Most corporate décor problems are not décor problems. They are briefing problems that only became visible at 6pm on setup day. A brief takes about thirty minutes to write and removes most of the ways a corporate event goes wrong.
What a brief is, and is not
A décor brief is a short written document telling your decorator what the event is for, what it must achieve, and what the fixed constraints are. It is not a design. You are not describing centrepieces — that is their job. You are describing the problem so that what they design solves it.
What goes wrong without one
- Brand colours reproduced from memory, and slightly wrong, in every printed element.
- A beautiful backdrop that turns out to be in the shot for every press photograph, with the logo cropped.
- Staging that blocks the sightline from the back third of the room.
- A setup crew arriving at a time the building's security has not been told about.
- An invoice with items nobody remembers approving, because nobody wrote down what was in scope.
Every one of those is a briefing gap rather than a competence gap.
What to include
1. The objective, in one sentence
Not "our annual dinner" but "a thank-you to two hundred clients that reinforces us as the premium option in our sector". A product launch, an internal town hall, an awards night and a client dinner all want different rooms, and this sentence is what tells your decorator which one to build.
2. Who is in the room
Number of guests, and who they are — staff, clients, press, regulators, government. It changes the seating logic, the formality, and how much of the budget belongs near the entrance.
3. The venue, in detail
Name, room, floor. Room dimensions and ceiling height if you have them. Fixed features you cannot change. Load-in access and lift dimensions. Available power. Whether the venue restricts open flame, adhesives on walls, or ceiling rigging — this list, obtained early, prevents an enormous amount of wasted design work.
4. Brand assets and rules
Send the actual files. Vector logo, exact colour values, approved fonts, and the brand guideline document if one exists. "Our blue" is not a specification. If there is a rule about clear space around the logo or which lock-up is approved, say so now rather than after printing.
5. What must be branded, and where the cameras point
Be specific: step-and-repeat, stage backdrop, lectern, table numbers, screen holding slides, signage. Then say where photography and video will happen. The single most valuable line in a corporate décor brief is which surface will be behind the speakers in every photograph.
6. The run of show
Rough timings: guest arrival, seated dinner, presentations, awards, networking. A room that has to convert from presentation rows to dinner rounds in twenty minutes is a completely different décor problem, and your decorator needs to know before they design, not on the day.
7. Access and timings
Setup window, sound check, guest arrival, breakdown deadline. Names and numbers for venue and building security. Any restriction on working hours or lift access. This section prevents more disasters than any other.
8. Budget
Give a real figure or a real range. Withholding it does not get you a better price; it gets you a proposal designed for the wrong event, and then two rounds of revisions. A decorator who knows your number designs to it.
9. Approvals
Who signs off, and by when. Corporate events stall here more than anywhere else — a design waiting three weeks for a decision loses the setup slot, and rush charges follow.
Name one decision-maker. A design approved by committee arrives late and pleases nobody in particular.
A brief you can copy
- Event: name, date, start and end time
- Objective: one sentence
- Guests: number and profile
- Venue: name, room, access, power, restrictions
- Brand: files attached; colour values; rules
- Branded surfaces required: list
- Photography/video: where it happens
- Run of show: rough timings
- Setup window: from / to; breakdown deadline
- Budget: figure or range
- Approver: name, and deadline for sign-off
- Non-negotiables: anything that absolutely must be true
One page. That is the whole thing.
The one line most briefs are missing
What does success look like the morning after? A clean write-up in the business press needs a different room from three hundred good phone photographs, which needs a different room again from a leadership team that felt the company invested in them. Say which one you are being measured on.
Running a corporate event in Lagos? Send us your brief — or send us the fragments you have and we will ask you the rest.
The Ma'jestik Events Team
We plan, decorate, cater and staff events across Lagos — from our office at 16 Shobande Street, Akoka, Yaba. More about us.
