Does the idea of hosting an event give you sweaty palms, or does it make you stand straight up and confident? In this post you’ll get some actionable tips on how to make your next client event not just a success, but make it profitable.
First off, as always, I’ll shoot it straight: I’m not an event planner nor am I claiming to be any sort of expert in the matter. However, as comical as it may sound, I got my Recreation degree from Chico State which is one of California’s most legendary party schools.
Even so, A degree in recreation has a strong focus on events. In other words, I’ve learned how to throw events and sat through plenty of wedding planning presentations from my classmates back in my “glory days” when I lived above the most popular bar in town.
In college, I was the Monster Energy Drinks Rep, Spring Break rep amongst repping other brands and always had a huge influence on Sigma Chi’s recruitment efforts - all of which required honing my event planning skill set. As they say, I “know enough to be dangerous…”
At the end of February this year, I managed a team of young professionals tasked to plan a Shark Tank inspired event at eBay’s headquarters. It was the group’s third time doing the event , but my first year leading the project.
I learned some valuable tips from this experience and the first is that you need to clearly identify all the possible roles & responsibilities from the beginning so that as you move along in the process you can delegate more efficiently. Some of the roles and responsibilities for this particular event included:
- Floor Plan
- Event day flow
- Food & Beverage (recruiting vendors, communications leading up to event/day of, dealing with ABC restrictions etc)
- Recruiting Pitchers (companies to pitch on stage)
- Recruiting Judges
- Getting people to show up (Marketing/Promotion - social, eventbrite, meetup, sponsored ads, eblasts, etc)
- Sponsors
- Prizes
- Virtual Assistants (to support all these various tasks)
- Coordinating with venue event planner
- and of course the SWAG plan (next year this will be first on the list)
That’s a lot, right!? Well, here’s a new goal of mine that should help you with your next event just as much as it’ll help me: by May 1st of this year I’ll have a complete eBook with actionable tips to organize, plan and execute any event that could be related to a SWAG showcase.
I do a SWAG showcase everywhere and we have it down to a science - it’s a well-oiled machine. Frankly, that event makes me stand straight up and confident. The thought of doing the event referenced above makes my palms more than a little sweaty.
So what does any of this have to do with SWAG? I’ve found that holding your own client event (SWAG Showcase) is really not that difficult at all when you have the right supplier partners. And, to be clear, when I say “supplier partners” I’m including local vendors outside of our industry like venues, restaurants, local wineries & breweries, non-profits, etc.
Whether or not you have been holding events for years or never at all, the topics below are just a teaser of what’s to come in May’s Event Planning eBook.
Where to Begin
- Write down your goal(s).
- What takeaways do you want for attendees?
Planning & Documenting
- Brainstorming
- Roles & Responsibilities
- SWAG Plan (this is specific for distributors)
- Document everything as you move along (I recommend trello.com)
- Use checklists!
Dive Dive Into Roles & Responsibilities
- Marketing
- SWAG plan
- Schedule day of
- Floor Plan
- Getting Sponsors
- A/V (slides, how many mics you’ll need… headset or mic. etc)
- Food & Bev
Costs
- Determine your budget (plan to make X dollars and reverse engineer)
- Determine price for sponsors / attendees
Floor Plan
- Determine strategy to creating a floor plan (where do you want to lead people to? Usually the venue helps with this)
Follow these steps and there’s no reason why you can’t NET $20,000 on your SWAG Showcase! This is based on my personal experience doing the same SWAG Showcase three years in a row.
OH, and if you read last month’s post… as promised here is a link to my first ebook in the “Getting Started” series. II challenge you to take action and let me know what you think!
Swag On!
Sam Kabert is the creative director of ValueBP Marketing Group and the creator and co-host of the podcast “WhatUp Silicon Valley!” A risk taker who embraces permanent beta, Sam is leading the transformation of his family-run office supplies business into a promotional products powerhouse. Sam can be reached at Sam@ValueBP.com.