In corporate event planning, the event planner organizes the event and the on-site contact manages the function. As a result, the communication between the planner and her contact needs to be flawless. The on-site contact may not have the opportunity to call the planner with questions, especially for after-hour events. The communication between the two occurs in mostly one form: the banquet event order (BEO).

BEO

An event's BEO is a form outlining all of the event's details, including instructions for the evening and the menu and wine choices. The BEO is printed by the corporate event planner. The corporate event planner will then use the BEO to confirm the details with the facility planner. Finally, within a few days of the event, the corporate event planner will pass the BEO along to the on-site contact to review all of the details. Any questionable information will be worked out between the corporate planner and on-site contact. The on-site contact may touch base with the facility planner to review all the details from the venue's side.

Resume

In event planning, a resume is a printed document describing a staff's hotel assignments when traveling. A resume comes in handy when a large number of staff members are traveling to a conference.

A hotel may also print a resume to keep track of a company's staff. The resume is distributed to all departments in the hotel and is useful to determine in-room charges, the length of stay, and VIP staff. The accounting department will also be given a resume.

Event planners often use computer software specifically designed for organizing events. The software can be used to create a BEO and a resume, as well as create a template for tracking other information and details. Most software can run on both Mac and PC operating systems. See Appendix B for a list of event-planning software.

The BEO and resume are great tools for confirming event information. In corporate event planning, the details are passed mainly between three people: the corporate planner, the on-site contact, and the facility planner. In some cases, a facility event planner may replace her own event sheet with the corporate planner's BEO. Since so many people rely on this information, it's critical that everyone be on the same page.

Corporate events require a different type of event planner. A corporate event planner is the nucleus of a corporation's events — all details and communication flow through her. Since corporate event planners often do not attend events they plan, they must rely on feedback from the on-site coordinator. The corporate planner can utilize this criticism when planning future events.