Thinking about throwing a business event? It’s a good way to make yourself stand out from the crowd. After all, people always stop in their tracks when an invitation turns up in their inbox!
Do want to invite other business owners and people of note to a networking conference? Need to raise some funds for an initiative you’re putting together over the next quarter? Or maybe you just want to put on an end-of-year bash for the employees who made it all happen?
No matter what kind of event you’re planning, you need to keep the three Fs in mind: form, function, and fun. All three of them are equally important, and need to be treated with the same level of attention to detail as any other.
As such, when you’re just drafting out your first guestlist, layout sketch, and plans for equipment hire, make sure you focus on the points down below.
Photo by Alena Darmel
Form
Form is all about what your event is going to look like. And this is often what business owners focus on the most. You want your event to look the best it possibly can, decorated right down to the minor details of the right font used on table place cards.
And yes, these details are important. Attention to detail is the one thing that helps separate those who can thrive in business from those who might not make it past the first year.
But you also need to make sure you look at the big picture here. To do that, keep these two things in mind:
What do your decorations need to say?
No business event should be decorated ‘just because’. There needs to be a theme you’re keeping to. There needs to be something you’re trying to say with the decor you’ve gone for.
Ultimately, you need the decor to be the right kind of visual branding for you and your business.
For example, if you’re a digital tech company launching a new SaaS feature in your flagship product, you’re not going to want flowers all over the seating and tables. This kind of decor doesn’t align with the brand image you’re trying to build, and will just be confusing.
Putting together a decor budget
Of course, you also don’t have an unlimited budget when it comes to your event decor. As such, you’re going to need a budget for it from the start, and this should be one of the very first decisions to tackle.
But what should you think about?
Large decor elements, including any digital signage, screens, or temporary installations you want to put up. You can save on these items by renting them out, with temporary fencing hire being a popular option for creating dioramas at product launches and demo evenings.
Any speakers you want to hire, such as notable figures within the industry who might have booking fees.
Other crucial on-site elements required at the event, like catering, security, and a medical team on stand-by.
Function
Now we come onto the reason you’re hosting an event in the first place. Never lose sight of what your event is actually for. If you do, you’re going to find decorating and making it more interactive a lot harder to manage.
Remember, your attendees have been promised one thing. You don’t want them to turn up and find they’re getting something else.
What is the purpose of your event?
Are you trying to impress potential investors? Are you looking for collaboration opportunities? Do you want to give your employees a chance to relax and enjoy the efforts of their hard work?
These are all different purposes that have little crossover. Know how they differ, and what attendees will be looking for, and focus on those details.
Fun
And finally, and possibly the most important F of all, we come down to the fun. Yes, the fun!
Because even serious and professional business events need to be enjoyable. You can’t ask people you respect to sit in a room for hours on end while anything happens in front of them.
You need to be able to both pique and maintain their interest for as long as the event goes on. Indeed, the fun of a business event serves one very important purpose in itself: it’s the best way to make your event memorable.
No one remembers what happened at a boring event, other than that it was boring. They may even regret attending, and that can damage the long term reputation of your business just as you’re trying to build it.
And fun isn’t just something for kids. It’s involved in anything we like, enjoy, and want to come back to. You want your guests to be able to enjoy your event, and you want them to keep it in mind as an example of how a business event should be conducted.
However, you should understand who it is you’re inviting along to this event, so you know what kind of fun they’re most likely to tap into. Serious network investors probably aren’t going to want t-shirts shot at them from a cannon!
Photo by Alexander Mass
Great ways to increase the enjoyment of your business event
Let’s run through a few things you can do to pull people in and make them want to stay:
The chance to test out your new product or new product feature
A presentation that targets a frequently asked question from your audience
Create a Business Event That’ll Leave the Best Impression
Your business event has a chance to be one of the best nights the local area has ever seen! However, you’ve got a lot of planning to do between here and there, so make sure you’re ready for the legwork.
Above all, make sure you remember the three Fs listed up above. Because when form, function, and fun all come together as elements, the event you put out will be everything you ever needed it to be.
Thinking about throwing a business event? It’s a good way to make yourself stand out from the crowd. After all, people always stop in their tracks when an invitation turns up in their inbox!
Do want to invite other business owners and people of note to a networking conference? Need to raise some funds for an initiative you’re putting together over the next quarter? Or maybe you just want to put on an end-of-year bash for the employees who made it all happen?
No matter what kind of event you’re planning, you need to keep the three Fs in mind: form, function, and fun. All three of them are equally important, and need to be treated with the same level of attention to detail as any other.
As such, when you’re just drafting out your first guestlist, layout sketch, and plans for equipment hire, make sure you focus on the points down below.
Form
Form is all about what your event is going to look like. And this is often what business owners focus on the most. You want your event to look the best it possibly can, decorated right down to the minor details of the right font used on table place cards.
And yes, these details are important. Attention to detail is the one thing that helps separate those who can thrive in business from those who might not make it past the first year.
But you also need to make sure you look at the big picture here. To do that, keep these two things in mind:
What do your decorations need to say?
No business event should be decorated ‘just because’. There needs to be a theme you’re keeping to. There needs to be something you’re trying to say with the decor you’ve gone for.
Ultimately, you need the decor to be the right kind of visual branding for you and your business.
For example, if you’re a digital tech company launching a new SaaS feature in your flagship product, you’re not going to want flowers all over the seating and tables. This kind of decor doesn’t align with the brand image you’re trying to build, and will just be confusing.
Putting together a decor budget
Of course, you also don’t have an unlimited budget when it comes to your event decor. As such, you’re going to need a budget for it from the start, and this should be one of the very first decisions to tackle.
But what should you think about?
Function
Now we come onto the reason you’re hosting an event in the first place. Never lose sight of what your event is actually for. If you do, you’re going to find decorating and making it more interactive a lot harder to manage.
Remember, your attendees have been promised one thing. You don’t want them to turn up and find they’re getting something else.
What is the purpose of your event?
Are you trying to impress potential investors? Are you looking for collaboration opportunities? Do you want to give your employees a chance to relax and enjoy the efforts of their hard work?
These are all different purposes that have little crossover. Know how they differ, and what attendees will be looking for, and focus on those details.
Fun
And finally, and possibly the most important F of all, we come down to the fun. Yes, the fun!
Because even serious and professional business events need to be enjoyable. You can’t ask people you respect to sit in a room for hours on end while anything happens in front of them.
You need to be able to both pique and maintain their interest for as long as the event goes on. Indeed, the fun of a business event serves one very important purpose in itself: it’s the best way to make your event memorable.
No one remembers what happened at a boring event, other than that it was boring. They may even regret attending, and that can damage the long term reputation of your business just as you’re trying to build it.
And fun isn’t just something for kids. It’s involved in anything we like, enjoy, and want to come back to. You want your guests to be able to enjoy your event, and you want them to keep it in mind as an example of how a business event should be conducted.
However, you should understand who it is you’re inviting along to this event, so you know what kind of fun they’re most likely to tap into. Serious network investors probably aren’t going to want t-shirts shot at them from a cannon!
Great ways to increase the enjoyment of your business event
Let’s run through a few things you can do to pull people in and make them want to stay:
Create a Business Event That’ll Leave the Best Impression
Your business event has a chance to be one of the best nights the local area has ever seen! However, you’ve got a lot of planning to do between here and there, so make sure you’re ready for the legwork.
Above all, make sure you remember the three Fs listed up above. Because when form, function, and fun all come together as elements, the event you put out will be everything you ever needed it to be.
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