This is where you have to begin.

If your business is based on luck and compromises, you don’t need to have any foresight. In all other cases, timing and a lengthy planning period are decisive for the outcome of an event. Because there are no shortcuts. If you want to achieve the perfect outcome, things simply have to take their time.

Allow yourself plenty of time.

Talk about stating the obvious, you might think. But this is probably one of the most essential tips in this book. There are plenty of reasons to announce the plans for an event six months before you’re intending it to take place:
For one thing, you have time to be absolutely clear about what you want to communicate at the event. You can identify the core, reject ideas, change your mind, test and integrate the message into the organisation so that everything falls naturally into place when the event finally takes place.
Once you’re clear about the message, you have plenty of time to find a setting that fits in with what you want to communicate. There are more and better options to choose from in terms of premises, hotels, transport and content. And you’re definitely in a better position to negotiate on price if you don’t have a knife being held at your throat.
Starting to sound out the possibilities in good time isn’t the same as making a decision. Be clear about when you can make a decision, so that everyone involved knows the situation.

If your business is based on luck and compromises, you can forget about foresight.
– Susanne Lehtinen, Inspiration Sverige

Analyse your meeting!

Is it an absolute must that you hold a company event close to Christmas or a kick-off meeting after the summer? The truth is that the same is true for 80% of your competitors too. But why? Is it a carefully considered strategy, closely synchronised with the business’s key periods? Or is it simply tradition?
An analysis of your meeting can result a realisation that your company’s event should be held at another time of the year, when availability and prices are far better. When is your company’s year-end? When are future plans defined that have to be presented? When are the most important deals done? And when do students graduate from universities and colleges? Do you really have to take your company’s workforce on a tour of Stockholm when the streets are filled with parades of students celebrating graduation? Might the Frankfurt Book Fair affect the company’s chances of getting a decent hotel? Build your events around times that are relevant for you, and avoid the most heavily booked periods.