The organisation of a company event (convention, seminar, anniversary, kick-off, road show...) represents an important, and even considerable investment. Therefore, you need to use every available solution to ensure that your guests support your in-house business events to guarantee their success. Here is a quick check-list so you don't forget anything.
Firstly, you need to know exactly how many people to invite and draw up a guest-list with contact details: email address, mobile number and postal address. Once you've got that, you can communicate and find out the attendance rate after the event, i.e. your success rate (to which should be added the satisfaction rate).
Communication
1 - Mini website
These days, the web is the best way to spread the word about your event. A mini website enables you to bring together all the information about your event, including:
- the subject,
- its objective,
- the pitch,
- the full programme,
- information about the optional or compulsory nature of the event,
- the most important guests and contributors,
- the place,
- the organisation of travel,
- contact details for referents and organisers,
- the registration module (that we'll look at later on).
2 - Invitation email
Once your website is up and running, you need to inform your future guests. Email is the best solution. It's easy to set up and the perfect way to summarise the information and add media (photos, illustrations, video clips) to create a teaser. Naturally, you should include a link to the registration module. The objective is to get guests to save the date in their calendars.
An invitation email for a business event should be designed as follows:
- - A clear, concise subject line,
- - An interesting, engaging and explicit title,
- - A short description (summary) in a few lines,
- - The date and place,
- - The visual for the event (so it can be identified at a glance),
- - The main objective,
- - The main contributors,
- - The simplified programme (plus a link to the detailed programme),
- - The main ways to get there (plus a link to more detailed information),
- - A link to the registration module,
- - Contact details for the organisers (just an email address for the moment, particularly if there are lots of guests).
3 - The papier invitation
In some cases, and for some people (often VIPs), you can send a paper invitation. This gives a more exclusive, quality status to the event. However, don't add a response coupon. These days registration is done online.
Teaser
Whenever possible and particularly if you've invested in one or several flagship features, don't give it all away. Try to keep your guests in suspense, to encourage registration. The reason why teasers are often used is because they work.
For example: if you're inviting a well known artist, don't say what they will actually be doing at the event. Or, even better, talk about a surprise and then describe the content in a very fragmented manner (by remaining enigmatic) in the "save the date" section without actually revealing the name of the artist.
Registration and confirmation
Add an event registration module to your mini website. This will provide you with an administration interface for registrations (and cancellations) :-(. The action button leading to the module must be highly visible at the top of the page. Don't forget to add the link to the invitation emails and to the paper invitations, if you send any.
If you don't have the means and resources in-house:
These days, there are several booking platforms dedicated to this type of service, such as: www.weezevent.com, www.eventbrite.fr and www.dooliz.com (non-exhaustive list).
In addition, we offer a packaged solution with a 100% personalised service: a packaged solution with a 100% personalised service: domain name dedicated to your business with administrator access to monitor your registrations.
Feel free to contact us.
Reminders and save the date
Some emails may not be seen or read, so reminders must be sent, by email to begin with. Therefore, you need to set up a reminder calendar as well as the closing date for registration, something like this: D-60, D-30, D-15, D-8. Obviously, these emails are sent just to those who have not registered. If the event is of a compulsory nature, you can repeat the email by SMS and even with a telephone call in some cases. With regard to those who have registered, you should send an email (or SMS) with a reminder of the date of the event and a link to the access plan and transport links.
Post-event
Ensuring the success of an event also involves the post-event. It's the perfect time to thank your guests, repeat a strong message (from your CEO, for example) and gather feedback. There are also tools to help you at this stage, so you can publish the index of satisfaction for all participants, but also gather comments and ideas for improvement for your next event. Mini photo (and video) websites are also a very useful tool offered by some agencies (such as Les Absolute) for post-event surfing.
Find out more about ensuring the support of your guests for your in-house business events by reading the advice in our eBook:
