Have a wedding to host? Planning to flaunt your designer skills by walking on the ramp? You surely need some tips, to begin with, your event if you’re executing it single-handed. Hosting a successful event requires advanced planning and management. On the spot, activities can call for trouble if they’re not executed well.
Though the events you’re planning can involve different reasons, different audiences, and a variety of details, these top ten tips fit into any big event, irrespective of their differences. It is a checklist you can follow, a blueprint to execute your plan. These tips will help you create a timeline to work efficiently and prepare yourself for any on-the-spot activities that can arise for your event.
Let’s take a look at these simple steps and prep you for your future event:
Contents
Why Are You Planning The Event?
The first question that should arise in your mind is why you are planning this event and what you intend to achieve from it. Once you answer this question, the entire purpose of your event gets laid in front of you. This step defines your plan your goal. After which, you should jot down the number of guests attending the function if any VIP’s special invitees and essential personalities will be present. Accordingly, you can plan a budget and requirements that suit the type of function you’re organizing.
Who Are Your Team Members?
Working solo can mess up if it’s an exciting event unless you’re well experienced and have previously executed similar tasks. A piece of advice is to develop a team and help the members recognize their responsibilities. Here is a list of features that are essential and will require team members to function well:
– Guest arrangements/invites/escorts
– Venue management
– Legal notices/ permissions/no objection letters
– Entertainment/ performance/ hosting/ games/ dance and fun
– Publicity and advertisement
– Sponsors/well-wishers
– Volunteer management
– Food/catering
– Registration/competitions/prize distribution
– Clearance/ clean up
After selecting the team, clearly state their responsibilities to take the full-fledged accountability of their duties.
How Much Are You Willing To Spend?
Establishing your expenses is one of the core features of planning your event. It forms the backbone of your event. Hence, without the specified budget, you will not be able to work or execute the different activities you intend to do on that day. You may come up with the best ideas, but there has to be cash to make these ideas come to reality. If budget is not considered at the beginning, you can suffer a debt later. Here are a few areas wherein you need to have a rough estimate of your expenditure:
Venue- this includes the rentals, facilities, set-up, and all the location requirements.
Catering- you need to find out about per plate charges, drinks charges; if you plan to sell out your tickets in advance, then you may have to give servings per ticket. This will also include the catering staff, workers, cleaners that will work for you.
Décor- an event is incomplete without glitter and beautification. According to your theme, you will need décor, encompassing backdrop, stage, entrance, and location décor.
Entertainment- the performers you invite may charge you their price. Right from music to the host, you need to have a quotation on how much you will be spending on entertaining your guests for the day.
Promotions- if you plan to advertise your special event, you have to save a portion from your budget for your marketing, advertisements, and promotions to circulate the word.
Miscellaneous- no matter how many times you have cleared your budget, there will be additional costs that you have to bear. Hence, always account for these costs to not be surprised by their existence later.
When Do You Plan To Organize It?
You have to decide on the date because people may have other events on the same day, and they may refrain from attending because your invite came in later. Depending on the nature of your event, you will have to start processing this event three-four months ahead. The date and time you select will dictate the type of audience you will be inviting.
For instance, if it’s a kid’s event, you need to have it on a Sunday, a public holiday, or during vacation. Corporate events can be held during mid-week because the start and the end of the month call in for heavy duties. Weddings, parties, and other unofficial events can be planned to keep in mind the seasons, family, and guests’ availability and budget. Also, make sure to discuss the dates and the timings with the performers, guest speakers, resource person so that they can keep the slot booked for you.
What Will Be The Flow Of Your Event?
Because it is a large-scale event, you ought to decide on the plan so that people are well aware of what comes next. Prepare a detailed timeline that includes the list of activities and their timings. It is always better to jot down even small things because your mentality of remembering it will make you forget it on the event day.
Learn from your past or from the event you have attended. For instance, if your event requires registration and has over 300 crowds that it’s vise to have at least six registration counters to fasten the work. Imagine having one or two registration tables. People will be made to stand in the queue for long, giving them a wrong impression before even the event begins. Therefore, work-wise and intelligent and let people enjoy every bit of your event.
Did You Book Your Venue?
You suitablehave selected a venue. You need to visit the venue and see if the given venue is available on a required day. If you wait till the end, you may miss out on a good venue that would accommodate your crowd. If the venue does not get finalized, the number of guests does not get finalized, and everything after it halts until you find the venue of your choice. Here are a few things you need to consider before you book a venue:
Accessibility- is this place easy to locate? Is it too interior? Is it safe? Will there be volunteers to guide the people toward the venue?
Accommodation- does the venue fit in all your guests? Does it have gender-separate washrooms or restrooms? Is there space for a stage or entertainment? Is there a parking space?
Answering these critical questions will help you find a suitable venue. Make sure to book the venue in advance to avoid inconvenience in the future.
Will You Brand Your Event?
Brain storing is essential to developing a unique yet exciting theme for your event that will convince your guests to participate without any hesitation. The name of your event should be self-explanatory to the audience to be prepared. Jot down a quirky tagline that will also be a part of your promotional strategies online. You can even design a logo as an effective branding tool and publicize it on all your promo items.
Since social media, particularly Instagram, is the most popular medium for promotional events, create a branded hashtag to make your event and posts visible to a larger crowd. By doing so, you create a buzz around your campaign or convention to excite it up against your competitors.
Where Will You Get The Money From?
While personal events will need the organizers to empty their pockets, business meetings, corporate meetings, conventions, campaigns are not restricted to one individual. They can have partners and sponsors to fund the event. If you belong to the latter group, the first step is to create a list of sponsors that you can approach. Then, please give them a quotation of your expenses and do not forget to follow up.
Conclusion
No matter how big the event is, you can succeed with the proper support and planning. While there is a difference between social and personal events, both lie on the same lines, and the same strategies can be applied to organize them. You can even pin this page or jot down these essential steps and get your event going high.
