Corporate events like product launches, training workshops, exhibitions, and live conferences offer businesses valuable opportunities to connect with key stakeholders. A well-executed event can strengthen brand recognition, foster relationships, boost sales, and facilitate knowledge sharing.
However, corporate event planning comes with its challenges. From coordinating logistics to ensuring high-quality audio-visual production, every detail matters. Partnering with an experienced corporate AV provider can make a significant difference in delivering seamless presentations, engaging content, and professional event execution.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about planning a corporate event, with a step-by-step approach to keep you organized and on track.
Corporate event planning is the process of organizing and arranging a formal gathering for a business. The planning process may be carried out by a company stakeholder or by a professional event organizer and may be in-person, virtual, or hybrid.
Corporate events can vary greatly depending on purpose, format, and target audience. It’s important to choose the type of corporate event that best meets your goals.
Types of corporate events include:
The first thing you need to do is choose an event type and decide what success looks like. Define your goals. Who are you trying to reach? What are you hoping to achieve? When you imagine attending the event as a guest, what would you hope to see, hear, learn, or experience?
Be deliberate and realistic about budgeting time and money for your event. If possible, use historical data to inform how much you allocate to individual budget items. You may also be able to increase your budget by getting sponsors for your event.
Before selecting a venue and sending out invites, consider the date and city for your event. Are you hosting a large in-person trade show at an exhibition center? A smaller gathering with a multi-room setup for breakaway sessions? A virtual webinar? Are your attendees local or are they spread out across the country or internationally?
Think carefully about who your attendees are and their expectations for the event. Are they industry experts, employees, shareholders, or customers? Your audience should drive your decision making.
The venue you choose will impact everything from stage design to audience interaction. It’s important to choose a location and venue that fits the size, purpose, and technical requirements of your event. Examples of popular event venues include ballrooms, conference halls, hotels, arenas, and outdoor spaces.
Your team of event organizers, planners, and helpers are as important to the success of your event as the presenters and keynote speakers. Communicate clearly and frequently with your team throughout the planning process.
Vendors play a key role in the planning and execution of successful corporate events. Examples of event vendor services you may want to consider include:
It’s important to consider all your options carefully, especially when it comes to AV equipment and support. While in-house AV may be the default option, depending on the venue, using in-house equipment and personnel is often more expensive and restrictive than using an independent AV provider like Catalyst.
Consider your goals and how your event itinerary can help you achieve them. One of the most important elements to consider is talent. Which speakers, experts, and/or vendors align with your goals? Be sure to reach out to special guests early to ensure you have enough time to fit them into your budget and event schedule.
From creating promotional brochures and videos to writing event press releases for journalists, marketing is a crucial element of event planning. The right strategy can boost brand awareness, generate excitement, and set expectations.
Work with your AV provider to choose the right AV technologies for your purposes, which may include microphones, speakers, digital displays, cameras, lighting, and rigging systems. At Catalyst, we offer the highest-quality equipment and integrated support throughout the event planning and management process.
From signage and room dividers to brochures and swag, prepare event materials as early in advance as possible. This is especially important if your event requires custom items and brand-specific displays.
When it comes to large scale events, setbacks are virtually unavoidable. Regardless of how well organized your event is, it’s important to prepare contingency plans for all major activities so you have a clear plan of action if and when something goes wrong.
Conduct a final, formal rehearsal with all staff, tech crew, on-stage talent, and organizers. Running through the event helps to ensure participants are on the same page and know what to expect. It can also help identify any oversights or potential issues before the event gets underway.
When it comes time to actually host your event, communication is the name of the game. Make sure everyone has a full list of contacts and that responsibilities and tasks are clearly defined. It’s impossible to completely eliminate the possibility of something going wrong, but you can make sure your team is ready to respond if it does.
Asking your audience about their experience and opinions through a post-event survey is a great way to find out what worked, what didn’t, and generate ideas for future events. It also keeps your guests engaged.
Use what you’ve learned from the event planning process to plan even better corporate events in the future. Audience surveys and post-event meetings with your team, talent, and event vendors can help you improve your event planning skills.
Planning and executing a corporate event can be stressful. WIth so many different moving parts, staff and attendees to manage, and budgetary considerations, you need to be sure the audio visual elements will go off without a hitch.
Catalyst is an independent AV company that specializes in large-scale corporate events. Our team of professionals bring knowledge, creativity, and genuine passion to every project. Whether you're planning an in-person, virtual, or hybrid event, we have the equipment and expertise you need.
Contact us today to learn more about our offerings.
Corporate events like product launches, training workshops, exhibitions, and live conferences offer businesses valuable opportunities to connect with key stakeholders. A well-executed event can strengthen brand recognition, foster relationships, boost sales, and facilitate knowledge sharing.
