Events shine the spotlight on you and your brand. They bring together crowds of people interested in something you have put together, giving you the opportunity to wow them and build your brand image. A well-organized event can help you tremendously with brand reputation and filling your sales funnel. For corporate marketing departments, event planning comprises more than a fifth of the budget as well. In other words, you do not want anything to go disastrously wrong during your event. An event brief can help you avoid these potential pitfalls.
If you want to put together a successful event, then you want to read further to learn how to put together an event brief. See how this simple organizational step can power your conference or meeting.
A core question to answer, before we move on, is, “What is an event brief?”
An event brief serves as an event outline. It helps you keep track of all the important information associated with your event. You will have to keep track of a variety of different people, from speakers to vendors, as well as a host of deadlines and budget items. Using the event brief keeps everything together in one place so that you do not mistakenly overlook any important material.
You will use your event brief throughout your entire preparation period. You can update it to reflect changes, share it with others working on the conference or meeting, and use it as your guide to make sure everything goes smoothly. Forty-eight percent of brands report that they can achieve an ROI between 300-500% when they use event marketing. Your brief keeps you on track and ready to bring in those leads.
Without an event brief, losing track of different parts of the occasion can become very easy to do. You remember to plan the catering, but forget to book the bartender for the networking session in the evening after the event. Or, maybe you choose your color themes, but forget to update your venue. When you start forgetting important details, it becomes easy for your event to get turned upside down, which can hurt your efforts to boost your brand reputation.
With your event brief, you can also distribute it to others involved in your event planning, making sure everyone is on the same page. You will have a unified guide to keep everyone on the right track.
Now that you see the value a documented event outline has for your upcoming gathering, let's walk through how to write an event brief, step-by-step.
Your brief begins by outlining the key event details that will help you organize your thoughts. Note your reasons for hosting the conference. You can then follow this up by recording specific information about the occasion. At a minimum, you want to record;
Having this information front and center will help you throughout the process. If a caterer calls you, for example, you will have exactly what you need readily accessible. As you build your registration page, you have your information right on hand so that nothing gets misquoted.
Next, think about the audience you want for your event. Knowing who you want to attract will impact how you set up the gathering, including the value you will want to offer this audience. Once you know the type of audience you want to attack, you can make decisions about
Once you start to qualify your audience, you can also start to build ideas about the number of people you want to have at your event. The size of the audience will impact the size of the space you need as well as the type and amount of food and drink you want to provide.
Outline specifically what goals you have for this event. Know why this particular conference needs to occur and what you hope to accomplish with it. For example, you might want to focus on driving brand awareness, finding new customers, or building bonds with existing customers. As you specify your goals, you can further narrow down how you plan to design the event.
Identifying the KPIs that allow you to monitor your progress toward your goals will provide insight into how well your event performs. Sales inquiries following the event, customer approval ratings, and the number of attendees (particularly for annual events so you can track YoY changes) can also help you gather insight into your success. You can then use this information to improve your plans for future events.
Picking a theme for your event can help you improve your planning as well. With a theme in mind, you will find it easier to choose your decor, such as the colors and types of decorations needed.
Your theme can also help you choose the type of atmosphere you want to create, such as whether it will be more formal or informal. The level of formality will impact everything from the fonts and styles used for the registration landing page to the menu.
These different elements can also help your conference stand out from the rest. Use your theme and target audience to find a way to put your personal touch on the occasion so it stays in people’s memories.
Your event budget will dictate many of the details associated with your gathering. You need to know how much you have to spend on features like your vendors and the venue. You also do not want to forget costs such as the event hosting platform and swag for your attendees.
Your budget will also need to factor into ideas such as the cost to attend. You can use the amount you charge combined with your estimated attendance to help you create a more concrete budget. You can also start to determine your potential profit from the event.
Your event platform and software can help you take your event to an entirely new level. With a platform like Hubilo, you can combine your event marketing features while accessing features that help you host fully branded in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. It has never been easier to reach and engage your audience, regardless of where they are.
Your brief will also detail your event agenda, which you need whether you are in person or running a virtual event. The agenda will help you note who needs to be where and when. The overall agenda for the day will help everyone see how everything will run, giving them the big picture about what they should expect throughout the occasion. For example, you can see when food will be served and when people can plan on networking.
This part of the agenda should include a timeline for components such as introductions to key sponsors or speakers, speeches start and stop times, and when people should be directed to find their seats. The agenda will also give people directly involved in the event insight into their personal schedules. They can identify when they need to prepare for their own roles. If they need to greet people as they come to sign in for the event, they will know where to report and what time they can start expecting attendees.
This type of detail helps avoid confusion and keeps your conference running smoothly.
As you prepare for the conference, you will have deadlines for different parts of the planning process. In your brief, put in a calendar of all the deadlines. Note requirements such as submitting the menu to the caterer, opening and promoting the registration page, and what you need to provide to your presenters and when they need it.
As you note your timeline for planning the event, record the people involved with each step as well. Tracking who needs to manage each part of the process and their deadlines can help keep everyone organized and operating together as a team.
