If your role involves organising work events, the key to success is being prepared. There’s a lot to think about, and you are sure to encounter challenges that you haven’t envisaged.

That’s why planning as far ahead as possible is essential to the success of your work events.

We help take the stress out of planning a work event with a checklist covering all the basics and more. It will help you keep track of your prep and identify any items that need to be done.

Appoint your team

Having a multi-skilled team behind you is the first step to the success of your work event, so appoint one in the early stages.


Choose colleagues with a wide range of skills between them – for example, an eagle-eyed project manager who can keep tabs on deadlines, a marketing genius who will find inventive ways to publicise your event and the tech expert who will make sure everything works on the day.

Have regular progress checks

As soon as you’ve appointed your team, get regular meetings in everyone’s diary to discuss progress. As well as being an opportunity to get a picture of how things are shaping up, meetings will incentivise all team members to stay on top of their tasks.

If you can’t get together in person, consider video calls. Make sure one person records what’s discussed and actions for the next meeting and distribute them as soon as you can to keep everyone on track.

Set a budget

Set a budget in the earliest stages to ensure you know what you have to work with. It will take a lot of the stress out of organisation, as well as helping you to prioritise expenses.

Keep track of your spend on a spreadsheet and review it regularly. This will mean you don’t wake up in the night in a cold sweat worrying about going over budget!

Choose your venue

Consider what sort of venue would suit your event. Check whether the location is close to public transport hubs for ease of access. Choose a venue with appropriate capacity and think about accessibility and options for catering, too.

And remember that if you’re on a tight budget, having flexibility around the date of your event could get you a great deal.

Keep on top of publicity

Meet with your marketing team right at the start of planning to create a timeline for your publicity. If you’re planning a large-scale event, remember that you’ll need to get a date in people’s diaries at least a year in advance.

As well as targeted invitations, you’ll have to think about publicising your event in the media, on your company’s social media accounts and internally within your organisation. Create a communications plan to cover all these bases and create a schedule to carry out tasks.

Book engaging speakers

Devote time to finding an engaging and memorable speaker, bearing in mind that popular speakers get booked up months in advance.

Choose someone who represents your industry, has an unusual story to tell or gets their message across with passion or humour. And remember, you don’t have to stick to professionals in your field. If your organisation is linked to healthcare, for example, then a patient who is willing to tell their story can be as impactful as a leading professor.

Think health and safety

Appoint a member of your team to take responsibility for health and safety. They will need to think about whether your chosen venue has the appropriate capacity for the number of delegates, where the fire exits are situated and how you are going to check attendees’ identity on the day.

You can also ensure that you have first aid kits available on the day and staff trained in first aid techniques on hand.

Order your promotional products

Finally, make sure you have plenty of promotional products to make your event memorable.

Wrist bands are the perfect choice, as they can be used during the event to identify delegates and afterwards as a reminder of your key messages from the day. They’re affordable, too, so they won’t break the budget!

Silicone wrist bands are a great option, as they are comfy to wear. They are also long-lasting, so your message will remain fresh after the event.

You can have wrist bands customised with your event’s message, date or other key information as well.

Handing out wrist bands at the beginning or end of your event will give delegates a sense of belonging and provide a memento of a successful day.

 

Endless possibilities at a price to fit your budget

Organising a work event shouldn’t be as daunting now that you have our planning a work event checklist to hand. Once you start working through it, you’ll soon feel in control and will start getting excited as you count down to the big day.

And for any help and advice on customised wrist bands for your event, reach out to us here at Handband.

Our mission is to offer you endless possibilities to help you publicise your event at a price to fit your budget.