Irrespective of the nature of your business dealings, the core reason to hold a networking event is to leave a positive and uplifting first impression on your guests, both of yourself and of the business as a whole.

Whether it is your first time hosting such an event, or you have been with the company for many years but want to expand into networking to grow the business, you have come to the right place.

Read on to learn how to host your company’s very first networking event.

Create a Budget & Stick to It

As every business-minded person knows, anything related to the company requires financial consideration and a networking evening is definitely no exception. If you are not careful, you will end up going perhaps even significantly over budget, which will tarnish the level of your success.

Naturally, the more people of influence and business leaders in your field or community who attend your event, the better, so be sure not to narrow down the focus of the evening too much, so it appeals to the maximum number of people.

Venue is Priority Number 1

The location of your venue will make or break whether some of your invitees choose to attend the event or not, so make sure wherever you choose is central to transport links, near affordable parking facilities and generally easy to find for everyone.

Hiring a venue takes different forms and some will include decorations, food etc as standard, but if you are essentially looking for a large room available for you to do what you like with, then you also need to hire event caterers to take care of your guests.

There are a few essential prerequisites necessary to bear in mind when looking into professional caterers for business party clients, including:

• Look for efficiency over aesthetics
• Make sure they listen to what you actually want
• Be as accurate you can be with your head count
• Check out reviews and speak to past clients

Event Promotion

Unless you are confident that at least eighty-five percent of your invitees will actually arrive on the night, then event promotion is an absolute-must.

Venue permitting, the more guests, the better and so visibility needs to be a high priority, especially online. Make sure that you promote the networking event on both your professional social media sites as well as your personal ones and that the company website contains a link to find out more information.

Personalize Your Invitations

Only when you have booked the venue, finalized the structure of the evening and earmarked refreshments and entertainment are you ready to send out your invitations.

Upon first read, this might seem the wrong way round, but the idea of a networking event is to encourage potential clients, employees and partners to a fully formed, multi-beneficial evening and it is far easier to persuade them to come when everything is sorted.

Finally, make sure you and other company representatives take advantage of the evening and network with people on both a personal and a professional level.