1. 11 tips for organizing
corporate events
that attendees will rave
about for ages
By Hila Shitrit Nissim
VP Marketing, Viola Group
www.viola-notes.com
{ A Viola Notes Presentation }

2. • It’s achieved its goals
• It ‘Wows’ participants and keep them
raving about it for days (and even longer!)
You know that you’ve
created a GREAT
corporate event when:
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3. In the following slides
I’ll outline some aspects
you can focus on to
raise your event’s level
of professionalism and
boost its chances for
success, even with
limited resources.
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4. First, some things to
consider before you
even start:
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5. IDENTIFY
YOUR
PRIORITIES
Make sure you’re clear on which elements are
most important to focus on and which are less
crucial to the overall success of the event.
There’s always a deadline and always a budget,
so knowing which elements you should focus on
will help you pull off an event that will win over
both the attendees and your boss.
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6. YOUR BUDGET MAY BE
LIMITED, BUT YOUR
IMAGINATION NEEDN’T BE.
Whether your budget is big or small, you still have
the power to organize a memorable event.
If your budget is big, then you have more freedom to
let your imagination run wild, but even if your budget
is small, if the main part of the event is interesting and
creative, people will still be glad they came and they’ll
be impressed with you as the organizer.
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7. AIM FOR YOUR ATTENDEES
TO FEEL LIKE THE EVENT
WAS WORTHWHILE.
Although your main priority is your company’s
goals (brand awareness, sales, lead generation
etc.), always think about your audience – why
are they coming to this event and what will
they benefit from most?
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8. BEFORE
THE EVENT
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9. Build an interesting
agenda with enticing
speakers.
TIP #1
• If your speakers deliver a brilliant, insightful presentation
it will reflect on your brand as the organizer of the event,
even if it doesn’t involve a “hard sell” of your company.
• People don’t like listening to obvious marketing and sales
messages. They appreciate content that adds value, be it a
best-practice presentation or just purely inspirational.
• Select the best speakers you can, provide them with
guidelines regarding your goals, expectations and length of
their time slot, and specifically ask them to avoid self-
promotion and focus on the audience’s interests.
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10. Networking time
is very important.
TIP #2
Always think about networking time when you plan the event’s agenda:
If you want people to be focused and seated during the event, allow time
for networking and coffee breaks. Not only they will be more relaxed
during the presentations, but networking is one of the reasons that
people go to events in the first place, so let them enjoy it.
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11. Personalize your
invitations and
offer short and
user-friendly
registration forms.
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TIP #3
Personalizing your invitations is much more engaging than receiving a generic
invitation that was sent to everyone.
Highlight the RSVP button so that it will be clear to people how to register & try
to avoid collecting RSVPs via email. It’s an old-fashioned method that can get
messy and inefficient very quickly (unless it’s a small event of up to 20 people).

12. Automate invitations & registrations
with Event Management platforms.
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 EventBrite and Meetup.com are very popular.
 Splash is another intuitive and easy-to-use platform
that offers RSVP collection, ticketing services and
management of invitee lists and has amazing
design features.
 A couple of other emerging event management
platforms include Evolero, which focuses on repeat
events, and Bizzabo which has great social and
mobile event features.
 Make sure that your form is as short as possible
so that the registration process is quick and fuss-
free. Only collect the most relevant information.
 If you’re preparing name tags for participants, be
sure to collect the attendee and company names,
both of which are crucial when networking.
There are some great free (or low-cost)
online tools you can use like:

13. The design of the
invitation is crucial.
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Tip #4
A beautifully designed, slick invitation
suggests that the event will be equally as
impressive and increase the odds that the
recipient will want to attend.
Include the key details in the invitation:
The name of the event and topic, venue,
date, time and your contact information
for inquiries.
If you don’t have an in-house graphic
designer or can’t afford to hire one, you
can still create impressive invitations on
your own for free (or almost free), using
tools like Splash, Smore, and Canva.

14. Make sure that your
event is ‘Social’-ready
before, during & after
the event.
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Tip #5
Most online event platforms offer social
features and on-site check-in options.
If you want to create buzz around your
event, this is a great way to do it.
Don’t forget to create a #hashtag in
advance to leverage the social mentions
and include the hashtag in the invitation.

15. DURING
THE EVENT
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A flawless event requires
attention to the smallest details
and preparation for unexpected
hiccups and problems.

16. www.viola-notes.com
Tip #6
Collect all presentations and videos in advance and upload
them to one central laptop (preferably your own).
Your slide deck should include: A “welcome” message, the
event’s agenda, goals, and each of your speakers (one slide
per speaker), with a hyperlink to his/her presentation. This
way you can avoid wasting time on uploading the
presentation files and connecting to different laptops, and
achieve a seamless flow to the program.
Most importantly, put the same file with all speakers’
presentations on a back-up laptop, just in case the original
laptop stops working in the middle of the event.

17. Tip #7
Timing is everything, and one of the signs of professionalism at
events is sticking to the planned agenda.
Hopefully all your speakers will follow your guidelines, but just in case
they are carried away and lose track of time, you can subtly show
them your “5 minutes left” and “1 minute left” signs while they are
speaking to remind them that they must wrap up, ensuring that your
event continues to run according to your planned schedule.
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18. Tip #8
Sometimes the Q&A session is even more interesting than the
presentation itself, so allow time for people to ask questions.
If you want to encourage them to participate you can prepare 1-2
questions in advance and ask one of your “friends” in the audience to
be the first to ask them. But again, it is important to stick to a time
limit in order to avoid deviating from the program.
Allow time for Q&A.
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19. Tip #9
Whether you’re organizing a roundtable for 20 people at your offices or a 200-person
customer meeting in an external venue, make sure that your brand is noticeable.
Company branding
at the event.
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20. In addition to displaying the company logo on the screen
(in the agenda deck I mentioned earlier), you can also print
the event program for participants, provide your company
memo papers for attendees to take notes and print signs or
even your company logo on other items if your budget allows.
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21. One item which is great for branding
is the name-tag ‘string’ (or ‘lanyard’)
because it appears in the event
photos and helps people remember
your brand’s association with the
event long after it’s over.
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22. AFTER
THE EVENT
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23. Tip
#10
Send ‘Thank You’ Emails
It’s important to send a personal
‘thank you’ email to the event
speakers, but just as importantly
to your audience. This email can
be used for sharing event photos,
presentations, media coverage, and
other important messages. It’s also a
good opportunity to ask for feedback.
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24. Tip
#11
Plan your follow-up
event/campaign
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Leverage the success of a completed event and the feedback that you
receive from your attendees to help plan future events and activities.

25. www.viola-notes.com
Thank You!

26. About Hila Shitrit Nissim
Hila is VP Marketing at Viola Group, Israel’s premier technology oriented private
equity investment group, with over $2 Billion under management.
“When you’ve been organizing corporate events for over a decade as I have, you
learn a thing or two along the way, like which elements are more important to focus
on and which are less crucial in the overall scheme of things.”
Click here to read the original post that this presentation was based on.
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