Whether big or small, organizing an event requires detail-oriented planning and organizational skills. It starts with establishing goals and setting a budget to picking a venue and arranging the day-of steps.
However, it includes details such as choosing the right tablecloths, plates, and even napkin ring holders If you are new to the task, knowing the steps on how to plan any event should help you warm up to the job at hand.
Planning an event is crucial in making the event run smoothly from start to finish, reducing the stress of the organizers, and making the participants happy.
Here are the 10 steps to planning an event and increasing your chance of success:
1. Set Your Goals and Objectives
Determine the reason behind organizing the event. Is it to promote a product, attract more members, increase sales, or grow your brand awareness?
Next, identify the objectives of the event. It is more detailed, such as getting 1,000 pre-orders for a new product, 500 sign-ups in memberships, a 20% increase in sales, or increased social media buzz about the client's brand. Only after this can you lay out specific things to do to achieve the event's goals and objectives.
2. Develop a Budget
Setting a budget early in the steps to planning an event helps prevent unwanted and costly surprises, such as not having enough money for event decors or classic and elegant-looking gold-trimmed charger plates anymore. Giving up on otherwise appropriate choices because of budget cuts can ruin your plans.
3. Create a Team to Pull Off How to Plan an Event
It might be easier to handle small events like a first birthday party, but bigger events would require the appointment of different persons for different roles. People should be assigned to venue management, project management, scheduling, creative design, registration, marketing and communication, and sponsorships.
4. Make a Master Plan
Create a master plan containing your working solution and backup solutions for all the event's moving parts. Make sure there is a dedicated person for the earlier identified tasks to keep things working towards the event's goals.
5. Pick the Right Event Date
Help your clients determine the right date, given what they need. Consider also the availability of key event figures, such as the VIP guests, presenters, and speakers. Another factor to consider would be the target dates, such as the business' opening or launching the new product.
6. Reserve a Venue
After choosing a date, it makes sense to look for potential venues and book one. Consider its accessibility, parking, size, insurance, AV features, and costs. Make sure that the venue is spacious enough for your plans.
7. Choose an Event Brand
Brainstorm ideas with your client. Find a unique theme that will differentiate your event from the competition's. Think of standout potential themes, taglines, or logos. The point is, it would be easier for you to decide the overall look for the venue decors, tablecloths, chair covers, table runners, napkins, and utensils after deciding on a brand.
8. Find Sponsors
Identifying sponsors or partners is more than finding organizations to share the cost with. It also means getting help to increase event attendance, spreading the word, and achieving the event goals. The sponsorship committee should look for interested corporate sponsors or community organizations. It is one of the important tasks when you plan for an event.
9. Develop a Promotional Plan
Another crucial step when planning an event is how to promote it. It might start with getting the nod of a highly popular speaker in the field or booking an excellent entertainer to get more participants interested. Start promoting the event on social media pages, websites, or newsletters, as well as in offline publicity channels and media.
10. Set Day-of Timeline
Make sure everything runs smoothly on the event day. Aside from the master plan, it would help everyone if you created a detailed timeline of what should happen during the big day.
Even something as small as a gender reveal party should follow a timeline. Schedule when to bring out the cake or balloons, any item used to hide the gender, or when to give and open the gifts. A timeline is even more crucial during an event, where every new activity should be marked by the minute or the hour.
It is overwhelming if you are still new to the idea of how to plan an event. However, the steps mentioned above should get you started on your first few events until you can polish them and make them your own.
It should always begin with identifying the event's objectives, developing a budget to promote it, and creating a detailed timeline for the big event day. If you find the event planning adventure enjoyable, make sure to find the right team and the best event suppliers in town.
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