As many companies/corporations plan out yourr event marketing budgets for their calendar year,  decor and design  either go unnoticed or not enough money is allocated towards it. Your marketing dollars shouldn’t only go into the content of the meeting/event but also into setting the mood and branding design concepts. What your companies are forgetting is how your guests feel when they walk into the event or meeting space. How the ambiance is going to visually stimulate the mood of your guests throughout the day. The design concepts will not go unnoticed but it will have your guests intrigued and entertained at your event. As well now your company is getting tons of free marketing/advertising by turning your guests into social media influencer who are now sharing the visual stimulation aka “decor/design” via twitter and Instagram.

The event decor and design budget can be as small or large as you want. Before putting the decor budget together the first thing you want to consider is what is the overall goal and objective of the event.  Is it education for the guest, is it something they take away and share with others, or simply just brand awareness of a new product or service. Depending on what the ultimate goal is what is going to influence the aesthetic of the space.  A good event designer should be able to field these questions to corporate planners in the conceptual phase of the event. This will help them get a better understand of your objective as well as help you as the company/corporation understand how the design will influence the event.

Secondly, you want to understand who your target audience is and what is their demographic. Are they suits, young professionals who are fashion forward, hipsters or are you targeting established career professionals who love to eat caviar or are they art enthusiasts who are inspired by colors. This will also help both the designer and company understand in which direction of design/decor you should go in. Should we add in vendors to have experiential activities or are we designing the space with tons of floral.

Lastly,  what type of experience do you want your guests to take away with them.  At the end of the day, the guest is your main objective and making sure they are not only stimulating from what they are hearing but as well as from what they are seeing, touching and feeling. This stimulation will not only transcend through word of mouth but now as well through the most powerful free tool we have right now which is social media.  Now the next time you are putting your budget together make sure the decor/design budget is as hefty as the food budget. Guests are tired and bored of just content they want to be wowed and content alone isn’t going to cut it anymore!