Tag Archive for: event planning

6 things to consider before you plan your next conference

As businesses and brands strive to cut through the noise of the digital age to reach their ideal customer or client, it’s more important than ever before to offer a unique conference experience that engages customers or clients, and leaves them with a positive and lasting impression.

So, before you begin planning your next conference, consider the following: 

The vision and theme

Your vision should incorporate the ‘why’ behind your event. Why are you holding a conference, what is its purpose and why is it worthwhile for people to attend? Your theme should be a unifying factor, it can be as broad or narrow as you like, but will help guests understand and be aligned with your event’s purpose.

The target audience

Who are you trying to target? Think about your overall event outcome and what you would like to achieve from the event. Are you inviting or attracting the right people to help you reach that event goal?

The venue

Choosing the right venue for your conference is crucial to its overall success. Once you know how many guests you intend to attract, you will have an idea of the type of venue you’ll need. Your venue should also be able to assist you with catering and accessibility options. Be sure to also consider the style of the event, and make sure that the venue reflects this along with the guests’ expectations.

The speakers

Speakers at a conference offer an ideal way for relevant and influential people to share their advice, stories, and expertise to the event attendees. Plan to book these people in early, as they can be a major drawcard to attracting people to your conference.

The audiovisual technology

Choosing the right AV and event staging provider is critical to ensuring your event is a success. Not only do they take the stress out of event planning, they bring exceptional expertise and creativity to make sure your event stands out. Whether you want to use lighting elements to create atmosphere in the room, or require a stage to be set up with microphones and speakers, a good AV team will have you covered. Your ideal venue should have a preferred or in-house AV and event staging provider, such as AVPartners.

The photography

Good event photography is something that lives on well past the event. The photos give attendees an opportunity to reflect on the event once it’s done and show others what they missed out on. They can also be used to advertise the next event, or to liven up your social media channels.

With all this in mind, you’ll be well on your way to planning an engaging and successful conference. Contact us today to see how we can make your conference a success.

Why the value of face-to-face meetings shouldn’t be ignored

Now more than ever before, businesses are relying on the use of long distance communication to run their operations. With remote and virtual workers on the rise, technology is making it easier to stay connected with your colleagues or clients in different offices, states or countries. But does this mean that face-to-face meetings and events are on the decline? Not in the slightest!

Four in five people surveyed by Meetings Mean Business believe they have attended an in-person meeting, conference or event that would have been less successful if conducted remotely. As Meetings Mean Business like to say, “great things happen when people come together!”

The benefits of face-to-face meetings include:

Relationships and Engagement

Being face-to-face is one of the most effective forms of communicating and building relationships. It affords you the opportunity to nurture your relationships and engage those around you in a way that simply can’t be emulated online. Face-to-face meetings are where relationships are built upon, deals are struck, and brainstorming is at it finest.

Connection and Trust

While certainly worthwhile, digital communication doesn’t always allow you to build as solid a level of trust between people. In person, you can physically shake the hand of the person you’re connecting with, you might share a laugh and even go to get a coffee together. All of these things build up strong, personal communication which is at the centre of all positive outcomes.

Clarity and Efficiency

Sometimes what we say can get a little lost in translation across online or digital communication methods. People may misinterpret a tone, meaning or message, and go forth with a completely wrong idea. Face-to-face meetings diffuse many misunderstandings straight away, therefore rendering them a more efficient way to get your point across.

Ultimately, the key to getting the most out of your events is to consider all avenues. With so many options available to us, we can choose the best way for us to communicate and build lasting relationships with our colleagues, clients or stakeholders. This may mean holding your event in-person, online or a hybrid of both. Contact us today to discuss your next meeting or event.

AVPartners event planning wrap up

We love sharing our tips and ideas when it comes to event planning, and we realised we have a lot of great blog posts that can help.

Take a look at some of our favourite topics that will help you plan your next event:

Choosing a venue

One of the most important aspects when planning an event is where the event will be held. The venue for an event can mean the difference between a successful event, and a mediocre one. Luckily, we have some experience working with awesome venues! Here are our tips for choosing the right venue for your event.

Event styling

Styling an event can be the most exciting part of event planning! This is where you get to choose the look and feel of your event. It’s an important part of the event planning process as it lays the foundation for how guests will experience the event.

Event styling incorporates furniture, decor, colour, centrepieces and table layouts, props, audiovisual and digital elements. It takes your guests on a journey, showcasing your theme, your branding and your ideas.

Budgeting

To effectively plan an event within your budget, consider the benefits of technology. Technology has an important role to play in event planning, and can be used in a variety of ways to help plan, organise, and execute an event while remaining within your event budget.

Social media

When social media is incorporated into an event, it can be hugely impactful and influential, generating immeasurable event awareness before, during and well beyond the event.

