What essential equipment do I need to hire for a successful corporate event?

There’s a whole world of corporate events that take place every year, with some taking place right now!  Defined as being ‘any form of event, hospitality or social activity organised or funded by a business entity’, corporate events can take on many different forms, including conferences, seminars, trade shows, product launches, award ceremonies, team-building days and many more.

If you are organising a corporate event, you will want to be as successful as possible – after all, if you work for a blue-chip company as a dedicated event organiser, then your job could literally depend on it!  The quality of the event you organise reflects the company and the brand, and so the pressure will be on!

The word ‘successful’, of course, means something different, depending upon the event.  If it’s a gala dinner, for instance, the quality of the food and entertainment will be paramount.  If it’s a conference, then the quality of the keynote speakers and presentations will be all-important.  Success for most, however, means an event that is memorable, and one that your guests talk about for the days, weeks and months ahead…and hopefully even the following year when they want you to organise it again!

Below, we take a look at the 5 most essential pieces of business event equipment hire that you’ll need, in order to create a corporate event that will live long in the memory.

Catering

It’s fair to say that almost every event nationwide will require some form of catering. Whether your corporate event involves a formal 3-course dinner, buffet or informal canape event, you’ll need to ensure that this is absolutely top-draw!  All your guests will remember the quality of the catering – good or bad!

Of course, the catering equipment you need will be very much determined by the venue where you are holding your corporate event.  If it’s an established venue, hotel or arena, for example, then they will probably be catering for you.  If it’s a temporary venue, though, your outside catering company may need you to sort catering event equipment hire for them so that they can work their magic!

Event catering hire today is relatively straightforward, with professional caterers up and down the country being able to provide you with a superb service.  Likewise, there’s also a great choice when it comes to catering equipment hire companies, who will provide you with an efficient and affordable service.

Audiovisual equipment

Whether it’s lighting for the stage and podium, sound for the speaker, music for the performance, or a digital screen backdrop behind the stage, the quality of your AV goes a long way in determining the success of your corporate event.  It both sets the tone for the occasion and enables guests to appreciate and enjoy everything that is going on.  And remember – the larger the venue, the larger the screens need to be, so that even people at the back of the arena can see!

Staging

The importance of a stage at the front of your venue should never be underestimated for corporate events.  Imagine an awards ceremony, prize giving, speech or performance without a stage – it simply wouldn’t work.  There are companies out there who specialise in erecting stages of different shapes and sizes, so a bit of research on Google, and you’ll be sure to find what you’re looking for! Temporary stages are modular, meaning that they are transported in panels which simply lock together to create the stage you need.

Furniture

In its basic form, when it comes to furniture for corporate events, we’re talking tables and chairs.  However, depending upon the type of event, it could well be much more than that.  It might be a registration desk for delegates at the front of the trade show or exhibition hall, VIP posts and ropes to give your welcome area that luxurious look, display stands for merchandise or literature, for instance, or stools, sofas, armchairs and coffee tables for your temporary bar area – the list really is endless.

Going back to tables and chairs, though, if it’s a formal sit down lunch or dinner event, then banqueting chairs and round tables will probably be the order of the day, along with crisp linen to cover them.  There is great choice in today’s event furniture hire market – one word of advice, though, is that demand is always high in peak times such as in the summer months and at Christmas, so always place your order as far in advance as possible.  It’s always easier to tweak your numbers up or down nearer the time, rather than leave everything until the last minute!

Signs and banners

The final piece of essential equipment for a corporate event is signage.  This might take the form of a seating plan for your dinner event, instructions on what the delegates need to do upon arrival, or promotional literature advertising the latest product launch.  Whatever it is, think carefully about what you need, and whether you need to produce it physically or whether you could do it digitally.  We live in a digital world where almost anything and everything is possible, including ways of communicating with others like never before!

Hopefully, these ideas above will save you time, money and effort when you come to plan your next corporate event.  It’s never a straightforward task to organise events for large numbers of people, but remember – with our friend the internet, corporate event equipment hire has never been easier!

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