Planning an event for your company? Consider your audience at every step.

For several organizations, events are paramount to success. A good event can promote your services, facilitate innovation and boost company morale. The risk is that a poorly executed event can damage your company's image (not to mention waste all the time you spent planning). The key to successful events in this day and age is engaging your audience and knowing who they are. 

Who's your event's audience?

A strong event likely will rely on the “changing of the guard” or rather, appealing to millennials. What can you do to attract this new, younger audience? Pew Research discusses how they are now the largest part of the population in, "Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation." With this, we'll all have to innovate on new ways to reach this audience. 

There’s more than black-tie galas

We’ve all been to black-tie galas with the rubber chicken dinner followed by the boring powerpoint programming. Don’t get me wrong, it can be effective in some cases, but remember there are other options too.

If you’re trying to break through and attract a younger audience consider a less formal, traditional event. One of our nonprofit clients, YouthLink, recently held an event that featured whiskey tastings and prize drawings. Though upscale in its own way, this event was a far cry from a traditional nonprofit gala. This makes it stand out.

Depending on your event goals, you may consider one of the following:

• Activity-based events such as walks or runs
• Experiential events
• Pub crawls
• Food or beverage-based events – food trucks, wine pairings, whiskey tastings
• Trivia contents
• House concerts

Lastly, make it easy

Whether we’re talking about registering for the event or subscribing to a mailing list, make it as simple as possible. If there’s any bit of friction, your conversion rates and interactions will decrease. This is where it's especially important to consider your attendees: How do they prefer to interact? On which channel can you best communicate with them?

Organizing an event for your company, takes time and money. Considering your audience first will guide you to plan an event that resonates with them, while also allowing you to meet your goals.