We serve delicious hand-made canapés at events in Dublin & Ireland

Corporate and private events serve a diverse range of purposes. The objectives of your event, and the key benefits you hope it will create, vary from situation to situation. There are many straightforward actions you can take at both the planning and implementation stages to improve the experience enjoyed by your guests while also increasing the likely success of your event.

This guide was written to assist corporate events organisers. Organisers of private events should also find this guide equally useful however.

Here are our top tips for planning and managing an event:

1. Know Your Guests.

The larger your event, the more likely that invited clients may bring along their own guests. Wherever possible, you should create a guest list to collect as much information as possible on your guests and attendees. Depending on the event and the guests attending, it may be possible to request this information as guests arrive. Assign this task to a specific employee and always try to strike a balance between friendly inquiry and intrusion. The information gathered may prove invaluable at a later stage, resulting in potential leads or lucrative referral generation.

2. Promote yourself.

Don’t assume that all the attendees will know who the host company is. Very often invited clients bring their own guests who in turn may not be aware who the host company is. Having staff members wear name tags with company logos can be a subtle but effective way to promote your company. If you require a higher visibility for your company or brand large printed backdrops with the company/brand logo are an effective method of promotion.

3. Get the Staffing Levels Right.

Where the objective of your event is to build relationships with potential clients or to market the company profile or products, the level of host-company staff in attendance at the event can be crucial. Where possible staff members should be readily identifiable (e.g. by wearing company name badges or work uniforms).

>p>Where the number of guests runs into the hundreds or more, staffing levels of at least one to every 50 guests would be appropriate (although this number will depend on the event objectives, resources available and many other situational factors). At more informal events – for instance to reward customers – staffing levels can be more relaxed and self-promotion less evident.

4. The Food and Drink.

Recent research shows that the quality and quantity of food and drinks served are key factors that determine the success of corporate events. Clients and guests will infer much about the host based on what they are offered to eat and drink.

The appropriate food to serve is usually determined by the context of the event. Finger food and canapés will usually be served where facilities are not available to seat guests at tables. Where tables are available at which guests can be seated more elaborate multiple-course meals can be served. Other factors that affect your choice of food include the type of event, the commencement time and duration of the event, and of course your budget and preferences.

If you decide to serve canapés at your event, you should try to give your guests a variety of tastes, aromas, textures and colours. Seasonal factors should also be considered – during colder months guests usually have greater appetites and you should introduce a higher proportion of hot or substantial canapés to your menu. The time of day can also play an important role in menu selection. Consider when your guests last ate as hunger increases appetite.

Special dietary requirements should also be considered. With increasing diversification in our society, be sure that you cater for all your guests’ specific requirements. For example, Muslims cannot eat pork products, whereas celiacs have allergic reactions to flour products.

(For further information on how to choose a professional and reliable caterer see the Amitan guide “Choosing a Caterer”.)

5. Measure results.

When hosting an event you will have specific organisational goals and objectives. Measuring the results of your event can be a difficult task, but it is important to guage the results of the event in terms of these goals and objectives.

First, why are you holding the event? You should document explicitly the purpose of the event in terms of the goals and objectives that are to be achieved. You should then consider how best to measure the results.

During and after the event you should attempt to measure how successful you have been in attaining your goals and objectives. Methods of measurement can range from guest feedback during and after the event to sales and leads generated at the event. In some cases it may be possible to conduct market research to measure results. The measurement methods you employ will depend on factors such as the event type, its purpose and the resources available for this function.

Once the results have been measured it will be possible to assess the success of your event and highlight possible issues that could be addressed when planning for your next event.

A Short Note on CRM

In recent years a new marketing paradigm has described the lifetime approach to valuing customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) attempts to move away from the transactional view, where each transaction is viewed in isolation, to a relational view where the client and supplier build a relationship which progresses and appreciates in value over time.

It is generally recognised that the cost of acquiring new clients is far greater than the costs of retaining current customers. Managing relationships – for example, through the use of corporate hospitality – can lead to a durability and robustness that increases the value of those relationships over time.