How to organize multinational events successfully?

Keeping in mind the count of 6500 different languages in the world, cross-cultural affairs could be daunting. However, if you manage to understand the knowhow of the cultural and business differences, you may be able to put the pieces together. Other things to be kept in the mid broadly comprise of the country’s entry requirements and other relevant rules and regulations. To delve deeper, let us have a look at 9 important factors that can help various kinds of event organizers in successfully managing any multinational event:

Pre-Plan the expectations – The key to any event, whether local or international, begins with a proper and well-defined research. Pre-plan the event in a way to understand what is there to offer and what should people expect.

Consider every factor – from feasibility to safety, and accommodation to function space, making sure that the expectations of the audience are at par with what you have to offer.

Get a world class venue. Period! – Try finalizing a venue keeping ease of reach in mind. Once there is clarity on the budget involved and the location, one can dig deeper into researching other details which could be the different events at the specified time in that specific location, national holidays of the particular region, climate suitability to decide for an indoor or outdoor event, a technology that can be used at the event. You basically need to be totally aware of what is going on in the world to be able to organize a multinational event successfully.

Local Business Environment – You need to utilize the right resources at the right time in your research and negotiations which are crucial for any multinational success. You should be well versed and up-to-date with the local laws and rules for the decided location. Following the regulations and laws allows you to build a lasting reputation and enables you to build good relationships with the local authorities.

Culture – Regardless of culture and location, the golden rule is to understand the audience. Many countries have a mixed-race population with a culturally diverse audience and thus it is important to understand how to empower diversity in your event theme to ensure the event meets its objectives.

Talk to Peers – The invitation designed should be pragmatic. If you are targeting audiences from other countries, the invitation should be sent out much in advance with clear directions of how to reach the venue. Fix deadlines for registration or purchasing tickets keeping in inclusion timing standards of the target countries from where the attendees are expected, to be well prepared of your audience strength, to avoid any last moment surprises.

Having said that, you could make adequate reservations and transport facilities for invitees well in advance. You could speak to people who have already hosted similar events in the same place giving you an overview of certain things you may seem to have skipped.

Food – Most common yet essential area for feedback is the food offered at any event. Meals and drinks should be decided in accordance with the time frame and nature of your event.

“Fork buffet or finger food?” is the question. You can prepare for this once you have identified your audience. Multi-cuisine should be a good option if one is expecting a mix of customs. Vegetarian or non-vegetarian meals, special diets, hot or cold beverages, each decision should be sensitively considered keep the target countries and diversity of the attendees expected. Being creative and offering quality meals keeps the audience from feeling food deprived, so keeping standard options adds to the beautiful memory of the multinational event.

Marketing – Promoting your event on social media is not subject to boundaries. It is a platform well recognized globally. Setting the right location and target audience for your campaign will improve your visibility in the particular country keeping your budgets low.

Your marketing needs to begin well in advance. If using offline marketing channels, try focusing and promoting in both, native language and English. Even though English is known as the global language, it is always advisable to promote in the native language keeping the nature of your event and target audience in mind.

Tie-ups with a good PR company in the particular region would be an advisable option as they would be aware of all guidelines as well as channels for effective promotions, tie-ups with reasonable vendors offering the best quality of service, approaching the right caterers and local speakers if required for your event. Having the support of both local and international people is essential for a good marketing strategy.

Event Day – After meticulous Planning and organizing, when the final day comes, A to-do checklist always works for even the most complex events and with technology replacing the traditional ways, everything is just a click away.

All organizers are connected and information can be passed within a fraction of seconds. For any event, especially multinational ones, you need to be flexible. Flexibility is key when considering start times, attendees, seating options and much more. Domestic soil or foreign shores, things can and often go wrong so, one needs to just be prepared. It is critical to value relations in any multinational events and caters to strong networking across these borders that would be fruitful in the long run. Event risk assessments can help alleviate these challenges and help understand where the weak links of an event plan can exist.

Feedback – Last but not the least a reality check of the entire event helps improve future event management.

The customer is king for any business and an event’s success depends solely on the feedback of the audience. A real-time evaluation and follow-up is important to understand if you were able to deliver value from your event. This will also help develop a database for future references.

Your success or failure in the event industry will depend on the feedback received. A positive feedback works like a client testimonial whereas a negative feedback can prove to be a weak link potentially affecting later event organizing projects.

Perfect pre-planning, a dedicated team, flexibility and a robust follow-up would work as your event’s success parameters. Give Explara a try to make your multinational events successful. Schedule a 20-minute demo to know how to get the best ROI out of your events, conferences, exhibitions/ trade shows and more.