Whilst it’s definitely beneficial to keep a jam-packed corporate events calendar to keep both your team and your target demographics engaged, it’s important to keep in mind that corporate events are about more than just a day out of the office.

The best corporate events create experiences for their attendees, using visual and experiential elements to curate an event environment that feels unique to your brand and its ethos. Today, our expert event planners here at Canvas House, are actually going to share our own secret formula for fine tuning event branding and ensuring that your corporate event acts as a unique brand experience.

What are Visual and Experiential Elements?

In the context of corporate parties, visual elements relate to all party decor used to present your event space, whereas experiential elements relate to activities and other interactive design additions within your event space.

Visual Branding Elements

Visual branding elements are used to create a visual identity for your event that aligns with your business branding. In short, an eventgoer should be able to walk into your event space and immediately be able to identify your brand.

In much the same way that you would pick a theme for a birthday party, the visual theme for your corporate events should always positively represent your business branding. For example, if you’re hosting a work Christmas party, you can install visual elements like custom holiday wreaths with your branding front and centre, or hang branded baubles on a tree decked out in your company’s colours.

Similarly, if you’re planning a corporate dinner, you can get custom place settings boasting the names of your attendees as well as your company logo. Not only will branded visual elements double up as great keepsakes for your eventgoers, but they’ll also help ensure your corporate event feels cohesive and thoughtfully curated, which in turn reflects well on your brand.

Need a little inspo? Here are some other examples of visual branding elements to incorporate into your next corporate event:

• Decor in brand colours
• Furnishings (i.e. tables, chairs, staging, etc.) in brand colours
• Branded napkins/serviettes
• Logos and branding on event materials (i.e. programmes, itineraries, nametags)
• Branded merchandise in event gift bags

Experiential Branding Elements

Experiential branding elements are a staple of interactive corporate events like product launches and conferences. By providing experiences and activities that are tailored to your brand or perhaps even unique to your products or services, experiential branding elements help ensure that your company events feel like an exclusive experience that ultimately, creates positive associations for your business.

Here are just a few of the more popular types of experiential branding elements we see at corporate events at Canvas House:

• Photobooths and branded photo walls
• Guestbooks and crafts stations
• Demo stations (i.e. for technological product demos at product launches)
• Food and beverage stations with signature cocktails
• Dance floors, networking spaces, etc.

Why is Visual Branding Important for Corporate Events?

Investing in visual branding for corporate events provides dynamic benefits, but there are three main ways you can see a robust return on your investment in branded decor and merchandise:

1. Turning Attendees into Brand Ambassadors

By providing a branded experience, your eventgoers essentially turn into brand ambassadors, with every social post or reel being organic advertising for your business.

2. Reinforces Company Branding and Values

Curating an event space which matches the ethos and tone of your brand is arguably the fastest way of getting consumers to engage with and understand your brand values.

3. Signalling Consistency and Professionalism

Branded corporate events make your business look and feel established, and like a fixture within your wider industry or market landscape. With a strong presence backed by positive engagement, professional corporate events solidify your brand as a major player to your competitors.

Key Elements to Make Your Event Stand Out Visually

Alongside sharing a few quick examples of visual branding elements, our event planners have outlined their top industry tips and tricks for making sure your event stands out visually – even with a minimal spend on custom branded merchandise.

Cohesive Visual Branding

Your event should maintain cohesive and consistent visual branding, from your email invitations to your social media branding, and event keepsakes. Think about the flow of your eventgoer’s experience with your brand, from their first booking their tickets or receiving their invitation, to arriving on the day of your event, to receiving re-engagement or thank you notices afterwards.

Clear Directional Event Signage

Speaking of the flow of your event space, ensuring your event environment is easy to navigate can naturally also help to keep your guests engaged and keep their experiences positive. If you have a mixture of experiential elements in your event space that are best navigated by following a flow of traffic, then be sure to install clear (branded) directional event signage, plus a signage guide for your attendees.

Pro tip: you may even opt to include a little flowchart or map layout of your event in your event programme if your event space and included activities and experiences are numerous. With a clear-cut guide to follow, eventgoers will be less likely to miss out on activities on the day.

Photo-Ready Branded Staging

You want your eventgoers to share snaps and videos from your event on social media. This is why it’s not uncommon to see photo walls and even red carpets at corporate events and gala dinners. If your attendees are coming dressed to the nines after all, you’ll definitely want to use your event as an excuse to take some polished snaps for your company gallery, for LinkedIn, and for press materials, if needed.

And if you’re hosting a hybrid event with virtual attendees, be sure to provide them with an event hashtag as well!

Interactive Event Activities

Just as all-day seminar attendees have come to expect the day is broken up by a corporate lunch, so too have eventgoers come to expect a certain level of experiential engagement from when attending a corporate event.

Again, try to incorporate some of the below elements into your corporate event space to help keep your eventgoers engaged and entertained.

• Photobooths
• Game stations
• Panel discussions
• Workshops and stalls
• Branded food/drink stations

Pro tip: make sure you allocate time in your event planning timeline to organise and finalise guest speakers, panelists, and workshop facilitators. Getting the right names in your event itinerary can also help with marketing your corporate event, if you’re selling tickets.

Post-Event Goodies and Wrap-up Messaging

Finally, the fun doesn’t stop when the day comes to a close. With some branded goodie bags, notebooks full of seminar notes, and other keepsakes, your corporate event should leave your attendees with much to reflect on. Plus, if you’re planning to re-engage with future events, you’ll want to keep your mailing list eager for all that’s to come!

Invest in these post-event goodies and re-engagement strategies to help build compounding interest in your corporate events calendar:

• Personalised gifts
• Brand merchandising
• Follow-up emails
• Invitations to future events

Have a Project in Mind? Brainstorm Your Event Branding with Canvas House Today!

Event branding isn’t an exact science, and the best approach for your corporate event planning will be dictated by the tone and ethos behind your brand, as well as the business goals related to your corporate event.

If you have any further questions about corporate event planning and how to create branded event environments and experiences, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with our experts at Canvas House.

The post Event Branding 101: Key Visual & Experiential Elements for Corporate Events appeared first on Canvas House.

Add to this the fact that event activities are wildly different between kids and adults – sometimes, it’s just not feasible to be able to include enrichment and engagement ideas for kids into your event planning. In fact, entertainment for guests of all ages does tend to be one of the top hidden wedding costs that couples forget to plan for.

Thankfully, we’re also seeing more event planners and vendors including kid-friendly services and options that help hosts better accommodate families attending with children. So if you’re considering making your next celebration a fete for the whole family to enjoy, then today’s guide is for you.

Read on for all our top tips for child-friendly event planning.

How to Best Manage Children at Events?

If you’re still in the early phases of your event planning timeline but have decided that you’re a ‘yes’ in the debate of ‘kids vs. no kids’, then be sure to tick off these essential steps for navigating preliminary planning conversations with parents, event planners, and vendors.

Disclose Early Whether Your Event will be Child-free

Parents need ample time to prepare, and you also need ample time to finalise your guest list – just in case a ‘no kids’ clause results in some parents not being able to attend. So be sure to specify on your invitations or save the dates as to whether your event will indeed be child-free or child-friendly.

Establish a Children’s Table in Seating Arrangements

This tip is especially useful for people that are in the midst of finalising their wedding seating chart. If you’ve already got parents with kids RSVP-ing yes to the whole family, then you can start to pop those kids into your event seating arrangements. In some cases, you may decide to seat kids with parents, but for older tweens and teens, it may be more comfortable (and less boring) for them to be seated with their peers rather than with their parents.

Curate a Children’s Menu for Formal Dinners

With a children’s table, you can also make quick work of ensuring that kid-friendly menu items are always readily available to your youngest attendees. Keeping some fun finger foods on-hand at your kid’s table can help keep them engaged and entertained, which in turn also reduces the risks of your children’s table getting rowdy due to restlessness. In fact, kids tables are amongst the top tried and tested wedding catering tricks for this reason. Caterers and wait staff also find it a lot easier serving kids when they’re all on one table.

