The primary aim of any conference is to gather or organize a group of people with a mutual interest and offer them with useful information on subjects they care about. Conferences are generally scheduled multiple sessions spread out across days, weekends, or entire weeks. They are usually held in locations such as conference rooms and in case of large program, an entire convention hall. Activities that take place in a conference include highly anticipated guest speakers, breakout sessions, networking opportunities and QnA sessions.
Seminars
The objective of a seminar and a conference is often times similar i.e. target an audience and deliver valuable information. Usually much smaller than conferences, Seminars have a single session that lasts until the end of the working day. Seminars are typically used to train employees and managers by emphasizing interactivity over mundane lectures. People at times prefer seminars over meeting because they get treated with great breakfast/lunch. In seminars the event ROI can be calculated by many factors beyond profit from ticket sales.
Business Gatherings
Business gathering, sometimes referred to as internal company meet is an event that’s organized to facilitate a discussion over a select group of topics in order to examine progress, initiate project kickoffs or to solve a specific internal problem. Usually these events are executed in a company having over 20-25 employees, but smaller businesses can also benefit from this type. Business gatherings generally include an agenda, coordinating facility bookings, arranging audio-visual devices for presentations, and organizing breakfast/lunch/supper for participants depending on the time of day.
Trade Shows
Trade shows and expos are kind of events where various brands present their new products and services in a professional manner. Typically trade shows have a predetermined theme that ties all brands/products together. These kinds of events are for prospects that haven’t yet discovered your product or are exploring to gain extra information in person. These are also useful for brands looking to multiply the amount of in-person interactions they have with their customer base.
Networking Events
The primary objective of a thought leadership event or a networking event is to pitch a brand’s authority in a particular domain and offer opportunities to people with mutual business interests to meet and interact with one another. This event can work both ways- either having VIPs of a particular industry or focusing on general admission of people. An effective tool to establish a product/service’s place in its respective industry, thought leadership events can act as a close gathering or a large and lavish affair.
VIP Events
VIP events are facilitated to achieve primarily one objective - to boost revenue through maintaining the loyalty of the most influential shareholders, customers, and other honored key figures. These events are conducted for sales acceleration purposes by providing major players an exclusive as well an impressive experience. VIP events are a place for industry’s top players to have a discussion on hottest and newly brewed trends over good food/beverages.
Ceremonies
A perfect and sophisticated way to mark a special occasion, Ceremonies and galas are kinds of events that offer a brand elegant way of presenting its product or service. These formal events serve various purposes including presenting prestigious honors to talented professionals of a particular industry. All ceremonies offer some type of entertainment ranging from live soothing music to notable guest speakers. A conference along with its agenda, puts equal emphasis on and provide attendees an opportunity to enjoy themselves with good beverages and food.
Job Fairs
The primary objective of most recruiting events and job fairs is to look out and secure the best talent for their company across a no. of departments. Generally organized at colleges/universities, this event type is well-known among start-ups or businesses looking to explore fresh minds to help boost their business. Potential recruits may benefit from the in-person interaction they get from this type of event. Through these events, they can get insider information regarding company policy, work culture from actual employees.
College Events
The primary goal of most college events is to form a strong emotional bond between a company and its target college audience. The focus is laid over relationship-building, so it becomes imperative to understand which specific audiences and in what college can help the company achieve its goals effectively. These kinds of events often make way for sales and offer multiple strategic opportunities for marketing/sales collaboration or product pitching.
Other
To arrive at the right kind of event that matches your company’s goals perfectly, its essential that you consider what you want to achieve, take note of previous meets and find the best option for your attendees. Some other event activities include- Field marketing, Team building, product launches etc. that may help you choose the best type for your goals.