Advice On Planning An Event
Thursday, November 18th, 2010Planning your event should start with an idea of who your guests will be and what type of experience you intend for them to have. It will be very important to define this goal early on as it will guide everything that is done throughout the planning process. This guidance will be crucial not only to delivering an event as promised, but also to avoid falling into the trap of creating an event that is larger than you had intended. A clearly defined goal will also provide guidance as to the promotion and venue for the event.
Proper planning and forethought is the hallmark of a successful event. Depending on the size of your event, planning may start a full year ahead of the event date, but should never take place less than one full month before the planned date to allow for scheduling of a venue, and for proper scheduling of any vendors. For very large events, detailed timelines should be created to develop a planning schedule outlining when contracts can be signed.
Planning an event may also involve coordinating and managing people that will assist in the process. Very large events may have several different coordinators in charge of specific aspects of the event planning process. It will be of great benefit to develop a list of duties that need to be carried out, and then evaluate whether each item can be handled on your own or if that should be delegated either to an event volunteer/employee, or a specific vendor.
Developing a budget is one of the most important tasks, as it will ensure that the event will happen as planned. The cost of a venue, audio/visual equipment, tables and chairs, and possibly advertising will need to be calculated. There are a myriad of other expenses that may crop up during the planning process as well such as permits, lighting, security, entertainment and the list goes on. When the cost exceeds your budget it is time to downscale the event.
The number of people that attend your event may be governed by several factors. Sometimes, the number is set, such as when the invitees are employees and attendance is mandatory, other times the number of attendees has to be estimated based on the number of invitations, or based on results from past events. In either case, it is important to size the venue appropriately. If it is too large compared to the number of people, it will appear that there was a lack of interest, or that the event was a failure. It is better to downsize the venue for this reason, and to save on expenses.
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