The organisation of events as well as the implementation and follow-up of events are something like the supreme discipline of office management and organisation in a company. The launch of a new product may depend on the success of a trade fair, the reputation of the entire company on the programme of a congress.

The decisive factor for every event is preparation. It is crucial that you start the work around an event early. The more time goes on, the more difficult it becomes, for example, to find a good suitable hotel at a reasonable price or to book the desired speakers of your participants or their company. You should also plan long enough in advance to invite your (regular) customers to the event early and leave a preparation period for personal planning. To prepare your event, you can use the following questions as a guideline: 

– What exactly do we want to do?
– What is the goal of the event?
– Who should participate?
– When should our event take place?
– Where should it take place?
– Who is responsible for what?

Of course, these are not the only questions you have to deal with during the event planning. There are subcategories to each of these questions, which are explained in more detail in the following seven tips in this blog post.
Whether you are planning a traditional event in your company or a digital event, these 7 tips will definitely simplify the planning of the event and promise a positive output for you and all participants:

1. find the right audience
Behind this assumption lies a typical mistake when organising an event – and most of the time you have to pay dearly for it. This applies to organisers, entrepreneurs as well as small companies and regardless of whether the purpose of the event is to make a profit, promote a product or establish new customer contacts. If you don’t know your target group, you will have a hard time organising a successful event.

2. Unique Selling Proposition
Think about what differentiates your event from similar offers. What could persuade participants to choose your event over a competitor’s event? This could relate to the content of your event, the format, the venue or even the service offered at your event.

3. the right pricing
The ideal offer at the right time – these are key factors in driving demand and maximising ticket sales. Offers that are only valid for a limited period of time, for example, create a sense of urgency that encourages potential attendees to buy early. However, it is also important to position yourself against your competitors – what other events are targeting the same audience? What is the pricing of your competitors?

4. Build a network
Without support, the road to success is rocky and arduous. Even with a packed room, a well-formulated value proposition, ideal pricing and a realistic budget, you will need supporters early on to help your event succeed. Consider friends and family, commercial sponsors and influential industry figures.

5. event marketing
There are many ways to market your event these days, especially digitally. In fact, promotional emails are still the most cost-effective way to promote an event. However, the event can also be successfully marketed on social media, in press releases or through a successful SEO strategy.

6. create an event experience
To be remembered and to deliver added value to visitors/customers, you should create an experience with your event. In our WP on virtual exhibitions (link) we have explained different ways to create digital experiences.

7. post-processing
After the event is before the event – for a successful future and further successful events you should definitely analyse your figures and work out the strengths and weaknesses of your event.

Event planning involves more than the choice of food and location. It is, after all, a communication measure in which the event is defined as the key moment, but embedded in many different measures.