In 2015, corporate event spending is again on the rise, with competing events taking place in New York City on a daily basis.
Want your New York corporate event to stand out from the crowd in 2015? Here are 7 tips that will put you ahead of your competition:
Corporate Event Hashtags Aren’t Enough
Want your corporate event to be the belle of the social media ball in 2015? Stop relying on hashtags and get to work on proactively prompting event guests to share your event online. While sticking a hashtag onto an invitation was novel in the early 2000-teens, it is now the bare minimum of what an event planner can do.
Remember, event guests are selfish with their social media. They care much less about promoting your event than getting a few dozen likes on one of their posts. Get your guests to share your event by providing them with great images, breaking news and “can’t miss” moments that will actually get them “likes”.
If you have a bit of a budget and want to ensure social media success, host a contest. Guests will happily share images of your event if it means a shot at a free iPad or a free night in a hotel.
Keep the Candy Coming
Sweets, both as desserts and take home gifts were big social event trends in 2014. This trend will continue this year, and expand to corporate events, as guests choose to satisfy their sweet teeth with small bites and chocolates rather than large slices of cake, cookies or other gluten-filled desserts.
Forget About Inspirational Speakers
While there was once a time when a conference wasn’t complete without an inspirational speaker, their time has now passed them by. Guests are no longer looking to be inspired to make a change, but are instead looking for hard-and-fast methods to improve. Thanks to dozens of online blog sites, our lives are now filled with “5 Lessons I Learned Working With Billionaires” and “10 Inspirational Quotes” blog posts. We have all of the free inspirational materials we can handle. If a guest is spending money, traveling or taking time off from work to attend an event, they want to leave with solid advice, and not five more reasons why they’re special.
Brand Something Your Guests Care About
Spending any portion of your budget on items that will quickly be thrown away is an absolute and total waste. In 2014, napkins were the biggest culprits. Why does your event logo need to be all over something that will quickly be balled up and thrown away?
Other than traditional signage, if you are going to spend a portion on your budget to put your logo onto anything it should:
- Be something guests will take photos of for social media
- Be something that is reusable, that guests will actually want to hang onto after the event concludes
Keep Your Event Eco-Friendly
On that same note, if your corporate event is overly wasteful, your guests will take notice. In a world where every corporate event guest carries a laptop, tablet, or at the very least, a smartphone, with them at all times, the amount of paper handouts used during your event should be kept to an absolute minimum. The same goes for dishes, silverware and napkins; whenever possible, use reusable or recyclable materials to serve your guests.
Spend on Experiences, Not Decorations
While corporate event budgets seem to be expanding once again, many event planners still need to pick and choose between event features to make their event budget work. The golden rule in 2015 will be to put your event budget towards experiences rather than decorations. While a well-decorated event will give your guests a certain “wow factor” as they enter, a speaker or entertainer will leave a lasting impact. While there are certainly reasons to want to host a beautiful event, the return on investment of giving guests an experience to talk about for the next few weeks, or even months, is much more substantial.
Include Guests Who Can’t Make It
Due to personal, travel or business issues there will be many guests who are unable to attend your event. That doesn’t mean that they should be left out, or that you should miss out on their attention. Whenever possible, set up a digital live stream of your event (it can easily made private) so that guests who are unable to attend can still get the experience of your event.
Two things to be sure of before promising a live stream:
- Make sure that your venue has the technology to handle it. A poorly transmitted live stream that goes in and out is worse than no live stream at all
- Double check with any hired speakers that they are OK with you broadcasting their materials over the Internet. While most will be used to being broadcast, you never want to have to deal with last minute contract issues
While a live stream may not provide guests with the full experience of attending the event, allowing them to virtually attend, share, and discuss the event should be worth the extra investment every time.
Would you like more details about hosting a Corporate Event in New York at 583 Park Avenue? CONTACT US today to find out what makes 583 Park Avenue the best event space on the upper east side. One of our event coordinators will be in touch with you shortly.