Event professionals in New York have one of the most exciting and lucrative careers today. There are many advantages to attending events, including interacting with people, generating brand awareness, and generating revenue.
However, it's a tricky business that requires careful planning and organization to ensure that an event runs successfully and profitably!
I've been in this field for more than twenty years now, and over time I've seen many companies fail miserably at executing their plans. There are many reasons why events fail: from poor marketing efforts to inexperienced staff members or having an unreliable venue partner. These are just some examples of common problems that can occur during the preparation process before any event even begins (if not before).
These failures can hurt businesses big time. You could lose money on wasted advertising expenses or lose credibility because attendees weren't happy with your product or service offering.
But don't worry! Here are ten common issues we see again and again in this industry (along with how you can solve them):
The 10 Most Common Event Management Issues and How Event Professionals in New York Can Solve Them
1. Not enough attendance
Whether you're planning a small meeting or a large conference, here are some tips to help you determine how many people to invite:
- Make sure you have a good mix of attendees. A ratio of 50% attendees from outside your organization and 50% from inside is considered ideal. If too many people come from within the same group (within your organization), it can be difficult for everyone to learn new things.
- Make sure there will be enough people attending so that the event will be worthwhile. It's important that there are enough attendees so that everyone has an opportunity to interact with each other and contribute ideas throughout the event.
- Determine if there are enough budgeted funds available before making any final decisions on numbers or types of events/conferences being planned by stakeholders in your organization -- especially if they include traveling costs such as airfare, hotel rooms, etc.
2. Poor planning
Poor planning is one of the most common mistakes event managers make. The good news is that it's a problem that can be easily avoided and corrected by following some simple guidelines.
- Make sure you have a plan in place before beginning to execute your event. If you don't, you're likely to run into problems down the road—the kind of problems that require last-minute fixes or expensive penalties because they weren't thought through ahead of time.
- Start with the end in mind: know what success looks like for your event, so that when things go wrong (and they will), you can adapt quickly rather than getting stuck trying to recover from an initial mistake. This means thinking about what attendees are going to get out of attending your event and how their experience will impact them long after it has ended. It also means considering how this experience affects attendees’ lives outside of work—what role does it play? What benefits does it bring?
These are all questions worth asking yourself as you begin planning any new project or initiative large enough for people outside your organization (eager volunteers included) to notice at least somewhat regularly over time if not daily or hourly during execution.
3. Inexperienced staff
There are many things that can go wrong at an event, but one of the most common problems is inexperience among staff. It’s important for you to train your staff in basic event management skills so they can handle any situation and not be afraid of making a mistake.
If you want your attendees to have a good time, they need to feel comfortable and relaxed while they're there, so they don't feel like outsiders or like something's wrong.
To do this, your event needs to be managed by someone who is capable of communicating effectively with both vendors and sponsors as well as attendees themselves.
It's also important that the venue where you hold your events has someone on hand who's experienced enough with managing events. Whether it’s another company or just another person working at their venue, it’s important that this person can communicate effectively with everyone involved.
4. Bad venue
If the venue is not suitable for the event, you should move on. If it’s too small, then your event won’t have enough space to accommodate guests. The right venue has to be large enough to meet your needs, but not so large that the space feels empty or underutilized.
If the wrong location is selected for an event, it can cause problems with transportation or accessibility issues for attendees—or even safety concerns because of accessibility problems!
You need a venue within easy access by public transportation (e.g., bus or subway), as well as nearby parking lots if there isn't enough available street parking near the venue itself. If a location is unsafe due to bad weather conditions like heavy rainstorms or extreme heat waves during summer months, then this can also negatively impact attendance rates at events held there because people don't want travel through bad weather when they could just stay home instead!
5. Poor communication
Poor communication is an event manager's worst nightmare and a common problem in the industry. This can happen at any point in the process, from the initial planning stages to the actual event itself.
However, it's important to recognize that poor communication isn't always a result of poor execution. It can also be caused by poorly worded messages or miscommunication between parties involved in an event.
