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A corporate event does not have a short definition. It can vary from a function on the company’s premises to an extended overseas trip for a company’s employees, depending on the scope, purpose and, of course, budget! Corporate event planners can be either in-house or contracted in to arrange the event. External corporate event planners may have to be extremely flexible and able to plan any kind of event. Others specialise and offer only certain services.
Event planners may have to organise an annual golf day, or perhaps a hunting safari for company bigwigs and important clients. In either case, the planners must have rapid access to the correct type of information to best serve the client’s requirements. They must have comprehensive lists of preferred venues handy, be it golf course listings, game farms or travel packages to Mozambique.
Certain corporate event planners act very much like travel agencies and can often offer entire packages. These may include all travelling arrangements, meals, accommodation, family activities (if family members are permitted), child minding facilities and entertainment arrangements. Such an event may include a function, a prize-giving ceremony and a guest speaker, all of which can be arranged by the professional events planner.
Another way in which these planners act like travel agencies is by the packages they offer. Especially if they specialise only in certain types of events, they can often obtain preferential airfares and accommodation by dint of their bulk purchasing power. They can then offer the client a better package than he would have been able to negotiate himself.
Corporate event planners need to be experts at multitasking and micromanagement and perfectionism is a requirement. Clients expect exceptional service if they have to shell out what has become substantial amounts of money to have someone organise their event for them. They expect the best and event planners that do not deliver quickly wither and disappear. There is certainly no lack of competition.
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