Leadership communication tip: What to do first when planning a corporate event

Leadership communication is one of many tasks on your plate if you’re in charge of planning a corporate event. So what should be Job No. 1?

Is your company getting ready for a virtual or in-person event with a series of speakers?

If so, who will write the keynote speech for the CEO?

Will you be the one to do it?

Or will you assign that task to someone else who’s involved with leadership communication?

Maybe you haven’t decided yet. After all, if you’re the one in the marketing department who’s planning the event, you’re buried in a million details.

Leadership communication is just one of them.

You’re in charge of the venue. The food. The logistics. The vendors. The agenda. The speakers. The registrations.

The keynote speech for the CEO is somewhere on your list.

It’ll get done.

But there are so many other tasks you need to do first.

So you put off your decision about the CEO’s speech.

You’ll lock down a few more details, you tell yourself, and vow to address it later.

And then one day?

Later comes.

Later is here.

The event is three weeks away!

And you’ve not focused at all on leadership communication.

The CEO’s speech is still not done.

In fact, it’s not even started!

So what should you do?

Panic? Flee? Resign?

Not so fast!

Before the nightmare above happens to you, take a breath.

If your company has just booked a corporate event with a series of speakers, and you’ve begun to handle all the planning, stop for a moment.

And do first thing’s first.

Not what’s urgent.

But what’s important.

Leadership communication is important. A keynote speech is important. And what’s important to the business deserves attention, thought, creativity, energy – and time – to get it right.

Timing is everything at work and in life.

So what IS the first thing you need to do when planning a corporate event?

Find out in my blog post here.