Hosting An Event on a Shoestring
Whether big or small, hosting an event can take lot of time, manpower, and money. If hiring an outside firm or consultant to handle this for you just isn't in your budget, what can you do to make it easier on you, your staff and your bottom line? There are solutions!
The success of any event comes from many combined factors your cause, the theme, the caliber of speaker(s), your invitee list, essential communication skills, and last but certainly not least -- getting a lot of people, including partners and sponsors to help with and support your event. Positioning the importance of the event as part of your overall corporate strategy is crucial. The message must be clear and the event needs to make sense with your long-term goals. So you'll definitely need a plan!
The Plan
Creating an event "plan" is essential to
keep things running smoothly from beginning to endand it can prevent oversight,
thereby reducing costs. Make a reasonable timeline for each task, going
backwards from your chosen event date. This way you'll recognize deadline
priorities. A standard 3-month timeline may include the following:
| March | April | May | June |
| Identify location, select date | Mail / email invitations | Track signage, promo order | Post-event follow-up |
| Create strategy & timeline | Create PR pitches & send | Prepare press/sales/corp. kit | Phone / email Thank Yous |
| Secure speaker(s) & sponsors | Coordinate event agenda | Check equipment, | Track PR |
| Secure intern staff for projects | Create company presentation(s) | Create final attendee list | Track results from event |
| Identify attendees & Press | Run through presentation(s) | Create agenda, name tags | Create Report |
| Finalize mailing list | Organize decorations, food | Go through checklist | Include event success |
| Design Invitation | Follow up with Press | Final event walk through | in your Newsletter! |
| Order signs, promo items | Follow-up calls to invitees | EVENT! |
Location, Location, Location
Securing a great, convenient location that fits with your theme can also
make a difference. People don't want to travel far unless they really
have to. For smaller events, choose a restaurant, art gallery, club (where
someone in your organization has a membership) or hotel that may discount
or trade the space in exchange for publicity. For larger events, look
into local community halls, public venues such as parks or conference
centers that work within your budget.
Marketing Communications
Designing an invitation doesn't have to be difficult. There are creative
people all around you - capitalize on these creative minds for ideas
and graphic design help! For simplified templates and trackable email
campaigns there are online sites such as Constant Contact that offer
reasonably priced, turnkey services.
With today's competitive market for mind-share, it's smart to cover all your bases. It's all about convenience. Create both paper (telephone RSVPs to a voicemail are fine) and email invitations as well as a special area on your website to promote the event and tally RSVPs. If the event is private, make the area on your site password protected.
If you've decided that your event is worthy of inviting the press, make sure they get it on their calendar quickly. Line up a target media list (local and business media are the easiest) and start calling them immediately. That call will be top-of-mind when they get the actual invitation. And be sure they have all the important information you want to disclose prior to the event to increase your chances of obtaining a story. If there is news that is proprietary, pick one or two of your most important press allies and give them the story under non-disclosure so it comes out timely with the event.
Resources
Low-cost or free assistance for your project can come from many resources.
Place free ads at local college job boards looking for interns studying
graphic design, marketing and PR. Describe the job properly and position
it as a project for credit and you should be able to find a student or
two willing to help you from start to finish. Ask employees if they have
spouses, partners or responsible older children that can help.
And don't forget your valuable partners - those people and companies that have a stake in your success. Utilize their knowledge for contacts; speakers; financial or product donations in exchange for advertising, or for pure manpower. Go out and seek additional sponsors whose products or services fit well in with the topic of your event. This is especially helpful if you are fundraising.
Your Message/Presentation
The best presentations are the shortest presentations. For adding graphics
and video, Microsoft PowerPoint is a versatile program for this purpose.
But there's nothing worse than a bored audienceso cut to the chasebe
succinct and keep it to 10-15 minutes. Make sure you choose well-versed
speakers (that won't ramble!) who will communicate your message clearly.
Have these speeches well prepared and make sure you do a few run-throughs
before your event. Computer and video equipment will always let you down
when you least expect it.
Creating a feel-good environment. While your guests are arriving, it's a good policy to make sure they relax and talk with one-another. You don't need a huge buffet to make people happy. Light, healthy finger foods (you can probably even draft the best cooks in your office into making these at home), water, coffee and soft drinks will do the trick. And while they are satisfying their thirst and hunger, let them look around at visuals you have prepared and strategically placed at the venue in the form of posters, flyers, press kits, photos and even a computer kiosk or two that has your website nicely showing on the screen.
In the end, be sure that your attendees walk out with a good reminder -- a press / sales / corporate kit or folder that includes your presentation in addition to your company information, a FAQ sheet, sales sheets, press releases, image CDs, etc. Give this to everyone that you sign in upon arrival. If you have obtained some good sponsor giveaways that are not being used for some promotion or raffle, let your attendees know you have something special for them before they leave as a 'thanks for coming' gesture.
Follow-up
Once the event is over, follow-up and follow-up again! Whether
you prefer to make phone calls or send email messages, be sure to thank
all who attended! Don't be afraid to ask for feedback. You can learn
a lot from those who attended - and it will help you better prepare
your next event.
And finally, don't forget that any and all positive results should be used as
fodder to create more news about your company and to lay the foundation
for future great events!
