5 Ways to Streamline Your Corporate Event Planning

  • Event Management
A group of individuals enjoying beverages at an event.

Corporate event planning is notoriously labor-intensive, with planners often reinventing the wheel for each new event. From the tedium of manual registration and spreadsheet wrangling to the headache of juggling different tools for websites, email marketing, agenda builders, and more… It’s a recipe for frustration and overwhelm. 

Yet, putting on a seamless, branded event experience is essential for driving sales, cultivating relationships, and elevating your company’s profile. 

The good news? There’s a better way that doesn’t involve burning the midnight oil. 

Corporate event management software streamlines everything into one efficient platform—simplifying processes, connecting scattered workflows, and automating monotonous tasks. With EventUp Planner, corporate event planners can cut down on busywork while leveling up their events.

Say goodbye to repetitive, time-consuming tasks— this blog explores 5 ways you can  streamline planning corporate events. Let’s dive in!

What is Corporate Event Planning?

    Corporate event planning is the process of strategizing, organizing, and executing events hosted by companies and organizations. These events can vary greatly in size and complexity, taking place in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid format.

    Here’s a brief overview of common examples of corporate events:

    Conferences and seminars

    Academic or professional conferences and seminars allow companies to share industry knowledge, thought leadership, and best practices. These events foster networking, education, and building a brand’s reputation.

    Product launches

    Product launch events generate buzz and media attention around new product or service offerings. They drive awareness, sales, and establish the company as an innovator.

    Roadshows

    Roadshows bring products, services, and brand experiences directly to audiences across multiple cities or regions through a series of smaller localized events.

    Trade shows and exhibitions

    These large-scale industry gatherings allow companies to showcase products or services, connect with prospects, meet with partners/vendors, and assess competitors.

    Corporate trainings

    Internal training events help upskill employees, communicate policy changes, reinforce best practices, drive engagement, and facilitate team building.

    Webinars

    These online seminars or presentations allow companies to share expertise, product information, and thought leadership with audiences globally.

    Why is Corporate Event Planning Important?

    Corporate events require significant time, effort, and financial investment. But when planned and executed well, they’re powerful business tools that can drive a wide range of impacts.

    Effective corporate event planning helps achieve meaningful outcomes and results. Well-organized events can:

    • Generate leads and sales opportunities
    • Increase brand awareness and perception
    • Foster customer loyalty and nurture relationships

    From increasing revenue to improving workplace culture, thoughtfully planned corporate events allow companies to accomplish strategic objectives and accelerate growth.

    What are the Challenges of the Corporate Event Planning Process?

    Planning corporate events is complex—they’re filled with numerous potential challenges that require event planners to be organized and adaptable. 

    First, aligning the event objective with organizational goals while staying on budget is an ever-present balancing act. Plus, juggling the diverse needs of event stakeholders—from leadership to vendors, sponsors, and more—demands skilled coordination.

    2. Creating and adhering to a realistic event budget

    3. Staffing the event properly and managing volunteers

    4. Negotiating with vendors and adhering to their policies

    5. Successfully promoting the event and driving registrations

    6. Delivering engaging attendee experiences that keep people coming back

    Engaging attendees and delivering memorable experiences gets more complicated as virtual and hybrid events continue to soar in popularity. Tech troubles can arise around platform selection, audio/visual quality, and attendee engagement. 

    Finally, anticipating and tackling curveballs like changing requirements, budget cuts, scheduling conflicts, tech malfunctions, understaffed teams, and more is par for the course.

    5 Ways to Streamline Corporate Event Planning

    Corporate event planners have a lot on their plates—from negotiating with venues and vendors to designing memorable experiences that “wow” attendees. 

    Thankfully, corporate event management software like EventUp Planner is making it easier than ever for planners to get things done while keeping everyone happy.

    1. Create standard operating procedures (SOPs)

    Standard operating procedures (SOPs) document established processes and best practices for carrying out complex operations. 

    Having clear SOPs for your event planning duties offers numerous benefits, such as:

    • Ensuring consistency and quality across events
    • Serving as a training tool for new hires
    • Preventing vital details from slipping through the cracks

    SOPs can also streamline time-consuming processes like: negotiating venue and vendor contracts; coordinating travel and lodging details; building out event websites and registration paths; and more. 

    With everything documented, there’s no need to start from scratch for each new event.

    2. Assemble an event team and delegate responsibilities

    As the saying goes, “it takes a village” to pull off successful events. 

    Don’t try to do everything yourself. Instead, assemble a cross-functional event team and divide responsibilities based on skills and capacity. 

