Third event will be held at college auditoriom

Summary

Choosing your venue and date for your event are two major considerations that will shape the rest of your project plan. Start researching venues as early as possible. The event marketplace is crowded, so finding a time when there will be venue availability is important. When deciding on a venue, you’ll also have to consider dates for your location based on seasonal factors like travel and costs.

Full Description

“In January it’s very challenging to find large spaces,” says Romy and events industry veteran at PRIME, a full-service events agency in Vancouver. “January and February are heavy on sales conferences, and it happens again in September and October.” She says that during these times it’s tricky to find traditional locations with show floor space.

As you research and begin talking to the representatives of various venues, ask as many questions as possible to ensure it’s a good fit. Look for budget, thematic fit, location (is it central, easy for transportation?), facilities, on-site staff. Are there restrooms conveniently located throughout the venue? What’s the situation with fire control and emergency response? 

Tip: Once you find the perfect venue, don’t be afraid to negotiate your rates. Half of event planners negotiate a discount off of published rates, and of those who do, organizers most commonly negotiate free WiFi, AV, or parking, according to EventManager. 

Develop event branding

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From the event name and theme to the event website design and on-site look and feel – your event’s branding sets the tone for your event. When people think of your event, you want a strong personality to shine. Additionally, a strong event brand provides a vision and helps to steer the direction of your event.

60% of US millennials expect consistent experiences when dealing with brands online, in person, or by phone. (*)

When choosing your event branding, consider that an event brand should reflect your organization’s brand but it should have a brand of its own. Additionally, think about how your brand will come across online and in real life. Lastly, consider how you will weave your event brand into the individual elements of your event. 

When thinking of event branding, it typically includes:

• Event name. The first crucial step, your event’s name is the first thing attendees will see, so you want it to reflect your vision for the event.
• Theme. A name alone can’t tell the whole story. Often events will create a theme to tie the event together. 
• Logo, colors, typography. There should be consistency across all marketing touchpoints.
• On-site decor, email, signage, and more. While every touchpoint doesn’t need to be hyper-branded. Individual elements should come together to support the story you are telling. 

With these branding elements solidified, you should use them across all platforms including, your event website, social media, emails, tickets and registration, and your event app. 

Want more on branding? Check out our Guide to Event Branding. In this guide, we deep dive into the brand elements every event should consider + how to develop these elements!

Plan your program

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Set your agenda as early as possible! Is there a keynote speaker? Will there be an extra day or evening planned just for your sponsors? Will there be a single “track” of workshops and talks, or will attendees have the choice to choose between multiple sessions at a given time? As you answer these preliminary questions, you can begin to build a high-level view of your event program.

Don’t fret: it’s not crucial to have the schedule finalized before you start promoting the event. You can make changes to the schedule after you have begun to market your event and registration begins to grow. Technology makes this easy to quickly make updates to the schedule on your website and mobile app. 

Your attendees will want to know what to expect, so it is best if you have the basic framework confirmed as early as possible. Additionally, the schedule is an important selling point for sponsors as well!