When you are looking for top class business event managementto make your event go with a bang (and not a whimper!), it’s not as simple as selecting the first name that comes up on Google. You will invariably have to do homework yourself first to ensure your chosen company not only ensures that things run smoothly on the day, but also understands your company’s ethos, objectives and, of course, budget.
Experience
There are a huge number of skills associated with running business events, from research to project-planning to the ability to evaluate after the event. There are even university degrees these days in the science and practice of events management. And yet there are no mandatory qualifications for working in the events industry. In other words, anyone can set themselves up as a business events management company, regardless of their background.
Checking past experience is essential before you make your decision. Expect short-listed candidates to provide demonstrable evidence of successful management of previous events. However, also make sure that experience is relevant to your sector and industry – the skills required to organise a wedding, for example, are similar, but not necessarily directly transferable.
Credibility and ‘a good fit’
It’s increasingly easy to produce a highly slick website that gives the impression of a large scale company hosting hundreds of events annually, even if you’re a one-man band organising a school’s PTA events. One good way to ensure your chosen business event management company has the expertise and resources to run your event successfully is to meet representatives face to face before you make your decision. There’s no substitute for this.
As well as getting a good idea of the scale of their business, you’ll also form a valuable impression of the person or team you’ll be dealing with on a day-to-day basis throughout the process. Do they ask the right questions? Do they show a good understanding of your business? This is one area where instinct and gut feeling can play a role – do you think you can work with this person, often on an increasingly intense basis as the event draws near?
An understanding of your Objectives
However good we events planners are, we’re not mind-readers unfortunately! Nor do we understand your business as well as you do – well, at the outset, at least. It’s therefore vital that you have a good idea of what you want your event to achieve. You can rely on your chosen firm to provide the creativity and inspiration for a theme, a fun angle, tailored menus and so on, but your invaluable contribution is to set your business events management company the objectives that need to be met for the event to qualify as a success. Whether it’s team building, awareness raising or a product launch, you should have an idea of measures of success. The company you select will help you elaborate on and refine your objectives and advise on what’s achievable within your budget.