There are a number of different ways to incorporate social media into your event; such as using social media to promote your event and having a social media wall at your event to drive engagement.

Catering

Food has a special place at all events; it brings people together in a fun and engaging way, and will give your guests a culinary experience to remember. Stuck on what type of catering is right for your event style and budget? Check out these popular catering types.

The event message

There’s no point holding an event that gives out the wrong or unintended message to guests. Make sure you can effectively communicate your event message loud and clear.

Interested in finding out more about any of these topics or want to get started planning your next event with us? Contact us today!

4 great benefits of holding an offsite meeting

Considering going offsite for your next business meeting? An offsite meeting is where you bring your team together in a different location to your usual office to hold a meeting, coordinate a strategy day, or deliver training.

Here are 4 great benefits of holding an offsite meeting:

Your team will be focussed

Being offsite means your team won’t be as easily distracted as they may be in their usual work surroundings. This will lead to improved productivity and better meeting outcomes.

Your team will network and bond

There’s no substitute for meeting in person, so an offsite meeting should include time for ‘team building’ – which could be as simple as a nice break with catered lunches, or a little more involved such as morning yoga to start the day. Giving your team a chance to chat and loosen up will allow them to relax and engage in the day’s activities.

Your meeting can be tech-savvy

Holding your offsite meeting at a venue that offers state of the art audiovisual (AV) technology means that you can get creative and leverage this in your meeting. From live streaming through to enhanced projection capability, creative audiovisual can grab your team’s attention and hold it.

You encourage creativity

Whether you are holding your meeting for brainstorming, forward planning, or strategy, chances are being in a new environment will inspire creativity in your team, and encourage new ideas in a way that can’t be replicated in-house.

Talk to us today to plan your next offsite meeting!

How to plan an event that appeals to Millennials

At many events these days, the Millennial generation makes up a huge part of the demographic. A Millennial is someone born roughly between 1982 and 2004, also known as Generation Y. They have specific tastes, wants, and expectations, and catering to these successfully could mean your event and your business holds them as a long term consumer.

Here are our top ways to appeal to Millennials at your next event:

Get social

It sounds obvious, but social media is where Millennials hang out online, so utilise this before, during and after your event. You can sell event tickets through social media, get discussions started to build excitement in the lead up, encourage photo sharing and tagging before and during the event, and also get more social media followers in the process!

Impress with AV technology

Millennials are tech savvy and therefore expect the very best when it comes to AV. Utilise modern lighting effects throughout the venue, and make sure audio for presentations is clear and professional.

Incorporate digital and tech at all points – from an event app, to digital signage and image projection onto walls or other objects! Another great idea is to offer charging stations for guests’ smartphones and other devices; this will save people from leaving the event to get their charger, or disengaging due to not having their device charged.

Go green

Millennials are usually more concerned than other generations about the environment, so minimising your event’s carbon footprint will leave a good impression on them. Using more digital channels rather than paper helps immensely, as does offering recycling options during the event and promoting the green efforts you have made in planning and delivering the event.

For more info on planning an event which appeals to Millennials, talk to us today!

What style of catering should you have at your event?

Food has a special place at all events; it brings people together in a fun and engaging way, and will give your guests a culinary experience to remember. The catering at an event can make up a large portion of your budget, so you want to make sure you’re choosing the right catering style for your event type. When matched with creative audiovisual elements, your choice of catering can further enhance the wow factor.

Here are some of the most popular catering styles:

Banquet Dinner

A banquet style dinner is a more formal, sit down catering style. It usually includes a set amount of courses, for example; entree, main, and dessert. Everyone at the table gets their food at the same time and you can spread out activities such as speeches, awards, entertainment or dancing in between courses. Banquet dinners are a great opportunity to dazzle your guests with pin-spotlight lighting on their individual tables, which can also be coloured to match your brand or theme.

Cocktail

A cocktail catering style means your guests have the opportunity to mingle and network while finger food gets served around the room. It’s a great way for people to interact and network with each other throughout the event, and an optimal choice for adding music to complement the atmosphere.

Food Stations

More and more we are seeing special food stations set up in event spaces. This could mean a dessert bar, a juice station, or a tapas section. Guests make their own way to each station and choose what they like. Food stations can be set up to go along with a more traditional style of catering such as a banquet, or as stand alone catering. Creative lighting and theming can help enhance food stations, creating further appeal.

Whatever you decide, we’re sure your event will be a treat for the tastebuds! Talk to us for more ideas.

How to hold an experiential event

All events need an element of interaction to really give them a wow factor. An experiential event is one that offers guests a unique experience that leaves a lasting impression.