Provide Child Minding Amenities for Parents

Just because your event is kid-friendly, it doesn’t mean that every single activity or space on the day needs to be child-inclusive. In much the same way that you can set up kid-friendly zones, you can also provide parents with the space to step away from their duties and just enjoy attending your event for a little bit too.

The best way to do this is by providing childcare or nanny services at your event. For instance, for many of our kid-friendly weddings here at Canvas House, we find ourselves working closely with the Wedding Nanny Co., who provides on-site childcare services specifically for weddings. All that’s needed is to set up a dedicated space at your wedding venue for your wedding nanny to work their magic. With their strategies for keeping kids of all ages entertained, don’t be surprised if your kids don’t want to go home at the end of the night!

Pro tip: if you are booking on-site childcare services for your event, be sure to factor this in when choosing your wedding venue. You’ll want to make sure your venue has a space for your nanny to set up.

How to Keep Children Entertained at Formal Events

Alongside childcare services for young kids, hosts can also include activities that are more kid-oriented in their event itinerary to keep young attendees engaged and less likely to cause disruptions.

Here are just a few different methods you can use to keep children entertained during formal events like weddings or anniversary celebrations.

Supply Colouring Books for Younger Children at Tables

This tip is great for weddings and gala dinners, where children are expected to sit for an extended period in and amongst speeches and videoworthy moments. With some quiet table activities like colouring books or word puzzles and other cerebral games, children can keep themselves occupied during wedding speeches and other instances that may demand their parents’ full attention.

Design Event Spaces and Activities Specifically for Children

For kids that may be too young to be entertained with tabletop activities, creating separate spaces and activity stations within your event can help your kids feel more settled and accommodated. Again, on-site childcare services can be a great investment in a dedicated kid space, as you can make sure your youngest attendees are being watched over by a committed childcare specialist, and that their parents can be rest assured while they’re enjoying your event.

Provide a Sensory Room for Children with Sensory Needs

Some kids may be in need of their own specialised environment to keep them comfortable at your event. For instance, children with ADD/ADHD or ASD may benefit greatly from the inclusion of a sensory room. This is essentially a small, quiet space with gentle lighting and a range of different activities designed to soothe.

Pro tip: be sure to inquire with parents to see if their children may benefit from the inclusion of a sensory space for your event, and to gain a little insight into what types of toys or activities are best to include in that space for their kids.

Include Playlists for All Ages with Your Event Band/DJ

We know we’re in the midst of the ‘kids vs. no kids’ debate, but let’s bring up ‘band vs. DJ’ while we’re at it. With a DJ playing from a pre-made playlist, you can make sure that there are tunes for all the kids, tweens, and teens in and amongst the oldies and classics. Even for live bands and entertainers, keeping setlists varied and eclectic can help ensure your younger attendees stay engaged and avidly jumping around on the dancefloor.

Child-friendly Event Planning Tips

To summarise, we’ve compiled some of our most practical child-friendly event planning tips for event planners below:

• Establish a preferred age range for child attendees
• Ask parents what they may need for their children in advance
• Encourage parents to bring their own personalised ‘emergency kits’ for children
• Arrange a sensory quiet room and/or nap room
• Design your event itinerary with child attendees in mind
• Provide a condensed itinerary for families with an earlier finish time
• Ensure kid-friendly foods are available and easily accessible at all times
• Book childcare or nanny services ahead of time

Celebrate Life’s Milestones with the Whole Family in Tow

Family celebrations are best enjoyed with the entire family. If you’d like to accommodate kids at your next big celebration, then be sure to heed the tips, tricks, and recommendations we’ve shared today.

And if you’re thinking our space at Canvas House is the perfect fit for your next big celebration, then don’t hesitate to contact our events team to make a formal inquiry into our space, or to even book your own private tour.

The post Managing Kids at Events: Top Tips for Celebrating with Children in Attendance appeared first on Canvas House.

Product launches are, however, just as much an opportunity for brand promotion as they are for building interest in a new market offering. So before hosting any product launch, brands should ask themselves how they can utilise that opportunity as best as possible.

Thankfully here at Canvas House, we’re in the business of planning successful corporate events. We use our decades of experience to curate event itineraries that deliver streamlined logistics and positive attendee feedback, and work directly with our hosts to make sure their events perfectly align with their goals and vision.

Alongside all this hands-on work, we’re genuinely passionate about elevating Melbourne’s events scene, which is why we’ve shared a few of our industry trade secrets and top tips to help you revolutionise your product launches. Without further ado, here’s our essential playbook for hosting product launches that go off with a bang.

Preliminary Preparation: Goals, Budgets, Values, Venues

Begin your product launch planning by first outlining the core objectives behind your launch event. Are you looking to encourage immediate sales, to educate your target audience on how best to utilise your product/s, or to simply create shareable content and build buzz on social media? Answering these questions can help inform not only your event itinerary, but the look, feel, and layout of your event space.

This in turn, will help you find the ideal venue and vendors (i.e. suppliers, caterers, event staff, entertainment, etc.) for your event. For instance, if you know that you’d like to host a panel discussion with a few guest speakers, you’ll need to find a seminar venue with a good AV system that can accommodate multiple mic speakers.

Pro tip: book your venue with confidence, with our guide on 5 questions to ask when looking at seminar venues in particular.

With these considerations made, this is also an ideal time to define your event budget. Make sure your budget aligns with your venue and vendors, as well as with the goals and objectives of your event. Think too, on what scope of design you’ll need for your event space and event itinerary to cater to your target audience, as this can also help inform your budget.

To sum up, at this phase of the planning journey, you should:

• Outline the core objectives behind your product launch (sales, education, social engagement, etc.)
• Establish the budget for your event
• Refine your event messaging and values in accordance with your defined target audience
• Find your ideal venue (to align with budget and audience)
• Create a planning timeline for your event

Planning Your Product Launch: Get the Wheels in Motion

With a clear timeline and budget in place and your venue booked, now is the time to start getting into the particulars of your event itinerary. Map out the flow of the day/s for your event, including buffering or set-up times at the beginning and end of the day to get an accurate estimate of staffed hours.

With your event itinerary laid out, you can then pinpoint what you’ll need and when – this is referring not only to staff, but also to AV equipment and other technologies, as well as stage setups, chair and table layouts, and any other equipment needed for activities. We also recommend considering network connectivity testing, especially if you’re planning to include hybrid conference elements to your event (that will involve maintaining an active livestream and catering to a high volume of connected devices).

So at this phase of your product launch planning, here’s what you should hope to achieve:

• Plan your event itinerary
• Estimate and calculate event staffing requirements
• Finalise staff contracts and vendor agreements
• Source event technology and equipment

Promoting Your Product Launch: Drum Up Anticipation!

With all the foundational logistics sorted, it’s finally time to get into promotion for your product launch. Marketing campaigns and promotional materials for corporate events are a vital component of boosting ticket sales. Finalising your ticket tiering and pricing nice and early is also a great way to take the stress out of planning for-profit events. With a robust pricing model and strong incentives for early bird ticket sales, you won’t have to keep on ‘guesstimating’ as much about whether your event is on track to break even.

Once your ticket pricing and tiering has been finalised, you can start your event promotion by soft launching the date, followed up by announcing any guest speakers and other standout selling points on social media. Monitor engagement for every announcement post and adjust your messaging accordingly if needed.

Alongside event promotion, this is also a great time to think about your social media strategy for the day itself PLUS your re-engagement strategising post-event. For the day itself, consider encouraging your attendees to share their own content on socials by providing exclusive event hashtags and perhaps even setting up a photo wall with a red carpet (if it suits your event theme!). UGC (user-generated content) under special event hashtags can make documenting your event a breeze. Plus if you do a post-event reflection post or video, attendees will surely get a hoot out of securing a cameo or two in your materials.