Here are some ways you can ensure that your team is communicating effectively with each other:
- Make sure everyone knows who they're supposed to talk with when there's something new going on; make sure they know who their direct supervisor is (and how best to reach them); establish a clear chain of command so no one has questions about who needs what information when
- Create a schedule for regular meetings with all relevant parties (client, venue manager, sponsor liaison) so everyone stays up to date on changes and progress being made toward achieving goals set forth in your contract
6. Last-minute changes
Once the event is underway, it's important to stick with your plan. If you have a clear vision of how things should play out and then have to make last-minute changes, chances are they won't go according to plan. You'll end up spending more money or time than necessary, and you might even alienate some of your guests.
If you're forced into making last-minute changes due to extenuating circumstances (like a power outage), then there's no way around it. But if something happens during your planning phase that forces a change in schedule or details for one reason or another, think about whether this change will negatively affect other areas of the event before making any big decisions.
7. Bad marketing
If you don't have a clear marketing strategy, it's going to be hard for anyone to know about your event. That means no one will show up and the event will fail. But if you have an effective marketing plan in place, you can get people excited about what your event is going to bring them: more meetings or networking opportunities; new friends; better business relationships.
In order to make sure that as many people as possible know about your event so they'll want to attend, you need a well-thought-out marketing plan that includes all the different ways that you can reach out and get people interested in coming social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn; email newsletters; print ads in magazines or newspapers (or both).
And once those messages reach their targets—the people who are most likely to buy tickets—you have another problem: making sure they understand what exactly this "event" thing is all about!
Your message needs to be clear enough that people understand why they should care but not so complicated that they tune out before they hear anything worthwhile (which could happen if there's too much jargon involved).
8. Blurry message
Make sure your event's message is clear, consistent, unique and timely. The message should be aligned with the audience and impactful. Finally, it should also be compelling.
In other words:
- You need to figure out what you want people to do after attending or participating in your event. What's the next step? This can be anything from buying a product or service from you to becoming a member of an organization that supports your cause or political party (and everything in between).
- Once you have identified this goal, make sure every aspect of your event reinforces it by communicating it as often as possible through various channels: emails sent out before and after the event, posts on social media leading up to the event, and speeches given by speakers during each session.
9. Last-minute emergencies
A last-minute emergency is a problem that occurs at or near the event’s beginning or end and requires a quick resolution.
Examples of last-minute emergencies include:
- The venue isn’t available when you planned for it to be, or it becomes unavailable at a crucial time.
- Your employees are unable to attend because of illness or other circumstances.
- A vendor doesn’t have enough supplies, causing delays in delivery of your products.
A good solution to resolve last-minute emergencies like these would be to have backup plans in place.
For example, if you’re hosting an event that requires a venue, make sure you have a list of several places where your guests can go if the original location becomes unavailable. You can also have extra supplies on hand for vendors in case they run out or need more time to deliver their products.
This may seem unnecessary, but it could save you from embarrassment or even financial ruin. If you have a backup plan in place ahead of time, your guests will not be disappointed if something goes awry, and the event doesn’t go as planned.
10. Too little data on attendee’s outcome of event
As an event manager, you need to collect data on attendees. This can be done through a survey or feedback form that attendees fill out at the end of your event. You can also collect information from registration forms, surveys and questionnaires before the event starts.
The information collected should include:
- Name & email address (for email notifications)
- Information about what they are attending (e.g., training)
- How they found out about it and why they registered (to improve future marketing efforts)
Collecting data from attendees will help you improve your event planning efforts. You can use the data to find out which topics are most popular, what level of training attendees need and what kinds of events people are interested in attending.
Conclusion
Event Professionals in New York are pros at event management. That’s why we STRONGLY recommend networking so that you can learn and collaborate with the best in the events industry.
Join us at The Event Planner Expo where you can mix and mingle with event professionals in New York who can help you sharpen your skills and grow your events business!
