by Kristin Healy | Sep 7, 2018 | blog
There have been many studies which document the psychological impact of color on the brain’s state and decision making process – but did you factor this in when you started planning your company event? Your default might be your company’s logo colors, but you may want to take a closer look at some of the subliminal factors around color before you begin.
There are some amazing statistics out there about what colors different genders prefer, biases towards or against colors in addition to how different colors can make us feel. For example, according to How to Use the Psychology of Colors When Marketing, colors can influence people in many ways:
Red – Creates a sense of urgency, which is good for clearance sales. Encourages appetite, thus is frequently used by fast-food chains. Physically stimulates the body, raising blood pressure and heart rate, associated with movement, excitement, and passion.
Blue – The preferred color of men. It’s associated with peace, water, tranquility, and reliability. Blue provides a sense of security, curbs appetite, and stimulates productivity. The most common color used by conservative brands looking to promote trust in their products.
Green – Associated with health, tranquility, power, and nature. Used in stores to relax customers and for promoting environmental issues. Green stimulates harmony in your brain and encourages a balance leading to decisiveness.
Purple – Commonly associated with royalty, wisdom, and respect. Stimulates problem-solving as well as creativity. Frequently used to promote beauty and anti-aging products.
Orange & Yellow – Cheerful colors that promote optimism and happiness. Yet oddly enough, yellow can make babies cry, while orange can trigger a sense of caution. Used to create a sense of anxiety that can draw in impulsive buyers and window shoppers.
Black – Associated with authority, power, stability, and strength. Often a symbol of intelligence, but can become overwhelming if used too frequently.
Grey – Symbolizes feelings of practicality, old age, and solidarity. But too much grey can lead to feelings of nothingness and depression.
White – Associated with feelings of purity, cleanliness and safety. Can be used to project an absence of color or neutrality. White space helps spark creativity since it can be perceived as an unaltered, clean state.
Knowing how different colors can influence people, let’s go back to the goal of your event and think about these questions: How can colors be used to help with your desired outcome? What emotions are you looking to evoke in your attendees? How do you want them to feel once they leave your event? Does your event branding reflect the reactions you are hoping to illicit? If not, then you may want to look at complimentary colors to help achieve your mood goals.
Swank Events can help you highlight the right colors through décor, food, lighting and more! Contact us today!
by Kristin Healy | Mar 30, 2018 | blog
Maybe you want to deliver some exciting news about your business.
Maybe you want to bring in potential customers to learn more about what you do.
Maybe you are giving your employees important training for their work.
Whatever your intention is for your event, you need to have a plan to get people excited to be there with you.
Here are several points to be clear on when getting your message out to your intended audience:
- Value of the event: What will people walk away with?
- Importance that they attend: Why you can offer what no one else can?
- Engagement while there: What will they do, experience and have fun with?
Then you must have a method for reaching your attendees and building the excitement and value around your event.
- Email marketing is a solid way of inviting, reminding and building your messaging around a trade show, company meeting, training or party
- Social Media can build an audience and the excitement level with planned promotions, sneak peeks and special offers for attendees
- Visibility on your website will also build awareness to anyone visiting – employees, vendors, customers & potential customers
Even if your event is a mandatory meeting for your employees or a vendor appreciation party – there should still be a clear communication plan that will create excitement for the event, so that people will want to be there. It may seem strange to market to a captive audience, but having a crowd that is open and receptive to your presentation vs. wishing they were anywhere but there is clear indicator of success.
Having a dedicated team and budget for building event attendance, media coverage and engagement is a crucial factor in making your event a success by whatever methods of measurement you chose to use. Hiring a professional event planner to take on the logistics of planning & running the day could free up your internal resources to allow them to drive attendance and marketing around the event.
Post-event, what are you going to do to keep the goodwill going? Having a post-event marketing plan is important to cash-in on the momentum your event built to acquire new customers or customer loyalty, positive employee engagement and get people excited for your next big happening!
by Kristin Healy | Mar 7, 2018 | blog
Professional Event Planners, like those at Swank Events, can offer your company more than just great suggestions on venues and caterers for your next splashy corporate event; they can become an extension of your team to help manage logistics of events ranging from large holiday parties and summer gatherings to some of your smaller, more routine events like monthly meetings!
Swank Events is currently working with a customer to manage all of the details surrounding their monthly executive meetings including booking the venue and determining the menu based on attendees; BUT Swank is also sending out invites and tracking RSVP’s to take that task off of the business. “It helps streamline the planning process and frees that client up to focus on their business instead of worrying about the room setup and what their attendees will eat that evening.” says Swank’s owner, Kristin Healy.
Going above and beyond is the hallmark of a great Event Planner, but integrating with your business team to help coordinate small events like monthly meetings to complex multi-day conferences, Swank Events sets itself apart and is here for you!
by Kristin Healy | Dec 9, 2017 | blog
We’ve all heard the phrase “It’s not what you say, but how you say it” before and how it can apply in delivering important information at the workplace, but what might also be as important is where.
Maybe it’s the year-end meeting to review the outstanding job your team has done for the company or the holiday celebration where special recognitions are going to be highlighted. Maybe it’s the kick off to a new company initiative and it’s your job to get your staff energized with your messaging. That can be difficult to do in the same board room, lunch area or meeting space you always use. Time to elevate your message with location!
Off-site Venues to Mix it Up!
Yes, there are the traditional options of a hotel meeting room, conference or convention center – but how about going for something memorable? Places like:
- Theaters (Universities, High Schools or public venues)
- Private clubs (no, not just country clubs!) or historical homes
- Boat cruises
- Distilleries, wineries or breweries
- Museums
- Sports arenas
- Zoos
Integrate lunch or dinner, and make it for employees and their families! Each of these locations will fit different agendas for different sized groups, but all will be more memorable than your company’s conference room.
Sound daunting? Remember an Event Planning Professional can help arrange the right place and help with all the details associated with the day!
by Kristin Healy | Aug 23, 2017 | blog
Event planning is a lot of work. Trust us, we know! But for businesses large and small, there can be major benefits to bringing in outside professionals to help manage corporate events. Here we’ll break down some of the major benefits of hiring an event planner, and why it might make sense for your organization.
Experience and Know-How
Event planning responsibilities are often delegated to a team member who isn’t trained in planning events, or organizing large corporate gatherings. Bringing in an outside event planner means not only that you’ll have someone on your side who has loads of experience in event management, but your entire team is free to focus instead on their day-to-day responsibilities. You benefit from the experience and expertise of a professional, and your employees get to stick with what they know best.
Bringing Ideas to Life
As event planners, our job is to listen to your ideas, understand your vision, and then work with that vision to bring your ideas to life. We consider your budget, location preferences, activities, group size, and so much more to create your perfect event.
Industry Contacts
Experienced planners have a lot of contacts in the industry, and can help you select the perfect venue and vendors to work with to create the event you envision. Without a planner, it can be hard to know where to start when planning an event, and whom to reach out to for each piece of the puzzle.
Budgeting
Whether you have a small events budget, or are able to go all out, event planners can work within your means to maximize every dollar spent. We’ll help create the best bang for your buck, designing an event that delivers on all your goals within your allotted spending capabilities.
Attention to Detail
A perfectly executed event is all in the details, and there is no one better with details than a seasoned event planner! A planner will tend to all details small and large and even those you might not consider, to make sure that everything is aligned and united by the common event theme.
These are just some of the big ways that working with a event planner can make your life easier, but there are many more that we welcome you to explore by working with us!
What are your biggest event planning hurdles that a planner might be able to help with?
