If you are in the beginning stages of corporate event planning, keeping on top of all the tasks involved can be a challenge. Outdoor events, in particular, often require more forethought and flexibility than indoor events to achieve your goals.
Our ultimate checklist condenses everything you need to do to make your summer corporate event a success into one handy place.
Quick Overview: What This Checklist Covers
This outdoor event planning checklist is your ideal companion for event preparation, covering each step you need to follow to achieve your goal of an engaging corporate summer event, including:
- Pre-planning
- Venue and logistics
- Activities and experience
- Weather contingency
- On-the-day execution
The Complete Checklist
1. Define Your Event Goals
Defining what you want to get out of your event is a solid first step to successful planning. Having a goal to work towards can help to keep you on track when organising corporate events.
- Purpose: What is the reason for your event? Outdoor events are ideal for a range of corporate outings, including teambuilding activities, celebrations, rewards and networking opportunities.
- Desired outcome: You may want to expand the visibility of your brand, reward employees for a specific achievement or improve relationships and communication between teams.
- Success metrics: What does success look like? Being able to quantify the outcome of your corporate event can provide insight into what you can improve next time.
2. Set Budget And Timeline
Setting a firm budget and timeline is vital to preventing costs and plans spiralling out of control when planning any kind of event.
- Total budget: Decide exactly how much you want to spend for your event, and build in some additional buffer to cover any unexpected costs.
- Key deadlines: Specific deadlines will apply to individual parts of event planning, such as securing a venue, finding a caterer, or hiring AV equipment.
Creating a timeline for when each supplier needs to be hired and paid can help you stay organised and prevent problems later down the line.
3. Choose the Right Venue
Sourcing a suitable venue is an integral step to planning your corporate outdoor party – without anywhere to host your guests, there won’t be an event.
Whether you’re searching yourself or working with a professional venue-finding service, here are your key considerations:
- Venue capacity: Your venue needs to be a suitable size for your number of attendees, taking into account the space used up for any machinery, temporary structures, or activity setup.
- Outdoor suitability: If you are planning an outdoor corporate event, you need a space that accommodates this requirement. Hybrid venues may have smaller outdoor spaces, making this an important consideration in line with your activity plans.
- Accessibility: The venue you choose needs to be both accessible to travel to for your attendees and accessible on-site in line with the Disabilities Discrimination Act and the Equality Act.
- On-site facilities: Toilets are a must-have for any corporate away day, whether the venue has on-site facilities or you need to hire them. Shelter and power are other considerations that should be part of your outdoor event plan.
4. Plan for Weather Contingencies
British weather is anything but consistent, which means outdoor events pose an additional risk due to sudden weather changes. In addition, severe weather can be common in summer, from sudden heavy rainstorms to high heat levels.
- Backup indoor options: The best way to plan for the weather in the UK is to have a backup available. For example, you could opt for a hybrid venue with available indoor space or have a secondary, nearby venue as a second option.
- Marquees and shelters: Implementing marquees or temporary shelters into your outdoor corporate event is valuable, whether or not there are problematic weather conditions.
- Flexibility in scheduling: Choosing a venue that has flexibility based on changes in weather provides peace of mind, assuming your attendees can be as flexible with changes to days for your event.
5. Organise Activities And Entertainment
Activities are the perfect way to engage your guests, getting them working together for team-building tasks or enjoying hired entertainment.
- Team-building activities: If you’re planning a corporate event to improve team bonds and enhance morale, then incorporating team-building activities into the day is a valuable way to achieve these goals.
- Games or experiences: Games and experiences offer the chance for guests to participate directly in your corporate event, whether they are included as part of a wider gathering or the main event.
- Balance of structured vs free time: Getting the balance right when hosting activities allows attendees time to decompress. This prevents fatigue towards the end of the day, which could reduce engagement and participation.
6. Arrange Catering And Refreshments
Providing your guests with access to food and drinks is a vital part of running a successful corporate event, whether you push the boat out with food trucks or opt for a picnic-style setup.
Providing a variety of food options is important for attendee enjoyment and to meet different dietary needs and individual preferences, from vegan and vegetarian options to gluten-free foods. If you plan to serve food outdoors, it’s important to choose a catering setup that works for this environment, such as a hog roast, a BBQ or a catering truck.
Whether you decide to serve alcoholic drinks or stick to a non-alcoholic menu, at a minimum, your guests will need access to fresh water in some form.
7. Logistics And Operations
Proper logistics are essential to make your event run smoothly, with fewer problems that need to be resolved on the day.
- Transport: Directions to your venue and information about where to park are important to prevent confusion on the day of your event.
- Equipment: All equipment needs to be transported and set up at the venue, from tables and chairs to AC equipment and activity frameworks or machinery.
- Power supply: Access to a power supply is essential for a range of activities and may also be a requirement for the catering service you choose for your outdoor corporate event.
8. Health, Safety And Compliance
Ensuring you comply with all health and safety requirements for your event is integral to keep your guests safe and prevent incidents.
- Risk assessments: Conducting all necessary risk assessments is a fundamental part of planning events, ensuring your site is safe for use and in full compliance with local safety council requirements.
- Insurance: Ensuring you have the proper insurance in place is a must for corporate events.
- First aid: Access to first aid facilities and medical care is an important consideration for all events, including on-site facilities such as Epi Pens.
- Safety briefings: For internal corporate events, safety briefings can help keep employees safe. For larger events, briefing staff on health and safety processes can help your event run smoothly.
9. Communication with Attendees
Clear communication can build enthusiasm for your upcoming event while providing attendees with all the information they need to enjoy your corporate outdoor event to the fullest.
Here are some of the communications you could send:
- Invitations
- What to bring and wear
- Event schedule
- Weather updates if these affect your plans
10. Staffing & Event Management
Depending on the size and type of corporate event, you may also need to consider staffing for your upcoming event. For example, on-site coordinators can ensure your event runs smoothly. Vendors and suppliers are also important parts of your event.
Whether you are hiring help or opting to assign roles to your own staff for your outdoor event, it’s important to make sure all responsibilities are clearly defined to prevent gaps in coverage.
11. Branding and Experience
Branding can be a powerful way to create a cohesive experience for your event, building your company’s visibility and offering a way to promote your business for networking events. Signage, including wayfinding signage, offers the perfect opportunity to promote your brand throughout your event.
Attendee experience should be high on your list of priorities to create a successful summer corporate event. Some of the ways to achieve a great atmosphere include:
- Live music
- High-quality AV equipment
- Hired entertainers
- Drop-in, drop-out activities and games
- Attractive decor
12. Post-Event Follow-Up
After your event has concluded, you have the opportunity to follow up with post-event analytics and activities.
- Feedback collection: Speaking to attendees provides valuable information on what worked and what didn’t for your event.
- Measuring success: Utilise post-event metrics such as attendance and facilities usage to determine if your event was a success.
- Photos and highlights: Photos of past events are excellent marketing for businesses, showcasing the tone of the company and attracting potential employees.
Need Help Planning Your Corporate Event This Summer? Contact Our Experts
Our event architects offer full end-to-end event management for your new corporate day out. If you want to achieve a successful event without handling the planning, our expert team is on hand to make the process seamless. From venue sourcing to event execution, we do it all.
Call us on 0800 068 5707, email us or fill out our contact form to chat about your ideas for your next outdoor corporate event. We’re here to make your concepts a reality.