In summary, at this stage of your product launch planning, you should aim to have ticked these items off your to-do list:

• Finalise ticketing – tiering and prices
• Develop promotional materials
• Rollout event marketing campaign
• Set up social media plan for day-of and post-launch
• Develop UGC (user-generated content) strategy

Post-launch: Collecting Feedback and Measuring Success

Post-product launch is all about measuring your success metrics in alignment with your event goals, and determining whether the event fulfilled all the expectations set out not only by you and your event team, but by your attendees as well.

And of course, if you’re planning more creative corporate events in the future that have been inspired by the performance and experience of this product launch event, then be sure to send out exclusive invitations to your email subscriber list of previous event attendees. This re-engagement pipeline is the best way to build on your momentum following your product launch event and make sure that your brand and its corporate events calendar accrues a cult following.

To wrap up post-event, make sure you take the following steps:

• Measure event engagement on social media
• Record and review success metrics linked to event objectives
• Collect feedback from event attendees (i.e. poll links, feedback forms or guestbooks at the event, etc.)
• Rollout re-engagement campaign (i.e. special offer EDMs, giveaways, etc.)

Host Your Next Product Launch with Our Event Planners at Canvas House

At Canvas House, we love to host great corporate parties, and that includes all the excitement and meticulous experience planning of product launches. If you’d like to make your next product launch one to remember, then we reckon our venue space will provide the perfect setting. Check out our space via our website, or get in touch to schedule your own private tour of our lovingly presented venue with our in-house events team.

The post How to Host a Product Launch: An Essential Playbook appeared first on Canvas House.

If prepping a tailored event planning timeline sounds like a daunting task, then let our experts at Canvas House break it down for you, with our easy-to-follow event planning timeline tips that’ll be sure to take the stress out of event planning for you.

What is an Event Planning Timeline?

An event planning timeline is a reference used to help break down all the individual tasks and items that will need to be completed during your event planning process.

Your event planning timeline should ideally take you from Day 1 of your planning process all the way through to the day of your event – and perhaps even the day after your event, if you’ll also need to factor in packing up and uninstalling decor with your venue.

Key Components to Add to Your Event Planning Timeline

To ensure a thorough overview of all the logistical considerations for planning your event, event planning timeline should include the following details:

• Payment and application deadlines – deadlines for applications for planning permits, etc.
• Marketing and promotion campaign dates – launch dates + early bird/round 1/round 2 ticket sales, etc
• Allocated tasks and status updates – who’s doing what, and when can you expect to hear from them?
• Planning milestones – tick off when details are finalised with your venue, caterers, suppliers, entertainment, etc.

How long Does it Take to Plan a Professional Event?

The timeframe for planning events can be influenced by a few factors, including the type of celebration, and the size of your guest list. Here are a few insights on the size and scope of event planning timelines across the main types of events we’ve hosted at Canvas House.

Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc.

Our hosts often inquire about a birthday venue hire with us about 4-6 weeks before a scheduled birthday celebration. This timeframe is also ideal for surprise parties, as a condensed planning timeline of 4-6 weeks means partygoers don’t have to keep the birthday person in suspense for too long.

Anniversaries operate off a similar estimated event planning timeline of about 4-6 weeks. For milestone anniversaries or anniversaries that double up as vow renewals, however, hosts may start planning even further in advance to account for time for florists and other suppliers to work their magic.

Weddings

Given the sheer size and demand of the wedding industry, most venues stipulate that couples book their wedding venue at least 1-2 years in advance. This timeline is also ideal for ensuring optimal time to source all the other bits and pieces needed for your wedding day – think bouquets, centrepieces, and other floral arrangements, bridal gowns, wedding cakes, entertainment, celebrants, etc.

Keep in mind too that it also takes some time to select an ideal wedding venue. Couples rarely fall in love with the first venue they book a tour of, so additional time may be allocated towards simply finding where you’d like to say ‘I do’.

Finally, outside of sourcing suppliers, bakers, caterers, and florists, wedding planning also comes with its fair share of administrative tasks, like hand-writing invitations, collating dietary preferences for guests, and finalising your wedding seating chart. With all there is to do, even 1-2 years’ worth of planning still doesn’t feel like long enough.

Benefits and Gala Dinners

As benefits and gala dinners are more upscale ticketed events, event planning generally takes anywhere from 8-12+ months. This allows for adequate time to:

• Collaborate with non-profit or charity partners,
• Coordinate with caterers and wait staff,
• Book entertainment or guest speakers,
• Market/promote your event,
• Outline fundraising plan,
• Sell tickets/plates and prepare a detailed guest list

For more insights on how to host a gala dinner, check out this detailed guide.

Corporate Events

Some businesses literally spend 6-12 months planning their work Christmas party. And then there are other corporate clients who may book a conference venue on a monthly basis. This is to say that corporate events can be quite broad and varied, so you’ll find that event planning timelines for business events can fluctuate depending on what type of professional event you’re looking to host. As we mentioned, however, most corporate events do fall within a 12-month event planning timeline to ensure costs stay within the corresponding financial year for tax purposes.

Standard 12+ Month Event Planning Timeline: Let’s Break it Down

Given that ~12 months is a great average timeframe for planning professional events, let’s break down exactly what tasks you’re likely to tick off at every phase during your standard 12 month event planning timeline.

12+ Months Before: Outline the Purpose and Objectives of Your Event

The first phase of developing an event plan is to simply outline the purpose or intention behind your event, and how you aim to achieve these objectives. Is it a fundraiser or more of a networking or even training event? Will it be ticketed? Will you work with third-party suppliers or internal suppliers? Will you work in partnership with corporate sponsors? These are all questions that must ideally be answered at this stage of your event planning timeline.

At this stage, you may also opt to finalise your venue and vendor booking/s. Looking at a venue space at this stage allows ample time for you to book a tour with your shortlisted vendors and other event partners.

To recap, here are some of the key tasks you should look to complete 12+ months before your event:

• Define purpose or intention behind the event
• Set a date and time for your event
• Establish event budget
• Book venue space and find vendors/caterers, etc.
• Book event entertainment (guest speakers, musical acts, etc.)
• Collaborate with event sponsors and co-hosts

6 Months Before: Commence Event Promotion + Finalise Vendor Agreements

With your venue, vendors, and event entertainment set in stone, it’s finally time to start promoting your event. This will involve preparing promotional materials like posters and flyers, but also social media ads and ticket portals. You can even set up a website with a dedicated ticket portal if you feel this may be more beneficial for your brand (for corporate events). Just be sure to include sponsor branding alongside your own branding.

Prior to event promotion, however, you’ll need to refine your profit margins, if you’re hosting a paid and ticketed event. Setting up these event registration and ticket portals with tiered ticket pricing can be an ideal way to not only inspire early bird ticket sales for supporting profit estimates, but also to develop a robust financial model.

And speaking of finances, at this stage, you should also aim to have finalised all contracts with your caterers and other suppliers. If any invoices are still pending payment, make sure they’re processed as soon as possible to give your vendors ample time to make arrangements on their end.

To recap, here are key tasks you should complete ~6 months before your event:

• Refine financial/fundraising models
• Rollout event marketing and promotion
• Confirm event entertainment
• Confirm vendors and finalise vendor agreements

1 Month Before: Finalise Itineraries, Logistics, and Attendee Messaging

With just a month left to go before your event, you’ll want to make sure your event itinerary is now fully finalised and ready to share with your attendee list (both in digital format and via printed event programmes).

At this stage of your event planning timeline, you should also start to consider logistics for the day, including check-in and check-out times and scheduling for vendors, delivery drivers, and event staff (i.e. caterers, bartenders, etc.). Be sure to orchestrate with your venue staff to ensure smooth operations between all elements of your event, from staging and presentations, to kitchen set-up and pack-down, attendee registration and welcome tables, and any reorganisation of furniture during your event (for example, if you’re converting a space from row seating to an open workshop environment).

