Effective Business Events Blog   •   27th October, 2018

Why would you book an event management company? Often people are asked by their manager to arrange a corporate event on top of their normal job and their workload is already heavy. They find it hard to fit in arranging the event and it is no longer fun but a stressful inconvenience. When organising a local party you will have a good knowledge of the area but what if you are asked to arrange an event somewhere else, abroad perhaps? Even if you are looking to book a London event and you feel you know London well, there are literally thousands of venues of different sizes, themes that host a huge range of events – where do you start?
What are the benefits of using an event management company?

Venue finding

Venue finding is the first step of the process. You need to know what type of event you are looking to arrange – a conference, product launch, exhibition, Christmas party, Channel Partner meeting etc. You also need to know the ideal location which will depend on where your audience are coming from – if they are flying in from abroad you will need to be near an airport. If they are driving you may want to be near a motorway. If you are looking for a quiet country venue then your requirements here will be different and accessibility won’t be as important as the surroundings. Then you need to know how many people are expected to attend the event and how many function rooms you need. If it’s a conference you may want to consider breakout rooms but if it’s an outside summer party you will want a building big enough to accommodate guests on a rainy day or if the weather is better even consider a rooftop garden event.

Catering

You should also consider the catering – do you need a buffet, sit-down meal, BBQ? Also there are a wide variety of food requirements, cultural preferences and allergies that must be instructed to any caterers.  Also what onsite facilities are required?  A golf course, spa, grounds for activities etc.

And all this before you event start your search! So where do you begin? The internet, of course, will be the first place you visit. Yes, this is a great place to search, but believe me, when you think you’ve found the perfect venue and you go to visit you can find that the website has been photoshopped to within an inch of it’s life, you have to start again and start to realise you can’t believe all that you see.

What Does An Event Management Agency Do

There are many benefits of using an event management company. An event management agency will have organised thousands of different events throughout the UK and around the world. They will know great venues and have lots of ideas that will work for your particular event. They will take all the time searching for your perfect venue. Hunting out the locations, capacities, costs, menus, facilities etc and picking out the ones best suit your event. A well as venuesyou will get suggestions for the focus and entertainment at your event. AV set design and build, team-building activities, evening entertainment, furniture hire.

All these ideas are then outlined in a clear and detailed proposal for you to consider and present to your team.

Refining The Ideas & Creating The Event

Once you have shortlisted venues you are interested in location visits are carried out to ensure they will work for your event and you can decide after visits which one you like best. The event management team then work with the venue and suppliers to ensure the best prices and again, save you the often-awkward process of negotiating.

Your delegates then need to be managed. This includes registration, assistance with travel, special requests and communication. This is all managed through an mobile accessible online registration portal. Event apps can be created if  appropriate.

You, of course, still have overall control of the event and decision-making process, an event management agency save you the the time-consuming work.

How Much Does An Event Management Service Cost

This all sounds great you think, but how much is it going to cost? Many agencies charge a percentage of the total cost of the event and therefore they don’t want to negotiate lower rates as their fee goes down, but Effective Business Events are different. They charge a fixed management fee which will be advised at the proposal stage based on the size and nature of the event. All the costs quoted from suppliers are transparent – they don’t mark up their prices like many agencies and often, due to buying power and connections, can negotiate better rates than you would as an individual.

Effective Business Events act as an extension of your team throughout the process. They take into account any branding and liaise with you throughout the process, giving you up-to-date costings to ensure everything stays on budget. On the day of the event, they are in attendance to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

These are the benefits of using an event management company, comprehensively planned, organised and managed so you can concentrate on being a good host.