Do You Need A Corporate Events Planner? Event planning can be quite challenging as It demands time, focus, research, budgeting, logistical skills and relevant industry knowledge

Planning a corporate event appears to be simple, at least at first. All you need to do is make your hotel bookings, arrange for travel and you are all set, right?

Wrong. Even though we've all attended meetings and conclaves, running them in a flawless and professional manner is a completely different story.

Truth is that event planning can be quite challenging if unprepared. It demands time, focus, research, budgeting, logistical skills and relevant industry knowledge that many corporate management and leadership teams simply don't possess.

Sadly, in India, far too many companies try to figure it out on their own in order to save costs and their event either becomes an epic disaster or turns out to be repetitive, year after year. Why, you may ask? Simply put, it's not their core competency and nor should it be. Before you plan your next event, make sure you have the event designing skills and adequately trained resources in place to get the job done right. If you don't have those skills and resources internally, it makes sense to hire the services of a corporate event planner.

Here, I share insights, tips and best practices for creating extraordinary corporate event experiences and some wisdom on why you must have a professional events team working in the direction of the event agenda.

Event Organisations Have Distinctive Connections & With The Right Vendors

Event management companies, who have working relationships with fabricators, artists, caterers and other professionals, can help organize, say the food for your event. An experienced events professional can recommend the right caterer to suit your palette, design a great F&B culinary experience at your event and get everybody talking about the happening, thus extending the overall event experience, post event.

Attendee Engagement

Well, I always say, Entertainment is Key! With communication being in the palm of each guest's hands, we stop at nothing to engage with our guests. From Live DJs, to interactive game nights, video booths, and even professional MC's, we know exactly what to do to ensure your event shines! A fun filled and entertaining Awards Evening with a twist could have great positive effects on your employees and teams rather than a boring motivational speech at the annual convention.

Event Professionals Offer Additional Help

Do you want dedicated hostesses or entertaining acts at the F&B stations to tend to your guests while they float around at the event venue in between sessions? How about a Floor Chef preparing a special dish to your attendees' preference or a Mixologist – a bartender mixing drinks particularly to fit your guest beverage desires? A professional planner always curates uniformed staff to make your event memorable and sets you free so you may focus on your event agenda.

Event Professionals Troubleshoot For You

As corporate executives, HoDs, CEOs and GMs, you surely have enough on your plate already. Moreover with your flair for organising family weddings, along with sudden office agenda meetings and team outings, corporate event duties can come as a surprise and hit you in way of your professional commitments. Accept and outsource, because "Multitasking' and "Troubleshooting' are not your forte. A professional events planner will look into all areas of the planning process such as designing the event blueprint, show flow and corporate theme. Also, a proficient events professional will be skilled enough to foresee, prevent and iron out any glitches that may occur prior to or during the show. The event planner will see to it that the vendors arrive on time, signage is put up at visible locations, the cake arrives in one piece et cetera.

Event Managers Capitalize On Creativity

Based on prior events and practical experience, event professionals have seen through, she or he will be able to provide sound advice on the level of success of each idea you propose. Besides, as professional event planners we often tap on our creativity to explore your proposed ideas and turn them to reality. For example, if you propose to turn your corporate event location into a themed extravaganza comprising of say a bridge to walk to another product zone, clusters of corrugated boxes to serve as seating solutions et cetera, we always consider, research and plan in great detail, to not only transform your idea into something concrete but also, to ensure that your event objectives are met well beyond your expectation. This is what I call, "Design Thinking"!

Time is Money

It is, indeed. Be certain, we help you save a lot of your time and allow you to focus on the most essential aspects of your professional careers besides just this one event amidst the many more to come once this hits off. We work closely with you and your team, thus channelling your energy into one or two areas in the planning process and ensuring that every aspect of the major areas is looked into from various angles.

Event Professionals Add Value

A professional events team is equipped with skills needed in the planning process. For example, in the area of entertainment, we negotiate a mutually beneficial contract for you and the entertainment artists. Such negotiation skills honed over the years will allow you, the client, to get great value for your money. As your event planner, we make sure you get the most out of your budget and that you remain on budget. Besides, we found that upper management really likes this perk!

At a recent corporate event, we had a dedicated "floor host' to interact with the delegates in between sessions. This way we ensured, attendees didn't run away to their rooms and cars. We rather have them to engage in some interesting conversations building up more content at the conference, ultimately enhancing the event output. Isn't that a great value scheme in itself? Professional event managers add value in ways you could never have contemplated.

No matter how big or small your event, an experienced and professional events planner can help you with as much detail as you choose to outsource. Hiring a professional event planner can take the stress away from you and ensure that your event will be one that not only fits your budget but also meets your objective. The rigid corporate frameworks are now passé and our wise-experienced corporate business heads recognise the value of professional abilities. This has opened numerous doors leading to well-planned and executed events, thus adding to our bounty of successful stories.

I always say, times are forever changing, and rapidly evolving into never-experienced-before circumstances, and if you don't match up to the ever enhancing standards, your oddly streamlined corporate meetings and seminars will only add up to your costs, yielding little or negligible output.

We approach our clients from a position providing great value and never get defensive about our fees, because as a famous hair product slogan proclaims, "You're worth it!", and we couldn't agree any more!