Alongside sharing your event itinerary, you should also seek to share event updates and anticipatory notices with your attendees to boost engagement. Consider even running promotions like ticket giveaways to inspire last-minute interest and sell any straggling tickets. And if there are any perks to attendance like meet and greets with public figures or perhaps even some scrummy corporate lunches, then make sure you’re showcasing these to also build excitement.

Here are the key tasks you should aim to complete ~1 month before your event:

• Finalise event itinerary
• Confirm event logistics with vendors, venue staff, etc.
• Prepare attendee messaging to build excitement/engagement

2 Weeks Before: Rollout Event Materials, Vendor Briefings, Venue Schedules, etc.

With two weeks left to go, now is the time to finalise print and publication of event materials like event programmes, magazines, business cards, and anything else you want to distribute to your attendees on the day. Ask your venue if you may be able to store these materials on-site before your event day to save you from having to ferry them over the day of.

At this phase of your event planning timeline, you should also make sure all your vendors and event staff have been briefed and are aware of what their schedule and directives are looking like for the day. Be sure to plan these schedules in partnership with your venue staff, who’ll be able to give you all the info you need on venue check-in and check-out procedures for all vendors and suppliers.

Here are the tasks you should seek to complete with 2 weeks to go till your event:

• Print and publication of event materials (i.e. event programmes, pamphlets, etc.)
• Finalise briefings for vendors, caterers, and other event staff
• Finalise venue schedules so your venue knows who to expect and when

1 Week Before: Staff Briefing, Tech Rehearsals, Attendee Experience Optimisation

With a week to go before the day, it’s time to finalise all on-site briefings for event staff and to finetune your attendee experience. This means testing registration processes to gauge the user experience, finalising your event decor, running tech rehearsals to maintain an active approach to diagnostics, and taking any other necessary steps to elevate the experience for your eventgoers.

If you’re hosting a hybrid conference and will require live video feeds throughout your event, then it’s essential to test your network connection comprehensively and with the estimated bandwidth needed on the day itself. See if you can organise a quick trial with enough devices to mimic the network capacity you’ll need on the event day itself or during any given itinerary item.

On the Day: Set Up Comms for Event Staff + Capture Event Content

It’s the big day itself, which means all vendors to positions and emcees, workshop facilitators, and other relevant roles working together to ensure your event schedule runs as needed. To support your event staff, you may opt to use UHF radios to maintain communications across different environments (i.e. from the catering kitchen to the main stage to workshop spaces, etc.).

Alongside maintaining comms on the floor, your event photographers should also be out and about capturing plenty of content to share directly to social media on the day (in the form of Facebook or Instagram Stories), and to use as footage for future event promotions – though more on this below.

The Day After: Pack Up, Gather Materials, and Prep Re-engagement Strategies

The day after your event isn’t just about packing up. Yes, that’s a big part of the punch-out process with your venue, but remember that you’ll also have plenty of work on your hands when it comes to gathering up attendee feedback, collecting event photos and videos, and figuring out how best you want to document your event for future reference.

If you’re planning to host future events (i.e. quarterly or annually recurring events, for instance), then the day after your last successful event is the perfect time to brainstorm optimal re-engagement strategies. Will you send all your event attendees a ‘Thank You’ email for taking the time to attend? Will you maintain your subscriber list to deliver exclusive access offers for future events?

Perfect Your Event Scheduling with these Organisational Tips

Whether you’re a team of one or are part of a larger events and engagement team, you can definitely use these expert tips and tricks to help you outline a strong event planning timeline, and most importantly, keep it on track.

And if you do need a little extra support with planning your corporate event, then be sure to check out our other resources for corporate event planning here at Canvas House, or simply get in touch with our event planning team to enquire about working with us for your next big business event.

The post Event Planning Timeline: How to Plan Professional Events from Start to Finish appeared first on Canvas House.

But in order for your executive strategy day to be as impactful as possible, you need to make sure your strategising environment is conducive for ‘outside the box’ thinking. This is why our corporate venue space here at Canvas House has been set up to provide professional teams with flexibility, adaptability, and practical features and amenities that are perfect for brainstorming, collaborating, and just generally making sure your business planning days are productive.

So what should you be looking for when finding an ideal venue for your next executive strategy day? Let our event planning experts at Canvas House illuminate you with our list of essential features and amenities for executive strategy sessions spanning from 9 to 5.

Key Features & Amenities for Executive Meeting Spaces

Central Location

Have you ever had to travel to a seminar venue on a workday? Chances are, the easiest venues to get to were those that were just a quick bus, train, or tram trip from the office. This is why venues in and around the Melbourne CBD are so popular amongst corporate event managers. Not only can your colleagues find the venue easily, but so can any third party visitors (i.e. clients, corporate partners, catering staff, etc.).

If you’ve got attendees that have travelled from other states or countries as well, booking a venue that’s centrally located will naturally also help to accommodate attendees staying at a hotel or business accommodation. This is also why so many conference venues double up as hotels or business accommodation: so that event planners can simplify booking venues for their event space and hotel rooms for any visiting guests.

Accessible Facilities

Speaking of accommodating guests, catering to attendees travelling from afar is just one half of the equation. Accessibility considerations are also a must when planning corporate parties and events.

Keep in mind too that even if your guests don’t currently have access needs (i.e. wheelchair access, ASL interpreters, etc.), it doesn’t mean that they won’t require access needs when the day of your event swings round. Injuries can result in your guests unexpectedly requiring the use of crutches and other walking aids. Thankfully, our space here at Canvas House is set up with accessible restrooms plus a stage and screen setup so you can easily have a camera on an ASL interpreter to accommodate deaf or hard of hearing attendees.

Multimedia Equipment

What’s one of the first questions you ask when booking a seminar venue? Of course it’s “what type of AV or multimedia equipment is available on-site?” This is one of the biggest logistical concerns for any type of business event, including executive strategy days, where you can anticipate groups to collaborate on a shared strategy development project.

For business planning sessions, teams generally rely on projector screens for presentations and/or watching videos. And if they’re presenting to larger groups, then you may also need to set up microphones and speaker systems to make sure all attendees can take in the presentation no matter where they’re seated in the space.

This is why we have a full AV system complete with Bluetooth connectivity at Canvas House, plus microphones, a green room, and even a portable TV, making it easier for executive strategists to curate a space that works for their activities.

Whiteboards and other meeting amenities

Most corporate events, from conferences to training or orientation meetings, will require a whiteboard, HDMI supported screens, and other meeting amenities. For teams looking to conduct conference meetings, for instance, meeting spaces also need to be quiet and self-contained to support audio quality for the remote parties.

This is why we’ve included our dedicated meeting room space here at Canvas House, complete with a conference room table and comfortable seating that supports teams during lengthy deliberations.

Flexible Furnishings

Alongside comfortable seating, executive strategy sessions naturally also require flexibility of thought. In most cases, the best way to support this is to get your blood flowing and walk around your space rather than sitting in a static position.

At Canvas House, we’ve seen time and time again that professional teams benefit greatly from working in flexible environments, where chairs and tables can be easily manoeuvred to make space for brainstorming. To meet these working demands, our team at Canvas House makes sure that our meeting spaces are easy to reorganise and reset, supporting corporate teams in working freely and staying in the zone.

Catering Amenities and Support

For all-day events, you’ll definitely want to provide catering for corporate lunches, just to make sure that your attendees have ample time to refuel and maintain their productivity across the entire day’s itinerary. So if you’re planning an executive summary day that is likely to cut through lunch and into the afternoon, then it’s well worth booking a venue that includes kitchen facilities to support food and beverage attendants.

