There are 10.9 million people working to organize unique mixers, networking events, workshops, and business events.
So how do you make yours stand out?
Through planning every detail, from selecting a theme that resonates to tactics for keeping your audience engaged.
Easier said than done? Maybe. But you can set yourself up for success with comprehensive planning and a great event strategy.
At Eventbrite, we’ve got the industry-leading ticketing and marketing solution for corporate events, and we’re here to share how event creators have used our tools to sell more tickets and host truly memorable events.
In this complete guide, we’ll share innovative, industry-leading strategies from real event creators that will make your professional events cut through the noise.
Plan your professional event
Find what makes your event special
Pair sponsors with unique branding opportunities
Find what makes your event special
In the dynamic world of events, creating a distinctive and memorable event is paramount. Leveraging the same framework for building a unique event brand, you’ll have a secret weapon to stand out without necessarily doubling your budget or hiring celebrity keynote speakers.
Let’s dive into the four principles our community of event creators has used to make their events stand out.
Authenticity
Over 88% of consumers say authenticity is important when they choose which brands they’ll support. Similarly, professionals want to go to events that seem authentically interested in delivering a quality experience.
There are a few ways to communicate your authenticity. One is to include top leaders in an event, like when the Center of Council sat down with diametrically opposed voters for a roundtable discussion. Having key partners present and actively engaged in discussions attests to the event creator’s commitment to their values and genuine interest in understanding their community.
Unique content
When MixerCloud organizes their Houston and Dallas tech industry mixers, they make them stand out by providing something other mixers lack. They do that with three unique factors:
- High-quality sponsors that pitch attendees with new information
- Prize giveaways to encourage attendance for the full length of the event
- Additional services like professional headshots
Finding that little something extra to add to your event can make all the difference.
Meaningful experiences
If you can’t offer a truly unique experience, you can make yours deeper and more meaningful than others. TeamWork Online does this by giving their networking events very specific, narrow themes.
That allows them to attract a crowd of like-minded professionals — for example, people interested in or currently working for professional sports organizations in Columbus, Ohio. They also invite key executives from those niches so attendees can have impactful networking opportunities.
Consistency
You can ensure your event stands out by building a reputation for quality through consistency. Focus on service quality and delivering a great experience at all of your events.
For example, Precision Camera and Video hosts helpful workshops for professionals to develop their camera skills. With more than 300 professional workshops under their belt, you can bet they’ve developed an excellent curriculum that you can trust.
Manage your event budget
Managing your event budget well is a key part of planning any event, but it’s especially important if your audience will be full of professionals who have high expectations. To make your event a success, you need to be aware of where your money is going and make sure it’s being spent wisely.
In order to do that, you’ll need to prioritize very carefully. Consider which elements of your event are most important, focus your spending on those, and then see where you can trim the fat.
For an event like Succulence’s terrarium-making workshops, it’s especially important to have plenty of the necessary materials and a great instructor with solid experience. But they don’t need to rent an elaborate venue — in fact, it can be inside their own store — and while refreshments are nice, they’re not necessary for a successful event of this type.
On the other hand, events like the networking meetups run by The Networking Beast depend more on marketing. That’s because the real value of a networking event is in who else attends. By investing in branding and marketing, they’re able to differentiate themselves and give their attendees more value.
Finally, virtual events come with their own budget challenges. While you won’t need to deal with venue costs, you’ll want to equip yourself with the right virtual events platform and equipment. For creators like GlobalSaké, all of their events depend on their ability to livestream high-quality video content. That’s why their virtual events budget certainly includes costs for the right equipment and a quality internet connection.
Overall, different types of events will require different event budget management strategies. It’s important to know what you need and plan ahead so that you can deliver a great experience for your attendees. Furthermore, you need to keep track of all expenses and budgets in order to accurately budget for your next event.
Want to launch your virtual events more smoothly than ever?
Pick a standout event venue
When you’re planning an event for professionals, your venue matters. It speaks to your brand, your level of professionalism, and what kinds of attendees you expect to attract. That’s why it’s so important to put a lot of consideration into choosing a standout venue that fits your event and its goals.
Check the amenities
Of course, it’s essential to consider the facilities of your chosen location. You need to look at these under the lens of your specific event needs. Does it have enough space for everyone? Is there a stage or will you need to rent one? Are there tables and chairs, or will you need to find a supplier? Does the venue have any A/V equipment that you can use? These are all important questions to answer before booking a venue.
