Have an idea in mind for an event you’d like to see to come to fruition but don’t know where or how to start? Orlando event planning experts at Fun Planners will help you with your first step in this crash course.
Ideally, have at least four to six months of planning before you host an event. The more time you allow yourself, the better the execution.
Identify the Purpose of the Event
Ask yourself and your organization’s board, “Why?” This may be an easy question to answer if you plan to celebrate a new product launching, educating users of a product, or improve on team building. Identifying your audience also goes hand in hand in this stage. Sometimes people will mistakenly try to draw a crowd of different backgrounds and the purpose doesn’t quite align with their interests.
List the top three goals you’d like to see as a result; perhaps you want to see higher sales drive after improving on team building or build your network of business partners and clients. By doing this, you are setting the plan of action with your event committee.
Power in Numbers
Collaborating with a team of people that have a diverse range of skills makes the planning easier. The event committee is there for you to aid in the grand scheme of things such as scheduling, budgeting, and marketing. If the event is quite large, try and find volunteers to help out with the event that can work for free otherwise, the venue could help and offer a staff or you can hire a third party.
Budget, Budget, BUDGET!
Prioritize the key resources you need to run the event. Be as realistic as you can be from day one. Likewise, keep a spreadsheet of all of the expenses and income such as:
- Food and drinks menu
- Decorations
- Entertainment
- Audio/Visual Equipment
- Lighting equipment
- Venue
- Third parties
This is only a few things that could be needed for an event. Additionally, keep a contingency fund for any other surprise expenses. Looking to keep the costs low? Use your network to your advantage and see if you can team up with business partners to see if they’d like to be featured sponsors to allocate more resources for your event.
Logistics are Everything
Think and plan out the logistics because this could make or break your event. We’ve all been there were parking begins to flood at an event and you just end up leaving because you want to avoid chaos at all costs. Parking is just one of the issues your guests may incur. Keep in mind of these key logistics:
- Inquire if you need a special permit, license, or insurance for the nature of your event.
- See if a registration booth is appropriate to your event, most times it keeps things flowing and early registration helps you anticipate the crowd levels.
- It’s better to be safe than sorry, team up with the venue manager to see if a security plan is necessary.
Publicity Plan
Check back with the purpose of the event and your committee to come up with a marketing campaign for your event (if necessary). How will your team get the word out? A very important method you could implement is social media. Facebook event pages will help your event gain public visibility due to its ease of shareability. Social media promos showcasing event activities are inviting to the online community. Offering email notifications will be supplemental in projecting crowd levels too. Traditionally offline, you could take up radio spots and print ads. Be sure to include in your marketing and advertising kit:
- Tentative date and time
- Event Name
- Venue
- Featured guest(s)
- Theme or tag-line of your event
Organize Your Thoughts
Find a method for you to take a deep breath and clear your mind. Keeping an Excel spreadsheet with a schedule containing deadlines of what should be done along the way will help answer questions you may have yourself and prepare for new ones. Be sure to have brief meetings with your committee and assign someone to document the meeting. During the meetings is a perfect time to note problems and brainstorm solutions. The meetings will ensure everyone is on the same page.
At times, planning an event can be stressful. But once you hash out all of the details from the get-go, everyone from the stakeholders, committee, guests, and of course yourself, will have a smiling face on the day of the event. Want to learn more? The Orlando event planning experts at Fun Planners have all the tools to help you create your next event.