If there are no commercial kitchen facilities, then you may be able to partner with other food service providers like food trucks. Using food trucks for event catering has risen in popularity in recent years, as it provides more interior venue space for events, and can even provide attendees with more variety in meal options.

Pro tip: ask our event planners at Canvas House for their list of local suppliers to find catering partners that offer competitive rates!

Comfortable, Airy Ambience

Finally, brainstorming requires keeping an open mind, and there’s no better way to stay present and dreaming big than by letting yourself work in an airy atmosphere. Well, have you seen our 6m high, cathedral-style vaulted ceiling? It doesn’t get any more airy than that!

And with updated heating and cooling amenities, our space here at Canvas House is sure to be the perfect selection for executive strategy days during all seasons.

Want to Book Canvas House for your Next Corporate Planning Event?

End of year is always a perfect time to schedule business strategy sessions. So if you’re looking to schedule your next corporate planning event in anticipation of Q1, now is the perfect time to get that ball rolling.

Enquire with our team at Canvas House today to book our beautiful corporate venue for your organisation’s next executive strategy day.

The post What to Look for When Choosing a Venue for Executive Strategy Days appeared first on Canvas House.

On top of this, events like hybrid conferences that integrate participation across both local and global staff, help facilitate knowledge sharing across diverse teams. In a nutshell, hybrid conferences help globalised teams take full advantage of their diversity of cultures, professional backgrounds, and experiences.

Granted, hybrid conference models are still pretty new, so it’s fair to have some questions on how you can set your enterprise up for success with its first foray into hybrid conference events. So if you’re looking for the right corporate venue to accommodate both on-site and off-site (i.e. remote and/or global attendees), then let today’s guide be your jumping off point for corporate event planning.

Here’s our definitive how-to guide on hosting a hybrid conference and other types of hybrid meeting events for your organisation.

What is a Hybrid Event?

Hybrid events are conferences, seminars, and other types of events that combine both in-person and online or virtual attendance. The construct of hybrid events is popular amongst corporate event planners, as they accommodate professionals working remotely, whilst still ensuring organisations can cultivate and maintain a strong events calendar filled with enrichment and networking opportunities for their staff.

Why Host a Hybrid Conference?

We already touched on some of the major benefits of hybrid conferences above, but let’s collate them for you here:

• Supports communication and collaboration across on-site and remote teams
• Accommodates guest speakers based in other geographic locations
• Reduces travel demands for conference attendees
• Boosts event accessibility for attendees with disabilities, health concerns, family commitments, etc.
• Reduced event expenses (i.e. small venue sizes, reduced catering demands, simplified logistics, etc.)
• Dynamic engagement opportunities (through digital polls, Q&A seminars, live chats, etc.)
• Allows for data harvesting on event engagement, participation, feedback, etc. for improved ROI measurements

How to Host a Hybrid Conference: 10 Key Tips & Tricks

Below, our team of expert event planners at Canvas House have shared their top ten tips gathered from experience on hosting hybrid corporate events.

Here’s how you can make sure your hybrid conference is enriching and engaging for both in-person and remote attendees.

1. Define the Scope of Your Hybrid Conference

Start by first establishing what the purpose of your hybrid conference is. What key takeaways do you want your attendees to have at the end of the day? And what kinds of speakers and subject matter experts will you want to collaborate with?

This is also the perfect phase to finalise your event budget. With strong estimates for your spend, you can determine whether it may be worth ticketing your event (for profit or to cover costs, for example). Gauging attendees vs. cost is also essential for events like corporate dinners where you can anticipate a set cost per head.

2. Send out event invitations and track RSVPs

Once you’ve outlined the scope of your event and whether or not you’ll be offering invitations or paid tickets, you can finally prep your promotional materials, ticketing platforms, and RSVP systems. Establishing a method for tracking RSVPs across all attendees (both in-person and virtual) is essential for maintaining an accurate overview of your attendee list. That way, you can make sure you provide enough seating for in-person attendees, and enough moderator visibility and other support for virtual attendees.

3. Find In-person and Virtual Guest Speakers

The beauty of hybrid conferences is that the hybrid setup works both ways: you can have both virtual attendees to strengthen ticket sales, and also virtual guest speakers to build event interest. In other words, the geographic location of your hybrid conference doesn’t have to be a barrier for prospective guest speakers that may be a great fit for your event, despite the fact that they’re based overseas and are unable to travel.

So the next time you want to invite a TED talker to a business seminar, see if they may be open to being a virtual guest speaker! That way, you can add their image to your promotional materials and inspire greater interest in your upcoming hybrid event.

4. Finalise Your Conference Agenda in Advance

Knowing all that’s on the docket for the day is likely also going to encourage more prospective eventgoers to grab their tickets ahead of time. So work with your fellow corporate event planners and guest speakers to finetune and finalise your conference agenda in advance. That way, there are no surprises on the day of, and your conference speakers and other participants can know exactly what events and activities are running when.

5. Set up Teleconference Links for Each Activity

When you’re choosing a venue for team building activities, you try to make sure your space can be set up optimally for each of the fun things you’ve got planned for the day. The same goes for planning hybrid conferences: you want to make sure your physical event space is not only supportive of in-person attendees, but that your digital infrastructure for the day is also accommodating of virtual attendees as well.

A great way to achieve this is by simply making sure that all the different activity components planned for your day (i.e. different panels, workshops, etc.) all have their own clearly labelled event links. That way, your virtual guests can simply add those links and invites directly to their digital calendar, and click through to the next event/activity they’ve RSVP-ed to with minimal risk of finding themselves in the wrong virtual room by accident. Sorting these links out ahead of time will not only help reduce the stress of event planning for you and your fellow organisers, but it will also help ensure that your virtual attendees can get the very most out of your event experience, leading to stronger reviews and more positive feedback post-event.

6. Use Interactive Tools to Engage All Attendees

This next tip is in a similar vein to #5, but it’s well worth elaborating on. In much the same way that video conferences include interactive features like breakout rooms and digital whiteboards, you’ll also want to make sure that your conference events and panels include interactive tools that engage both in-person and virtual attendees. This can include things like digital polls, fun quizzes where attendees can answer using their phones (and QR codes), and other creative event ideas that can inspire cross-pollination and knowledge sharing across both in-person and virtual attendees.

7. Set up Roving Cameras to Support Video Feeds

Just because your virtual attendees may be watching at home or alone in their own office, it doesn’t mean that they can’t still feel like they’re in the crowd at your conference. This is why hybrid conference planners often set up multiple roving cameras and microphones to showcase not only different angles of event speakers but also to showcase the crowd/audience.

This footage won’t just make your event experience more engaging to your virtual attendees, however. It can also help promote any future events, by helping prospective speakers and event partners in the future verify the participant numbers of your previous successful events.

8. Provide Incentives for In-person and Virtual Attendees

It’s common for business conferences to offer catered lunches to event attendees, but sadly this isn’t really a perk you can offer to virtual guests – so should you still offer catering for hybrid events? Ultimately, the answer to this question is up to you and your fellow event planners, but given our commercial kitchen facilities here at Canvas House, we’ve personally seen plenty of hybrid event planners successfully offering catering to in-person attendees whilst simultaneously providing perks to remote eventgoers.

One option here is to provide satellite catering services by partnering with other local caterers and event planners. This is a great option for hybrid conferences where remote attendees are likely to all be based in the same location. Simply set up catering for your in-person guest list and satellite catering for your congregation of remote attendees that are all logging in together.

And if your remote guest list is more scattered, per se, you can still provide other perks in the form of gift cards, discount offers to master classes or industry equipment, and other financial or professional incentives.

9. Establish On-site and Virtual Event Moderators

Panel events typically have a moderator to help control conversation and the flow of Q&As for on-site events. Contrastingly, virtual events have chat moderators in place to make sure that digital communications stay on-topic.