As you begin to get a better picture of how your event will run and what you hope to accomplish with it, you also will work on compiling a speakers and panelist wishlist. You want to find people to come to your event who can offer value to your target audience. Consider the themes you want to target with your event as well as your goals.
Compiling your wishlist early will give you more time to reach out to your top picks to inquire about interest and availability. Managing this component earlier in your schedule will give you time to find replacements for those who cannot make it so you do not have to scramble at the last minute. You can also get your event on the schedule of your top picks before their calendars fill up.
You will want to bring sponsors and partners into the event as well. This might allow them privileges such as setting up special tables or otherwise participating in the event. These extras might provide you with more ways to bring in funding for the event. It can also help you promote the event and attract attention.
Therefore, consider what outside partners might be interested in coordinating for your event and who would fit well with your target audience and goals. Including a list in your event brief will make it easy for you to reference, know who to expect, and ensure they have the information they need.
With all the different moving parts involved in organizing a running a conference, you will have a number of people involved from your business as well. Recording all the people involved and their specific responsibilities will help keep everyone on the same page.
If you do not specify who will cover what responsibility, such as who will contact the caterer, who will build the registration page, and who will manage the event platform, it can be easy for certain responsibilities to slip under the radar. You might not notice that you have a problem until you get closer to the event, leading to a major scramble.
Instead, keep everyone moving forward with clearly outlined responsibilities and expectations. Each person also knows who to speak with if they need to coordinate different action areas.
Keeping all your logistics in one spot will make it easy for everyone to see what important actions are approaching so they can plan accordingly.
Event logistics can encompass a variety of different areas in your event planning. You will need to organize the food and snacks arriving for your attendees. You will also likely want to get some type of swag to offer them a memento and a gift that also doubles as additional advertising. Consider also all the materials you need for the event, such as signs, speaker materials, and gifts for your presenters and speakers.
Keep a list in your brief of the logistical items that need attention and where they fall on the list of responsibilities and deadlines.
During your event, you will have various audio and visual components. Consider these common uses for audio and visual components:
You want all of these elements to capture high-quality images and sound. Test your systems before the event and hire any needed professionals to capture the occasion effectively. Place these elements in your brief timeline, responsibilities, and documentation sections.
Take a moment to consider any other useful elements you want to have for your event. Many businesses want to include swag for their attendees, such as drawstring bags, pens, or coasters. Note these elements in your schedule, budget, and any other relevant brief portions.
There may also be other components you want to include, such as VIP offerings. As you develop your plan for your event, make any important notations and what you need to add to your brief to plan for them properly.
Creating a concise event brief will keep you and your team on track as you put together your eye-catching event. By clearly outlining the objectives, target audience, key messages, and logistical details, you provide your team with a clear roadmap to follow. This helps streamline communication, align everyone's efforts, and maintain focus throughout the planning and execution process. Remember to keep the event brief accessible and refer to it regularly to ensure everyone stays on the same page. With a well-defined event brief, you can set the stage for a remarkable event that meets or exceeds your goals and leaves a lasting impact on attendees.
Creating a concise and well-structured event brief is essential for successful event planning. It serves as a roadmap, guiding your team toward a shared vision and ensuring everyone stays on track. When hosting a successful and memorable event, having the right event planning tool is crucial. With Hubilo's all-in-one event platform, you can unlock many features to help you organize and manage all aspects of your events - from virtual to hybrid to physical events. Hubilo brings together all your event information, helping you breathe easier as you navigate the event marketing phases. When the event goes live, you will be amazed as you experience the difference this powerful technology can make regardless of whether you are in-person, virtual, or hybrid. Contact our team today to request a demo and discover how our platform can elevate your event planning efforts. Let us show you how Hubilo can transform your events into unforgettable experiences.
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An event brief will help you keep your event on track and organize all the different parts that go into planning the occasion. A quality brief will track a variety of helpful information, including your schedule for deadlines, the agenda for the day, and who is in charge of what responsibilities.
With a well-written brief, you have the information you need to plan the event readily available so that you can access it when needed. This helps you avoid having certain tasks fall through the cracks so that your event runs smoothly and effectively.
An event brief will contain a few main categories of information. Here are the core areas you want to include in your document.
Building out an event brief that includes these important elements will help you run a conference smoothly and effectively, avoiding potential last-minute disasters.
To write a brief description of an event, you want to target the most important elements of your occasion. This includes answering the five W’s:
These five questions will help you focus your event description so it remains brief and centers on the most important areas.
You will keep your conference more focused and organized when you have an event brief. The brief provides detailed information about what you need to plan, the deadlines you have coming up, and the goals you want to accomplish. With this information in front of you, it becomes easier to stay focused on the important core elements of the event and prevents potential miscommunication among all the people involved in the planning process. You will find that your event runs smoothly, without missing deadlines or neglected components, when you have a fully operational brief that everyone uses together.
Hubilo is the webinar platform built for marketers that helps you 2X your pipeline. Founded in 2015, Hubilo's powerful engagement features, dedicated client experience team, and custom branding tools have helped create over 12K virtual events & webinars, creating hundreds of millions of minutes of high-engagement experiences and counting. Headquartered in Bengaluru and San Francisco, Hubilo's 200+ employees are dedicated to enabling webinars & virtual events that convert.
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