policies in place, are staff adequately trained and equipped, are spaces large enough to comply with social distancing guidelines, are meals served individually, do they conduct specific risk assessments for each and every different event? 

The team at Clevedon Hall takes these issues very seriously, you can rest assured that you can arrange an event here with complete confidence.  We also have an abundance of spaces, many of them outdoors, which makes social distancing less of a problem.

Pay attention to accessibility

If organising an in-person event be sure that all areas are physically accessible for a variety of attendees with a variety of needs.  Also provide captions on your livestreams or appropriate interpretation for attendees who require this type of support.  It’s important to ensure that every single person participating in your in-person, virtual or hybrid event leaves a positive impression by planning ahead for a diverse crowd.

Photo by Jenean Newcomb on Unsplash

Networking capabilities

A big part of any business event is the opportunity it provides for making connections and building relationships.  Even if you’re hosting an online event, choose a platform with a chat function that allows attendees to network and discuss the event on their own. Consider putting together an app that lets them connect both during and after the event.

Need more help planning your next corporate event

Hopefully you’ll find these general tips useful but we have a lot more in the way of advice, guidance and inspiration we can share with you.  Whatever kind of event you have in mind feel free to pick the brains of the experienced event planning and management team at Clevedon Hall!

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