The unthinkable has happened, your boss has approached you, complimented you on your organisational abilities, and then informed you, that he has chosen you to organise a corporate party for the company. You have agreed to do it because if you said no, how would that look. However the panic is now beginning to set in, and you really have no idea what you are going to do. You have heard the horror stories from colleagues who have had to organise such an event in the past, but you mustn’t let it overwhelm you. Here are a few tips.
- Start Now – With all planning, you need to start as soon as possible. Don’t stand around thinking about it and panicking, get started now, to make sure it will be a success. Remember, you are going to be standing around waiting for other people to respond to your requests and then waiting for confirmations as well. This is why you need to start as soon as you can, if this event is to be successful.
- Make Lists – You really need to make lists and make sure that you are organised. You can’t plan a corporate event without lists, and you need to highlight the things that you need and the things that you don’t. If this is the first event you have planned, then have a look at online catering equipment companies, who can provide everything you could possibly need for an event like this. By looking at what is available, it might give you some ideas in order to make this event memorable and for your boss to love you.
- Create An Event Team – Your boss nominates someone different every year to organise this corporate event, but each year, no knowledge is passed along, as to its success and its failure. Maybe now is the time to create an events team, so that every year, people are not running around like headless chickens. Pick people that you know are very organised, and don’t get flustered in the heat of the moment. Once you have a team set up, they can assist with things like invites, delegating budgets and duties and organising the cleaning up, when it is all over. A team will make things much easier for each year ahead.
- Stay Within Budget – You need to set yourself a budget, and your boss will usually give you an idea of how much money is available for this event. You need to set this figure as early as you can, as this will have the biggest influence on the type of corporate event you can organise. Once you know your budget, you need to divide it up amongst your team and give the larger amounts for what you feel are more important, regarding the expectations of the staff and the boss. If the free bar was a success before, then think about allocating a lot of money towards that.
Once you have organised your corporate event and it seems to have gone well, make sure that you get feedback from fellow employees and your boss. Find out what they really liked and didn’t like, so you can make next years event, even better.
