When the rehearsals are over and it's show time, you need to know that your event will be perfect.
Whether you've been doing this for years or you're new to the growing industry, planning an event is stressful enough when you have people you can count on.
You've already covered all the details like catering, venue, entertainment, and program. But what about those things no one tells you about?
Here are the best event planning tips to make sure your event lives up to everyone's expectations, including your own.
Best of All Event Planning Tips--Don't Assume
The best tip for event planning is that you can’t assume other people will remember their responsibilities. You can’t assume anything.
If your event relies on someone else to come through for you, that’s dangerous. You need to confirm with your vendors the day before, a week before, a month before. Make sure they know where they are supposed to be and when.
Schedule yourself tasks to send email reminders and text reminders to help other people stay on top of their tasks. No one else should be able to ruin your event.
If you are especially worried about someone not coming through for you, you shouldn’t be using them to help put on the event. However, if there is a new vendor you haven’t used before, it’s a good idea to have a backup. Talk to the backup and get a quote in advance, in case you have to call them in a pinch.
Keep Good Notes
The show must go on. But sometimes it has to go on without you. Emergencies do happen, even to you.
Make sure you keep detailed notes of all the plans you’ve made for the event. Keep them in folders that have labels other people can understand. If possible, let someone else know where things are ahead of time, in case they need to fill in for you on the date of the event.
Use intuitive labels, folders, and binders, as well as in any sort of instructions that you leave. Someone needs to be able to come in, read your notes, and run with everything. This should include contact information for everyone else involved in the event.
Be a Good Leader
People will love helping you put on an event work hard for you if you are kind to them. But you also need to be a good example, and help them live up to their potential. That’s a lot to do when you’re also trying to put an event on.
One way to be a good leader and set a good example is to keep your meetings on track. Try to schedule as many digital meetings as possible, rather than face-to-face ones. Use conference call technology and collaborative tools like Google docs to meet with each other wherever you are (it's easier to work this into their schedules).
Have an agenda for each meeting and stick to it. Don’t waste people’s time by letting meetings go long.
Let them know you expect them to perform well by asking them to pay attention to detail. When you send an email, include a silly instruction at the end so you know they read through the entire email. For example, ask them to reply with a photo of a baby duck.
Someone who skims won’t see that, and you’ll know they didn’t read the entire thing. Reading instructions is very important for events, so you need your people to know all the details that were in the email.
Without a Hitch
When you follow our event planning tips like don't assume, keep good notes, and lead well, your event will go off without a hitch every time.
Use these ideas to plan and execute shows all year long that run smoothly.
For more helpful ideas, read more on our blog.
