The last thing you want at your big corporate event is a room or conference center (or a field at sunrise – that’s a place where meetings can happen, seriously) full of bored people looking at their phones.
You are hosting this event for a reason. You can’t wait to tell compelling stories, celebrate successes, and share new developments. In short: you want to get people pumped up about your company. Shout-from-the-rooftops, tell-their-friends, hashtag-humble-brag kind of pumped up.
But you’re not going to achieve that by planning the same stale, safe corporate event that everyone else is doing. Here are a few best practices to make sure your event reflects what makes your brand awesome.
Start and end with your brand.
Don’t fall into the trap of trying to do too much – and then not doing any one thing very well. Start, literally, with your brand’s logo. Then show a brand video or tell a brand story life. Then, zoom in on the main objective for your event. Before you make a decision, put it in this framework. How does it contribute to your overarching goal?
Then, do the same thing at the end. This helps your brand stay alive in your attendees’ memory of the event.
Tell your brand’s specific story.
Every brand has something that makes it unique. Apple is sleek. SpaceX is groundbreaking. Old Spice is funny, and sort of weird, but, you know, the right kind of weird. Use your meeting as an opportunity to show off your brand’s personality, aesthetic, and style. Who are you? What makes you different? How do you stand out in the crowd? Every part of the event should feel branded and recognizable as uniquely yours – whether it’s a video presentation or a surprise performance. You want attendees to say, “Oh that’s classic [insert your company’s name here].”
Make your brand experiential.
We all sit through presentations. A lot of presentations. Some of them are awesome. And some of them are the “I wonder how many slides he or she has left?” kind of presentations.
Bring your brand to life by creating an environment where attendees are active participants, not passive bystanders. Engage them in hands-on, interactive experiences (otherwise known as experiential marketing). Don’t be afraid to run with your crazy ideas, as long as they reflect your brand identity and your main objective for the event. Play a game. Make something. Tackle a challenge. Employ all five senses. Get creative and wow your participants. (True story: some of the best events we’ve seen have involved life-size cardboard cutouts, silly string and/or bongo drums.)
Ready to plan a memorable event for your brand? Contact L37.