22 Nov The 5 Biggest Corporate Event Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
When you’re planning an event, there are multiple places where your plan can go astray. From budgeting issues to bad venue choices, Pic Station can help you avoid event planning mistakes that would ruin your experience. Whether you’re planning a multi-day seminar for your employees or you’re hosting a launch party for all the important people in your industry, Pic Station can help you balance the logistics and strategy for any big event.
Are you ready to embark on your event planning journey? Read on here for some of the top tips from the people behind many of the most successful events in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC.
1. Planning a Boring Event
Many events can often focus on the company hosting the event instead of the people attending. If your guests aren’t enjoying the event or they leave unhappy, you’ve made a lasting negative impact on the attendees. You can try to avoid this event planning mistake by allocating budget and time during your event to engaging activities and entertainment. Nobody can be focused on work 100% of the time!
One of the more creative options that are useful to your business as a marketing and branding tool is a photo booth! They give your guests a chance to get silly and provide you with great marketing materials for the future. As you consider ways to keep attendees entertained, think first and foremost about what would appeal to them as an audience and then find appropriate activities that stay within your budget!
2. Bad Use of Technology
A major pain point for many corporate events is using too much or too little technology. From checking in to uploading photos to social media, anything that takes too much time will upset your guests and ruin your event. While certain apps and scanning technology can streamline checking in or participation in your event, it may also necessitate fumbling around on a phone instead of focusing on the event itself.
At Pic Station, we know how to minimize this event planning mistake because we take care of all your tech needs as part of our photo booth packages. When it comes to capturing images of your event and broadcasting them on social media, we consider everything with tools like hashtag photo booths, event photographers, and access to top-of-the-line iPads throughout your event.
3. Going Over Budget
Going over your budget is pretty much a deal-breaker and the biggest event planning mistake you can make! It’s one of the easiest things to keep track of if you just put in a little extra effort. When creating your budget, make sure you write everything down. Research vendors and keep an eye on any extra taxes, fees, and tips that you may need to account for. Even traffic jams and flight changes can snowball into huge added costs for your corporate events.
In addition to figuring out the average vendor costs for food, entertainment, and venues, you should always calculate a margin of error into your final budget estimate. We recommend ensuring you have at least 15% more than you plan on spending available for last-minute problems that might culminate in massive event planning mistakes.
4. Forgetting the Impact You’re Trying to Make
Your event is meant to tell a story and make an impact on all your guests in real-time. You don’t have a rewind or do-over button if things go wrong. If you get caught up in all the little details of planning your event, you may find that you’ve lost the whole point of why you’re hosting one. Don’t let this event planning mistake trip you up when you focus too much on the free drinks, pretty venue, or giveaway bags.
Create a simple tagline and mission statement that will keep you on track and focused on the point of your event. This meaningful narrative should be broadcast in all your content when advertising your event, during the event itself, and post-event. Make sure everything you plan resonates with this message at all times.
5. Wrapping Up Without Thank Yous
Your event has a message and purpose, don’t let people forget it when they leave. Once you’ve wrapped up, send out thank you notes to vendors, guests, and sponsors by mail and through social media. These notes should be branded and include the same narrative and mission statement that you created for the event.
One way many companies that use our services avoid this event planning mistake is through photo and video booth rental customization. With branding on digital and paper copies, you can send out printed photos or video emails thanking everyone for attending the event and guaranteeing they have one last reminder of your company and the experience you provided.
Event Planning with the Best
Corporate events are about more than just getting people to show up! You want them to enjoy their time with your company and tell everyone about it! When you keep these event planning mistakes in mind as you take your first steps outlining your seminar or launch party, you will succeed in creating an appealing event that nobody will forget.
Thinking about adding a photo booth to your event? Reach out to our team for more information today!