Plan the perfect gathering with our twelve-step launch event checklist.
Launch your product or app with a party
Whether you’re launching a new product or app you really can’t beat a well-organised party. Great atmosphere, a stylish venue, and the chance to network with exciting businesses and industry leaders – what’s not to love?
Launch events (also known as launch parties) give you the opportunity to showcase your innovation to the media, local business community, potential clients, and investors. A well-executed launch event can generate lasting goodwill, valuable press coverage, and positive buzz around your brand.
So, to help make your event as successful as possible, we’ve put together a checklist that covers all the steps for planning, organising and hosting a launch party. This list is based on years of our team’s expertise in organising both our own events, and events for clients.
Launch Event Checklist
Our launch event checklist has twelve items for you to work through before the big day, including:
- Define your goals
- Allow yourself enough time
- Pick a venue
- Set the time and date
- Create a guest-list and send invitations
- Make sure your branding is on point
- Be original
- Make it fun
- Be active on social media
- Think logistics
- Manage the event
- Have a backup plan
ONE: Define your goals
Planning the perfect launch event starts with having clear objectives. What are you trying to achieve? Do you want media coverage? Leads? Brand awareness? Investor interest? And what will your guests get out of attending? Having a clear purpose will help shape your every decision, from picking your venue choice to writing the invite list. It’ll also help you to evaluate the event afterwards, allowing you to determine if it was worth the investment while giving you areas to work on for improving future events.
TWO: Allow yourself enough time
If you’re planning an event to align with a particular date or campaign, make sure you start early enough to get everything organised on time. Get everything ready well in advance, because booking venues, securing suppliers, sending invites, etc. can sometimes take longer than you might expect. To avoid last-minute stress the advice is pretty simple: start as early as possible.
THREE: Pick a venue
Make sure to choose a venue that reflects your brand and can comfortably accommodate your guests. There’s a lot to think about like location, layout, accessibility, and atmosphere – so try to view as many venues as possible. While this might seem like extra work, it will really help you to make an informed decision on what’s best for your needs. Some venues might even inspire you with a great idea for your event, so make sure to chat to the venue staff to grab their advice on anything you’re unsure about.
FOUR: Set the time and date
Getting the timing right can make the difference between having a packed event and an empty room. Pick a time and date that’s most convenient for your guests, not just what suits you (otherwise you might miss out on some influential people coming – it can even be worth checking people’s schedules in advance if you can!). Be mindful of what else might be going on (holidays or festivals), and consider how your guests will fit your event around their work schedule. You can also ask your host venue for guidance here, as they’ll probably have a wealth of experience from past events on what works best.
FIVE: Create a guest-list and send invitations
Be ruthlessly selective. Your guests should be potential influencers and brand ambassadors: journalists, tech bloggers, industry experts, researchers, sector-relevant figures. Keep it realistic. You don’t need 100 people, and you’re unlikely to see A-listers like Tom Cruise just because you’ve launched an app. If you’re unsure who to invite, speak to an expert. Make sure to give an RSVP date (you can always invite more guests later on).
SIX: Make sure your branding is on point
Anything and everything about your event should represent your startup’s values and visual identity. Incorporate your brand colours into any decorations, and make sure your logo is on any promotional material.
SEVEN: Be original
Many of your guests will spend a lot of time at press days and events; you need to make sure yours stands out. The more original you can be, the better. Show off your creativity, and don’t forget things like music and entertainment. It’s also worth considering ways to integrate your new product or innovation into the event (i.e., try to get your guests to try your product or app).
EIGHT: Make it fun (but not too much fun)
While you can’t buy good media coverage with a fun event, it certainly doesn’t do any harm. Remember that your guests are giving up their time to be there. That means no long and boring speeches. Try to keep presentations short ( and make sure to add some interactive elements (especially opportunities to get hands-on with your product or app). Do what you can to help people engage and play with it in a natural way. Food and drink should also be a given, and if you can stretch to a goodie bag, even better! Just remember the goal isn’t fun for fun’s sake: it’s to build excitement, trust and momentum around your launch.
NINE: Be active on social media
Create your own hashtag and include it on any promotional material so you can interact with anyone who’s talking about your events. Live stream, and share pictures and short videos from your event to pique the interest of others. After all, this is your chance to make the world curious about your brand!
TEN: Think logistics
Plan out all the practical details for your guests, like how they will make their way to and from your event. If you can’t arrange transport, make it easy for them to do it themselves. Include maps, and details of local hotels in your invite and make sure to follow up by resending reminders with key information.
ELEVEN: Manage the event
Either give specific roles and responsibilities to your team members, or hire an event planner to make things run smoothly. Make sure you also you have visible staff on hand to help guests with any queries.
Also consider keeping the reception area open throughout the event, not just when guests arrive. That way, there’ll always be somewhere people can go to ask questions, or to leave luggage.
TWELVE: Have a back-up plan
It’s rare for a live event to run totally smoothly. Consider in advance what you’ll do if certain people can’t make it, or an integral part of the event doesn’t go to plan. Make sure you brief your team thoroughly so they know what to do should anything go wrong.
There’s a lot to remember, but it’s not impossible! Our best advice is to be really organised, allow yourself loads of time, and write lots of lists so you don’t forget anything. Get it right, and a launch event could be the perfect way to kick off your startup with a bang. Good luck!
Would you like Luminous to help publicise your launch event? Get in touch, or connect with the team on LinkedIn.
By Amanda Bunn
Amanda is a strategic communications leader with over two decades’ of experience delivering award-winning PR campaigns for global consumer brands to helping ambitious startups build brand awareness, authority and momentum.
Meet Amanda
