Are you planning events for the business world as product launches, conferences, seminars, etc.? If so, consult these seven successful event planner practices.
It is easy to reject these points thinking that they are trivial. I thought too, once. I learned better when I had events separate because I chose to ignore these simple guidelines.
# 1: Make sure the information flows freely through your team
You rarely do the planning of events in isolation. You will almost always have a team of people who you have delegated various responsibilities.
It is very easy to make assumptions that everyone knows what the event is all about and how they make links with what everyone does. Both hypotheses can be totally incorrect.
At the very beginning of event planning efforts, take the time to share the goal of your event and your overall plan to execute it with each of your team members. It is better to do them all together to do that explaining.
On an ongoing basis, having regular meetings to assess progress so everyone is aware of all aspects of the event.
# 2: Double check on speakers and all other performers
Sometimes you have events where the main speaker delivers his wonderfully well message, except that he said had nothing to do with the goal of the event!
Network with other event planners, find out who would be a good speaker for the event you plan. Someone could be an excellent speaker for an event, but not necessarily for another.
Ask the President of the references. Discover as much as you can of these references. Ask them how many times they heard him speak. What have they liked about his performance? What did they like? Do they have a special relationship with the speaker (which could color their opinion)?
# 3: Make a detailed planning with a chronology
In an attempt to organize a large event as at random is to flirt with a catastrophe. You must have a written calendar of all pre-event tasks, with specific dates for completion and specific people responsible for completing it.
This may seem very basic, but it’s one of the things that cause events to fail.
# 4: Read fine printing, know completely
As an event planner, you may expose yourself to financial and other serious risks if you are not quite familiar with all aspects of the event.
This includes all contracts that you sign, all written instructions, orders and more. Since you are the event planner, you are supposed to be the expert from all these areas.
# 5: Do you have a crystalline purpose for the event
Did you attend a seminar where the subject was too broad and that the speakers seemed to talk about the subject on a disconnected way? That’s what happens when you miss a goal clarity about the event.
Is the event aimed at being a strategic planning retirement for senior management? Is it a seminar to bring up-to-date health professionals on developments in a specialized field?
If it is a product launch, exactly what the event is the event expected?
Only when you and your team know the main objectives can you organize a targeted event that meets these objectives.
# 6: Buy Event Insurance
Think about what could disturb your event and what your responsibilities would be in such a case.
Disturbances may include strikes, natural calamities, speakers that do not show up, radically reduced presence and more. Determine the monetary and legal consequences. And get insurance to cover it.
# 7: Triple-check all
This is one of the most useful planning currencies you can think.
Someone can have promised you three months ago that they will serve exotic Japanese snacks with high tea. Closer to the date of the event but sufficiently in advance, check again to make sure they remember the commitment.
