Choosing a Corporate Event Planner

You’re hosting a corporate event and know you need help. Perhaps you need help planning beyond the services your catering event specialist can give you (like managing RSVPs, booking entertainment acts, and creating your seating chart). It’s possible that you would need to hire and work with a corporate event planner to help you plan your event. Whether it’s a board meeting, conference, fundraising gala, an employee recognition party or a grand opening, how do you confidently choose a corporate event planner that will ensure it’s a success?

A corporate event planner will be able to assist you with event design and décor, entertainment, invitations, seating charts and place cards creation, transportation and accommodations, music selection… The list is expansive.

Although, it is no secret that all corporate event planners are not created equal. Some may have more or less experience than others. They may have never worked on your style or type of event. Just like you do your research to select a venue, you also need to do research when deciding who to hire to plan your corporate event too.
We are happy to provide a recommendation when asked. However, selecting a planner is truly a personal choice. A corporate event planner will be working for you, so you need to determine what the most important aspects are that you have for working with this individual. It’s important to ask certain questions to better understand their qualifications and background, but you also need to consider if this is a person that can work effectively with yourself or your committee.

Some of the most important ‘interview’ questions are:
What is the planner’s experience?
Do they have experience with the type of corporate event you’re putting on?
What types of industry relationships do they have?
Have they worked at your preferred venue or with your preferred caterer before?
What services can they offer?

Always be sure to view a portfolio of their work too. Not only is it important to select a corporate event planner that is organized and communicates in a timely manner, with the experience you need to succeed, you will also want to be sure that on the day of the event they have the skills needed to manage your event and turn ideas into reality. Part of planning is being a logistics guru and dependent on how involved your event is, there could be quite a bit to coordinate on the day of your event. Be sure to ask them about event challenges they have faced and what on-the-spot solutions they were able to provide. This skill can prove incredibly crucial for larger events.

The Bottom Line
There is no right or wrong time to hire a corporate event planner. It’s possible that you enter into planning your company event and feel completely capable of being able to handle everything, but then realize that you don’t have the time or expertise to do it. Or, you know early on that planning without the help of a professional will be difficult. Look for an experienced and well regarded event planning company to provide a stress-free corporate event planning experience while producing an event that not only meets the goals of your organization, but exceeds your expectations, and makes those who didn’t attend wish they had!