At Kennedy Events, we pride ourselves on being our client’s faithful guide through the often overwhelming world of events. As a team of solutions seekers, we are committed to leading our clients down the path to success. It’s become evident that our clients need our expertise now more than ever to navigate virtual events. With goals from fundraising to maintaining brand relevance, a gifted guide is more crucial than ever.

Outfitting an event with strategy and style is one of our favorite conversations. However, we’ve noticed a few questions that nearly always come up in that conversation. Today, we’re addressing the most commonly asked ones and spilling what we wish all our clients knew about event planning.

As event planners, we feel a responsibility to help our clients create sustainable events and make smart choices for the environment. There are eco-friendly alternatives available for nearly every event need—from the stage to the buffet. Don’t be afraid to get creative and make your event easier on the environment. When considering ways to move your next event toward sustainability, remember: even the smallest steps are steps in the right direction.

No longer just a buzzword, “sustainability” is something that Kennedy Events incorporates into every event, which means both our team and our clients are conscious of our effect on the environment. Even the smallest step is a step in the right direction.

As we head into 2020, environmental sustainability can’t be an afterthought for any industry. As event planners, we are responsible for addressing some of the challenges we face as a planet.  From signage and swag to name badges and single-use plastics, Kennedy Events is always on the lookout for creative solutions that will help our clients reduce their event’s impact on the environment.

As much as we would love to pretend that event planning is nothing but throwing glamorous parties all day, the team here at Kennedy Events knows that the devil is in the details. Sometimes the most important person in the room is the person emptying the overflowing trash can or dropping off timely snacks to your backstage crew. Creating a seamless event is dependent upon laying the groundwork first so that the visual elements can shine. Our recent collaboration with NPR and the How I Built This Summit with Guy Raz is a perfect example.

As personal fans of NPR, we were thrilled to collaborate with them on the How I Built This Summit. When an event can both challenge our creative thinking and make the most of our management skills—from registration flow to branding, from keeping attendees fed to creating an event that guests were still talking about weeks after the last cocktail was mixed—it doesn't feel like work.

While planning an industry conference on machine learning recently, the KE team brainstormed a down-and-dirty list of ideas to make the event more memorable. This list proves that you don’t have to sacrifice your budget to provide an experience your guests won’t soon forget. From upping your event swag game to improving your brand through signage, you can adapt these ideas to all sorts of conferences, meetings, and special events.

We love working with graphic designers to carry branding through an event, from name badges to custom-designed stage backdrops, from welcome signage at the registration table to wayfinding signage throughout the venue. Working with a graphic designer who has experience designing for an event can make a world of difference.

We talk a lot about the things you need in order to successfully host a corporate event: the food, the venue, a way to accurately measure ROI, among others. One thing you may not have considered is how indispensable a skilled graphic designer can be to your event and team.

Welcome to Part 2 of our series on corporate event venues in New York City! Our last post focused on Manhattan, and today we’re crossing the bridge into iconic Brooklyn. We love the creative energy of this borough—it sets the perfect tone for an event that’s all about innovation and thinking outside the box.

Oh, how we love New York City! Over the past 20 years, we’ve had the opportunity to help many clients host events in this vibrant city; we even have a fabulous Project Manager based in Manhattan!

When we’re planning an event, the first thing we do before we ever start talking color schemes or catering is nail down the goals and strategies. It’s the most important part of any successful corporate event.

We’re diving into Marianne’s list of “dream items;” a.k.a. the ones that she’s always looking for just the right opportunity to use because they’re just so special. There’s no shortage of eye candy here so sit back and enjoy!

No matter what kind of venue you’re using for your event, you’re going to want to dress it up to suit your theme, aesthetic, and needs of the guests. Happily, the world of event decor and furniture rentals is better than it’s ever been.

We’re pulling back the curtain to show you the systems we use to create strategy driven events for our clients. At Kennedy Events, we plan corporate events for clients in San Francisco, New York City, and beyond. Our clients—hosting events like conferences, product launches, and off-sites—hire us to handle the logistics. For every client, we use our tried-and-true process for creating events that meet our client’s biggest goals.

So you want to have an event? Great! If you’ve spent even a few minutes thinking about planning this event, you’ve realized that the process is so overwhelming it could make the most stoic executive cry. Our best advice? Don’t attempt corporate event planning without a professional.

Big conference venues are great, but sometimes you need a more intimate space to connect with VIPs, speakers, or sponsors. While we love the myriad of “blank slate” venues available around town for big groups, most of them don’t offer the privacy that companies want for an exclusive pre-event reception or post-conference dinner. We’ve curated a list of our favorite restaurants, bars, and event spaces that offer just the right amount of privacy, exclusivity, and character.

When you’re hosting a corporate event, you need to find a way to justify the cost, but how? By measuring your ROI, baby! First, you need to consider what your stakeholders actually care about. This should happen at the beginning of your event planning so that you can bake it into your event strategy. Measuring something other than what your key stakeholders  are looking for will yield poor results all around.

Welcome to Part 2 of our series on Kennedy Events’ favorite venues in San Francisco! We love this city (and beyond) and we’re thrilled to share these gems with you. All of these venues have been vetted by our team, so we’re well acquainted with all the quirks and perks of each. We’re experts in planning corporate events, especially in San Francisco, and if you’ve been to any of these fabulous venues, let us know! We hope you love the places on this list as much as we do.