When the Streetz Artz Alliance organizes their events involving dozens of booths with small businesses, it needs to be sure its venue has the facilities to support each of those vendors. That means water, electrical access, and the physical space for the vendors to set up shop and for attendees to move around comfortably.
Matching your audience’s vibe
When selecting a venue, think about who your event is for. Are they more laid back or corporate? Will it be an intimate gathering or a large audience? The answers to these questions will help you narrow down your venue options.
For example, Honeycomb Credit wants local small business owners to come to their meetups. For that reason, they host the events at local small businesses like breweries that may have connections to the community they’re looking to connect with. By showing their support for local businesses, attendees can tell Honeycomb is authentic and genuinely interested in local businesses’ well-being.
If you’re looking for a unique venue, consider local landmarks and hidden gems like parks, cafés, and art galleries. Think outside the box — perhaps a restaurant could serve as your event space during non-peak hours or a museum in the evening when it’s closed to the public. These kinds of venues can add an extra layer of character to any event.
Choose the right event tools
With the plethora of event tools available, choosing the right ones can greatly impact the efficiency of your event planning and the overall success of the event. Here are some of the most important features Eventbrite offers and how major event creators use them to hit their goals.
Social media integration
Sierra Nevada harnessed the power of social media to elevate their event promotion to unprecedented heights. Leveraging Eventbrite’s social media marketing tools, Sierra Nevada could easily create social media ad campaigns. More than that, the A/B testing and budget automation features helped them get the most out of their advertising budget.
Social media targeting also lets Sierra Nevada reach the beer lovers who would most enjoy their event. They earned 10 times more money than they spent on their ad campaign, and even had to renegotiate their print and radio advertising deals because it sold out too fast! That’s the right kind of problem to have.
User-friendliness
When Klaviyo wanted to increase attendance at their conference, they knew they’d need an easy-to-use event platform to streamline their processes and foster growth. By leveraging Eventbrite’s intuitive features, they were able to simplify the intricate aspects of event planning, from ticket sales to on-site check-ins, doubling their conference attendance within a year.
The cornerstone of their strategy was implementing a “Friendship Day” promotion, facilitated seamlessly through Eventbrite, allowing attendees to purchase a ticket and receive a second one free for a friend or colleague. This initiative not only resonated with their audience but also surged ticket sales by nearly 40%, a testament to the platform’s user-friendly interface for creating and managing promotions effectively.
Event discovery
Nashville Fashion Week (NFW) has become a cornerstone in promoting the vibrant fashion culture of the city, contributing significantly to the local economy and community. The success behind their expansive growth lies in their strategic event promotion, facilitated in large part through Eventbrite’s platform.
The platform’s far-reaching discovery system was instrumental in enhancing the event’s visibility, not just among the locals but also among the more than 14 million tourists visiting Nashville annually. This approach ensured a wider audience could find and attend NFW events, including the much-anticipated fall kickoffs and various satellite events held across the city.
Build a community
In order to ensure your event’s success, it’s important to make attendees feel like they’re a part of a cohesive community. Here are a few tips for engaging your audience and making sure they connect with each other and your events.
Speak their language — literally
Events like EforAll Merrimack Valley’s mixers provide amazing opportunities for people to connect with one another. They invite people from different backgrounds to get involved in the event planning process and even provide materials in multiple languages to ensure everyone has the information they need.
This approach creates a sense of belonging for each attendee and encourages them to come and be themselves. It also ensures that everyone feels welcome and appreciated.
Connect over common interests
Provide a few different activities or attractions at your event that’ll interest attendees. Not everyone is going to find the same things engaging, but by setting up a variety of attractions, you can be sure that attendees will start a conversation around one of them.
The folks at the annual American Marketing Association of Witchita’s awards gala understand this and are pros at engagement. The event featured a live painting session by a local artist, which will later be raffled off to benefit the Wichita-based Arts Partners organization.
Because it was hosted at the Kansas Aviation Museum, the guests also had plenty of interesting exhibits to see on top of the food, drinks, and awards at the event. All that variety created plenty of opportunities for people to connect with one another and find common ground.
Include industry influencers
Who better to remind people about what unites them than the most influential people in their industry? By inviting industry influencers, you can get people excited about meeting others at their events.
