Have you been tasked to take charge of hosting an internal company event? Planning such corporate events can be a challenging task indeed—you may even feel overwhelmed by the mere thought of it. Here are 7 steps to aid you in your preparations:

1. Identify the main purpose for the event

Determine the primary objective which the event is supposed to accomplish from the beginning. For instance, is the company event an annual kickoff meeting, awards presentation or networking dinner? The objective varies for each type of event, from celebrating your company’s past wins to strengthening relationships with business contacts. Once you have identified the overarching objective in mind, you can then decide on a suitable theme and tagline.

2. Delegate work to the steering committee

This burden does not fall on your shoulders alone—planning corporate events is often done with the help of a steering committee. Whilst you are overall in charge, you can still delegate certain aspects of planning to different committee members. The committee members can brainstorm various team building exercises and help out with event logistics under your supervision.

3. Set a reasonable budget

After a steering committee has been formed, it is now time to create a budget sheet for the event with the allocated amount in mind. Make a comprehensive list of all the budget line items related to the event—these include but are not limited to rental, decoration, food catering and entertainment costs. To avoid overspending, add a contingency cost buffer of roughly 10% of the total estimated cost.

4. Choose an appropriate venue

Before you can start to plan the nitty-gritty details, you would need to source for an appropriate venue with the right ambience. Creating the ideal atmosphere matters; the venue should be aligned to the theme of the company event. To aid in your planning, shortlist up to five venues that you will reach out to for written proposals and visit in-person. Make sure that the venue you ultimately decide on has sufficient room capacity to accommodate all the expected attendees.

5. Secure your vendors early

You should start researching available vendors and services (which most closely match your stipulated event requirements as well as budget) a few months before the event. Enlist the help of your committee members to source an experienced caterer, taking your attendees’ dietary restrictions and preferences into consideration. Food and beverages aside, you also have to finalise vendors for entertainment and décor—think live bands and flower arrangements!

6. Promote the event

It is understandable to overlook event marketing in the flurry of logistics planning; however, it goes a long way in generating hype for the event. Give out flyers—either physically or via electronic means—as a form of event invitation. Make frequent announcements communicating key event details like date, time, attire and so on. Since social media is so prevalent today, don’t forget to create a unique hashtag which can be used for sharing photos taken during the event.

7. Review the timeline regularly

As the date of the company event is drawing near, conduct a regular review of the timeline and make last-minute adjustments if necessary. Remember to assign committee members different roles, whether it be to oversee setup and teardown of the event or to serve as a point-of-contact for the vendors. You cannot be in multiple places at once! The more hands on deck, the better.

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