It’s party season and if you haven’t been invited to one then you must live under a big rock. By now, you should be regaled by stories of events both grand and bad. It all comes down to preparation and pulling it off to everybody’s satisfaction.
public relations with Lenox Mhlanga
Events planning and management is part of public relations because it can make or break your reputation, all because of how well or badly your events turn out. I was challenged to broach this subject by a colleague who recently attended a disastrous event.
She really felt that whoever was in charge was let down by a lot of factors, including themselves. Among the litany of failures were guests arriving late, the VIPs even later! Everyone was annoyed by the programme running behind schedule.
The MC was busy entertaining himself while the catering service was not on point. The awards were not engraved and one could not follow head nor tail of the ceremony. Some of the recipients decided to steal the limelight.
A disastrous event is a bad advertisement for the company’s abilities to deliver. So, it’s not only an event managers issue, but rather a reputational crisis that begs for careful planning and execution.
We are all allowed to change down for the year-end party, but that does not mean that you let the need to be organised go out of the window with the confetti. In fact, classic planners rightly say you can never be too organised.
As a PR professional with experience in organising anything from a punch-up to a gala, sharing my two-cent’s worth is the least I can do. The fact of the matter is, if you want to pull off an event that you will be satisfied with, do it yourself. Believe me, you are the hardest person to please.
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However, if you know you have two left feet in this area, let the experts do it for you. Even with that choice, make sure you are involved and are well-briefed.
The holy grail of event planning is a checklist that will ensure you don’t miss anything. It’s the ultimate corporate event survival guide.
Planning an event requires all the inspiration you can get. Writing things down is one way of ensuring that not only do you cross off all the requirements, but it will light that bulb in your head to ideas that will blow your guests away. The devil is in the detail.
What are the important pieces that will hold up your event? Why are you hosting the event? The main elements include setting firm dates, coordinating with stakeholders and determining a budget. Negotiating proposals for venues and confirming an event programme should complete the checklist.
The “essentials” are the must-haves for your corporate event that shape it. Involving your sales and marketing team to create a well-rounded promotional and marketing strategy is key. It’s not the event alone that matters, but what happens before and after it.
Create the buzz early on and keep the hype alive during and after the show.
The PR team should be occupied with selecting speakers and composing what they will say (to always stay on message), co-ordinate meetings, discuss outbound emails that promote the event, design online and social media promotions and working the deadlines.
Ask anyone who has attended an event and they will tell you that they don’t remember the day, they remember moments. The appropriate choice of venue, location, mood and style of your event creates the aura that will live in the minds of your guests.
Guests pay attention to every single aspect of events, like my colleague did, so when planners take the time to improve on the energy created at events, it doesn’t go unnoticed.
The best events I have been to were planned numerous months, and sometimes even years in advance. They had themes that were creative, unique and intertwined throughout the event and told a story from the day I received the invitation.
Remember what we said about being innovative? Well, creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change. Creating a real event experience is next on the list. I hired an all-female jazz band for an event and to this day those that attended are still raving about it. It was so out-of-the-box it literally blew their socks off.
It is really the small things, along with the big, that make an event. If the aura of the event is well-planned, and all the other design principles have been checked off, then it’s time to move onto creating the real event experience.
What story is being told at the event? What do you want guests to capture and walk away with? List all potential ideas and make sure they are incorporated into the objectives of the event. It’s important the aura of the event mixes well with what your key take-aways are.
Things should happen when they are supposed to. Stick to the plan. Perhaps that becomes difficult when VIPs decide to behave like, well, VIPs. Always have a Plan B when you have a government minister as guest of honour. Be prepared to slot them in when they pitch up. Let that be the only hitch in the plot.
Make sure that everyone who is involved is on board, including the MC. The MC is responsible for driving the event. He or she should have the entire event vision in mind, and execute with detailed precision and timing. Don’t just be satisfied with your celebrity MC telling you, “I got this” When the truth is that he hasn’t.
If the MC does not come for rehearsals or prep meetings, then dump them. That will save you the blushes.
When it comes to the catering, it goes without saying that bad food equals a bad event. It’s worse when your guests suffer from food poisoning. The food should go with the theme or the type of event. Caterers must be cleared before the event, and so should the food. Never be too shy to condemn badly prepared food.
It really is better to be too organised when planning an event. After everything has been checked off your list, go back and review every item again. Something will fall through the cracks, or you may think of an exciting new element to add a nice touch to your story.
Lenox Mhlanga is an associate consultant with Magna Carta Reputation Management Consultants. He has experience working for the World Bank and is a part-time lecturer in public relations at the National University of Science and Technology. He can be contacted on +263 772 400 656. Email: [email protected]
