Event Marketing

Bring Notable Vendors On-Board With A Fine-Tuned Request-For-Proposal!

Eventually Learning Team

06 September 2022

Read time 5 Minutes 5 Seconds

In order to ensure that your attendees enthusiastically participate and engage with your event, crafting a unique and out-of-the-box event experience is a must! You might have several ideas about the ways you can make this happen for your upcoming hybrid event but without the support of talented and experienced vendors – these would just remain creative ideas and never get implemented.

This is where your Request-For-Proposal (RFP) will come handy. An RFP will be the official document that can be released on your website or can be directly sent to several vendors. Your RFP will facilitate a vendor on boarding process that brings you multiple vendor choices from which you can choose the most cost-effective, attendee-friendly and event-specific option. In short, your RFP is the simplified way of going through the lengthy process of evaluating vendors, setting up financial budgets and soliciting bids.

We have collated a few points that must be incorporated in your RFP to find the best-fit vendors for your event.

Define a Clear Path

Get together with your in-house Events Marketing, Management and Orchestration team including the Event Operations technologists, Events Marketing Managers, Marketing Team, Sales Team and others from your organization who can provide a better perspective on your target audience and their needs. Once you have had in-depth discussions over the flow of the event – you will know the additional requirements for it. The objective of your event (corresponding to the list of requirements) can be provided by the vendors you choose. Make sure your objective, ideals, vision and mission for your event is clearly charted in the RFP document.

Bizzabo’s partnership with Acronis for the Acronis Global Cyber Summit 2020 leveraged powerful integrations and data to create an enhanced event experience.

Compose Strategic Requests

While planning a hybrid event and considering vendor onboarding, the best-for-use event technology, logistics and engagement strategy are three of the most important goals that must be secured. Mention these in your RFP! Include specifications of the event technology required for your hybrid event. Your virtual platform, the inter-connectivity between your virtual platform and your in-person venue are the subjects of concern that must be covered. Include Engagement channels for hybrid events that can help the attendees present at the venue network with their peers connected through the virtual medium as well.

As the in-person events have kick-started with vigor and energy – choosing a venue that can be prepped for extensive networking facilities and cut-throat technology for the enthusiastic attendees, can tremendously boost the event experience for your attendees. Reach out to niche hotels, vendors for event technology, logistics partners and more through your formatted RFP to get the specific requests across.

Notify the Vendors about Your Evaluation Measures

Strategic vendor management comes into play here. Your RFP is going to attract proposals that will correspond to its quality. Your vendors should be kept in the clear about the quality check measures your team will carry out so that they can present their proposals as per your event’s needs. Add specific points in your RFP that will lead them to understand how you are planning to tailor your event as per your attendees’ requirements. Give your to-be vendors a fair idea of the budgetary range and your financial value that will be invested in the event. They can compare this with the requirements given by you in your RFP to draft a proposal that falls under the guidelines mentioned.

Wrapping up – The Perfect RFP

As an Event Organizer – you know your event better than anyone! Your attendee demographics, event-goals, revenue and budgets are all important factors of consideration before vendor onboarding. There is no perfect RFP template that one can follow as every event is unique and so every RFP should be exclusive.

What is expected of your RFP? It needs to be clear, concise and to-the-point. Make sure there are no factual errors in the RFP that will mislead the vendors and create confusion. Let’s make your event a success by drafting a brilliant RFP!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an example of an event where a unique RFP was used?

The Virtual Youth Co:Lab Summit 2021 is an event that successfully garnered support from vendors and event technology partners by releasing a specific brief RFP that circled around all the event needs including the specific budget details, unique technology requirements and personalized attendee data touch points to create more engagement possibilities through the virtual medium.

What are the different purposes that an RFP is issued for?

In the events industry, an RFP is mainly issued to get vendors on-board. The RFP is also directed towards the hospitality industry and hotel owners for the in-person events venue booking. It is also sent to varied event technology providers in case of both live and hybrid events. The RFP helps event organizers bidding for the best-fit vendor positions.

What do the terms RFI and RFQ mean?

An RFI means ‘Request for Information’. An RFI is released when an organization is considering on planning an event but has not solidified the plan yet. The RFIs are usually given less weightage as it does not turn into a vendor or supplier conversion many of the times. An RFQ is ‘Request for Quotation’, that is sent by the vendors to get the exact and specific budgetary details so that they can plan and put forth their services accordingly.