    Plus, event management software like EventUp Planner makes it easy to centralize important files, share updates, assign tasks, and ensure everyone stays accountable. Read more: Engaging Your Event Team: 5 Tips for Boosting Morale

    3. Create templates for everything

    Why reinvent the wheel for each element of every single event? Having pre-built templates for common materials saves you tons of time and effort. 

    Top items that you should consider templatizing include a master event planning timeline, core email communications (save-the-dates, registration confirmations, reminders, post-event surveys), brand guidelines, event websites, and run-of-show schedules.

    Simply load the template, make your event-specific adjustments, and you’re ready to go! No need to start from scratch each time.

    4. Use cloning to its full potential

    Like templates, cloning allows you to duplicate entire event components with the click of a button—then tweak as needed for the new event. 
    For example, EventUp Planner makes it simple to clone previous event websites, email marketing campaigns, registration forms, and more instead of rebuilding them from the ground up. This handy capability prevents redundant work and maintains consistency across your event portfolio.

    5. Automate to innovate

    Manual processes waste valuable time and mental energy that you could devote to higher-impact tasks. 

    Smart event automation systematically handles repetitive duties so you can focus your efforts on strategic priorities and personal touches that truly move the needle. Common operations ripe for automation include marketing campaigns, registration workflows, attendee communications, post-event surveys, and more. 
    Plus, with all of your data consolidated in one system, it’s easier to make informed, data-driven decisions about where to invest time and resources.

    How to Choose the Right Corporate Event Management Software

    Choosing the right corporate event management software helps you work smarter, not harder. To make an informed decision, we recommend conducting a comprehensive needs assessment with all relevant stakeholders.

    Get started by asking yourself questions like:

    • What types of events do I plan (conferences, trade shows, meetings, etc.)? Make sure the software can handle the specific event formats you work with.
    • What is the typical size and complexity of my events? The software should be able to scale to accommodate your event sizes.
    • Do I need virtual/hybrid event capabilities? If so, look for robust virtual event management tools.

    If you’re looking for corporate event software that checks all these boxes and more, look no further than EventUp Planner.

    Transform Your Events with the Best Event Management Software

    You’ve got enough on your plate. Make your job easier, not harder with corporate event software. 

    EventUp Planner allows you to plan and manage all of your events in one flexible platform, from the small to the large and complex.

    Ready to learn how to streamline your workflows and do more with less? Book a call with our team today!

    9 Things Attendees Actually Want From Your Next Event

    • Event Management News

    Your prospective attendees are sophisticated, discerning, and maybe even a little demanding at times. They expect a highly customized, unique experience that takes into account their professional goals as well as their personal needs. 

    As a corporate planner, it’s important to surprise and delight your attendees without sacrificing tried-and-true fundamentals. These are the things that your attendees expect from every single event, whether they mention it or not.

    Sure, novel concepts with all the bells and whistles may wow your attendees in the short term. But in reality, these things should complement—not replace—what actually delivers a great experience, event after event. 

    In this post, we’ve outlined 9 fundamentals that make every meeting and event an awesome experience—for your attendees and your team. Let’s dive in!

    9 Things Attendees Expect from Your Events

    Your attendees expect the best, and you aim to give it to them! Here are 9 things your attendees expect from your corporate events program: 

    1. A personalized experience

    Attendees expect a customizable schedule—one that allows them to learn in unique ways and achieve their specific goals with flexible timing (with adaptable event planning software to support). 

    They also crave active participation that’s inclusive without putting too much pressure on them, such as a welcome event to kick off the program.  

    And don’t forget to take your attendees’ health and wellness needs into account. Dietary options, exercise opt-ins, and meditation rooms are all great additions to help everyone stay energized and ready to rock.

    LEARN MORE: 75 Event Ideas to Inspire Your Next Event

    2. Communication before, during, and after the event

    Proper communication is key. You can plan the world’s most amazing event, but if no one knows about it, how will anyone show up? 

    Before the event

    To cover all your bases leading up to the event, ensure all communications use the 5Ws framework: 

    • Who
    • What
    • Where
    • When
    • Why
    • How

    Consider conducting audience research through surveys and interviews early in the planning process to gain insights. Ask about their pain points, how they prefer to engage with content, what takeaways they expect, and what type of experience they want to have. Tailor the event based on what you learn. 

    During the event

    During the event itself, leverage your event management software to communicate schedule updates, networking opportunities, and other unique activities through push and email notifications. This helps attendees feel up-to-date and empowered to jump on aligned opportunities.

