Step By Step Guide to Execute A Successful Event

I have always been asked about the importance of events. It’s no hidden fact that events are an expensive affair & that’s mostly why most of the companies end up relying only on digital marketing to generate leads & acquiring customers but by doing so they are actually missing out on the opportunity to delight a customer & unravelling the power of referrals. I have always emphasised on the importance of including offline marketing as a part of the overall marketing strategy. To make it simple for you, I have developed a week by week checklist of items we need to do pre & post event to ensure its success.

Week 1

Define the objectives / provision for budget

Define the target segment

Segregate the data

Collate a list of hotels/restaurants/ground

Communicate to the PR agency

Collate a list of event collaterals

Collate a list of prospective external spokespersons (if needed)

Week 2

Finalise the list of invitees

Work on the event collaterals: Ones needed for the day of event + Ones needed to communicate about the event [flyers, leaflets, DMs with envelopes, emailers, canopy, standee, backdrop etc]

Enlist goodie bag contents for takeaway

Evaluate other associate partners (if required)

Evaluate the quotes from the hotels & finalize the venue

Send out first email invite through emailer towards the end of the week [this is more of a teaser)

Prepare the deck for presentation

Post relevant material like invite on social media

Confirm the list of the spokesperson

Week 3

Send out the revealer email (preferably on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning) with RSVP

Prepare the timetable for the line of activities for the event day from the time of registration to wrap up time.

Finalise the event collaterals

Discuss the venue arrangement + dinner menu with the hotel

Send out DM’s to the client list with the card & a +1 invite card (This would have all the details of the event evening)

Communicate the speaking time to all the spokesperson

Finalise the deck

Week 4

RMs to speak with the clients to confirm their presence & take the relevant details of the +1

Invites to be send out to the +1s (email notifying the person who has referred them to the event)

PR coordinator to confirm the list of journalists

Send out Thank you emails for the confirmation

Print all the collaterals

Put the goodie bag together

Confirm the extras like : Stage, Speakers, Projector etc

Have a mock run at the venue

Day of the event

Set up a registration desk.

Share the events of the evening as a part of the leaflet

Post live updates on social media

Next day

Send out "Thank you emails"

Send out pic collage with “We missed you message" to those who couldn’t attend.

Share pics across social media.

Pro Tips: Most of the marketers & upper management advice against events is because they feel that you won't be able to track the ROI. Here are a couple of things that you can do to avoid falling in such rabit hole.

Use UTM parameters to track every campaign you run for the event. This will also help you optimize the campaign