People often think planning an event is easy and glamorous – just a matter of choosing food, deciding on activities, booking entertainment and working out a colour scheme. But once you dive in, you quickly realise how time-consuming and complicated it can be. Planning corporate events involves more than just booking a venue and selecting a menu. It’s about creating an impactful experience that aligns with your business goals and resonates with your audience. For busy marketing teams, HR departments, and executives, the complexity and effort required can be overwhelming.

Another common misconception is that working with a corporate event planner is a costly expense; however, there are so many benefits of partnering with a professional event planner, regardless of the event size, many of which you probably haven’t considered. 

I’ve put together this guide to explore the intricacies of corporate event planning, the essential role of corporate event planners, and why you should work with one. 

In this Post

1. What is Corporate Event Planning?
2. 8 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Corporate Event Planner
3. Role of a Corporate Event Planner

What is Corporate Event Planning?

At its core, corporate event planning involves the conceptualisation, coordination, and execution of business events on behalf of a company or brand. These events can range from award dinners, press trips, and product launches to team-building retreats and corporate away days. The goal is to create engaging experiences that align with the company’s objectives, whether that’s fostering team spirit, generating leads, or showcasing new products.

Successful corporate event planning is more than just logistics. It’s about coming up with creative concepts and crafting a narrative that tells the story of your brand. This includes designing experiences that meet and exceed expectations, ensuring your event has that ‘wow’ factor. Every detail, from the venue and decor to the lighting and entertainment, should be planned intentionally to ensure the event stands out and resonates with your audience, providing shareable experiences to increase your brand’s reach and drive tangible results. 

8 Reasons Why You Should Hire A Corporate Event Planner

1. Save You Time

Planning an event of any kind, whether it be a gala dinner, product launch or away day, takes a huge amount of time, which takes your attention away from the other responsibilities of your working role. When you decide to engage with us as your planner; we will undertake an initial strategy meeting to understand your ideas, the audience, objectives and goals, budget, cultural requirements and so forth, providing us with the tools to create your event. Our insight and guidance will make the decision-making process much more structured and streamlined. We keep you involved only when absolutely necessary because your time is money, so we ensure everything is concise. 

2. Experience & Expertise

While every event is unique and requires a bespoke approach, planning a corporate event requires a seamless process and trusted methods to deliver an experience that exceeds expectations. It involves tapping into a varied skill set and fast-tracking the planning process to meet tight deadlines. Knowing who to call, understanding supplier costs, and streamlining decisions are all critical for success. At ByChenai Events, we’re adept at handling these challenges. Our well-oiled machine of experienced professionals fast-tracks the planning process on your behalf, leveraging our expertise and connections. We know who can deliver to deadline and have ballpark costs for many suppliers, saving you from the hassle of cold calling and ensuring a smooth, efficient process.

3. Budget Management

We have already mentioned that there is a misconception that working with a corporate planner is expensive. Yes, our services will be an extra line item in the budget, but that does not mean an extra expense! By working with an experienced corporate planner, you’ll gain huge added value of access to our network and expertise. We know where to find quality for the best possible price, using our trusted industry relationships. You’ll be able to utilise our experience to understand what needs investment and where you can make savings, demonstrating the return on investment for each budget element. 

There is no point in robbing Peter to pay Paul if a major element is then compromised. Suppliers often compete for their own piece of the pie, whereas a planner will look at the event as a whole and objectively make the right call to not compromise on any one aspect for the sake of another. 

We know that last-minute expenses can arise – ideas and plans can change. A planner will have a contingency plan in place and be able to manage the budget to mitigate overspend.

4. Location & Venue Sourcing

You’ve been tasked with planning an event but with no steer on where to hold it, where on earth do you start and how do you narrow the options down? We have a little (well actually, ever-growing) black book of venues – we know the best spots for every type of event, many of which aren’t available on the open market! Working with us as your corporate planner saves you scouring the length and breadth of the country, as we provide you with a shortlist of perfect options to consider, ticking all the boxes for your requirements. 

We know that some venues can be quite strict on regulations, and with good reason, as these are often palaces and historic buildings, so we know when these are appropriate suggestions and other venues where you can have more flex to do things outside of the norm. 

Selecting a location and venue is not just as easy as knowing if it accommodates the right number of guests – there is so much more to understand. We know all the peripheral questions to ask and details to check. What would the guest journey be, what transportation would be required, what’s the access like, are there weight loading restrictions, what’s the power access like, are there noise limitations and so forth. These are things that would not spring to mind for someone who doesn’t have the experience of planning events, so leave it to us to help with!

>> Our top 8 corporate event venues in London

5. Fresh Perspective & Creative Designs

6. Cross T’s & Dot I’s

An event planner should be meticulous in their methods. Throughout the planning process, there is a lot of going back and forth between venues, suppliers, guests, and hosts, from the initial enquiry through to contracts, execution, and post-event wrap-up. We handle these details for you, which is time-consuming yet crucial. Our agile events team acts on your behalf, quickly gathering information, creating designs and proposals in a cohesive and detail-oriented manner, while keeping you up to date through efficient and regular communication. 

Behind every faultless event is a clear planning timeline. This ensures you know what decisions need to be made and when, keeping you on track to get the best out of your event. The all-important live event schedule, which takes time to bring together, gives you confidence that we have crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s for the event to exceed expectations.

7. Risk Planning & Legal Stuff

We always have plans A, B and C in place, but if something goes wrong (unlikely, but you never know!), chances are we’ve dealt with it before. We go into firefighter mode if needed and know all the tricks to resolve any issues efficiently and discreetly, without you or your guests needing to know or worry! 

Risk management is one thing, but legalities can arise at any point – whether that be in the planning stages with contracts or post-event. We read through contracts on your behalf to ensure their terms are reasonable and align with the experience we are curating, raising any points that require your attention.

8. Be Your Support

Lastly, and on a more personal level, we act as an extension of your team. We aspire to be a trusted colleague, offering as much or as little support as needed. We listen, always give sound and objective advice, and are always honest. We’re here to help you deliver an exceptional event, without taking the glory! 

Role of a Corporate Event Planner

The role of a corporate event planner is multifaceted, requiring a blend of creativity, organisational prowess, and strategic thinking. As your trusted partner, we take on the responsibility of transforming your company’s vision into a tangible, memorable experience.

We’re here to manage every aspect of an event from start to finish, including but not limited to: 

• Creative Concept & Design: Developing a unique theme or concept that aligns with the brand’s goals and vision.
• Budget Management: Ensuring the event stays within the allocated budget while delivering maximum impact.
• Supplier Management: Sourcing and liaising with the best suppliers in the industry, including caterers, florists, audio-visual technicians, and entertainment providers. This ensures that every element of the event is of the highest quality.
• Execution: Overseeing the event on the day, ensuring that everything runs smoothly and any issues are quickly resolved. This allows the hosting company to focus on their guests and the event’s objectives without worrying about the details.
• Engagement & Experience: Creating engaging content and interactive experiences that resonate with attendees. This can include everything from live demonstrations and entertainment to social media integration and influencer collaborations.

Turn Business Goals into Unique Brand Experiences with Expert Corporate Planners By Your Side

Planning an event is not easy, with so many moving parts and intricacies. That’s why having a planner involved at every step is invaluable and worth every penny! Whether you’re planning a small team-building retreat, a corporate away day to boost team morale or a large-scale product launch, the benefits of working with a professional event planner are undeniable. So, if you’re in the process of planning an event to achieve your business goals, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us today to start planning your next corporate event with a big ‘wow’ factor.