However, corporate event planning comes with its challenges. From coordinating logistics to ensuring high-quality audio-visual production, every detail matters. Partnering with an experienced corporate AV provider can make a significant difference in delivering seamless presentations, engaging content, and professional event execution.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about planning a corporate event, with a step-by-step approach to keep you organized and on track.
Corporate event planning is the process of organizing and arranging a formal gathering for a business. The planning process may be carried out by a company stakeholder or by a professional event organizer and may be in-person, virtual, or hybrid.
Corporate events can vary greatly depending on purpose, format, and target audience. It’s important to choose the type of corporate event that best meets your goals.
Types of corporate events include:
The first thing you need to do is choose an event type and decide what success looks like. Define your goals. Who are you trying to reach? What are you hoping to achieve? When you imagine attending the event as a guest, what would you hope to see, hear, learn, or experience?
Be deliberate and realistic about budgeting time and money for your event. If possible, use historical data to inform how much you allocate to individual budget items. You may also be able to increase your budget by getting sponsors for your event.
Before selecting a venue and sending out invites, consider the date and city for your event. Are you hosting a large in-person trade show at an exhibition center? A smaller gathering with a multi-room setup for breakaway sessions? A virtual webinar? Are your attendees local or are they spread out across the country or internationally?
Think carefully about who your attendees are and their expectations for the event. Are they industry experts, employees, shareholders, or customers? Your audience should drive your decision making.
The venue you choose will impact everything from stage design to audience interaction. It’s important to choose a location and venue that fits the size, purpose, and technical requirements of your event. Examples of popular event venues include ballrooms, conference halls, hotels, arenas, and outdoor spaces.
Your team of event organizers, planners, and helpers are as important to the success of your event as the presenters and keynote speakers. Communicate clearly and frequently with your team throughout the planning process.
Vendors play a key role in the planning and execution of successful corporate events. Examples of event vendor services you may want to consider include:
It’s important to consider all your options carefully, especially when it comes to AV equipment and support. While in-house AV may be the default option, depending on the venue, using in-house equipment and personnel is often more expensive and restrictive than using an independent AV provider like Catalyst.
Consider your goals and how your event itinerary can help you achieve them. One of the most important elements to consider is talent. Which speakers, experts, and/or vendors align with your goals? Be sure to reach out to special guests early to ensure you have enough time to fit them into your budget and event schedule.
From creating promotional brochures and videos to writing event press releases for journalists, marketing is a crucial element of event planning. The right strategy can boost brand awareness, generate excitement, and set expectations.
Work with your AV provider to choose the right AV technologies for your purposes, which may include microphones, speakers, digital displays, cameras, lighting, and rigging systems. At Catalyst, we offer the highest-quality equipment and integrated support throughout the event planning and management process.
From signage and room dividers to brochures and swag, prepare event materials as early in advance as possible. This is especially important if your event requires custom items and brand-specific displays.
When it comes to large scale events, setbacks are virtually unavoidable. Regardless of how well organized your event is, it’s important to prepare contingency plans for all major activities so you have a clear plan of action if and when something goes wrong.
Conduct a final, formal rehearsal with all staff, tech crew, on-stage talent, and organizers. Running through the event helps to ensure participants are on the same page and know what to expect. It can also help identify any oversights or potential issues before the event gets underway.
When it comes time to actually host your event, communication is the name of the game. Make sure everyone has a full list of contacts and that responsibilities and tasks are clearly defined. It’s impossible to completely eliminate the possibility of something going wrong, but you can make sure your team is ready to respond if it does.
Asking your audience about their experience and opinions through a post-event survey is a great way to find out what worked, what didn’t, and generate ideas for future events. It also keeps your guests engaged.
Use what you’ve learned from the event planning process to plan even better corporate events in the future. Audience surveys and post-event meetings with your team, talent, and event vendors can help you improve your event planning skills.
Planning and executing a corporate event can be stressful. WIth so many different moving parts, staff and attendees to manage, and budgetary considerations, you need to be sure the audio visual elements will go off without a hitch.
Catalyst is an independent AV company that specializes in large-scale corporate events. Our team of professionals bring knowledge, creativity, and genuine passion to every project. Whether you're planning an in-person, virtual, or hybrid event, we have the equipment and expertise you need.
Contact us today to learn more about our offerings.
Are you planning a shareholder meeting, conference, product launch, trade show, or other type of major event? You need to make sure the production value matches the quality of your event’s content. Working with a reliable, proven leader in audio visual event production like Catalyst ensures your event runs smoothly, exceeds the expectations of your audience, and has the impact you want.
Get in touch today to schedule a free consultation, learn more about our services, and tell us about your event.