For hybrid conference events, you’ll naturally need both on-site and virtual moderators, so it’s best to have these positions filled in anticipation of your event day. Here, it definitely pays to do some due diligence and hire experienced moderators, so be sure to ask virtual moderators if they’ve had experience facilitating digital conferences.

10. Provide Channels for Event Feedback

Finally, after any successful corporate event, you’ll naturally want to know what worked and what didn’t. So alongside setting up links to all your panels and activities, you should also share links for attendees (both on-site and virtual) to give their feedback. Whatever insights you can gain from your feedback systems can naturally help you improve your hybrid conference events with every iteration.

Host Your Next Hybrid Conference at Canvas House

At Canvas House, we’ve set up our space to be inclusive of both in-person and virtual eventgoers. Our full AV system with Bluetooth connectivity makes setting up computers and speaker equipment a dream, supporting in-person event planners in getting all their technical infrastructure in place with minimal turnaround times.

Check out all the picture-perfect in-person and virtual conference events we’ve curated in our space across our gallery, or simply get in touch with a member of our dedicated events team to start planning your next hybrid conference.

The post How to Host a Hybrid Conference in a Physical Venue appeared first on Canvas House.

That being said, creating your own drinks menu is indeed an art form in and of itself, so it definitely pays to have access to not only master mixologists, but also great commercial kitchen facilities so that these magicians can get right to work at prepping a full library of cocktail ingredients to accommodate even the most ambitious cocktail menus.

The only question left is what kind of cocktails can you expect to serve up across your events calendar in the new year? What’s new in the realm of mixology?

Today, our expert event planners here at Canvas House will be leaning on our expansive network of hospitality caterers including bartender extraordinaires to answer this question. Below, we’ll be outlining the top 5 cocktail trends that our mixology monsieurs et madames are expecting to shape 2026.

Top 5 Cocktail Trends to Impress Your Guests in 2026

One of the strongest event planning tips we give to all of our clients looking to host a gala dinner or other type of culinary event, is to get your food and drink menus finalised as promptly as possible to leave more time for sourcing quality caterers, and even gathering ingredients if needed.

So as you read through these cocktail trends for Melbourne events in 2026, think about how you may be able to incorporate these ideas into your own food and drink planning for your next event.

1. Day-Drinking is the New Pink

In Resy’s 2025 retrospective report, they noticed that more of their app users made restaurant bookings between 5pm to 6pm than across the entire three hours spanning from 8pm to 11pm. There were also more bookings at 4pm than at 9pm all throughout the year, which points to post-pandemic early dining habits that seem to be sticking around for the long haul.

Here in Australia, we’re noticing similar trends, with Gen Z partygoers consistently swapping out boozy weekend nights for Sunday afternoon drag brunches or at most, 6pm drinks on a rooftop bar so they can still wake up early enough to make it to pilates in the morning.

As a result of this cultural shift to having a tipple under the afternoon sun, we’re seeing more party ideas come our way that seek to take advantage of daytime venue bookings. We’re also seeing more cocktail menus feature daytime-friendly drinks like light spritzes, mojitos, G&Ts, and even some alcoholic iced teas. So the next time you set out to plan a corporate dinner event, ask yourself if lunch or brunch may actually end up being a better vibe!

2. Non-Alcoholic Drinks & Experimentations with Adaptogens

Gen Zs aren’t just drinking earlier – they’re also drinking less?! As one of the most famously health-conscious generations, we’re seeing more Gen Z partygoers swap out beer cans for some more purposefully non-alcoholic beverages. This makes mocktails a must-add for any cocktail menu in 2026.

The shift towards mocktails also demands innovation from mixologists. Instead of relying on the naturally strong flavours of spirits to add edge to signature cocktails, mixologists are now experimenting with botanical syrups (like elderflower cordials, for instance), spices, and other gastronomical elements to create dynamic cocktail experiences – that are low-alcoholic or even totally alcohol-free.

Alongside the rise of the artisanal mocktail, we can also expect to see more cocktails in 2026 that naturally include adaptogens (aka, ingredients rich in antioxidants and other cortisol-controlling substances) like ashwagandha, ginseng, chamomile, and licorice root – just to name a few. As botanical flavours are also on the rise, 2026 is the perfect time to experiment with organic-inspired cocktails and mocktails that actually nourish the body.

3. Local Liquid Experiences

This isn’t to say that beers are totally off the menu in 2026. In fact, we can expect more Aussies drinking beer in the new year, except instead of drinking your standard Coronas and Heinekens, we’re likely to see more Pirate Life, Moon Dog, and other local brews from local breweries.

This is great news for event planners like us who love to partner with other local hospitality businesses to create showstopping events. And for hosts who are looking to book some food trucks for their event catering, you can all but guarantee that those local flavours will pair perfectly with Melbourne brewed beers and ciders.

4. Maximalism Meets Mixology

The 2010s were definitely an era of stripped back cocktail menus, with cocktail fans looking for drinks that activated the natural flavours in their spirits. Following the pandemic, however, it seems as though bartenders have had their cup of minimalist mixology courses that involved just doing whatever you could with whatever they had. Today, it’s all about experimenting with bold new flavours, and finding combinations that titillate the taste buds.

This transition from minimalism to maximalism in mixology may even be credited to the resurgence of 1920s opulence and the revival of Great Gatsby-themed parties now a century onwards from the original era. If you’re looking to host business events with bold design schemes, chances are that a cocktail bar with all the workings from some opulent, maximalist, and dare we say Gatsby-inspired beverages, is sure to thrill and delight.

5. The Age of Crafted Ice & Functional Garnishes

Finally, in 2026 we’re definitely waving goodbye to watered down cocktails. This means no more ice cubes taking up half the glass. In fact, instead of standard ice cubes or even fancy ice spheres, we can expect to see more cocktails using crafted ice.

Craft ice includes a few different variations on traditional ice cubes. For example, your craft ice may simply be clearer ice that melts slower so it doesn’t naturally dilute drinks as fast as regular ice cubes. Or craft ice can be pre-made ice cubes that include specific flavours – think frozen blueberries, grapes, or watermelon so that when your ice cubes melt, they actually add to the flavours of your drink.

In this regard, we’re seeing more craft ice mimic the same fun qualities of cocktail accessories like functional garnishes. In much the same way that an olive dipped in a martini enhances the taste of that drink, so too do garnishes like candied orange peels, maraschino cherries, and even chillis or peppers in spicy margaritas. So if you’ve got some ideas for fun ice cubes or garnishes, write them all down to try out at your next event in 2026.

Use these Cocktail Trends to Elevate your Events in 2026

Want to create cocktail menus that will leave your guests in awe? Then be sure to follow these top 5 cocktail trends for 2026 that we’ve outlined above the next time you partner with some master mixologists. And if you enjoyed this guide, then be sure to check out our blog for even more tips and tricks to help elevate your events in the new year.

Keen to book Canvas House for your events in 2026? Then don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team to get the ball rolling on all your party planning must-dos. Our event planners are here to help curate the perfect evening for you and your guests, and can offer our expert support at every phase of your planning and hosting process, from connecting you up with caterers, bartenders and other event staff, to prepping the perfect itinerary for the day.

The post Top 5 Cocktail Trends to Impress Your Guests in 2026 appeared first on Canvas House.

With our versatile event space here at Canvas House, we take full advantage of our adaptable backdrop, curating corporate events that are tailored to their organisations. If you’re currently brainstorming how to elevate your next end of year party for your business, then use our top 10 end of year party ideas for Melbourne teams below to help get the ball rolling on your own party planning process.

Top 10 End of Year Party Ideas That Go Beyond the Office Bash

From boogying down to photo ops galore, here are our top 10 inventive and innovative end of year party ideas to help you make the most of your party venue hire.

1. Themed Cocktail Soiree

With our full bar kitchen as well as our commercial kitchen facilities, you can easily transform the Canvas House space into a chic cocktail party atmosphere to see in the holidays. Our timeless vaulted ceiling and exposed brick walls, provides a sophisticated setting for themed cocktail parties.

