While running a business event is a proud moment for your firm, the bigger the event gets, the more chaotic it can become if you don’t have a plan for how people move around your space. You’ve probably been to events where everyone’s bunched up by the entrance while the rest of the venue sits empty, or where the networking area feels packed-in because nobody thought about how guests would actually walk through the place. That’s before we even begin talking about staggered entry or security checks.
Getting people flow right doesn’t seem like a tough ask, but it does require thinking about your event from the perspective of someone who’s never been there before and has no idea where anything is. Thankfully, you just need to plan a little, and if you do you can guide people through your event without making them feel like they’re being pushed around or managed too heavily.
Good practice means you should be able to handle fifty people or five hundred, but you have to know the principles of planning first. In this post, we’ll help you with that.
Think About Your Registration & Welcome Area
The first impression people get of your event happens the moment they walk through the door, and if that moment involves standing in a long line or trying to figure out where they’re supposed to go, not being met with a simple or a handy sign, you’ve already started on the wrong foot. Put up a registration area with easy referring lists and badge passes to process people quickly, and you’ll give a nice first impression.
You could also set up multiple check-in stations instead of one central desk, which spreads people out more to reduce the waiting time. Having clear signage that people can see from a distance helps too, because nobody wants to wander around a fun event looking lost.
Plan Some Gathering Spots
People want to congregate with one another in an event space, and you can’t force them to keep moving without stopping ever. Remember that people naturally want to gather and chat, but they will probably do it in the worst possible places like right in front of doorways or at the bottom of staircases unless you give them better options.
Setting up conversation areas with comfortable seating or high-top tables, allowing access to the cafeteria or networking space, and having chaperones to gently request people move to the main areas will help you avoid making the walkways blocked. Also keep in mind that if you plan to book corporate event photographer coverage, you need to give them space to set up and cover the event.
Plan Your Presentation & Activity Transitions
Consider people surges between presentations or activities, where events will either flow smoothly or turn into chaos. That usually comes down to whether you’ve thought through how people will move from one thing to the next. If everyone’s sitting in rows for a presentation, how many doors you open or where you let people out will matter. Always keep an eye on fire evacuation safety of course.
You can also use clear announcements about what’s happening next and where people should go, as most people will be conducive to that. You just have to be very clear and have a sensible plan, with areas you can manage overflow.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily manage the flow of people at your business event.
