A corporate
event is a very different beast from your standard birthday party or night out.
Despite having oodles of experience in the latter two, helping organise and run
an event as a part of my internship was a unique challenge and a handy skill to
have in my PR toolbox.
We were
hosting an investor night to engage potential investors and pass on information
useful for them, expecting about 40 people to attend. It consisted of a short
question and answer panel and presentation in the showroom, with time for
networking and buying products over drinks and nibbles.
My first
task was to call around and get quotes for catering, AV equipment, drinks and
glasses. As Atlas was very happy with their last setup, it was simply a matter
of calling up their past contractors and asking for a very similar setup. It
was good to get an idea of what was necessary for an event of such a size, as
well as what’s a good basic AV set up. I was told that this was a relatively
small and simple event, but there was still quite a lot of preparation
necessary.
It was
necessary to brief staff on the event, to make sure we had enough sales staff
attending and to invite the executive to the question and answer panel. It was
also important to let staff know there would be people bringing in equipment
throughout the day, so they weren’t surprised when it happened. We did this
mostly verbally to the more important people to the investor event, but also
sent an email out to all Perth staff to make sure they were up to speed.
During the
day we had people bringing in chairs and installing the AV equipment. It was
really useful having prepared a runsheet and event plan, as I was able to tell
the contractors where to put everything as quickly and efficiently as possible.
It was also necessary to brief the food prep and bar staff when they arrived on
where things went and when to serve.
During the
event I alternated between briefing and communicating staff and taking photos
for social media. It was a busy job, and in between my PR oriented duties I was
also able to enjoy the bubbles and nibbles on offer.
Overall it
was a very successful night, and a great experience in organising a corporate
event.