Pro tip: collaborate with our in-house team to curate a signature drink menu that aligns with your chosen EOFY party theme.

2. Interactive Cooking Class

Want to get people in the Christmas spirit through the art of holiday cuisine? Then why not host a hands-on cooking class where teams can collaborate to prepare festive dishes?

For this end of year party idea, be sure to utilise our modern kitchen facilities here at Canvas House to facilitate this interactive experience. Fostering teamwork and culinary creativity has never been easier.

3. Outdoor Garden Party

Christmas in Australia means outdoor entertaining. So why not take full advantage of the warmer weather by leveraging our private courtyard space at Canvas House for an elegant garden party?

Transforming our courtyard into a fantastic end of year party space can be as simple as stringing up some fairy lights, setting up comfortable seating, and establishing gourmet food stations or even food trucks to create a relaxed yet festive atmosphere, perfect for mingling and celebrating.

4. Awards Night Gala

Celebrate the year’s achievements with a formal awards night for your team at Canvas House. Our Gallery space can be transformed into a glamorous setting with red carpet entrances, elegant décor, and a stage for presentations, ensuring your night of employee recognition and celebration comes with all the fanfare and photo ops.

5. Murder Mystery Dinner

Want to host an end of year party that’ll definitely be one for the ages, and put a fresh new spin on a corporate dinner event? Then try engaging your guests with a thrilling murder mystery dinner element.

The versatile layout of Canvas House allows for immersive dining setups, where guests can be seated in a spacious environment that also perfectly allows for exploration, interaction and setting up and solving clues. Trust us, a murder mystery dinner element always makes for an entertaining and interactive evening.

6. Live Entertainment Showcase

See out the year with a good boogie down by hosting a night of live entertainment featuring local artists or bands. Our state-of-the-art sound system and spacious layout at Canvas House is perfect for accommodating performances that will keep guests entertained throughout the evening. The age-old debate of band vs. DJ firmly ends here!

7. DIY Craft Station

Another great way to get your team in the holiday spirit is to set up a DIY craft station where guests can create their own personalised holiday ornaments or gifts. This interactive activity can add a creative touch to your end of year celebration, alongside providing guests with memorable keepsakes and mementos that they can take home and treasure for years to come.

Pro tip: this can also be a great activity for kid-friendly events like christenings, where parents can benefit from keeping their little ones entertained.

8. Photobooth Fun

Alongside being a staple of wedding photography at wedding venues, photobooths with fun props and backdrops that align with your party theme can also be a great way to capture warm snaps from your event. Our stylish interiors here at Canvas House also provide a perfect setting for photo opportunities, ensuring guests capture fun moments whether they’re in a traditional booth setup or a red carpet-style press wall.

9. Silent Disco

For a unique twist for your end of year party, why not organise a silent disco where guests wear wireless headphones and dance to music of their choice? This innovative concept allows for a lively atmosphere with minimal risks of disturbance. And speaking personally, this is one of our favourite unique party ideas because of how versatile the setting of a silent disco is in terms of decor, music, etc. Trust us, don’t knock it till you try it.

10. Charity Fundraiser

Finally, the holiday season is the perfect time for giving. So why not combine celebration with a cause by hosting a charity fundraiser for your end of year office party?

Here, you can utilise our venue’s flexible space to set up different areas like donation stations, silent auctions, or raffles, encouraging guests to contribute in their own unique ways to your meaningful cause.

Throw an End of Year Party that Sees the Year Off with a Bang

Ready to host an end of year party that sees the year off in style? Canvas House offers a blank canvas for your end-of-year celebrations, providing a stylish and versatile venue that can be tailored to any theme or concept. Working with our dedicated team experienced in event planning, hosting your end of year party at Canvas House will always be sure to leave a lasting impression on your guests.

For more party planning inspiration and tips, check out our blog. And if you need assistance in planning your end-of-year celebration, then don’t hesitate to contact our team at Canvas House to share your vision and event requirements.

The post Top 10 End of Year Party Ideas That Go Beyond the Office Bash appeared first on Canvas House.

Thankfully, our passionate team at Canvas House have oodles of experience in tailoring our lovingly maintained venue space to suit a vast variety of corporate events – including training, learning, and development events.

Unlike more celebratory industry events like product launches that can get pretty noisy and colourful, training events are characterised more by their curated collection of learning environments – providing eventgoers with spaces that inspire engagement and spark their curiosity.

The age-old question is how can you find a corporate venue that offers the right environment not only for training but also for effective learning and development? Our team at Canvas House is here to answer this question today, by sharing in greater detail what considerations you should make when choosing the right venue for your next training, learning, and development event.

Key Considerations when Booking a Venue for Training, Learning & Development Events

Ready to get started on planning your next training, learning, and development event? Here are the key considerations you should make when finding the optimal venue for any professional training and development event.

Venue Capacity

How many people are likely to attend your event? Is it just an internal company affair, or are you extending invitations out to your wider industry network? Depending on the scope of your training and development event, you may likely even require multiple learning environments across your event space (think simultaneously running seminars and tutorials, etc.).

If you are anticipating having upwards of 50 attendees, for instance, you may choose to create two distinct learning environments in your event space, with a capacity of ~25 people per each training room.

Event Budget

As is the case with any event planning project, your budget will dictate what kind of venue you end up selecting for your event. However, if your budget likely won’t cover the estimated attendee list for your event, then you may either have to look for a lower cost venue, or even revisit the funding model for your event itself.

Practical budgeting is fundamental to planning a successful corporate event. So if you start to suspect your budget may not be working, it’s best to act as promptly as possible to either adapt your funding model (if it’s not too late!), or secure a venue space that best aligns with your spending power.

Amenities & Accessibility

Oftentimes, conference venues will come fitted with projectors and TV screens to support presentations for larger audiences – but what if you need to bring in your own equipment too? Here, amenities like loading door access and technological infrastructure can be worth their weight in gold.

Of course, venue accessibility naturally also includes disability access and support considerations. If you’re expecting attendees that require wheelchair access, for instance, then you’ll want to book a venue space that comes fitted with ramps, lifts, and other necessary accessibility infrastructure.

The same goes for stage setup and space configurations for other accessibility considerations, like ASL interpreters. Are there screens that allow ASL interpreters to be seen from across the entire venue space? Are there braille directions on all interior signs, and support infrastructure for attendees with service animals? Is there a quiet space for accommodating guests who may be experiencing a sensory overload? These are all questions you’ll need to ask when assessing the accessibility of your venue space.

Access to Multimedia Equipment

For event planners who don’t necessarily want to bring more equipment than just a laptop or an SD card or two, you’ll naturally also want to consider whether your shortlisted venues come fitted with their own catalogue of multimedia equipment.

For instance, at Canvas House, we offer both fixed screens in our boardroom spaces as well as a portable TV, plus a full Bluetooth-enabled AV system with microphones, so you don’t have to bring your own equipment.

Layouts for Training/Learning Environments

For training, learning and development events, you’ll naturally also need to find a venue space that actually accommodates the creation of different zones. That way, you can run multiple sessions/seminars/workshops without any programs interfering with one another.

This is actually why we’ve curated our space at Canvas House to include multiple different enclosed and open plan zones. Our venue space includes multiple private boardrooms and meeting rooms (including the Nook and the Study), an outdoor courtyard area in the rear and front of the venue space, as well as the pièce de résistance, our stunning Gallery space, complete with its showstopping 6m high vaulted Cathedral-style ceiling.

Look through our gallery to see our space from all angles, or better still – get in touch with us to schedule your own private walkthrough before your event!

Top Tips for Setting up your Venue for Training, Learning & Development Events

Now that you know how to choose the right venue for your next training, learning, and development event, let our event planners give you a few extra expert tips on how to make sure your development workshops, seminars, and tutorials all go smoothly on the day.