For example, Worlds Influencers lived up to their name and brought industry influencers to their HR Business Summit. That gave attendees a rich and diverse learning experience, creating an environment where like-minded professionals could network, stay abreast of the latest trends, and take away valuable insights.
Create a marketing plan
A marketing plan is a comprehensive document outlining your marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics. It provides a roadmap to achieve specific event goals through carefully crafted marketing efforts. For events, a marketing plan is crucial as it helps to attract the right audience, improve attendee engagement, and ultimately, ensure event success.
Master social media
Marketing to professionals requires a blend of traditional strategies and innovative approaches. Consider leveraging social media platforms like LinkedIn for targeted, professional networking and advertising. Webinars and podcasts can serve as unique platforms for promoting your event, allowing you to reach the professionals you’re looking for.
If you can, take advantage of professional networks by encouraging people to post about your event on social media. If you use a selfie wall or even just an illuminated area with writing like they set up at 230 Fifth Rooftop, your attendees will be happy to advertise your event so even more people come to the next one!
Leverage content marketing
You can increase the visibility of your event by creating content that speaks to the interests of your target audience. For example, you can make useful tools and guides for the professionals you’d like to attract to your event.
Just make sure to include some language pointing to your event within the content, and make sure you target the right audience. This will help you reach out to more of the right people and increase the chances they’ll show up.
Partner with other organizations
Lastly, consider partnerships with influential industry professionals or companies. Co-hosting events or featuring well-known speakers can significantly increase your event’s appeal to professionals. These partnerships not only enhance your event’s credibility but also widen your reach within the industry, bolstering your marketing plan.
By putting together a comprehensive and well-thought-out marketing plan, you can increase the chances of success for your event. A marketing mix of online content, social media outreach, and partnerships will help you reach more professionals.
Pair sponsors with unique branding opportunities
A common mistake many event creators make is looking at sponsors as mere ATMs. That’s too bad, because the right sponsors can become valuable partners that help elevate your event. In turn, that can raise the sponsors’ profiles, helping both sides of the exchange make a difference for attendees.
Have sponsors provide your event needs
If your event requires certain products, try and get them sponsored! That turns your event into a de facto product demo for the sponsors, delivering a lot more value than just a name on a shirt. And if those products are related to your event’s theme, you can create a complete “package” that both boosts attendee engagement and benefits sponsors.
When you go to a Daybreaker dance and yoga event, you’ll definitely work up a sweat. But to quench your thirst, you’ll get a drink from a company sponsoring the event. You’ll associate the drink with the fun event, and you’ll try something out that you might not have otherwise. Win-win!
Teach sponsors’ products
Another great way to incorporate a sponsor is to make a workshop that teaches the attendees how to use a sponsor’s product. Not only will this benefit the sponsor by raising their profile, it also rewards attendees with a valuable learning experience.
For example, Tampa Devs is devoted to helping developers in the Tampa Bay area learn the skills they need to succeed. One such skill is using tools like Elastic to better observe and monitor their development environments.
That’s why it makes perfect sense for Tampa Devs to teach an observability workshop sponsored by Elastic. In fact, they’re even bringing in a representative from Elastic to better explain how to use the tool and upgrade their attendees’ skills.
Connect sponsors to their communities
You can also get sponsors that aren’t necessarily related to the event itself, but that your target audience can connect with. That just means finding a great fit with your attendees and letting the sponsors know your event will actually be a great fit for them.
Netspend is a mobile banking app and prepaid card that anyone can use. They could sponsor any event, but they chose to partner with Capital Factory to sponsor their Austin, Texas, startup crawl. That’s because Netspend began as a startup in Austin in 1999. Although they’ve grown well past that phase in their history, they can sink their local roots deeper by sponsoring events that connect them to the community there in Austin.
How to execute your corporate event plan
Executing a successful corporate event requires careful planning and strategic implementation. Whether it’s leveraging social media connections, creating a sense of community, developing a comprehensive marketing plan, or pairing sponsors with unique branding opportunities, each aspect plays a crucial role in your event’s success.
At the heart of all these strategies lies the need for an efficient event platform, and Eventbrite has proven to be a versatile and user-friendly choice for event creators across various industries.
Your event can be a phenomenal success with the right planning, execution, and tools. Start your journey today with Eventbrite and unlock a world of possibilities for your next event.
