Why Your Guest List Management Can Make Or Break Your Event
What makes an event a success? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not a Cordon Bleu chef or of-the-moment keynote speaker. The answer is quite simply, your guests. (Specifically, the proficiency of your guest list management.) This may sound obvious, yet too often clients lose sight of the wood for the trees. You can throw the fanciest event, yet if no one arrives, all of your efforts will be for nought. Regardless of your event objective – whether it be to woo potential clients or generate buzz about a new product – your guests need to arrive in the first place before you can wow them with nouveau cuisine or a tete-a-tete with a popular marketing maverick.
Corporate events don’t come cheap, so why spend a substantial budget on bells and whistles like bespoke menus, an eye-watering bar tab, and a sophisticated venue if the only people who arrive are your vendors?
In other words, if your guest list management is the last thing on your list of priorities, it’s guaranteed that attendance will be dire.
Instead of shelling out thousands upon thousands of Rands on laser shows and decked-out VIP booths, you need to focus on the very people your event is being held for – your guests.
Contrary to popular belief, the RSVP process that a well-attended corporate event requires is a far cry from merely copying and pasting a database of guest information, slapping it on to some invitations made in Microsoft Paint and sending them into cyberspace. In fact, that’s the very opposite of proper RSVP processes and will achieve one thing and one thing only, dismal attendance (and quite possibly, the blacklisting of your company due to spamming hundreds of people who haven’t the slightest interest in attending your event in the first place.)
In order to garner high attendance rates, your RSVP process has to be meticulously managed, based on recent data, and orchestrated throughout the event.
The RSVP process consists of several, equally important steps. Importantly, it also calls for a dedicated team. Cleaning databases, designing and writing attention-grabbing invitations, compiling RSVPs and conducting on-site check-ins requires nothing less than an experienced team of event professionals. Depending on the size of your event, your guest list can run from double digits into the thousands. In order to manage each and every single step in this all-important process, you need the necessary expertise, manpower and time. Forget just one crucial piece of the RSVP puzzle, and you put the entire event in jeopardy.
When searching for a reputable – and effective – RSVP and guest list management solution, make sure that they can offer the following:
- The updating and cleaning of guest data
- The writing and design of attention-grabbing invites
- A simple tool to manage and collate your invitations, RSVPs and guest check-in
- A way to collect invaluable information about your guests
- A thorough post-event report
Successful events are built on investment in an event management solution. The event planners and brand managers who organise and execute well-attended events prioritise guest list management. The one thing all successful corporate events have in common? Professional guest list management.
It’s a no-brainer then that all successful events begin and end with an investment in professional guest list management. If you’re not investing in a professional guest list management solution, you’re setting your event up to fail.