    After the event

    Following the event, recap what made the experience great and encourage your attendees to stay engaged through your email newsletter, blog, and social media. Use feedback surveys to learn more about their experience and how you can continuously improve. 

    LEARN MORE: Post-Event Survey Questions to Ask (+ Email Best Practices)

    3. Relevant education

    Do the work to understand your attendees’ wants and needs by gathering data during the planning phase. 

    This will allow you to provide content that’s intriguing and relevant without getting sidetracked by flashy celebrity or flavor-of-the-month speakers. Those tactics might bump registration but, without the right context, won’t boost satisfaction. 

    Having the right research in your back pocket means you can create innovative educational activities that help boost retention and get attendees thinking outside of the box—with storytelling and case studies, for example.

    LEARN MORE: 7 Event KPIs That Will Prove You Put on a Great Event

    4. Facilitated networking

    Build in networking with parameters that help promote inclusivity and fun.  Networking opportunities are an important part of events, but can also be intimidating for many. 

    In educational sessions, you can do this by getting people to stand up and introduce themselves to the closest person they know the least. 

    In the right environment, you can create a game around networking: give thought-provoking questions attached to name badges, or get attendees to go on a scavenger hunt to find certain types of people with a prize incentive.

    LEARN MORE: 6 Easy Ways to Facilitate Networking At Your Next Healthcare Event

    5. Hybrid components 

    In today’s connected world, hybrid events have become crucial and expected. This model allows both physical and remote participants to engage fully with your event—and with each other. 

    By incorporating live-streaming, interactive tools, and on-demand content, hybrid formats democratize access, enabling a wider audience to experience the event. 

    This format also offers attendees the flexibility to participate according to their schedules and comfort levels. Attendees can still learn and engage without overextending themselves or becoming overwhelmed.

    Ultimately, hybrid events enhance the overall event experience and ensure no one misses out on valuable networking and learning opportunities!

    GET THE FREE GUIDE: An Event Planner’s Handbook to Hybrid Events

    6. Seamless logistics


    Attendees expect to have a professional, smooth event experience. Make sure they don’t have to stress or worry about where or what they are doing next during their program. 

    Your event website, mobile app, signage, and staff are your arsenal to make sure everyone is on the same page and understands what is expected of them. 

    Just be sure that your attendees don’t get decision fatigue from too many options. Providing relevant content is key!

    LEARN MORE: How to Create an Event Website + Best Event Website Examples

    7. Technology integration 

    Remember what we said about your attendees being sophisticated and discerning? Turns out they’re also tech-savvy and expect a seamless, modern experience. 

    This is where event management software comes in. 

    The right software gives you access to a wide range of tools to make life easier (for your attendees and your team). 

    For instance, the best event management software keeps attendees in the know through a branded event website, mobile event app, email marketing, and easy registration

    Event planning software also allows you to deliver exceptional experiences with tools to:

    • Support in-person, online, and hybrid events with one platform
    • Template and automate key workflows to make multi-event management easier
    • Simplify planning and management of your complex events across team members

    …All while staying sane along the way. 

    GET THE HANDBOOK: Master The Art Of Choosing The Right Event Management Platform

    8. Useful take-homes and swag

    Attendees crave tangible takeaways that extend the event experience and provide lasting value. Well-designed conference swag, informative event books, and actionable educational materials leave a lasting, positive impression. 

    Plus, useful take-home items reinforce key learnings long after the event ends. Some relevant examples include:

    • Branded tote bags or notebooks for note-taking
    • Practical giveaways like portable chargers or reusable water bottles
    • Comprehensive workbooks or manuals aligning with session content
    • Digital resources like slide decks or exclusive video content

    By investing in high-quality, purposeful takeaways, you’ll create a more immersive and impactful experience that resonates with attendees!

    LEARN MORE: 5 Best Practices for Designing Event Merchandise

    9. WOW factor

    The ultimate way to create the wow factor is to give attendees something they can’t get anywhere else: a truly unique experience worth sharing! This stretches the story of your event past the scheduled programming and keeps attendees hungry for more.   

    Exceed your attendee’s expectations by under-promising and over-delivering with giveaways, added production value, or unique far-out venues

    Or use the surprise-and-delight method with fun, impromptu entertainment (like Improv Everywhere’s Beer the Musical), sponsorship activations, or surprise guest speakers.

    LEARN MORE: Corporate Event Themes: 45+ to Choose From

    Exceed Expectations With The Best Event Management Software

    Here’s what it comes down to If you know your audience well enough, you can provide new and exciting experiences that meet all of their expectations and keep them coming back…again and again. Trusted event planning software like Attendease by Tripleseat can help you get there.