This could mean anything from 3D elements to product demonstrations, from physical activities to virtual reality experiences. Instead of just pushing a message out to your audience, an experiential event provides an immersive and interactive experience, enabling people to engage with your brand in person.

Here are our top ideas for planning your next experiential event:

Explore creativity

People come alive when given the opportunity to be creative. It reminds them of a more carefree time. Try something outside of the everyday – such as having a chalk graffiti wall they can draw on, or a photo booth where they can be silly then take home a souvenir.

Get people learning

Giving people an opportunity to learn something new makes a big impact. For example, you could try a cooking demonstration, an origami lesson, or a dance class! Have fun with it and people will be talking about it for months.

Get up close

If your event includes entertainers or dancers, allow them to go outside of the norm and showcase their talent in unconventional areas, such as among the guest’s tables or on the bar. If it’s different, it’s interesting.

Incorporate AV technology

AV technology can create spectacular experiences which resonate with guests. From virtual reality, to creating an immersive look and feel through lighting, AV can make a big difference.

Talk to us about how you can incorporate digital elements, lighting and sound at your event to create a 360 experience.

How to effectively communicate your event message

Events can help make your business stand out against competitors. When holding an event, it’s important to ensure that the message you want your guests to walk away with is presented loud and clear. This message could be about increasing brand awareness, letting guests know about your cause for fundraising, or communicating excitement for upcoming product releases and launches.

We’ve put together a few tips on how you can effectively communicate your event message:

Styling and decor

Visual components like decorations and colours are a very valuable part of any event, so it’s important that these make sense for the type of event and guests attending. You might decide to use branded decorations, themed colours, or modern decor to help convey your event message.

Marketing touch points

Every channel or technique you use to communicate your event provides a marketing touch point for your message. Make sure that every touch point is cohesive and consistent. You want the event message to be registering in a guest’s mind from their first interaction with your event, whether that be online, through an invitation, or when entering the room.

Audiovisual components

The production elements at your event can make a huge impact on the way your event message gets seen, heard and absorbed. Great audio can help build emotion and engagement, and effective lighting will set a mood and create a sense of enjoyment and fulfillment.

Remember that all event elements, when brought together, combine to create an atmosphere and experience which helps communicate your message. If you’d like to discuss this further, talk to us today.

How can social media play a part in your event?

When social media is incorporated into an event, it can be hugely impactful and influential, generating immeasurable event awareness before, during and well beyond the event.

There are a number of different ways to incorporate social media into your event; we’ve put some of our favourites together to help you get the most out of this technology:

Use social media to promote your event

Using social media to promote an event builds a buzz before the event, attracts attendees to your event and increases the level of engagement at the event. But promotion shouldn’t stop once the event has passed; social media can also be used to extend relationships with customers afterwards.

Popular platforms for brands promoting events and building communities include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and many more.

Use smartphones and social media to help with event planning

When planning an event, smartphones and social media can be used in several ways to ease some aspects of the planning process. Event planning apps can keep you on track and there are also several apps you can use to coordinate ticket sales.

Have a social media wall at your event

Another good idea to incorporate social media into your event is to have a social media wall, harnessing the power of social networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This gives all attendees the opportunity to participate and be part of the conversation and fun.

Encourage audience involvement during the event

By giving your audience ways to participate and interact such as through social media, it can help keep their focus and attention on the presentation. More and more events are incorporating interactive tools such as event apps, real time polling, surveys and messaging so presenters, sponsors and event organisers can open up the dialogue, share information, and receive and answer questions instantly.

What are your favourite ways to use social media at events? Let us know!

What you need to know when choosing a venue for your event

When planning an event, one of the most important aspects is where the event will be held. The venue that hosts an event can mean the difference between a successful event, and a mediocre one.

Luckily, we have some experience working with awesome venues! Check out our tips below that will help you when it comes to choosing the right venue for your event:

Consider all event aspects

When it comes to choosing a venue, you should consider the location, catering options, technology access, seating options, number of guests, type of event, guest expectations and desired event atmosphere including whether the venue reflects the chosen theme and style of the event.

Opt for a reputable AV and event staging provider

Look at whether the venue has a preferred or in-house AV and event staging provider and assess their quality. Choosing the right AV and event staging provider is critical to ensuring your event is a success. Not only do they take the stress out of event planning, they bring exceptional expertise and creativity to make sure your event stands out.

Here are some things to take into consideration when deciding on an AV and event staging provider for your next event.

See your event ideas come to life

There are so many different event types available these days, and if you have a particular idea in mind, it’s a good idea to speak to venues to confirm whether or not they can help your vision come to life. You might want to hold an eco-friendly event, a team building event, or an immersive event – all of which come with different needs and outcomes.

Speak to us today if you’d like to hold your event at one of our state-of-the-art partner venues.