Event management can be a really rewarding part of marketing as it tends to involve utilising lots of different skills including project management, time management with lots of people interaction. Events come in lots of different shapes and sizes and can include:
- Business breakfasts
- Networking drinks
- Tradeshows and conferences
- Award ceremonies
- Celebration dinners
- Product showcases
- Media launches
With any event, there are many things to think about, arrange, plan, and deliver. This blog will provide some tips and tricks to help and structure events of any size, and make organising an event a much simpler task.
Top organising tips to plan and deliver a great event
Create a plan and a timeline, and stick to them
Creating a plan should be one of the first things you do when organising an event. A plan can help to set specific goals and ideas, and give reason for you stay focused throughout the entire planning process. Additionally, creating a concrete timeline sets deadlines for certain decisions to be made and jobs to be done. Remember that when managing an event, you can delegate jobs out to other team members, so you can all work together to ensure that you stick to these deadlines, and reduce your own stress.
Plan your event for a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday
Arranging an event mid-week gives you extra time at the beginning of the week to do last minute preparations, and fix anything that could go wrong over the weekend. Businesses may be more likely to attend, as people tend to have Mondays or Fridays off for annual leave. Additionally, you are likely to have more venues to choose from, and at a cheaper rate than if you were to hold the event on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Stand out!
Using a digital platform such as Canva to create memorable and creative invitations can help to showcase your event to the maximum effect. It should be included in the first communication with your guests, and shared on social media platforms if the event is public.
Use Google Spreadsheets to organise your attendees
Using Google Spreadsheets allows you to share a live and editable list of attendees across your team. This can help filter attendees on attendance, dietary requirements, and if any additional needs are required, and allows the whole team to access the list and make any follow-up communications with guests, which can make organising the event a breeze.
Invite more guests than you would like to attend
Produce a list of contacts that you would like to invite which is at least three times bigger than the number of guests that you would like to attend. People are always busy and can’t attend everything, and declines, cancellations and non-attendees can sometimes be as high as 70%. So even if you invite more people, chances are there will still be seats to fill by the time the event comes around.
Set your event up on Eventbrite
Eventbrite can really help you manage the quantity of tickets on sale, and improves conversion of bookings from newsletters and social media posts. Most people will book and pay quickly without the fuss of emailing or calling. You can also add questions on the booking form, such as special dietary requirements and what business support the guest is particularly interested in.
Have all printed material produced in advance
You should aim to have all printed material produced the week before. Therefore, when inevitable last-minute calls and emails come through prior to the event, everything is printed, organised and to-hand, and thus reduces the stress of managing everything.
Send a reminder 1-2 days prior to the event
Remember to send an email to your attendees 1-2 days before the event to remind them of the venue address, timings, car parking and Wi-Fi. This preempts many of the questions that guests may have on the day (saving you and your team having to repeat yourself over and over!) and acts as a reminder for guests to let you know if they cannot make the event, to reduce ‘no-shows’ on the day.
Do you have any hints and tips that can make organising an event a bit simpler? Any cheats to reduce the stress, and make the event go off without a hitch?
Get in touch with us and see how we can assist you with taking your events to the next level.
29/09/2021