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Inviting your guests
The most beautifully planned and executed event in the world is pointless unless people come. Alongside your media and advertising promotions, you should also personally invite guests to attend. Here’s how to prepare invitations that most likely get a positive response.
Step 1: Plan the guest list
Carefully plan your guest list. Consider who to invite from your organisation, other industry colleagues, media, experts and other interested parties. Once you know who you plan to invite, their needs and interests will dictate how you write and design the invitations.
Step 2: Write the invitation
Your invitation should grab attention: there’s no point writing it if people don’t read it. Think about what would be most attractive about your event to your guests, and highlight that first.
Step 3: Stick to your brand
Your invitation must be aligned with your brand. If you are planning the Annual General Meeting for a mortgage-brokering company, don’t write “Howdy folks, hustle on in to our hoe-down” on the invitation. It may grab attention, but the damage to your event, your brand and your own reputation for professionalism and intelligence will be swift and permanent.
Step 4: Use your theme
Incorporate your theme into the design and colours of the invitation and, if appropriate, into your language.
Step 5: List the facts
The invitation should include all the vital information. Include the type of event, who’s running it, the date and time, the RSVP date, contact details, venue address and parking details.
Step 6: Send the invitations
Decide whether to send your invitations out by post, or to email them. Email obviously saves time, money and trees. But on the other hand, it’s difficult to format an email so that looks good on all computer screens and email software, and - particularly for more formal and more expensive events - you’ll often get a better response if you mail out printed invitations.
You might also want to consider sending a follow-up reminder to guests if they don’t respond to your invitation and also a reminder to guests who do RSVP, just a few days before the event, to remind them that they are attending.
