If you’re thinking of hosting a business event, have you considered having this over breakfast? This might not be the first idea you have for your corporate business event, but, it could be an intuitive idea that’s very successful for your company. That’s because breakfast events provide little disruption to your attendee’s days, allowing them to carry on with their day-to-day business activities straight after your event.
However, in order to host a successful breakfast meeting, there are a few things that you’ll need to take care of.
Coffee is a Must!
Not everyone who is attending your event is going to be a morning person and many of them will probably need a caffeine kick to get them started. So, serving good, hot coffee is absolutely imperative at your breakfast meeting. Make sure it’s available for your guests as soon as they arrive and try not to serve below-average coffee. And, don’t forget to serve teas (including herbal varieties) for those guests who prefer this instead.
Offer a Balanced Breakfast
If you’re hosting a breakfast event, the chances are that your guests are going to be expecting some kind of breakfast offerings from you. They’ll no doubt have skipped breakfast in anticipation, so it’s vital that you offer them some wholesome options when they arrive.
Offer a selection of fruits, cereals, yoghurts and granola bars for the health-conscious guests and muffins, croissants and other pastries for those who want to indulge their appetites at breakfast. Equally, if you are wanting to serve a full breakfast, it’s better to do this once all of your guests are seated so there aren’t any interruptions to your event. A buffet breakfast may take too long for this type of event.
Have Some Lively Entertainment
A lot of us will need a kick start in the morning so why not have some lively entertainment on the go for when the guests arrive. Inspire yourself with some ideas on entertainment (find it on Poet.co) and choose something that’s in-fitting with your company. Or, you could just nominate once of your colleagues who’s a lively speaker so they can get everyone involved and motivated right from the start.
Have Some Questions Ready
If you are having a speaker at your event, it’s a good idea to have some questions prepared for when they’ve finished to get the Q&A session off to a good start. Familiarize yourself with the speaker’s content and jot down some valuable questions that you think may help everyone else who’s attending the event. If you do find that people are reluctant to ask questions once the speaker has finished, lead by example to get them all going.
Make Sure There Are Networking Opportunities
Business events are all about networking but in a morning, this can often be a difficult ask. Unlike evening events where some guests are fueled with a glass of wine, you may find that your attendees are a little more reluctant early on in the morning. That’s why it’s important to introduce networking opportunities at the right time so people aren’t gazing at you with their eyes glazed over as they wait for their coffee to kick in!
To stimulate some networking, ask your guests to leave their business cards with you at the beginning of the event. Ask them if there’s anyone that they’d be interested in meeting, and if there is, ask some staff members to hand out these business cards accordingly.
Try to encourage guests to hand out business cards to each other too as this could help the shier guests to start talking to others that are sat around them. And, try to mix up the tables so that different companies / industries are sat together.
Don’t Keep Your Guests Too Long
As mentioned previously, one of the perks of having a breakfast meeting is that you’re not encroaching too much into your guest’s days. So, don’t push your luck by letting the event run over schedule. People will have planned their days so it’s important that they’re able to leave at the scheduled time.
Finally, don’t forget to send thank-you emails to everyone who has attended. Ask them for their feedback on what they thought the event was like and whether they found it beneficial to have the meeting in the morning. Finally, ask them what they’d like to see next time so you can make sure your next breakfast event is even better than the last.
