4 Ways To Ensure Your Event Is A Huge Success
Hire Reliable Event Staff
Between caterers, venues, photographers and florists, every event has a lot of moving pieces and it’s no secret that having many moving pieces leaves room for things to fall apart. To ensure your event runs smoothly, choose reliable and highly endorsed companies to work beside you. Create relationships with these colleagues by having open communication channels, clearly laying expectations on the line and working together toward a shared goal of hosting a great event. The best event experiences occur when vendors are aware and dedicated to the execution of your particular vision. For example, here at Fresh From The Kitchen, we pride ourselves in serving foods that are locally sourced and free of hormones, pesticides and additives. It is because of this value that we try to align ourselves with clients who share and appreciate our dedication to natural, high quality food from real ingredients. When you have a natural connection with those you work with, and pair that with good communication, a beautiful partnership can bloom.
Budget Management
Be sure to develop a budget and provide yourself with a financial “blueprint” for your event. Do your research to fully understand just how many expenses and revenue opportunities should be included. From vendors and venues to permits, parking arrangements and security, many things can be overseen during the planning process. Having all of these things accounted for and in order will ensure the day goes as smoothly as possible. Consider which things you want to splurge on and which you want to save on as well. Is music and entertainment most important to your audience, do you want a buffet or sit down meal? Ask your vendors if they have options for submitting payments in advance to avoid having every event bill due in one month.
Promote Your Event Earlier Than You Think Is Necessary
It is important to consider the audience you want to target, and find both websites that target demographic visit online and physical places they frequent as well. Create paper fliers and an event page online that has all the information necessary to draw an audience in. People are looking for context around the event such as venue, vibe and dress code and including that information for them ensures they don’t have to search for it elsewhere. It also helps to include professional photos of your venue and catering to bring the advertisement to life and invite people to attend. Promote your event online by utilizing social channels as well. Make a splash taking advantage of an official event hashtag and spreading it across all social channels. Encourage your attendees to use the hashtag as well to let their network see what they are up to and hopefully draw in a larger audience.
Engage and Interaction With Your Audience
Making your event enjoyable and fun is the first step to increasing engagement. Ensure your audience is drawn in by reaching out before the start with these unique hashtags mentioned before, start a conversation on blogs or social media, and let it be known that attendee involvement is encouraged. Consider incorporating live polls throughout the event or competitive games to encourage interaction throughout the crowd. Once the event has run its course, provide the attendees with an opportunity to give feedback. One of the most important elements of project planning is evaluation and it is far too often forgotten. If you want to determine how successful your event is, collect feedback from participants through online evaluation forms that are short and anonymous.
Work with us! Ready to cater your wedding or corporate event? We’d love to help create a customized menu for your event. For information and tasting sessions, please contact our team via phone at 602-694-1197 and email at info@freshfromthekitchenllc.com.