5 Ways to Ensure a Successful Partner Event
Collaborating with partners and co-hosting events offers numerous advantages, including a broader audience reach, expertise sharing, enhanced credibility, cost savings, and strengthened relationships. Partnering allows organizations to pool their resources. Each partner brings their own networks to the table, which means your event can reach a broader and more diverse group of attendees than if hosted by a single entity. Different partners may have varying areas of expertise and industry knowledge, so collaborating can allow for a richer and more varied content delivery to your event. Not to mention that associating with another reputable organization can lend more credibility to the event. It strengthens the brands of both partners in the eyes of attendees and stakeholders.
While partner events offer a multitude of benefits, they can also present unique challenges. With multiple stakeholders involved, ensuring consistent and clear communication can become complicated. Misunderstandings can lead to misalignments and hinder smooth execution. While partner events can amplify the advantages of collaboration, they also necessitate meticulous planning, clear communication, and robust coordination to manage the complexities that arise from multiple stakeholders coming together. In this post, we'll provide 5 essential best practices for collaborating with partners to ensure your events are a smashing success.
Set expectations
Misunderstandings can lead to mistakes, missed deadlines, and no one showing up for your event. It’s essential to set expectations and clarify the responsibilities and roles of each partner. Set up an initial call with all stakeholders to align on the event. Make sure you cover the following:
Goals - Discuss what your goals are for the event. Swap customer lists and align on your target audience for the event.
Budget - Determine the budget and decide what costs will be split between partners.
Format - Decide what time of day and what aspects your event will include. Will it be a content-heavy event or more for networking? Will there be a full meal included or light bites?
Event size - Set a target registration and attendance number.
Promotions - Decide who will create the landing page and manage registration. Make sure to collect any notes on brand requirements of your partner. At this step, it’s also critical to ensure that all partners are aware of any promotions they will need to send out regarding the event. Align on who will promote and what channels they will promote over. Determine the number of registrations you’d like each partner to bring in and how and when the contact details of registrants will be shared.
Staff - Determine how many attendees from each partner org will attend the event. Make sure not to overpower your guests!
Swag & Design - Share what swag or branded elements you plan to have at the event. It’s important to ensure the branding of all partners is consistently and fairly represented.
Timelines - It’s okay if certain details still need to be figured out. Set a timeline for when things will be decided by and when you plan to start promoting the event.
Once you’ve captured all of this information, create a shared document and send it out to all stakeholders from participating organizations.
2. Host a weekly or bi-weekly check-in call
Let’s face it, we’re all busy and sometimes things can slip, especially when we’re working with people outside of our organization. Set up a call on a regular cadence to keep all stakeholders accountable. It’s best to set this up during your initial call with all of the collaborators. In your check-ins, review any remaining deliverables and keep everyone up to date on current registration numbers.
3. Enable and activate
Make it easy for all partners to promote the event! Share out any email templates, social copy, and email/social banners that you create, so your partner has a starting point to work from for their own promotions. Share success stories for how you're getting event registrations.
4. Create unique tracking links for each partner
When you share the registration link with each partner, make sure it has UTM parameters. These UTM codes will help you track where traffic is coming from. When you update the shared registration list, make sure to include the source of the registration. This can help you understand where you need to push on registration and help encourage partners to boost their promotions.
5. Set up a post-event retro
After the event concludes, hold an immediate post-event retro with all stakeholders and capture all feedback in a document. Review final registration and attendee numbers, the setup, food and beverage, speakers, and any changes you’d make for next time. If the event went well and you’d like to continue working with this partner, now is your time to set up another meeting to discuss future collaborations!
The Bottom Line
In essence, the core of a successful event lies not just in the glamor and glitter, but in the backstage collaborations, thoughtful execution, and the shared visions. The synergy between partners can elevate an event from ordinary to extraordinary.
Ready to take your events to the next level?
PlanWell helps small-team marketers bring their event strategy to life. We’d love to serve as the team within your team and help elevate your event experience. To learn more about our services check out our full list. If you are interested in learning more, you can book a call here.
