Tips to help you make sure your corporate hospitality event is a success

To make sure your corporate hospitality event is a roaring success, we have put together 6 tips as a starting point that will help make sure your guests have an amazing experience, whilst you can ensure your company reaps the desired commercial benefits.

WHAT IS CORPORATE HOSPITALITY?

Corporate hospitality generally means inviting key individuals within existing clients, potential clients, or suppliers to a popular sports or music event as a special guest, so they experience the event from a highly sought-after location e.g. Private Box or VIP Restaurant. This can be the perfect way to build real relationships with people and bond over some shared passions. Who doesn’t get excited watching their favourite sports team? Even those with zero interest in sport can’t help but get swept away with the excitement and atmosphere at events like Royal Ascot or the British Grand Prix.

Whilst the events speak for themselves on the day and are almost guaranteed to give your guests the wow factor, sometimes a little pre and post event planning can really help to make sure your event is as successful as possible.

BEFORE THE EVENT

1 - Get your staff involved

Getting people in the relevant departments of your business engaged in the event is the first key to success. If colleagues in marketing, commercial, or key accounts are all involved from an early stage, they will feel invested in the event and help to plan the perfect day. These colleagues can also be involved on the day to help you achieve your objectives.

2 – Find out information about your guests

Knowing your guests inside-out is obviously extremely helpful from a business point of view. The same applies when planning some corporate hospitality. Inviting the right gues to the right event can be invaluable. Knowing a client’s favourite football team, or which sport they will always make time for to watch on TV at the weekend will help you pick the correct event.

3 - Get your guest list and invitations organised

Putting together a group of guests with a lot in common, whether that be professional or personal, can sometimes help the event run more smoothly on the day as conversations are likely to flow naturally. To make it more likely that the guests you invite accept your invitation, use a personalised and tailored invitation to grab their attention. Get your invites out as early as possible so your guests can get the event into their diary with as much notice as possible.

AFTER THE EVENT

4 – Thank your guests for attending the event.

It might seem obvious, but it’s always worthwhile thanking your guests for attending the event the following day. It is also useful to gather any important feedback to use for future events. Lastly, it’s a good opportunity to organise a more professional follow up meeting to progress the relationship.

5 – Measuring the success of the event

It is always useful to try and measure the success of an event a few weeks after. Again, involve colleagues from relevant departments to see if the event has produced the objectives that you had planned for i.e., follow up meetings confirmed, increased monthly orders etc. By involving different departments before, during and after the event will help to measure the success of the event more easily.

6 – Start planning for your next event

Did you guests thoroughly enjoy the event? Has your business seen a ROI from your recent corporate hospitality event? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to start planning!

Pantheon Hospitality specialise in official corporate hospitality packages at all major sporting and music events.

Whether you want to see the top Premier League sides battle it out, experience the roar of the crowd at Cheltenham during Festival week, witness the speed and glamour of the British Grand Prix, or soak up the atmosphere at The Wimbledon Tennis Championships, here at Pantheon Hospitality, we can arrange a package to match any criteria, big or small.

As an independent hospitality company, we can offer the package that is right for your business, not just ours. Our sales team are happy to assist with any enquiry you may have, and if we are unable to help (we probably will be able to) we will happily point you in the right direction and offer any useful advice we can.

Should you have any questions, or would like some help with choosing an event, please click here to complete an enquiry form and one of the sales team will be in touch.