Finalise Your Attendee List Promptly

The most important part of planning any kind of corporate party is making sure you’ve planned for the right amount of people. After all, you don’t want to be spending unnecessarily if you’re paying cost per head for your venue or catering booking.

You can help yourself out here by implementing a strict date for RSVPs. For internal corporate training events, finalising guest lists is as easy as just sending out office memos or email alerts to confirm event attendance by a specific deadline. For training, learning and development events that open to other industry connections, however, implementing event ticket sales may help reduce your risks of paying unnecessarily for no-shows and last minute cancellations.

Book Catering & Support Staff in Advance

Seasoned event planners know that a million things can go wrong in the leadup to your event. And for training, learning and development events, it’s natural to want to make sure that your venue is set up with zero distractions and glitches – just to support the quality of your training materials and workshop planning.

This is why it’s essential that you finalise all agreements with your catering team and support staff at least two weeks before your event. Doing so will provide ample time to iron out any potential issues well in advance, reducing risks of any unexpected issues on the day.

Check out our cuisines and catering ideas for corporate lunches for some inspo when booking your event catering.

Practice Zoning When Setting up Learning Environments

If you’re looking to include both traditional sit-down learning environments (i.e. seminar-style with seats all facing one stage) plus more interactive learning environments (i.e. hands-on workshops with circular group seating, physical movement, etc.), then you’ll want to make sure your venue zoning is tight and precise.

This design planning is also vital when preparing venues for team building exercises. If you’re expecting different people to be doing different activities simultaneously, then we highly recommend working with your venue manager to ensure your final space designs are practical and fit to accommodate all the day’s many activities.

Maintain a ‘Safety First’ Approach to Equipment Setup

Finally, multiple screens and presentations naturally means you’ll need your equipment setup to be meticulously planned – both to avoid any technical difficulties on the day, but also to reduce risks of injuries caused by unsecured cables or haphazardly moving equipment from room to room.

Here, work with your venue managers to make sure that all equipment is set up securely and out of traffic areas between learning environments. You’ll also want to invest in cable management solutions like cable runners if you are planning on running wires/cables through traffic areas.

Book Your Next Professional Event at Canvas House

With thorough planning and practical design considerations, you really can transform any venue into the optimal space for your next training, learning, and development event. But for hosts who want to enjoy a more streamlined planning process, booking a venue space that comes fitted with suitable seminar and learning environments can help make your development event planning a lot easier.

Want to book your next training, learning and development event here at Canvas House? Then get in touch with our team at Canvas House to get the ball rolling on your next corporate event, or check out our other corporate event planning tips for some extra guidance.

The post How to Choose the Right Venue for Training, Learning & Development Events appeared first on Canvas House.

There are also different types of corporate events, so when looking to plan for success, you’ll also need to make sure your event management strategy aligns with the intended purpose of your gathering. Are you there to celebrate with a product launch or an end of year work party? Or is your event more to inform and educate?

At Canvas House, we’ve partnered with local business owners to plan showstopping corporate events for over 20 years collectively. With extensive experience in high-end hospitality, hosting, and event management, our passionate team have designed our seminar venue to meet all the needs of event hosts, facilitators, and attendees.

Today, we’ll be using all of our industry insights to share 5 top questions you should ask when booking a seminar venue for your own seminars in Melbourne. We share this information so you can plan your next seminar events with the utmost confidence.

5 Questions to Ask Before you Book a Seminar Venue

1. What’s the venue capacity?

Capacity is naturally one of the most important factors to consider when booking a seminar venue, because you’ll need to make sure that every single one of your expected attendees can be seated comfortably and in a position where they can actually take in all the fascinating tidbits being delivered by your event speakers.

Your venue managers should be able to clearly answer what the maximum safe capacity is of any given space across their venue. From here, you can tally up the total capacity of all the spaces you’re looking to use to determine whether the seminar venue capacity aligns with your estimated attendee list.

Pro tip: If you can’t find a seminar venue with a large enough capacity that’s still within your budget, consider segmenting your attendee list into different teams or streams. That way, you can schedule seminars simultaneously across smaller cohorts in two separate spaces in your venue throughout the day rather than looking to run one big seminar in a larger space. This strategy is also what prompted us to design our training rooms and meeting rooms for hire here at Canvas House.

2. Is the venue layout adaptable?

If your seminar event is combining traditional conference or seminar formats with some more hands-on workshops or activities, then you’ll definitely want to design your seminar venue space to include a range of environments. Sadly, not all seminar venue spaces can offer this level of adaptability. If your venue manager states rooms cannot be redesigned or that larger pieces of furniture can be shifted, then you may need to look for a more flexible alternative.

This is also an essential question to ask when choosing a venue for team building activities. The last thing you want is to ask people to move in cramped and potentially even hazardous spaces. If you foresee you need open space, then account for a seminar venue that can accommodate not only a higher capacity, but also more floor area per attendee to account for high-movement activities.

3. What AV equipment do you have/can provide?

One of the best, low-stress strategies for planning an event is keeping your list of things to lug around on the ‘day of’ to an absolute minimum. So if you foresee you’ll need a seminar venue with great technical support, it’s also well worth asking them what AV equipment they have on hand for you to utilise.

Seminar venues that can provide high-quality projectors, screens, and Bluetooth-enabled speakers at a minimum, are definitely going to make set-up and pack down processes faster and easier on the day, alongside being able to accommodate third-party devices (i.e. laptops and USBs/hard drives provided by attendees or event speakers/facilitators).

4. What is your catering policy?

For daytime corporate events, it’s common to provide lunch as a way of breaking up the day. Not only will providing catering for corporate lunches help provide structure to all-day seminar events, but you may even find that the added bonus of a catered lunch will attract more attendees to your event. With the right budgeting model, you can work catering costs into your ticket prices, and make sure your seminar event breaks even.

Granted, you will need to make sure your seminar venue accommodates catering services well before you finalise your venue booking. Ask your venue staff if they have kitchen amenities on-site, or if your catering team may need to bring their own kitchen equipment.

If there is no safe area to set up kitchen equipment like hotplates, omelette stations, etc., then you may consider using food trucks to cater your event. Naturally, this catering option is also only feasible if your seminar venue has enough parking on-site to accommodate both event attendees as well as your catering staff and their vehicles.

Pro tip: Ask your venue managers if they have any partnerships with local suppliers like caterers and event designers. You may be able to get some competitive rates on catering services through your event planning team and their wider network. Every little perk can help elevate your event!

5. How accessible is the venue?

Finally, as corporate seminars either run for full- or half-days during the week, you can expect some of your event attendees to be commuting from their office or workplace rather than directly from home. If you are expecting attendees to commute from the CBD, for instance, then you’ll want to make sure your seminar venue is easy enough to locate and access from public transport, ensuring minimal travel times and lower transportation costs.

In a similar vein, booking a seminar venue that comes equipped with a designated spacious loading zone can make it a lot easier to coordinate movements with your event staff (i.e. catering teams, delivery drivers, interior designers). If you’re planning on bringing in your own furnishings and large decor for your seminar event (i.e. stalls, banners, stage dressings, etc.), then ask your venue manager if there is sufficient loading access for all these logistical considerations.

Book Canvas House for your Next Corporate Seminar in Melbourne

Boasting a highly presentable open plan event space that delivers a bright, airy atmosphere plus accompanying private meeting rooms, training spaces, outdoor spaces, and even a full commercial catering kitchen and FOH bar, Canvas House is the ultimate seminar venue for all Melbourne corporate events. Our team of in-house event planners also have extensive experience planning a variety of corporate events, from industry awards nights to seminars, panel discussions, and other networking events.

Want to book Canvas House for your next business seminar? Then get in touch with our passionate events team now. We’d love to speak with you further about how you can elevate your next seminar, corporate parties, and other professional events.

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