There are 4 simple things you need to first get right for the event:
1) People resource management
Often events are underresourced from within the company. There is usually enough people on the agency side but too few resources on the supplier side. The cause is simple: the marketing department is not build for peak moments. If you have a dedicated event team with a few flexible people than this is not so bad, but if not than you will find yourself stretching to deliver that smooth VIP experience.
2) Budget management
Underfunding is again often the case. Of course events need to be efficient but the costs are expensive and often underestimated. Make sure you have visibility of the total budget: the central budget + the local field budget
3) Make it as big as possible
Going at it alone may be great from delivering a unique brand experience, but teaming up with a company from another category can often bring the event to the next level. They can bring people, entertainment and other goodies that make the combination so much better.
4) Execution is everything
How to ensure that the execution is flawless. Very easy: weakly event management meetings or conference calls, a detailed event playbook that is centrally managed as the master and is the blueprint for everyone to execute against, experience of past events and well advanced planning. All simple and obvious but not so easy in real life.
