Organizing a business event is a tricky task. If you want to make sure it’s a success and you achieve all of your goals, you must take a number of things into consideration. The location is unquestionably one of the most important ones and your choice will depend on various factors, including the type of event and its aims.
The term MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) is usually used to describe the organization of business events. Meetings, conferences, conventions, dinners, product presentations, seminars and training courses are all business events that can have different kinds of target audiences and aims.
Business events tend to have a very specific goal and this dictates the form that they take:
In all of these cases, it’s essential to make a good impression. Therefore, you should choose the location carefully and organize everything impeccably, leaving nothing to chance. Below is a short guide to what you need to do. It can be helpful whether you’re organizing an event yourself or you’re looking for guidelines when hiring specialist MICE professionals.
1 - Establish the goal of the event and allocate resources to it
The first thing to do is establish what the goals of the event are and what economic resources will be allocated to it. The latter must then be broken down into individual expenses such as hiring the venue and equipment, catering, gifts, audio/video systems, staff, speakers, and travel or accommodation for certain participants. The costs of many business events are covered by one or more sponsors, which the organizer must find in advance.
2 - Set the agenda and schedule
It’s never a good idea to improvise when it comes to business events. Even the smallest details should be carefully considered. Time flies and speakers often run over their allotted time, so you need to set a schedule and take into account that there might be delays and not everything may go as planned. Remember that the participants will probably have taken time out of their daily routines and organized their attendance around other commitments, so you can’t afford to finish too much later than the scheduled end.
3 - Put together a team
Once you’ve established what you’re going to do, you need to decide which resources you’re going to bring into play. As well as inviting speakers and hiring a catering company, you have to think about who’ll take care of things such as communication, marketing, the audio and video systems, as well as finding figures such as hosts, hostesses and stewards to provide support and information.
4 - Find a suitable location in the local area
As we mentioned above, this is one of the most important steps. Below you can find out how to pick the right place, which might be a conference hall, a hotel or – more and more often – a picturesque spot such as a farmhouse or a historic villa. If you need to organize a business event in the Modena area, you could think about booking Corte Leonardi, an enchanting location surrounded by spellbinding gardens and venerable vineyards that combines the features and facilities of a modern establishment with immense traditional appeal.
5 - Organize the catering
Catering plays a key part in ensuring guests have a pleasant experience and keeping them happy. It can take the form of everything from a simple coffee break during a meeting or a training session to a proper meal for big promotional events. In the latter case, the chosen location must have a kitchen, or at the very least a space where the service can be organized. For example, Corte Leonardi has a professional kitchen complete with catering equipment.
6 - Plan some entertainment
Regardless of whether the aim of the event is to inform, to promote something or anything else, it’s important to have breaks or opportunities for people to unwind. It’s increasingly common for conventions to feature short shows, yoga classes or other experiences and forms of entertainment for participants to enjoy, with some going as far as to offer genuine team-building activities. Originality is the watchword. Keep reading because we’ll discuss it in more detail below.
7 - Promote the event
Publicize the event and provide the guests with clear details of the date, time and schedule, because it’s important to ensure they’re all prepared and in the right mood when they arrive. There are plenty of potential communication channels, from newsletters and social media to official invitations for clients and business partners. Remember to set aside part of the budget for these matters.
When it comes to picking locations, business events aren’t that different from any other private event: the things that you have to take into account before making a decision are more or less the same as those that we listed in our post about selecting a wedding venue.
In both cases, you have to bear in mind:
Your budget
The capacity of the rooms
Whether it’s free on the date of the event
How easy it is to get there from airports and motorways
Accessibility and whether secure parking is available
If there are members of organizational support staff at the location
Whether there are catering facilities
If experiences are available for guests
In addition, for business events such as meetings, conferences and seminars, you need to consider whether there are amenities to aid communication, such as:
The possibility of setting up an audio/video system
A Wi-Fi network for access to the internet
Clear views for people in the audience during large meetings, press conferences and presentations
Suitable facilities to accommodate guests comfortably
Breaks and recreational activities can be a key part of business events, so choosing a distinctive location can help to add an original touch. If there is only a limited amount of time available for the fun side of things, it isn't always possible to organize extended team-building sessions.
That’s why a location like Corte Leonardi has a huge plus to offer: as well as large halls that can accommodate numerous people during meetings and conferences, the site is also home to the Balsamic Vinegar Museum and old ACETAIA, where guests can enjoy a cultural experience that’s both engaging and delicious!
In addition to taking a guided tour and learning about the origins of the tradition of artisanal production and how it has been handed down through four generations of the Leonardi family, you can take the opportunity to organize a tasting session so your guests can sample Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and other typical local products.
Thanks to its enchanting, original charms, choosing Corte Leonardi as a location will really make an impression on your guests and leave them with lasting memories of your event that’ll help to strengthen your brand image.
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