The Value of Third-Party Event Support
Many businesses and corporations are faced with limited or restricted budgets and overstretched staff when it comes to planning and organising events. As a result, they consider outsourcing vital tasks and bring in third-party event support. Third-party meeting planners are engaged by organisations to either fully deliver an event (if the meeting planning expertise does not exist inside an organisation) or to supplement an internal team. Today, like never before, third-party event support has become a much-needed extension for many organisations.
What is third-party event support?
The range of services that third-party event planners offer can vary greatly depending on your needs. Third-party planners work with all types of organisations in all capacities to support teams that need additional hands with their event planning.
Services can include:
Contract negotiations
Third-party event research & recommendations
Registration
Production and design
Copywriting
Supplier liaison
Event deliverables
Support can come in the form of an agency organising one or two planners to work directly with an in-house corporate team in their office or remotely for an agreed time - sometimes once or twice a week. Third-party planners are able to come in at any part of the planning process from helping to implement the event in the early planning stages to managing event strategies, further along, all services are able to take some of the pressure off any in-house teams. If you’re looking to attend a third-party event as a sponsor and need an expert around to work as an extension of your team, third-party event support can come with many perks from planning, negotiating and strategy to end-to-end hands-on contract management.
What value does third-party event support add?
By engaging third-party planners in the early stages and business planning phases of an event, clients can benefit from the experience and knowledge of best practices from previous similar events that planners have previously worked on. Third-party planners may also bring an entirely different perspective to an event that a client may have overlooked. An internal events planner will understand his or her organisation but may not have a vast array of out-of-company comparisons to draw from – a definite benefit of working with a third-party planner.
One of the largest values of working alongside a third-party planner is the network of established relationships they have with vendors and venues. Having a network of event industry professionals at their fingertips, when combined with their expertise in event project management, it begins to explain and show the value as to why some in-house planners bring in third-party event support to their own team.
In addition to identifying preferred venues, negotiating vendor pricing, and managing event registrations, a third-party planner can work closely with a client to develop a strategic and cost-effective plan that communicates the company’s message. The third-party planner may also be an expert in a specific field such as pharmaceutical, tech, or financial services or may be a generalist with experience in a variety of organisations. Planners’ skills also range from incentive programs to conference planning and management, corporate events, fundraising initiatives, special events and much more.
How can Sleek support?
Sleek’s team of event experts currently work with a range of organisations with third-party event support. From venue research to working closely with clients to develop ongoing event strategies and more, Sleek’s team are able to come in to support and provide the team with a varied range of activities to help in-house teams with that extra set of hands they need to get the most out of their event strategies.
If you’re curious about how Sleek can support you with third-party event support, reach out to us here. Alternatively, download Sleek’s first white paper Rebuilding Your Events Calendar Into 2021 & Beyond to review strategies around resetting, restarting and rebuilding your event calendar.