You will be able to plan an event from invitation to follow-up.
Arjun once organised a small evening talk for young couples. He booked a room, sent an invitation to his whole client list by email, and on the night three people turned up. One of them took photos of the room and posted them, with other guests in the shot, before Arjun could say anything. Afterwards he meant to follow up, but a busy week followed, and by the time he got to it, the moment had passed.
Every one of those problems could have been avoided with a plan made before the event. This lesson takes you through planning a small client event from the invitation to the follow-up.
Start with your clients' schedules and work out when they are free and most likely to come.
Practice managers are busy during clinic hours but can sometimes manage an early breakfast before the clinic opens. Young parents with a new baby find evenings hard and may prefer a weekend morning, perhaps somewhere they can bring the baby. Business owners might prefer a lunch near their office. Ask a few clients directly if you're not sure. It's a quick question and it also tells them something is coming.
Choose a place that's easy to reach, quiet enough to talk, and comfortable for your group size. A private room at a cafe or restaurant, a meeting room at your office, or a function room in a community space all work. Wei Ling uses a cafe with a back room near Novena, central for her clinic clients. Arjun now uses a family-friendly cafe in Tampines on Saturday mornings.
Match the format to the topic: a short talk with discussion for a practical problem, a breakfast or lunch when the topic is lighter and the point is getting to know people. Keep it to around an hour, or an hour and a half at most, so busy people can fit it in.
A mass email to your whole client list feels like marketing, and people treat it that way. Arjun's three attendees were proof.
Send invitations personally instead, to the specific people you want there. A short WhatsApp message or email to each, using their name and saying why you thought of them: "Hi Siew Mei, I'm hosting a small breakfast for practice managers on 14 November, with a short talk on handling the Monday rush. I thought of you because of our chat last month. Would you like to come? Feel free to bring a colleague from another clinic." Follow up a few days before with a reminder to those who said yes.
Personal invitations take longer, but they get far more acceptances, and they make guests feel chosen rather than counted.
Events involve personal data: names, phone numbers, email addresses, dietary needs, sometimes photos. The PDPA applies to all of it, as lesson 5.3, Consent comes first, explained for referrals.
Collect only the personal data you need to run the event: a name and a way to contact them, perhaps dietary needs for food. Tell guests how you'll use it, for example, "I'll use your number to send the event details and a follow-up afterwards." Don't add guests to a mailing list or a group chat unless they agree to it.
Photos need particular care. If you plan to post photos from the event on LinkedIn or anywhere else, tell guests beforehand and ask before taking photos you'll post. Some people won't want to appear, and that's their right. A simple way is to say at the start, "I'd like to take a few photos to post afterwards. If you'd rather not be in them, just let me know," and then respect it. The PDPC website has guidance on photos and consent if you want the details.
For guests your clients bring, ask the guests themselves, rather than assuming the client who invited them has agreed for them.
Most event follow-up fails because nobody planned it. After the event, you're tired and busy, and the follow-up slips.
So plan it before the event, and put it in your calendar. Decide what you'll send, to whom and when. A thank-you to every guest within two days. Any material you promised during the talk, such as a checklist or slides. A personal note of thanks to each client who brought a guest. And for guests who showed interest, a short message suggesting a further conversation, written the way lesson 4.3, Suggesting the meeting without the hard sell, described.
Write the thank-you message before the event, and leave a gap for one personal line per guest, based on what you talked about.
All of this fits on one page. Wei Ling's plan for her breakfast reads: date and time, venue, topic and talk outline, guest list with plus-ones, invitation message, photo and data approach, and follow-up plan with dates.
In the activity below, you'll write an event plan with date, venue, topic, invitation message and follow-up plan.
Write an event plan with date, venue, topic, invitation message and follow-up plan.
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