Creative Impact Group Special Events Planning

If you missed the first portion of this article you can find it here.

Choosing The Event

There are four basic genres of hospitality events: breakfast meetings, after-show receptions, themed parties and celebrity entertainment. To choose the kind of event that’s right for you, assess both your budget and your tradeshow goals.

If you simply need to provide a place where your sales staff can chat for longer periods of time, for example, an after-hours reception would be appropriate. This can be a bare-bones affair with drinks, chips and dips, plus a caricature artist or other diversion to add a festival feel. A piano player can set a relaxed mood and make the room seem that much more removed from the hustle and bustle of your booth.

If your objective is to stand out from the competition, you’ll want to select a flashier fling.

Here are Some Examples:

• Host a breakfast meeting with a sports theme like “Go For the Gold”, featuring meet-and-greet sports celebrities and a “breakfast of champions” with Wheaties and Gatorade. You can decorate the room like a stadium, dress up the buffet table with dimensional props such as goal posts and cardboard cut-outs of pro football players, and have guests’ pictures taken with the athletes.
• Have a nighttime themed event like a safari party called “It’s A Jungle Out There!” Dress the hostesses in safari costumes, hire a magician-costumed as a hunter-to walk around, and accessorize the room with plants, jungle huts and netting. If you wish, take the theme a step further with a game where guests hunt for hidden keys to unlock a treasure chest that holds special prizes.
• Invite your guests to a night of celebrity entertainment. Depending on their schedules, their geographic location at the time of your event and of course price, you can book big names ranging from The Temtations to Barbara Mandrell. You can stage a comedy showcase, either with local comedians or major talent like David Brenner, Elaine Boozler and Phyllis Diller. In either case, you can host an hors d’oeuvres or dessert reception before the show to be sure you can take care of business.

Tips For Success

Whatever type of hospitality event you choose, there are a few pointers that may help you get the most out of your efforts.

• Consider any strategies you can for ensuring that guests will choose your event over others. Clever invitations, giveaways, odd times like mornings, must-see celebrities or an unusual theme can make the difference.
• Remember to contact the association that is sponsoring the tradeshow before scheduling your event. Clear times with them to be sure there are no conflicts. Then they’ll tell you whom to call at the convention site to make your plans.
• Consider maximizing your sales staff’s effectiveness at your event by training them to be sure their message gets across outside the booth. Bringing in a trainer at a meeting before the show can help them remember to work while they play.

• Tie your event into what you’re trying to accomplish on the tradeshow floor with a common theme or thread.

Conclusions

You don’t need a ballroom to host a good hospitality event. A little decorating sleight-of-hand can turn a dreary room into an exciting venue. A generous dose of creativity can plant the seeds for building business beyond your tradeshow booth. And the glue of goodwill created in the casual atmosphere of a party can cement relationships that will last long after everyone has gone home. That’s why hospitality events are smart business.

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